Ugly install

[Geekzilla]

Check out the "fine" job that DirecTV did for a friend of mine on a new install a couple of months ago. Little did I know when he signed up that I'd have to spend an afternoon disassembling everything and installing it myself. They actually mounted the slimline on a non-flat rickety fencepost. I can't believe that installer even got a nice tip?!?

I was just clearing off pictures from my phone and had to post these somewhere.

[eandras]

Do you have any pictures of how you mounted it and fixed the cable run?

[Geekzilla]

No pics of the cleanup, but we dug a hole much closer to the house and planted in cement a 6"x8" (I think that was the size) post and mounted the dish on that. The call center couldn't figure out why they were losing Ka signal. I went in their backyard and could actually see the dish shaking in the wind.

[ironwood]

He got a tip for leaving cable lying on the ground along the fence? Why?

[Geekzilla]

He got a tip for leaving cable lying on the ground along the fence? Why?
I think those were my exact words...

[johnp37]

Check out the "fine" job that DirecTV did for a friend of mine on a new install a couple of months ago. Little did I know when he signed up that I'd have to spend an afternoon disassembling everything and installing it myself. They actually mounted the slimline on a non-flat rickety fencepost. I can't believe that installer even got a nice tip?!?

I was just clearing off pictures from my phone and had to post these somewhere.
Has it ocurred to anyone to submit the pictures of this mess to Directv? Does the friend for whom this atrocity was done have any concept whatsoever of a proper much less a professional install? And he actually tipped the installer? I am way beyond being completely stunned by this....absolutely criminal.

[josetann]

I would never tip just because it's expected. If the installer tries his best, even if it's not done just right I'm nice to him. Maybe give a cash tip, or see if he wants any spare stuff I have laying around (one guy had kids so I loaded him up with lots of kids software I had laying around). One guy had to come out multiple times and had to do work that he shouldn't have had to do (I think he was a senior tech or something, was only supposed to come out to verify that I did indeed have line of sight and the previous installers were just too lazy to do the install, he ended up coming out again and putting in the pole and waited for the actual installer to show up); he got a tip. Last guy did a decent job of installing the dish, but I was not happy that he was going to splice the cable run since he ran out of one spool and didn't want to waste cable (so instead of one long run about 50-60 feet, he wanted to use a coupler and splice in an extra 10ft cable). I can't stand unnecessary splices, so I spent probably 30 minutes running up in the attic, repositioning the cable just right (had to crawl around and keep feeding the cable around some boards to gain some extra length). It was unbearably hot and it would have just taken a couple minutes to fish a new cable that was the right size. He also didn't have any BBCs on him, luckily I had packed up the ones that originally came with the HR20. He didn't go above and beyond, so I didn't tip. Had I not had to spend so much time in the sweltering attic, he would have had a tip waiting for him.

[BattleZone]

He also didn't have any BBCs on him

When I was doing HSP work (10 months or so ago), it was nearly impossible to get spare BBC's from the HSP. They had about 10 spares, and would only give them out one-at-a-time (I was running 15 installers). We had to pilfer them out of bad receivers.

The point is that some of these things are not the fault of the installers.

[SteveHas]

Thats worse than the hack job they did on my roof.
My cable runs look horible.
He left the wires hanging loose on the roof, and across the garage. The installer even snapped off a carriage bolt in my roof I recently discovered, and left a hole.
Calls to DirecTV at the time yielded little or no symapthy.
The installation contractor won't return calls either.

The job they did an even worse on my neighbors. The installer relocated the dish on his roof no less than 4 times during the install.
That adds up to LOTS of holes in his roof.

This is one area that truly needs to be addressed in the northeast.
I personally know of 5 families that discontinued D* due to poor installation service.
Its no way to start a relationship with your customer.

[Grentz]

Wow, never good to hear of bad installer stories.

Luckily I have been lucky in my area and both installs went just fine. Given the first time they just replaced the dish, and the second time they just realigned a different dish I installed (slimline), but the guys did a good job both times.

I would not accept that kind of work though, they wouldnt be leaving until it got fixed or I got credits to DIM (do it myself).

Why O why can D* not just let us install our own stuff like in the 90s! I pretty much install it all myself anyways :p

[SteveHas]

Wow, never good to hear of bad installer stories.

Luckily I have been lucky in my area and both installs went just fine. Given the first time they just replaced the dish, and the second time they just realigned a different dish I installed (slimline), but the guys did a good job both times.

I would not accept that kind of work though, they wouldnt be leaving until it got fixed or I got credits to DIM (do it myself).

Why O why can D* not just let us install our own stuff like in the 90s! I pretty much install it all myself anyways :p

I agree, I installed my first dish back in 97-98.
No one will do it like yourself.

[gmtussb]

I agree, I installed my first dish back in 97-98.
No one will do it like yourself.

I installed my first dish in 1995.

I had a local authorized DTV dealer do my recent Slimline install. I wasn't that bad actually. The pole was installed well, in concrete, the wire runs were neat up the exterior wall and into the house and the alignment was perfect. However, the position he chose for the dish was for the ease of getting the satellites. He did not want to deal with potential obstructions to LOS on the west side of my house. The problem is he had no consideration for grounding the system. There was no grounding at all because he was so far away form the west side of my house where my electrical service ground rod is.

