They told me everything was free!!

[Van]

Contractors are to adhere to the same guidelines as DNS.

Actually thats not necessarily true, each dns office had the authority to bend and or remove the rules for any of the subs that they farm out work to. For the better part of two years the DNS Wixom office cleared one of its subcontractors ( Don Lors ) to not ground apartment installs because there were so many of them coming through and the majority could not be grounded normaly.

Bottom line, nothing is set in stone with dish now or has it ever. Corporate has always had an issue with communicating with its own lower level employee's and all sales partner / subs. The pdf you listed is out of date wich is no surprise as many of dish's policies are vague and lacking in common sense points ( ask me about the MVR policy ). The management at the offices are given to much autonomy as well wich lends to the problem of chiefs and indians dilema and the result is further miscommunication and or a lack of.

 

[vegassatellite]

This is a sore subject with me, Mr. Dish customer.
I told them I needed two hookups in my two front bedrooms that were not wired with coax. They said no problem, the guy will install those as part of our install service. Installer shows up, tells me he can only do it from an outside wall.
This would not work as both bedrooms are on the front of the house and having a black cable run down the front of my house in two different places would look pretty bad. Besides that, the televisions are not on that wall, I have wood floors and would have to run a cable around the wall to the complete other side.
He left that day and promised me he would be back the following Saturday to do the wall drops. He did not show up of course. When I called Dish they sent a different guy out. When he found out what the previous guy did he would not touch the install because he told me Dish would not pay him to fix or complete someone else's f'up. By now I was pretty mad.
I called Dish, told them to come get all their equipment off my roof and good riddance.
They then sent me an "independent installer" who spent three hours getting the first install correct and doing the drops. I had to pay him for the inside the wall drops but by then I just wanted to get it over with. Since that money was going in his pocket for my inside drops I felt better about paying for it.
If Dish had told me up front I could have hired someone to do the drops and avoided all of this hassle.
All of these problems were after taking time off of work twice and the installer not showing up.

Dish customer service will tell you anything.

This is ultimately the problem with the current set up that dish and direct use for their installation process. When you decide that a "free" install is the best install of choice, you're going to run into problems. The cost of installation is essentially a negative entry into dish's bottom line. They want to keep this down as low as possible and so this nickel and dime stuff filters down to the guy who actually shows up. The end result is you get an installer who is resentful of the amount of work versus the amount of pay. As these prices that dish pays to its contractors and employees go down, the probability of a disgruntled tech showing up increases.

My recommendation is that you consider what a good quality install is really worth and then find a tech who is in agreement with you. This goes for Dish, Direct, or any other service you have performed at your home.

 

[Spize]

What I did when I installed (bad knees now, but I still do 1-2 a month... part of my policies as an owner of a retailership.) I took a list of prices from the phone company and an electrician with me. I would explain to them what standard installation was, what I would have to do, that in the long run having the wire in the wall vs through the floor/outside wall would be something they would not really notice. I would then point out my prices for a phone jack, ect. vs the phone company/electrician ($30 vs $125). If they didn't like it, I would weigh my options. If it was a pole mount vs job not going in, I would discount or do it for free depending. If it would end up costing me too much, I would refer them to a supervisor(this is where being the owner later on came in handy because they were calling my wife). If your company respects you as an installer they will offer to pay you the additional work, or explain to the customer what the deal for standard install is. At that point if the customer still wants free upgraded installs you either have to take the loss, or sack up and tell them it isn't included so they either pay or have it done the standard way. If they say they won't pay, then leave. If you are within Dish/Direct's standard install level of service and are not trying to wedge in an "upgrade" that is supposed to be standard, Dish will not come down on you or your retailer. Your retailer has a contract with Dish/Directv that spells out what is expected and what limits there are for chargable upgrades.

A lot of people out there are used to being able to push-over a tech for free upgrades... especially in the cable field. You have to decide what amount of "freebies" are acceptable for you to do.

 

[Spize]

This is ultimately the problem with the current set up that dish and direct use for their installation process. When you decide that a "free" install is the best install of choice, you're going to run into problems. The cost of installation is essentially a negative entry into dish's bottom line. They want to keep this down as low as possible and so this nickel and dime stuff filters down to the guy who actually shows up. The end result is you get an installer who is resentful of the amount of work versus the amount of pay. As these prices that dish pays to its contractors and employees go down, the probability of a disgruntled tech showing up increases.

My recommendation is that you consider what a good quality install is really worth and then find a tech who is in agreement with you. This goes for Dish, Direct, or any other service you have performed at your home.

If you can, you should try to find a local retailer that does their own installs. Preferably one that is owned or run by someone who either recently was an installer before a retailer, or one (like mine) where the owner still does some installs.

The very worst installers in both the E* and D* universe are the ones that corporate sends out (HSP for D and I don't know what E calls theirs). These guys are all underpaid. (in N.E. Ohio a 1 box install corp pays about $40 to the installer, where the retailers are paying $70-80 for the same job) Not only are they underpaid, but with all the extra staff the size of the business requires, they run a tight budget too... guess where that money gets cut... Pay & Quality of parts. Not to mention a happy installer generally will do better work (runs the same for most jobs)

Also, those upgrades... With a corp/hsp installer, many times that upgrade fee is split with the company. Not only is that installer getting underpaid on the install, he now has to give the company half of a charge that is mostly based on extra labor and often the parts for that job are bought by the installer. So you pay $50 for the pole mount, that installer is getting $25 less the cost of a pole $8, so $17 bucks for the extra work! A retail installer may charge $40, but he/she keeps it all, less the pole $8 it is $32.

I know for my installers, I will pay for any pole mount that is needed for the job myself. ($30, and I pay for the pole). If it is a customer request situation (not needed for the line of sight/landlord) then the customer pays $40 and the installer pays for the pole. If he/she would call me and the job hindged on the pole mount or some other $30-40 upgrade being free, I would definately wave the cost for one and pay the installer out of my pocket to save the sales commission.

So what am I saying? If you want the best possible service, go local.

 

[Fear 2 Stop]

Contractors are to adhere to the same guidelines as DNS.

There are supposed to, but usually don't/

 

[satguyindiana]

To be honest, if a customer refused to sign the contract at the end of the install still keeps me in the free and clear. The receivers are activated. And in the notes, I'll simply state, "customer refused to sign paperwork". And even better, I still get paid for the install. What usually happens then is either (a) the customer gripes and continues with service or (b) gripes and wants the system removed. In the case of the latter, another workorder is generated for a "de-install" and the customer either pays for the de-install or Dish reimbursed things. Once again, I get paid for removal of said equipment.

Boy do I hate people who seem to think they have installers cornered because they think they know all the ins-and-outs of piece rate work.

Haha I love that! Green on the screen means green in my pocket! Why people think the tech owes them is just foolish and greedy. I do free extras all the time. If people treat me well I treat them well. Its the ones who try to get over on me that find out who will really waste more energy when all is said and done. I will still get paid and they will be spending all the time trying to get someone else to provide service.

 

[585960]

I just reread this whole thing, especially the comments from icehole and lindy, ha ha ha ..............do NOT BE BULLIED. Be Paid, gentleman.