Techs, what to do, when customer cannot be activated after install?

[awblackmon]

I did a four room install. Called to activate. I was then told I could not, until a past due on the account was paid. I handed my phone to the customer and said customer service needs to talk to them. I was leaving it up to the CSR to inform the customer about past due amount. Over an hour later, the conversation was still going on. Mostly in a second language, I don't speak. I was handed back the phone and I asked what was going on? The CSR then asked me what was going on? I was confused at this point. He told me there was a discrepancy in the work order. I said I don't know what he was showing but mine was very clear and it did not make sense he would have a work order differing from mine. I was to swap out the customers old recivers for new ones and put up a new dish at the new home. Not very confusing, and it did not make sense to have him say there were discrepancies. I told him that the original call was to get the receivers activated but I was informed the customer had a outstanding balance and over an hour later it isn't resolved? Turns out, the second language was customer asking why they had to have new receivers instead of having the old ones installed. I answered the customers question about mpeg 4 local channel changes, and then informed her that she had the outstanding bill to pay. Oh, let me pay that and she whips out her check book. I tell her no, she has to call Directv on her phone, and pay with a debit or credit card. She did. So, what was lost in translation over the last hour I was wondering?

So from this I have learned I will never let this happen ever again. I will tell the customer myself, and inform them this has to be resolved in the next ten minuets or I am leaving with all equipment. Meanwhile, I wonder why a tech is dispatched for an install when someone owes on the bill, and the install cannot be activated. I am not a bill collector for Directv, I am an installer that almost lost the pay for the install that day. I so wish I could do a back charge to Directv for what occurred that day. I had to wait extra time. I had an hours drive home, and I was not in a very good mood. Have any of you had this experience and how did it go for you? Alan

[dave29]

Meanwhile, I wonder why a tech is dispatched for an install when someone owes on the bill, and the install cannot be activated.

I was wondering the same thing as I read your story.

Man that sucks, I guess when you pull into the job, the first thing you should do is ask them if their account is current:nono2:

[Mertzen]

I've been to a few service calls, did the work and had to replace a IRD to then find out that there is a past due and the new box can not be activated.
All I could do was do was pack up the new box and tell them to call back once they pay up.

Does indeed bring up why D* sends out a tech with a past due.

Hey at least you got payed in the end. visit my frustration thread and read my story on 3-4 hours work for nothing since the customer decided to cancel before activation.

[awblackmon]

I love the frustration thread, and did read your story. I am a pretty laid back guy but that would get my blood boiling, and I would have to work on keeping my mouth shut! Alan

[RobertE]

Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt. :mad:

It's gotten considerably better over the past few months though.

Last one was on a HD upgrade. Put in a HR2x and was supposed to replace another box that was failing.

Went through the IVR (pre-handheld), it took all the numbers for the HR2x, shut off the old box (a tivo I think), then bam off to CSR land.

The guy didn't have money in his account to pay right then and there so he was SOL.

The CSR couldn't/wouldn't turn on programming on the HR. Same for the old box. So he was left with one box that we did nothing with working in the kids room. No body was happy, I do feel a tiny bit sorry for the CSR that was on the other end as it wasn't there call to make but still.

What sort of screwed up policies and procedures allow for a truck roll, knowing full well that any new or replacement receivers will not be activated? Sure the customer needs to pay their bill, if not cancel or postpone the truck roll. Sending a tech out to play bill collector is slimey and real bad customer service.

[Shades228]

You can activate using the IVR/hand held and the receiver will activate but services will not turn on ie 721 instead of 711.

Orders won't be placed when accounts are past due but if the account goes past due from the time it was placed until the work was done there's not much to avoid that other then making the customer pay. You might just want to make a habit of calling on the account to check if it's past due before rolling.

[Matt9876]

I've had three jobs in the past 4 years where I had to repacked all the equipment in my truck and never got paid for the call.

A contract installers job is really bad and this is just one reason why.

