So you think Satellite installers have it easy?

[Van]

If you dont believe these homes exist then watch animal precinct on animal planet, read the newspapers online or offline, drive around your neigborhood and look for the cluttered yard and house with the curtains that are always closed, look for the car or truck that is packed full of bags of clothes and newspapers, these are those people. Ask anyone that does any kind of in home service such as cable, phone, satellite, water, gas, electric, sewer, appliance repair, mail delivery, package delivery, hospice, welfare, childwelfare and they can tell you that this is no joke. Its a mental illness, a break down in a persons spirit and self image or can be caused by a crisis of one kind or another that has caused them to loose contact with humanity.

 

[tsduke]

Oh, they are real stories I'm sure. My wife's aunt did home health care for years and she has numerous stories just like these. The best one inludes the local swat team storming into a house she was at looking for a fugitive.

 

[Hall]

There was a recent episode of "Flip This House" from San Antonio and they bought the house without seeing the inside. He brought three general contractors by to give estimates on cleaning it out, painting, etc, etc. The first two turned the job down completely while the third said he'd do the job after someone else did the cleanup. In the end, he actually had to hire a haz-mat type crew to do the cleaning. I know the show is a lot of acting, but the filth in this house was not. Nor were the dozens of rats that were caught.

I actually knew someone who lived in pretty bad conditions (a Vietnam vet, divorced, alcohol problems, job loss, etc).

 

[diu.steve]

anyone else found a nice cockroach colony underneath a receiver?

worst one i have ever seen was 2 single wide trailers pushed together, holes knocked through the sidewalls to allow access to both. Floor mostly rotted. only a couple windows actually had glass in them. several wasp nests in closet (had to fight them off to hook up the receiver). 5 people living in house, including a child that i doubt was over 5. yard hadn't been mowed in who knows how long....ticks EVERYWHERE.

another house had so much stuff crammed into it there was roughly a 2 foot walkway through the entire house at any point. vacuuming wasn't a priority. owner of house jokingly said he stirred up the spiders when he moved stuff out of the way so i could hook stuff up and the cat would have a field day.....he wasn't joking. the cat spent the next half hour killing spiders and other various types of bugs.

these are just a couple i can remember off the top of my head. there are many others.

 

[diu.steve]

almost forgot a good one...not gross, just funny. recently did install for a pastor/evangelical. in his entertainment center, he had a picture of himself holding a bible.....in the other one right next to it, an ak47.

 

[tsduke]

almost forgot a good one...not gross, just funny. recently did install for a pastor/evangelical. in his entertainment center, he had a picture of himself holding a bible.....in the other one right next to it, an ak47.

Hey, the 2nd ammendment applies to pastors too!

 

[StevenD]

There was a recent episode of "Flip This House" from San Antonio and they bought the house without seeing the inside. He brought three general contractors by to give estimates on cleaning it out, painting, etc, etc. The first two turned the job down completely while the third said he'd do the job after someone else did the cleanup. In the end, he actually had to hire a haz-mat type crew to do the cleaning. I know the show is a lot of acting, but the filth in this house was not. Nor were the dozens of rats that were caught.

The funny part was when he got fined the first day he owned the house.

 

[Hall]

You saw it, huh ?? As much as "Armondo" is a royal a**hole, he didn't deserve that ticket (and what city has the police writing housing violations ??).

 

[RVD420]

I wasn't personally at this location, but I was at one quite similar last week.

They say pictures can say a thousand words...

Better TV for ALL :up

Can you say "Ghetto"

 

[Van]

(and what city has the police writing housing violations ??).

City of Westland / Wayne county Michigan, when I moved into my old rental house in october of 02 the house next door had been long abandoned and recently sold in a city auction for back taxes of $10g. The day after it was sold three citations were stuck on the front door, one for weed hieght in the yard, one for trash in the yard, and one for storing a dilapitated vehicle ( pop top camper ) in the yard.

Pittsfield township Michigan, this is one of the worst townships in the state to try and get a permit to do anything and they scrutinize everything and will at the drop of a hat write a citation if they even think something is not up to code.

 

[Gentleman]

You saw it, huh ?? As much as "Armondo" is a royal a**hole, he didn't deserve that ticket (and what city has the police writing housing violations ??).

