Replacement receivers not tested?

[Hall]

Some people are referring to Repaired and Refurbished as the same. There is a big difference between repaired and refurbished electronic equipment. Basically the same difference as a car from a used car lot and a dealer certified used car.

What can you "repair" on a set-top ? Dish isn't going to replace connectors and re-solder joints. They're not going to do board-level chip replacements. Well, I can't imagine them doing that...

Do you consider swapping in a new HDD to be a "repair" or a "refurbishment" ? I'm not sure what to call it, to be honest.

 

[Zero327]

What can you "repair" on a set-top ? Dish isn't going to replace connectors and re-solder joints. They're not going to do board-level chip replacements. Well, I can't imagine them doing that...

Do you consider swapping in a new HDD to be a "repair" or a "refurbishment" ? I'm not sure what to call it, to be honest.

DISH does replace connectors, resolder joints and complete board level repairs. They also replace chassis', update firmware, replace power cords, check grounding and clean them as needed. That isn't common knowledge?

During the reman process, they complete repairs if necessary as well as clean them up and repackage the units.

 

[Tyralak]

They do, those are the actual numbers. People just continue to whine perpetuating the myth that refurbs fail more often. They don't... They have been just as solid as new for several years. Here's the burn though, DISH can prove it, but that would require publicly releasing hard numbers for how many actually do have issues. They can't prove it to you without exposing themselves to Directv, and so the myth of new vs. reman will continue.

As far as the "give me new or give me death" crowd... Go for it; you'll be shown the door. CSRs don't have the ability to decide to ship new or reman and they are unlikely to in the future; for the reason I state above. DISH deals primarily in reman, deal with it. It saves money and they're just as reliable (well as reliable as any other electronic device) overall .

In the case of 622s, the refurbished ones are actually more reliable than new (Although no such thing as a "new" 622 anymore.) They fixed a couple of initial design issues with both the power supplies and HDMI ports.

 

[Tyralak]

DISH Network does have a very vigorous process of testing and quality control that our receiver's are subjected to before they are placed back into service. Are some receiver sent out without completing this process? I would have to say "Yes" as per a previous post but this would be the exception not the rule.

100% agree about receivers. LNBFs on the other hand, I've gotten them from the warehouse on occasion, directly taken out of the shipping container with spider webs and remnants of wasp nests inside the housing. Not to mention the almost universally sunburnt plastic cases.

 

[upsss]

Do you consider swapping in a new HDD to be a "repair" or a "refurbishment" ? I'm not sure what to call it, to be honest.

I don't blame you, you are not sure what to call it because you don't understand the difference. Swapping a HD without testing every single function and option, just like on any quality controlled production line, including "Burn In" and not restoring the equipment to its like new condition is not "Refurbishment", pure and simple. In fact, quality refurbishment takes much more effort than final testing equipment straight of the production line (you don't have to deal with old and worn out parts).

BTW, when you sign up and lease your receivers, are you suppose to get brand new receivers?

 

[Dishman1978]

BTW, when you sign up and lease your receivers, are you suppose to get brand new receivers?

dont think it says anything in the residential service agreement.

Btw, did you know when a customer signs the service agreement, be it hard copy or electronic, you are agreeing that you have read it?

 

[Dr.Pepper]

So just an update,
(first off, I just want to say i didn't aim for this thread to turn into a "refurb are no good", I just personally don't like refurb stuff.)

Now for the update, got replacement receiver #2 today, got it out of the box and first thing i noticed was this horrible cigarette smoke smell (i do not smoke, and the after smell of Cigarette smoke gives me a migraine headache), but I hooked it up anyway, as soon as power was plugged in the fan bearing is making a loud noise, but I went ahead and did check switch, and signal authorization. Receiver works good all except, I have a migraine headache (which has still not gone away) from the smell, and when the headache goes away from the smell, I'm going to get another one from listening to this fan making the horrible noises.

I have contacted DIRT and they have taken great care of me, will have replacement #3 on my doorstep in the am, THANKS DIRT!!!!!

