Trying to get hooked up...

[Illinifan]

I was supposed to be a new Dish subscriber as of this morning. However...

I'm already not happy. :-(

My appointment was scheduled for an arrival time between 8-12am today and I was told that it could take up to 5 hours for the install. I called Digital Dish (the authorized Dish installer for all of Ohio) last Thursday to ask a question about the service and comfirmed the appointment. I called back on Friday to ask another technical question and confirmed the appointment again. Finally, I had one last question about the service and called on Monday and again confirmed 8-12am on Wed.

At 11:00 today, I called and the CSR who answered the phone told me that my installation wasn't scheduled until the 25th!!!! I am on hold right now waiting for a supervisor to tell me how they are going to fix this.

Not a good start...

 

[Illinifan]

I'm still not happy, but I'm less unhappy now...

I talked to Digital Dish and they said they'd try to get somebody out today, but if I hadn't heard anything from them by 2pm, I should call back. 2pm came and I called. I was told they could not get someone out today and the first available appointment would be Friday, 8-12. I took it. I asked for an explanation of why my appointment was changed without notification. They put me on hold and came back and told me that they didn't reschedule me; that someone from Dish Network had rescheduled me. So the Digital Dish CSR conferenced in a Dish Network CSR and asked why the appointment had been rescheduled. At first, the Dish Network CSR denied that Dish did it, but then admitted it looked like it had been changed by one of their employees. The Digital Dish CSR asked what compensation they were going to offer me since I stayed home from work today. (I actually worked from home today, but let's not split hairs...) The Dish Network CSR said she couldn't compensate me. Before I could say anything, the Digital Dish CSR asked to speak to her "coach". He came on the line and said the same thing. The Digitial Dish CSR went and got her boss, the Tech Status Supervisor who brow beat the guy until he coughed up a free month of STARZ.

Ok, ok, ok. It gets better...

While I was typing this, I got a call on my cell phone from an AT&T telephone person who said that she was calling to let me know that my switch to AT&T phone service would be on the 22nd and because of that she had rescheduled my Dish installation to the 25th! EUREKA!!! I asked why she would do that and she said I had to have AT&T phone service before I got my Dish installed. I asked why and she said that I could lose my dial tone! What the heck? That didn't sound right, so I asked her "What if I just decided to switch to Dish without changing my phone?" She stuttered and put me on hold. When she came back on she asked me if I had regular phone service or if I was using a cable modem (VIOP is what she was trying to say). I told her traditional phone service from Cincy Bell. She said, you'll be ok then. So she changed my appointment back to the 18th.

Un-freakin-believable.

 

[mattopia]

Welcome!!!

Sorry your experience has been less than stellar so far. It sounds like Digital Dish tried to help out though. I hate bundling between companies for this reason -- it's so easy to get into a finger pointing game.

 

[dishcomm]

I'm still not happy, but I'm less unhappy now...

I talked to Digital Dish and they said they'd try to get somebody out today, but if I hadn't heard anything from them by 2pm, I should call back. 2pm came and I called. I was told they could not get someone out today and the first available appointment would be Friday, 8-12. I took it. I asked for an explanation of why my appointment was changed without notification. They put me on hold and came back and told me that they didn't reschedule me; that someone from Dish Network had rescheduled me. So the Digital Dish CSR conferenced in a Dish Network CSR and asked why the appointment had been rescheduled. At first, the Dish Network CSR denied that Dish did it, but then admitted it looked like it had been changed by one of their employees. The Digital Dish CSR asked what compensation they were going to offer me since I stayed home from work today. (I actually worked from home today, but let's not split hairs...) The Dish Network CSR said she couldn't compensate me. Before I could say anything, the Digital Dish CSR asked to speak to her "coach". He came on the line and said the same thing. The Digitial Dish CSR went and got her boss, the Tech Status Supervisor who brow beat the guy until he coughed up a free month of STARZ.

Ok, ok, ok. It gets better...

While I was typing this, I got a call on my cell phone from an AT&T telephone person who said that she was calling to let me know that my switch to AT&T phone service would be on the 22nd and because of that she had rescheduled my Dish installation to the 25th! EUREKA!!! I asked why she would do that and she said I had to have AT&T phone service before I got my Dish installed. I asked why and she said that I could lose my dial tone! What the heck? That didn't sound right, so I asked her "What if I just decided to switch to Dish without changing my phone?" She stuttered and put me on hold. When she came back on she asked me if I had regular phone service or if I was using a cable modem (VIOP is what she was trying to say). I told her traditional phone service from Cincy Bell. She said, you'll be ok then. So she changed my appointment back to the 18th.