I saw it too, his brother walked out on him when he wanted to paint over the crud and roach crap

Bob

 

[dishcomm]

I wasn't personally at this location, but I was at one quite similar last week.

They say pictures can say a thousand words...

Better TV for ALL :up

I would have walked right out and not returned..No one. I mean no one can make me work in that filth..I would quit before I went into that sewer..
Ihave been to similar..Once..It was a quick service call..Roaches, trash and dirt everywhere..There was a foul stench in the trailer..So strong you could smell the odor through the closed entry door..Could have knocked a turkey buizzard off a sh*t wagon.....
Another especially filthy home I simply told the woman that I could not work in her home for sanitary reasons.she got pissed, but I didn't care..No one at the office said boo after I had explained my reasons for refusing the job...DNSC got stuck with it....

 

[dishcomm]

Yes Dish installers who are inhouse can refuse to do an install due to health concerns, I have called that two times and should have called it ten times.

I work for a contractor. We have the full support of our employers when it comes to health/safety issues...

 

[dishcomm]

I couldn't do those installs if I was in that line of work. It's one thing to see adults living that way, but the first time I walked into a house like these examples that has kids living in it I'd go nuts!

I would walk away..I am not risking my health so some filthy pig can watch DR.Phil..

 

[dishcomm]

anyone else found a nice cockroach colony underneath a receiver?

worst one i have ever seen was 2 single wide trailers pushed together, holes knocked through the sidewalls to allow access to both. Floor mostly rotted. only a couple windows actually had glass in them. several wasp nests in closet (had to fight them off to hook up the receiver). 5 people living in house, including a child that i doubt was over 5. yard hadn't been mowed in who knows how long....ticks EVERYWHERE.

another house had so much stuff crammed into it there was roughly a 2 foot walkway through the entire house at any point. vacuuming wasn't a priority. owner of house jokingly said he stirred up the spiders when he moved stuff out of the way so i could hook stuff up and the cat would have a field day.....he wasn't joking. the cat spent the next half hour killing spiders and other various types of bugs.

these are just a couple i can remember off the top of my head. there are many others.

I once lifted a receiver and the roaches came OUT OF the receiver..I dropped the thing on the floor right in front of the customer..Gave me the damn willys.....

 

[Roadwarrior]

I once lifted a receiver and the roaches came OUT OF the receiver..I dropped the thing on the floor right in front of the customer..Gave me the damn willys.....

Oh yeah, I've had to R/A those. Wrap em thrice in hefty bags if you're smart. I'm pretty sure the roaches were the reason the receiver went bad in the first place.

 

[Claude Greiner]

My installer brought one of those roach infested receivers back to the store, he literally tied it to the top of the van so the roaches would not get inside the truck.

Then when he got to the store, we took the cover off behind the store and blew it out with compressed air so DISH Network would not charge us back for the receiver saying it was out of warranty!

I have seen some pretty bad stuff myself, the Raw sewage and roaches take the cake!

Two of the funniest installs I remember where for obvious drug dealers. This guy lives on the 2nd floor of a 2 family flat. The guys from Best Buy bring this monster 65 inch TV all the way to the 2nd floor, just to bring it back down another 2 flights of stairs to the basement. They got the TV 1/2 was down the stairs and it wouldn't fit so the guy gets a chain saw and starts cutting out the support beam to make it fix.

They get the Tv down further, and it gets stuck by another support beam but this time he realizes he can't chop it off and tells the guys to put it in the bedroom where its just too big and your like 2 feet away from the screen!

 

[dishcomm]

Oh yeah, I've had to R/A those. Wrap em thrice in hefty bags if you're smart. I'm pretty sure the roaches were the reason the receiver went bad in the first place.

"Thrice"?...Excellent application of the King's English!!!! I love it!
As for that electronic roach motel, I think we trashed it..It was in the waning days of Primestar. They didn't want the bad IRD's back anyway..

 

[grydlok]

I have seen worse. Dead animals in the house. Holes in the floor. Sewage leak under the house. That was in a affluent neighborhood. House looked great from the outside, but the inside was HELL.