[awblackmon]

What sort of screwed up policies and procedures allow for a truck roll, knowing full well that any new or replacement receivers will not be activated? Sure the customer needs to pay their bill, if not cancel or postpone the truck roll. Sending a tech out to play bill collector is slimey and real bad customer service.[/QUOTE]

My question exactly. I had to drive 120 miles. I know we all have long distance runs, but there needs to be a bit more watching out for the techs by Directv to protect them. Directv is excelling in customer satisfaction and if we got treated as in house customers, wow, things could really be a lot nicer for everyone. That includes the customer that may have to wait a few days until the bill got paid, and then the tech is certain he would not roll up on a bill collecting session. I know it doesn't happen a lot, but when it does, it is not a great experience to go through, and hard feelings develop. Alan

[joe diamond]

I've had three jobs in the past 4 years where I had to repacked all the equipment in my truck and never got paid for the call.

A contract installers job is really bad and this is just one reason why.

+1

When they start yacking about accounts I have found it best to grab the boxes and leave. Let them pay you for the return trip. I once told a CSR my rate was $60.00 hr and I needed their employee number so I could bill them. That speeded up things. Just leaving has worked best.

When this happened with a fulfillment deal where I changed my schedule to install these dudes I just left the boxes and all. They (the dudes) were getting belligerent with me. One of them had already said he was sure I would run right over to some white guy's house after dark for an installation.

So now DTV will cowboy up and have their employees sit around on the clock while these things are discussed.

Joe

[Fabuloso]

i did a 1 receiver movers HD upgrade that as i was told by the customer two other techs came and couldnt do the install LOS issues so after i "helped the customer cut down a tree branch" got everything installed and setup called to activate (this was before RIO) and customer had to pay their bill. as soon as i heard i allready paid from the customer i had him sign and i was out of there. we dont get paid to wait around or collect bills. Maybe if we started to Unionize as installers we would be taken more seriously by Directv or more importantly our HSP's. Our collective voice would be louder then one person complaining here and there. We need representation! ASAP!!

[dothdewman]

Whats really fun when you do a big install then get your handheld to activate boxes and the work order is gone, as been cancelled, and you call D* and they say to call this number and you call and its the fraud dept , when someone gets on they talk to customer and get it straight, but they cannot reopen work order, so tell me this, i put myself onsite at a job, everyone can see me onsite in siebel and they have my phone number, why can they not call me and tell me the work order is being cancelled. some things just dont make sense.

[DaaQ]

I had that happen pre siebel days, it was a 4 room HD install. I got there at 12pm, was ready to close about 6ish and job was cancelled by D* around 2pm.
I was new back then. If I get one now that seems fishy I'll call to find out if there is a past due.
But I have had luck in getting boxes activated to the account so I didn't have to take them with me. Ivr is your friend.

[Shades228]

Whats really fun when you do a big install then get your handheld to activate boxes and the work order is gone, as been cancelled, and you call D* and they say to call this number and you call and its the fraud dept , when someone gets on they talk to customer and get it straight, but they cannot reopen work order, so tell me this, i put myself onsite at a job, everyone can see me onsite in siebel and they have my phone number, why can they not call me and tell me the work order is being cancelled. some things just dont make sense.

Fraud won't open the work order but once the account is cleared by fraud you can call installation support and they can open it. Worst case scenario the customer has to place the order over and you get the new work order.

[Mertzen]

Fraud won't open the work order but once the account is cleared by fraud you can call installation support and they can open it. Worst case scenario the customer has to place the order over and you get the new work order.

And how many hours on the phone does that take :eek2::lol:

[RobertE]

And how many hours on the phone does that take :eek2::lol:

All of them. :(

[Mertzen]

I hate when you call IVR, get bounced to a CSR and they tell you 'call this #'. I hang up straight away, call my office and tell them to deal with it.

[joe diamond]

This issue, like all the others, is rare,

But like all the other potential problems...it is resolved so DTV is ok at the end and anybody else has spent and wasted time and money.

I really like the time and materials idea. The FREE installation would immediately go to $200.00. Let DTV give it back to customers who abide by the terms of the contract they never read.