But back to my point, it is clear that the QA is lacking at the refurb center, first it was bad "something" on unit 2, and now a bad fan on unit 3 which the refurb tech should have heard clearly! As I can hear it over the volume of the tv.

Hey, don't hijack the thread.

 

[Barry Erick]

My 722 replacement arrived in excellent condition. From the Spartansburg,SC warehouse. Which we saw from our campground whilen on vacation last summer and where my wife was injured in a fall.

 

[Hall]

DISH does replace connectors, resolder joints and complete board level repairs. They also replace chassis', update firmware, replace power cords, check grounding and clean them as needed. That isn't common knowledge?

No, it wasn't (to me). Mind you, I've no real complaints about getting refurbished or re-certified equipment. We have purposely bought a number of phones from VZW this way and have no complaints at all. I've also gotten my share of refurb'd 522, 622, and 722k receivers from Dish. I've not had any issues with them (out of the box). In fact, I've often commented that they've always looked BRAND NEW. I'm sure they replaced the 'shells' on every one I've rec'd - you can't clean them this well and remove scuffs and scratches all the time.

 

[Dishman1978]

Maybe the name should be changed from
Referbished to "Certified Preowned" like some car companies do. It might make people who dont like refurbished/remanufactured recievers feel more comfortable.........;-P

I install and handle plenty, i dont have hard facts documented or rested, but I see an equal amount of both new and refurb recievers fail straight out of the box on a monthly basis.

What I see fail most often are the ones shipped straight to the customer. They just arent handles like they need to be by the package slingers.

I just installed a 222k for a customer she had mailed to her, and it looked like the shipping box was used for batting practice. I took a pic of it and was gonna post to the Installer Zone but then i realized I had taken a pic of her address and decided not to post that.

 

[inazsully]

The problem with a refurb is really that you don't know how many hours are on the unit and how it was used. Perhaps there is a way for techs to tell how many hours are on the hard drive and if so I would think there would be a break off point where a replacement would be done. Fans and fan switches wear out as do hard drives. I'm not sure what the cost would be to automatically replace these items as opposed to the cost of a new unit. Everything comes at a cost and to do a serious refirb requires quite a lot of time and expertise.

 

[hudgreen]

Update; two more 211's that wouldn't do anything but flash the power light on and off ( not nearly as entertaining as actually watching satellite tv)and one more with saved ota channels.
Now we have to have someone test them at the shop before they go out the door.
What PITA and time waster for a box that IMO was rock solid.

 

[Zero327]

Maybe the name should be changed from
Referbished to "Certified Preowned" like some car companies do. It might make people who dont like refurbished/remanufactured recievers feel more comfortable.........;-P

I install and handle plenty, i dont have hard facts documented or rested, but I see an equal amount of both new and refurb recievers fail straight out of the box on a monthly basis.

What I see fail most often are the ones shipped straight to the customer. They just arent handles like they need to be by the package slingers.

I just installed a 222k for a customer she had mailed to her, and it looked like the shipping box was used for batting practice. I took a pic of it and was gonna post to the Installer Zone but then i realized I had taken a pic of her address and decided not to post that.

Doesn't matter what you call it, the same people whining now will whine later. The issue is some perception of self-worth being involved in DISH's business decision to ship "John Doe" a reman. John Doe feels any company he pays money to should give him top of the line X,Y,Z, free Q,R,S and maybe even A,B and C. So getting a reman replacement, whether or not it works correctly, really drives John off the deep end.

Thankfully, these are NOT the majority of DISH subs.

 

[Hall]

I see this with phones as well and I've often mentioned that you're returning a receiver (or phone) that is "x" old and are getting a replacement that could be newer. Their argument is "my receiver was new". Ummm, it was but today it's not,

 

[smv]

SO since I didn't have another with me I had to drive the 64 mi round trip to get another one ( more then an hour)

Waitaminute...

You went on an install and only carried one 211 receiver without a spare? Wow...