I figured out that I could acquire the satellites on the west side of the house and that was the subject of one of my earlier posts using the constellation Orion at night to find where the satellites are.

So I moved my Slimline dish myself, new concrete, new wires, grounded the dish, grounded the cables with a grounding block directly to the grounding rod with a new coupling. This required digging in the flower bed to expose the grounding rod. Mounted an exterior plastic box on the exterior of the building to shield the grounding block from the weather. Ran all the wires neatly.

This "re-install" took me about 6 to 7 hours and did not include getting wires down the walls in the house since that was already done. My install looks great, so neat and organized looking. Signal stength is perfect.

I just can't see a HSP spending this kind of time and effort on a neat install. I don't blame them, that's not my point, the way I did my install would require that AN HSP could fit in one install a day, maybe two. They can't afford that.

My point is that DirecTV should make the equipment easily available to the end user if they want to do their own install. The way it use to be.

[CrazyforYeshua]

That's about as smart as putting my local dish on top of my metal shed. Needless to say, it got fixed right quick-pole mounted. Why the original installer didn't do that originally, only God knows....

[JACKIEGAGA]

It looks like your friend is on a cliff. I would of threw the installer off the cliff

[Geekzilla]

Well my friend didn't know any better, and probably figured I'd fix it. I assume most installers do a good job. I've only had an installer service my account once, and the service was exemplary. This kind of job is how DirecTV gets the reputation of fickle service during bad weather and eyesore installations. Regarding the tips, I chastised him for giving a tip, but to each his own I guess. I usually tip 20%-30% but won't hesitate to stiff someone for poor service. He never should have signed the work order.

[PicaKing]

Check out the "fine" job that DirecTV did for a friend of mine on a new install a couple of months ago. Little did I know when he signed up that I'd have to spend an afternoon disassembling everything and installing it myself. They actually mounted the slimline on a non-flat rickety fencepost. I can't believe that installer even got a nice tip?!?

I was just clearing off pictures from my phone and had to post these somewhere.

Those pictures are off your phone???? Look awfully good for a cell phone camera. Hmmmmm......

[tcusta00]

Yeah, good call there Pica - what kind of phone is that?!

[davring]

No pics of the cleanup, but we dug a hole much closer to the house and planted in cement a 6"x8" (I think that was the size) post and mounted the dish on that. The call center couldn't figure out why they were losing Ka signal. I went in their backyard and could actually see the dish shaking in the wind.

Keep an eye on your Friends alignment as the lumber drys and the wood attempts to return to its natural state, ie: slightly twists and warps. All wood does this, I have been burned twice mounting dishes this way. If it is an old seasoned post you may be OK. Your cell phone camera does indeed take good pic's.

[jaguar325]

These kinds of horror stories are the reason I do most of the work myself and, for what I can't do (or they won't let me), I go up on the roof and stand there next to the guy while he's working. Fortunately, I have been able to find paths for cables inside the attic and through floor joists (which I ran before he came). So, I've only got about 2-3 feet of exposed RG6 up on the roof -- which I tied down neatly after the installer left.

Frankly, I think the issue is both local subcontractor quality (in some cases) -and- DTV probably pushes them to the limit on what they will pay for the work. Consequently, you end up with a "get 'er done" attitude where the most important thing seems to be checking the box that the install is done.. in the quickest amount of time. So, unless you want to pay higher rates, you do the work yourself. For those who can't, they're stuck with luck of the draw.

[tcusta00]

Keep an eye on your Friends alignment as the lumber drys and the wood attempts to return to its natural state, ie: slightly twists and warps.

He already took care of that...

we dug a hole much closer to the house and planted in cement a 6"x8" (I think that was the size) post and mounted the dish on that.

[davring]

He already took care of that...

I was referring to his new 6X8, merely a word of caution.

[tcusta00]

I was referring to his new 6X8, merely a word of caution.

Sorry, my bad.

[Geekzilla]

Yeah, good call there Pica - what kind of phone is that?!
Those pics were from my Iphone. Thanks for the heads up on the post drying. I'll check up on the signal strength next time I'm over there.

[MONSTERMAN]

Why not mount it on the side of the house? Doesn't look like there are any trees around. At least there on the side of the house you could actually use the 2 support brackets that come with the slimline (no more shaking). Smaller cable runs would also be advantageous for signal quality (being sure to use BC rg6 and quality connectors). I am sure nothing was grounded as well, they never ground here... Call and have IRONWOOD come back out to reinstall and definitely ground (they are required to ground).

[Geekzilla]

Why not mount it on the side of the house? Doesn't look like there are any trees around. At least there on the side of the house you could actually use the 2 support brackets that come with the slimline (no more shaking). Smaller cable runs would also be advantageous for signal quality (being sure to use BC rg6 and quality connectors). I am sure nothing was grounded as well, they never ground here... Call and have IRONWOOD come back out to reinstall and definitely ground (they are required to ground).
The builder put all the wire access points on the north side of the house, which is ridiculous since some of them are specifically for satellite. By moving the dish much closer to the house we cut off around 25-30 feet of cable. The last thing I want to see is the installer messing things up again.