Would they charge for a service call if someone tampered with my setup?

[Visitor]

Wow...three houses away, someone has some big ones! Think I would have kept the cable, if it was anything good! Who in their right mind would do that and think that it wouldn't be noticed?

Yes, I did keep all of the cable up to where it was coupled. I threw their end back onto their property.

A Dish sub contractor. We've seen it happen before.

I'll be honest, I'm starting to suspect that, but not sure. The part of the cable on their property looks like it was fastened against the walls of their roof as if it was done professionally and to top it off, the cabling and connector appears to be the exact same type and connector that was used in my own install. But I guess that's not conclusive since those may be a dime a dozen, but the professionalism ended right when the cable left their property and it was just left to hang all the way across to my house.

I take it your in NY NY?

Did you unbolt the dish so you could move side to side and fix it yourself? The dish should not move when you take the lnbf off. Does your dish move?

But it's pretty darn easy to move left to right to see if signal comes back in.

Yep, how did you guess where I was. Hah! I have not done that for fear of making things worse but I guess when I get nothing, I already am at "worst". I thought he same as well - which was puzzling - that removing the LNBF and connecting another receiver shouldn't have messed anything up. The dish itself seems fairly secure. I was trying to see if the arm holding the LNBF was bent and it did not seem so. I assume that the LNBF is not broken since I am picking up 118 from the other dish that is connected to the 4th port LNBF IN on the main reflector, but you know what happens when you assume. The other thing is - if it wasn't working for me before I discovered the unauthorized port - surely it wasn't working for that person as well - and if not, why did they just leave it connected... Anyway, I really do stink at aligning but in this case perhaps it's worth a try before calling. I just need a helping hand to do so to watch the meters... which prob won't happen until the weekend at earliest. Ugh.

Maybe the neighbor re-peaked your dish so they could get the sat signals there were looking for....how they thought this would go unnoticed is amazing. Must be how they did it in the "old country".

Which would explain why it wouldn't work for me and maybe it worked for them and therefore they left the cable connected. I still can't get over how they thought it would go unnoticed unless they thought I wasn't using it or that this was okay.... That part of me wants to confront them.

I am sure they would of came right out and arrested everyone at the property in question.....yea, right.

LMAO that's what I was thinking too... But I am torn between confronting them or just letting it be unless it occurs again. I think the latter for now. I obviously have their address. I wonder if there is a legit Dish sub registered to that address.

 

[Hall]

I would have left it in place and called the popo.

I am sure they would of came right out and arrested everyone at the property in question.....yea, right.

I don't know about New York, but if it's like most mid-size and larger cities, the police WILL NOT come out for something as petty as this !! Maybe in a small town, where the police have nothing else to do, they'd "investigate" it, but otherwise, calls are prioritized and this would go to the bottom of the list and likely stay there.

 

[Hall]

Yep, how did you guess where I was. Hah!

Anyway, I really do stink at aligning but in this case perhaps it's worth a try before calling. I just need a helping hand to do so to watch the meters... which prob won't happen until the weekend at earliest. Ugh.

First, your profile says your location is "The Big Apple" ;-)

Do you have a window near the dish ? Extra cabling (how about the neighbor's ??? ) that would let you move the TV somewhere visible ? Hehe, you could even use something like Skype if you have two devices, i.e. a PC/laptop and a smartphone or tablet....

 

[garys]

I'm surprised someone hooked up to your dish and no one noticed it.

 

[Bobby]

People in New York City do not notice things.....

 

[vash1090]

I got a big axe to grind with Dish. But not right now.

You can use this same tactic with Directv or any other provider.

The only reason why I suggested that because there is no consistent policy with any provider when it comes to service calls.

Some customers they insist they collect the $99, others they put on the protection plan and collect $15 and others they charge nothing.

It really comes down with any provider how valuable to them you are as a subscriber.

Even my own customers I don't charge a service call to when we send out a technician. I don't care if the customer was just installed,has the service plan or had the service 5 years. We serviced them all for free regardless.

Only time we ever charged customers is for the ones that abuse our policy and have us constantly going out for issues they create on their own.

If this was my customer, we would have sent out someone to fix it for free.

Thats how much I value my customers business. .

Most of the time it probably has to do with Star Status. Giving every service call free would just be a very poor business decision since DISH deals with about 14 million customers than you do personally.

 

[lfp302]

My darker side would have wanted me to attach that cable to a voltage source.

 

[Visitor]

My darker side would have wanted me to attach that cable to a voltage source.

I confess that this crossed my mind... then fear of being accused of arson set in. I approve of your darker side.

By the way, thank you all who have replied to this and gave me a smile and laugh over many of the responses. Part of my post was also to vent as well and this thread has been good therapy for me that was fuming that someone had the audacity to climb onto my property to do this and think no one would find out. You all are great.