Joe

[hobie346]

This issue, like all the others, is rare,

But like all the other potential problems...it is resolved so DTV is ok at the end and anybody else has spent and wasted time and money.

I really like the time and materials idea. The FREE installation would immediately go to $200.00. Let DTV give it back to customers who abide by the terms of the contract they never read.

Joe

You mean I was supposed to read a piece of paper that I never saw before I said go ahead and sign me up? :sure:

[joe diamond]

You mean I was supposed to read a piece of paper that I never saw before I said go ahead and sign me up? :sure:

That is some catch, that catch22!

I have found that DTV and all their subcontractors never lie. If something is stated in the paperwork there is some way of identifying a reality within the statement. You will just be surprised how.

The installation IS free. There will be wire all over the place and you agreed it was OK to park on the lawn and date your daughter. Should you want to drop a service that will be ten dollars and if you try to quit all the way...

Joe

[MrShowtime]

you cry :(

I've had 2 go down like this. One family owed like $700 and I forget the story on the other one. Both were 4 boxers.

[joe diamond]

you cry :(

I've had 2 go down like this. One family owed like $700 and I forget the story on the other one. Both were 4 boxers.

Many of my bogus jobs were DirectSatUSA......the Philadelphia ones. Won't do that again!

Joe

[Johnnie5000]

Had that happen last week because some dude out in the sticks owed $26. Before I handed the guy the phone I told him there was an issue with his account and he had 15 minutes to resolve it or I canceled the work order, took the good box, and put the defective box back in. And yes, I canceled it 15 minutes later. No time to play grabass over crap like that.

[dracozny]

Had that happen last week because some dude out in the sticks owed $26. Before I handed the guy the phone I told him there was an issue with his account and he had 15 minutes to resolve it or I canceled the work order, took the good box, and put the defective box back in. And yes, I canceled it 15 minutes later. No time to play grabass over crap like that.
ive alwyas gotten the box at minimum activated via the handheld. any services not functioning are the customers responsibility if the account is past due. once box is active job is closed and I am payed, so i give them whatever tutorial i can and get lost. my office requirement as far as paperwork, except for the final signature stating work complete all paperwork including lease agreement must be signed prior to doing any work.

[Herdfan]

What sort of screwed up policies and procedures allow for a truck roll, knowing full well that any new or replacement receivers will not be activated? ......Sending a tech out to play bill collector is slimey and real bad customer service.

But that may be exactly the goal. It may be easier to get a cutomer to pay up with a tech sitting in their living room.

[JimDaddy]

After being burned a few times, I have gotten in the habit of calling DTV BEFORE doing the installation if I find the customer has had DTV in the past. The CSR can tell you if there will be any problem with activation and you can then either have the customer pay up or leave without having done the work. BTW I have never had this problem with Dish Network. I also think this is intentional on DTVs part as the belief is that the customer will often pay up if the system has been installed.

[awblackmon]

Wish I could back charge them for my time when the install isn't activated. After all, they easily back charge us for things we don't really get much documentation about.

[Cats#8]

I had a three boxer today and got everything activated and got to the paper work and asked the customer if the phone company who is partnered up with D. Informed them that there was a 2 year lease. Why no they didn't! :mad: I came very close to having to pull all the stuff out. This phone company will tell people anything for a sell. The sad part these people would have been much happier with the cable they had before I cut there wires and hooked them to my ground block.:D

[MadMac]

I'm finding this a rather interesting read. Several years ago, I worked for a well-known national department store chain which also has an appliance and electronics repair division, and I used to run into the same stuff:

Note on service order : "Cash Payment only, confirm ability to pay before commencing work". I call the lady before going there, she claims no idea of what this is about. I referred her to our Customer Service to resolve. The call disappeared off my route, never found out how it ended up....

Turn up at address on service order to find that the appliance is at another address (in one case, in Manila!)

Service order has a zip code in the area but city unknown, area code on phone number is way out of area - discussion with customer establishes that they're 300+ miles away!

Service order has an address in the area but an out-of area phone number - discussion with customer establishes that they're two states and 1200 miles away!

