What's a "true professional"? Installers please critique...!

[dishcomm]

Its not just hard on the subs end, things are hard for dns techs as well. Theres alot of pressure to perform both from the office we work at and from the head office as well and the regional office. Thankfully the elimination of the superdish will drasticly reduce installation times for my office so now we can save 40 - 90 mins on each job with building them and doing pole mounts and trenching lines but still this will mean probably the addition of atleast one more job on each route we have.

yep..sd's do add a bit of time...we don't deal with them all that often...Most are the 121 variety for int'l programming.....
we had a staff meeting this am...Found out that we are under the microscope..We got the rundown on how the system works..I have to say it is the most one sided way of doing things I could imagine...We are being set up to fail.....the new GM who was described as a country bot from tobacco country.. in SC....Sounds like afriggin redneck stick in the mud to me, has told all the contractors that they are going to see drastic decreases in assigned jobs..Reason, Dish wants as much of the work to be in house as possible..If I was running the co. I work for , I would have told him to shove it......Maybe that's a poor approach but it would have gotten my point across..I agree there are no guarantees in life but when your vendor seeks to put you out of business, I have a problem with that...
I am probably going to leave the business..This is the third time in this business I have had the rug pulled out...I've had it...I have seen the schlubs that DN is hiring..They are welcome to these hip hopping bums......That's all they are go9going to be able to hire here because th pay rates are so low, no experienced tech would work for that kind of money..It represents a huge pay cut and a drastic increase in hours worked for most..Like I posted before I can knock out three installs and easily get them done in time to get home to MAKE dinner and see the 6pm news.....Three two tv jobs is a $300 day..The highest paid DNSC techs($14/hr) here would have to work 21.43 hrs to make $300.....I rest my case...Yes I buy my own stuff and run my own vehicle..But I also can write off all of my expenses and my milage...I fully realize the trade offs..hourly pay, company truck, uniforms..Sounds nice...But, the DNSC guys are on the clock ..So if they get done early, they are styill on the clock and have to go to their office...When I'm done,I go home and nobody bothers me..
Anyway, there are pros and cons to everything...I would consider DNSC if they upped the pay to say $18 -$20 hr for top paid senior techs who are certified at least level 2....but I know that is NEVER going to happen here...When I applied for the FSM spot ($30K/ year to start) I was amazed when the GM told me the top rate was $14/hr....

 

[Van]

Anyway, there are pros and cons to everything...I would consider DNSC if they upped the pay to say $18 -$20 hr for top paid senior techs who are certified at least level 2....but I know that is NEVER going to happen here...When I applied for the FSM spot ($30K/ year to start) I was amazed when the GM told me the top rate was $14/hr....

Maybe thats the rate there, here techs are starting out at $13 or so an hour, senior techs such as myself are in the range your looking for, and now that the stupid dish er super dish is going the way of the webtv unit our installation time should be cut down significantly. Im not sure who it is in the upper office that has made all these sweeping changes both inside dns and outside at your locations but subs are not the only ones that are being set up to fail imho specialy through offices that cover huge management area's and have not enough people to cover such an area.

Your right to, the caliber of people getting hired in some respects does leave something to be desired at times but you cant judge a book by its cover, lord knows I have learned this when it comes to my customers. I made the mistake of thinking one of my customers who was living in an old 60's mobile home was another of the dregs of society only to find that he had a masters degrea. And another time I was fooled by someone that had been hired in, guy was a hard worker and did a great job but just up and called off work 3 days in a row and never came back.

With GM's I cant say much, our GM can be an iron fisted pain in the ass but he does go the distance for us albeit he does have anger management issues. Regionals are the ones I have had issues with, our current regional is a good man and someone I respect, the regional qas I met last year is another thing altogether.

What ever you do I wish you luck, I dont know about your area but here theres not much in related fields that are offering any positions ( as the auto industry dies so does the rest of the economy, man I wish some of the foreign automakers would move in ) and if I myself were to leave I would have to take a %50 - %70 pay cut and work two jobs to support my little world.

 

[stevo/65]

It's easy to spot the "Customer from Hell"... LOL

When the hair, on the back of your head stands up, you know that you are about to get into a fist fight, or you are about to be had, right??? Well then, just explain to that customer, that you forgot that you have a mercy errand to run, and refer another "Installer" to them... RONTGLMAO.....

RONTGLMAO

 

[stevo/65]

It's easy to spot the "Customer from Hell"... LOL

Yep, and you can spot them on this site as well

 

[dishcomm]

Maybe thats the rate there, here techs are starting out at $13 or so an hour, senior techs such as myself are in the range your looking for, and now that the stupid dish er super dish is going the way of the webtv unit our installation time should be cut down significantly. Im not sure who it is in the upper office that has made all these sweeping changes both inside dns and outside at your locations but subs are not the only ones that are being set up to fail imho specialy through offices that cover huge management area's and have not enough people to cover such an area.