 

[lazydogmot]

You are aware that you have to sign up for the $7 a month service plan before you can get the $15 service call. You can cancel the plan after the service call if you wish.

 

[Hall]

Nope, you have to keep the plan for a minimum time.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

 

[dare2be]

No, you don't have to keep the plan. If you cancel it before four months are up, you incur a $25 penalty, and keeping it for 4 months costs $28. If you only keep the plan for the week or two you need it to have the service call, then your costs would be a wash whether you keep it for the full 4 months or cancel it after 2 weeks.

 

[Hall]

No, you don't have to keep the plan. If you cancel it before four months are up, you incur a $25 penalty...

That was my point - they basically charge you an ETF. I don't think the penalty amount is a coincidence either being so close to (4) months of having the plan. On the other hand, without it, that service call was what, $90 ? If you use it one time, you come out ahead plenty.

 

[dishcomm]

Thanks.. I agree I think I'll leave the tampering out should I call them. I don't have the protection plan but it seems like it's not very expensive for them to come out to realign. At least I'm hoping that's all it is. The external 118 seems to flow through. I can get to the dish, but every time I've tried in the past to try to aim something I can never get it right... Perhaps I can give it a try again. It always seem so easy in print!

If you do not have a meter that is capable of seeing/ aligning a multi-sat antenna, do not attempt this yourself.
Your chances of making things worse are well over 50%.
Call Dish, add the service plan..and then schedule the service call.

 

[dishcomm]

LOL Yes I did.. I wasn't going to get into that part - but I tracked it back to a house an astounding 3 houses away! The houses aren't that far apart, so it's not like it's huge lots away but shoot, still... I disconnected it and saw that it was coupled with a female/female connector close to that home so I disconnected that end and took the cable and threw the cable back on their property after I broke off the connector. Still figuring out what other action if any since that's one of the reasons why I am moving.

There are connector shields you can buy to prevent this kind of theft again. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=0MNMUs7KH5Le8wSKy4HwDA&ved=0CHMQ9QEwBA
If you really want to get these jerks back, get a pair of latex gloves and spread some dog crap on the connectors and the exterior of the LNB..That'll fix 'em..
Oh, you'll need one of these for yourself...http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001T75RGU/?tag=satell01-20

 

[dishcomm]

It's not like they were stealing service. They were using an existing dish. They still needed a receiver that was activated by Dish and paid for monthly...

So YOU would do something like this?
If it were me, I'd have told the person who did this, my dogs like to chew on two things....Coax cable, and idiot trespassing neighbors.

 

[dishcomm]

A Dish sub contractor. We've seen it happen before.

I've seen it done at apartment complexes.
Actually landed on a service call where someone stole my custy's lnb and replaced it with a broken one. They just stuck it in the y connector and didn't even fake connecting the cable back..
Had to fix up the cable that was a mess and replace the LNB. I put terminator shields on the connectors at the lnb..

 

[PBinOHio]

Should have figured out a way to connect that coax to something to fry the equipment at the end. Short of starting a fire of course.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Visitor]

I take it your in NY NY?

Did you check to make sure your?
Dish Skew = 88.5
Elevation = 42.9

Did you unbolt the dish so you could move side to side and fix it yourself? The dish should not move when you take the lnbf off. Does your dish move?

But it's pretty darn easy to move left to right to see if signal comes back in.

Well, I checked the setup today with someone to help - and upon inspection of the bolts, etc. - it really looks like it was not touched at all. :-/ The skew and elevation is correct and I am starting to think that the dish wasn't moved out of alignment and maybe the LNBF is now bad. Is that possible from someone just connecting another receiver to the 3rd port?

I did a check switch and this time I saved the changes - and it shows me that I am only getting 77 (and 118 from the other dish). So, I'm missing 61.5 and 72. How likely would it be that the LNBF would be bad in this fashion? It looks like I can just pick up a LNBF for pretty cheap ($25?) and maybe give that a try and replace it. I'm thinking of this since it doesn't seem like the dish has moved and it very tight on the mast and it is still plumb from what I can tell. It can't hurt to try?

Now, the number of the LNBF reads A21CA2-WG100W5XJ.. Can someone tell me if I can just use any Eastern Arc 1000.4 LNBF? Like this one for example? http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Dish-Ne...464?pt=US_Antennas_Dishes&hash=item27cf88c488

or

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USED-DISH-N...131?pt=US_Antennas_Dishes&hash=item5d3bec287b

The one I have now sort of looks like the second one.

Ah, well... thanks everyone for bearing with me.

 

[TheKrell]

I still vote for "misalignment". A guess: you are getting 77 into the center LNB designed for 72.

 

[Visitor]

I think maybe I am hoping for an easy solution. Your guess sounds very plausible.