Un-freakin-believable.

You ar eone of the fortunate ones. In most cases, third party reatailers consider themseves out of the picture once they get the customer to agree to the installation of the service.
I have witnessed many pissed off customer tell me they spoke to (blah blah) at this toll free number and he said(fill in the blank) Now while I am dealing with an upset customer, I am not working. Which means my opther customers are being kept waiting as well. All the while the customer is on the phone griping to the retailer. And the reatiler is essentially telling the customer 'too bad, call dish"...
It is refershing to see someone saying they got help form their retailer.

 

[mattopia]

This particular installer (Digital Dish) must be better than most then. They even put a sticker on the bottom of remotes that says "For help, call Digital Dish at 1-8xx-xxx-xxxx for fastest service" or something.

After my install, I had some minor issues (primarily 129 related), and they were able to get someone out the next morning.

This probably has to do with customer retention.

 

[Illinifan]

Ok. I finally have some answers that make some kinda of sense in the AT&T version of the universe...

It's going to be important to remember that I signed up for this hassle through an AT&T promotion and "bundled" my services.

I called AT&T back today to try to figure out why they had postponed the installation of my Dish service until after my phone was switched. The original claim was "you'll lose your dial tone" which didn't make sense.

I got an AT&T CSR who understood the issue and the underlying problem is this: If you don't have your phone switched to AT&T first, then you don't have an established AT&T account. If you don't have that, when the Dish installer comes out, they will set up a Dish account for you. But if that happens, then you lose the promotions that you were supposed to get because you bundled the services through AT&T. According to the AT&T CSR, it takes months to get the services rebundled and there is no way to "get back" all the promotions you lost.

What torques me is that when I set all this up and had to talk to everybody and their brother to confirm all this in the first place is that NOBODY ever mentioned that all this stuff had to take place in a certain order.

They "can't" switch my phone until the 22nd which means I can't get my Dish until the 23rd...a full week later than it was supposed to happen. So much for seeing the Ohio State vs Illinois rematch on the Big 10 Network on Tuesday night.

We left AT&T back in 2001 and said we'd never go back. Now I remember why...

 

[KAB]

Ok. I finally have some answers that make some kinda of sense in the AT&T version of the universe...

It's going to be important to remember that I signed up for this hassle through an AT&T promotion and "bundled" my services.

I called AT&T back today to try to figure out why they had postponed the installation of my Dish service until after my phone was switched. The original claim was "you'll lose your dial tone" which didn't make sense.

I got an AT&T CSR who understood the issue and the underlying problem is this: If you don't have your phone switched to AT&T first, then you don't have an established AT&T account. If you don't have that, when the Dish installer comes out, they will set up a Dish account for you. But if that happens, then you lose the promotions that you were supposed to get because you bundled the services through AT&T. According to the AT&T CSR, it takes months to get the services rebundled and there is no way to "get back" all the promotions you lost.

What torques me is that when I set all this up and had to talk to everybody and their brother to confirm all this in the first place is that NOBODY ever mentioned that all this stuff had to take place in a certain order.

They "can't" switch my phone until the 22nd which means I can't get my Dish until the 23rd...a full week later than it was supposed to happen. So much for seeing the Ohio State vs Illinois rematch on the Big 10 Network on Tuesday night.

We left AT&T back in 2001 and said we'd never go back. Now I remember why...

Just cancel the order and go with Dish directly via Dishstore.

 

[Van]

Just cancel the order and go with Dish directly via Dishstore.

Then he looses the bundle savings.

 

[Illinifan]

That would be an attractive alternative except that we are way past the three day "cooling off" period required in Ohio and I had to confirm multiple times that if I canceled before my 18 month commitment was up, I'd incur all sorts of costs.

We made this switch to save money and get away from the horror of Time Warner customer service. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

[KAB]

That would be an attractive alternative except that we are way past the three day "cooling off" period required in Ohio and I had to confirm multiple times that if I canceled before my 18 month commitment was up, I'd incur all sorts of costs.

We made this switch to save money and get away from the horror of Time Warner customer service. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

I guess there's something I don't understand. If you are not installed yet, what commitment? It's a two party agreement and they've yet to execute their part.