Your right to, the caliber of people getting hired in some respects does leave something to be desired at times but you cant judge a book by its cover, lord knows I have learned this when it comes to my customers. I made the mistake of thinking one of my customers who was living in an old 60's mobile home was another of the dregs of society only to find that he had a masters degrea. And another time I was fooled by someone that had been hired in, guy was a hard worker and did a great job but just up and called off work 3 days in a row and never came back.

With GM's I cant say much, our GM can be an iron fisted pain in the ass but he does go the distance for us albeit he does have anger management issues. Regionals are the ones I have had issues with, our current regional is a good man and someone I respect, the regional qas I met last year is another thing altogether.

What ever you do I wish you luck, I dont know about your area but here theres not much in related fields that are offering any positions ( as the auto industry dies so does the rest of the economy, man I wish some of the foreign automakers would move in ) and if I myself were to leave I would have to take a %50 - %70 pay cut and work two jobs to support my little world.

I don't have a tough go of it with SD's....I don't think the roof mount struts were well though out...They arent telescoping. So if a roof is framed 24" on center, most newer homes have truss roof systems and those are 24" on center, it's tough to hit a rafter....
The new regional mgr here is as unprofessional as they come..This guy has no communication skills at all..In fact he likes to issue veiled threats. Threats such as if contractors don't bring up their numbers the work will be distributed to others.
I can tell you that any business publication would consider this an example of what not to do....The age of motivating by instilling fear are over. Apparently this guy doesn't know it yet..
the example of the guy who just decided to skip work and disappear is not unusual..We had a guy do that same thing at our company..i Just don't get it...not even a hint that he wasn't interested in the work..No phone call. Nothing.

I think the starting pay rates dictate the type of workers that the DNS office will get ..BTW, www.careerbuilder.com is the website DNSC is adverising for new techs..just take a look....go to the website then choose the type of job your seeking. Use satellite or telecommunications as a keyword..You can narrow the search by city .Use Charlotte,NC..DNSC has had that ad in the Charlote paper and on careerbuilder for at least three weeks......I guess DNS has more trucks on the way..Or they are seeing quite a bit of turnover with their new hires..My guess it is a bit of both..We shall see....

Does your GM ever cal anyone out in front of others. OR raise his vioce ot an employee?
I would not tolerate either action..As far as I am concerend the manger that loses his cool loses the resepct of the people that work for him..He also loses all crdibilty..And he may find himself looking up at the ceiling if he gets in the grill of the wrong guy...

Good luck to you as well. I look forward to discussing issues with you...

 

[Van]

Does your GM ever cal anyone out in front of others. OR raise his vioce ot an employee?
...

Yea he does but what middle manager doesnt?

 

[RIRWIN1983]

I have seen shoddy work from both subs and DNS techs. Generaly contractors are eather very good or not, the DNSC techs are only fair but never real bad. They take no risks and show no creativity a week never goies by when I have a install which has been NLOS by a DNS which I have made work

But there is a difference between a professional and a person who does this as a job. the pro will take the time to keep informed about the changes in technology. He will comunicate with the customer not just tell them what he want to do. He will attemmpt to complete every job even if it requires working untill late at night or driving to the local hardware store because he needs some odd part.

I am not sure that the satallite companys realy want professionals doing installs any more. If you look at the bottom dollar it might be cheeper in the short run to hire "employees" and have a rolling door then keep a staff of pros on hand.

if that is true, then the pro's should all become qc

 

[Van]

if that is true, then the pro's should all become qc

Thats a big pay cut.

 

[dishcomm]

Yep, and you can spot them on this site as well

oh boy can you ever.....The minute you ring the bell if it sounds like a funeral pire, you can rest assured you may as well call your remaining customers and let thm know you'll be late....
the cust that thinks their job is the only one you have for the day..The one that thinks you are in a hurry because you don't have time to hold their hand thru the entire install..The ones that have the deer in the headlights look in their face when you hand them the remote and get all pissy when you won't spend 30 minutes demoing the equipment...

That said. most cuts are pretty cool...it's the few that make this a job instead of something I do and enjoy to make a living

 

[dishcomm]

Yea he does but what middle manager doesnt?

that happened to me a couple of times...The last was almost and ugly scene..The guy was just carrying on to everyone like an idiot...Some guys just grumbled.I said we are grown men here.You don't have to yell to get your point across..He walked across the room and got like 5 feet away and started in on me..I interrupted him and told him not to make this personal..He said a couple of not so nice things..But I didn't hear them..I got up and walked out....Nothing ever became of it..The guy knew if he had gone to the GM he wouldn't have a leg to stand on....After that exchange none of us had any respect for him...When he spoke, nobody cared...

No one has the right regardless of their position of authority has the right to yell at anyone, use deragatory terms to an employee,etc..It's just unacceptable..
I won't take sh*t from anybody...
The guy above was 5 feet from getting an opportunity to get a close view of the vinyl he was standing on....