Installer from Hades--worse than I feared--NO VOOM today!
bookwalk said:
I ordered VOOM last week and told the CSR that I needed an upgraded OTA and dish (for rain fade)--the Installer came out to get a line of sight and then started getting a little beligerent about the install--I have no idea why. He could see we live in a dip and are 45 miles from the 2 Locals we will get and about 20 miles from the PBS local (but in the opposite direction).
He then tried to tell me that running cable that will be buried later (not by him, but by us) would be $20 extra and I said, no--not if it does not go over 125', which it should not, as our house is only 44' wide and only 40' from where the antenna will go to where it will finally go into the house and then another 40' back through the house to the room with HD tv.
He then changed the original install date we had set for Mar 7 (we needed time to get a HDTV, phone line changed, etc, etc and my husband needed to be here to help run it through the basement) and said --no he could not wait that long and had to do it next week. I said no--that will not work.
He then went into a tirade about how VOOM will be gone in a month--FCC will shut it down and there will be no more VOOM--he wanted to make sure I knew that.
I felt like I should apologize to him for ordering VOOm, which I will never do.
When he left, I called VOOM and explained what happened and they checked and sure enough he did not upgrade me to the better OTA antenna and had changed the install date to Feb 17. I asked them if they knew something I didn't based on his assumptions of VOOM's DOOM. They said they knew of the buy-out, etc, but reading this forum--VOOm in some form will be around.
So, anyway--I hope I can endure this installer's practices and wanted to make sure there would be no hidden extras. The antennas will go on the corner of the house--he said that using a corner brace or bracket would cost me $100--I was surprised--I told him it had to go on the corner as there was no plywood underneath.
I just want to get VOOM installed and am now shopping for HDTV. I am glad there is this forum--if I didn't know better from today's posts, I would have been intimidated by him and cancelled my order.
I don't understand how an independent installer like this can be so beligerent about VOOM--he installs other dishes and it is very strange.
I am new to this forum and again, I hope my neighbors ask me about it--I plan to have a VOOM party when this is all done--and then tell them all about it and hope this installer from H----- will find another job!
I posted the above about 10 days ago and I tried to be cooperative with the installer--he wanted to install before March 7. So, we stayed home today, Feb 21, to make sure everything was in order for the install--luckily both my husband and I were home.
What a nightmare! He came with no upgrade for the OTA and since we bought our HDTV, we found that an omni-directional antenna would easily pull in a PBS-HD station 25 miles away. So I called VOOM and they said it had to be the low-grade Winegard Sensor had to be installed first and then he would come back.
Also, he did not install it where he first said he would--which was on the corner of the house--and where he did the line of sight. Before we knew it, he had drilled holes into various places in our vinyl siding and then installed several feet from the corner, in a very unsightly position on our house and then left holes visible drilled in the siding of our house!!!!
We pointed out that he was not installing it where he promised from his advance visit--and that we would have to pay extra for any multi-directional antenna (Antenna webs says that, for the stations we need, we can use the (red-highlighted) most basic omni directional.
He then became irate and said that he was leaving and taking the equipment back off the house (leaving many gaping holes)--we argued with him as to why in the world would he do something like that? He said he has the option to not do the install if he likes.
We then went inside to call 1800 Get Voom and explained all this to the CSR. My husband had also helped him out by drilling the hole into the access point to the inside of the house.
He continued to assure us that VOOM would be out of business March 1 and that no more installs would be done after that. I asked him how many VOOM he had installed-he said 150 and the latest one was day before yesterday.
I can't believe this!
He finally finished installing, after we told him that the CSR said that another trip would be made to upgrade the OTA, once we determine that the basic Winegard Sensor would not pull in the HD stations within 45 miles.
He continued to be argumentative, beligerent, irate and we had prepared to tip him nicely when he finished.
WELL, no VOOM today--after his install, he could not get the VOOM receiver satellite icon to turn green--he kept turning it off and on, maybe a dozen times. It's as if he planned for this to be a failure--and it was.
He finally did some troubleshooting with Installers, Inc (I guess) and found that power was not going from the receiver to the dish.
A diplexer was installed I noticed.
So, he said--well, too bad--you will have to call VOOM about the receiver and then he left!!!
So, we called VOOM and the CSR said--ok--you'll have to wait another 10 business days to get a replacement and it will be sent to that same installer.
DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW I CAN GET A DIFFERENT INSTALLER--or can we get the receiver sent to us to install ourselves?
This is a horrible nightmare--I highly doubt the second receiver will work either--
So--we have a bum receiver and no VOOM or HD tv--and a dish installed where we didn't want it and holes in our house he did not patch up.
I would say, for South East South Dakota (where the largest city Sioux Falls lies), there needs to be another alternative for installation of VOOM.
My blood pressure has risen about 100 points and no matter what we said to this character, he became defensive and I am really afraid to be here alone when he comes back to try to put the receiver 2nd receiver in.
OH, and on top of everything--he refused to ground the entire satellite system!!!!! Maybe that's why the VOOM receiver blew its top before it even was activated!
Chasing for money and all that good stuff. LOL