 

[Illinifan]

I know I should still be fighting this, but at this point, I just want to get the phone switched and get the Dish installed. As much as a PITA as this has been, it still pales in comparison to the problems I've had with Time Warner over the last 3 years. I have a folder that is two inches thick on the crap they pulled including screwing up the initial installation, claiming I was late on payments when I wasn't and could prove it and loss of Internet and cable 18-24 hours after every hard rain.

I'll update the thread next week and let you know how things go. Then I'll get to start posting questions of how to tweak the system!

 

[tsduke]

In reference to what KAB said, just make note that you have NO commitment with Dish until you sign the work order after the install is complete.

Make sure everything is working to your liking before signing too. Make sure all recievers are seeing all necesary sats and with a decent signal.

 

[Illinifan]

We are T minus 36 minutes and counting. The Dish installation tech called and said he'd be here by 9:30am.

I'll post updates as he goes along....

Oh yeah...the land line got switched to AT&T yesterday. No issues there.

 

[Illinifan]

Ok. We are now ahead of schedule. He showed at 9:00am.

 

[dishcomm]

Ok. We are now ahead of schedule. He showed at 9:00am.

He is there now?..Good.,...Check him out(Tech here) If he looks like he knows what he is doing, let him work...If he's a bit shaky. Keep an eye on him but don't hover.
Make sure he explains to you how the system works. What the signal strengths indicate and what to look for in case there is an issue with the system.
Allow him to clean up any debris he creates..This is a priority with me..I always ask for a broom and dustpan....Shoes off or booties worn if it's wet outside.
Updates please!!!!!

 

[Illinifan]

Update...found out that K---- has only been an installer for a couple of months, but he seems to be very knowledgeable so far. We have the 722 hooked up and the 2nd SD TV that will share that receiver is good to go.

I saw the satellite strength page and I'm running about 85% on all 3 satellites.

He did hit a snag when he was trying to make sure he didn't screw up our TW/Roadrunner connection. We had the cable installed in this house 3.5 years ago and they used an orange coax to make the long run around the house and into our family room. K---- thought that was the RR line, but he figured that out. Now he's trying to figure out which cable in the junction box is the one that runs to our upstairs TV.

Very polite, very personable. Was a little worried when I heard his experience level, but I am satisfied so far.

 

[Illinifan]

He's calling to authorize the receivers now.

 

[Illinifan]

It's done and I am now offiically a Dish subscriber.

Everything looks good. The only thing that he did that I would have called him on if I would have realized it before he left was that he unplugged the base unit for our phone to hook one of the receivers into it. I've got to get a double phone jack adapter. Not a problem, but it is slightly inconvenient.

Got my local HD channels coming in through the OTA antenna and they look good too.

So far, so good.

 

[dishcomm]

Update...found out that K---- has only been an installer for a couple of months, but he seems to be very knowledgeable so far. We have the 722 hooked up and the 2nd SD TV that will share that receiver is good to go.

I saw the satellite strength page and I'm running about 85% on all 3 satellites.

He did hit a snag when he was trying to make sure he didn't screw up our TW/Roadrunner connection. We had the cable installed in this house 3.5 years ago and they used an orange coax to make the long run around the house and into our family room. K---- thought that was the RR line, but he figured that out. Now he's trying to figure out which cable in the junction box is the one that runs to our upstairs TV.

Very polite, very personable. Was a little worried when I heard his experience level, but I am satisfied so far.

Hopefully he had a tracer or toner to isolate that line.. Other trick..Take a receiver and conmnect it in that room Take meter and connect it to each cable until voltage output is found. When oit lights up, mark it. Good to go.
BTW generally satellite and road runner on the same line is a no no...

 

[dishcomm]

It's done and I am now offiically a Dish subscriber.

Everything looks good. The only thing that he did that I would have called him on if I would have realized it before he left was that he unplugged the base unit for our phone to hook one of the receivers into it. I've got to get a double phone jack adapter. Not a problem, but it is slightly inconvenient.

Got my local HD channels coming in through the OTA antenna and they look good too.

So far, so good.

most likely he did that to getthe reciver activated seamlessly. Sometimes the activation takes far longer if the is phone line isn't connected.
I always reconnect it the way it was before I leave..That's a minor deal..Sounds like the install went fine..Hopefully you were offered a fairly good product demo.
Have fun with the system. The 722 is agreat toy!!!