Turn up to service call and 'customer' has no idea why I'm there - turns out that the people on the service order moved out over a year ago and are believed to have gone to Minnesota!

'Emergency' call on brand new appliance (must go today) - I get there, no answer at the door and only get the answering machine on the phone. I call the alternate phone number on the service order and find out that it's the lady's workplace, where I'm told that she's on vacation in Colorado for two weeks!

Sent to "hook up" new appliances - I get there and find out this character expects us to install new plumbing and venting for his new washer and dryer. When he got nasty about it, I referred him back to the store he got them from and left the scene.

Service order states "Customer will produce paperwork for Maintenance Agreement" (meant that we had no record of it on our system - usually, that was a sign of trouble ahead, and this was no exception) - I got there and the customer's mother was there with the paperwork, and they definitely had a valid agreement....with B**t B*y. The lady spoke very little English, so I had our Spanish call-takers (who actually, were generally the best to deal with!) explain things to her.

Regular one - apartment building, care facility or some kind of commercial enterprise. Either they had a Maintenance Agreement (not valid for commercial use) or there would be nobody there with means or authority to pay. I had one owner on the phone demanding that we do the job and send him a bill (we had no mechanism to do that). When he threatened to call my manager, I told him "Tell you what, Sir - I'll save you the cost of a phone call, I'll have him call you. He'll be happy to explain things to you". Never heard from him again, either....

Didn't happen to me, but one guy arrived at a call just as the door was being smashed in by the local PD and the DEA folks. Discussion with the officer in charge established that laundry service was provided where the occupants were going, and as such, they wouldn't be needing their washer fixed any time soon.....

Moral of the story - it's not just you folks who get this happening.

[joe diamond]

I'm finding this a rather interesting read. Several years ago, I worked for a well-known national department store chain which also has an appliance and electronics repair division, and I used to run into the same stuff:

Note on service order : "Cash Payment only, confirm ability to pay before commencing work". I call the lady before going there, she claims no idea of what this is about. I referred her to our Customer Service to resolve. The call disappeared off my route, never found out how it ended up....

Turn up at address on service order to find that the appliance is at another address (in one case, in Manila!)

Service order has a zip code in the area but city unknown, area code on phone number is way out of area - discussion with customer establishes that they're 300+ miles away!

Service order has an address in the area but an out-of area phone number - discussion with customer establishes that they're two states and 1200 miles away!

Turn up to service call and 'customer' has no idea why I'm there - turns out that the people on the service order moved out over a year ago and are believed to have gone to Minnesota!

'Emergency' call on brand new appliance (must go today) - I get there, no answer at the door and only get the answering machine on the phone. I call the alternate phone number on the service order and find out that it's the lady's workplace, where I'm told that she's on vacation in Colorado for two weeks!

Sent to "hook up" new appliances - I get there and find out this character expects us to install new plumbing and venting for his new washer and dryer. When he got nasty about it, I referred him back to the store he got them from and left the scene.

Service order states "Customer will produce paperwork for Maintenance Agreement" (meant that we had no record of it on our system - usually, that was a sign of trouble ahead, and this was no exception) - I got there and the customer's mother was there with the paperwork, and they definitely had a valid agreement....with B**t B*y. The lady spoke very little English, so I had our Spanish call-takers (who actually, were generally the best to deal with!) explain things to her.

Regular one - apartment building, care facility or some kind of commercial enterprise. Either they had a Maintenance Agreement (not valid for commercial use) or there would be nobody there with means or authority to pay. I had one owner on the phone demanding that we do the job and send him a bill (we had no mechanism to do that). When he threatened to call my manager, I told him "Tell you what, Sir - I'll save you the cost of a phone call, I'll have him call you. He'll be happy to explain things to you". Never heard from him again, either....

Didn't happen to me, but one guy arrived at a call just as the door was being smashed in by the local PD and the DEA folks. Discussion with the officer in charge established that laundry service was provided where the occupants were going, and as such, they wouldn't be needing their washer fixed any time soon.....

Moral of the story - it's not just you folks who get this happening.

Good one!

While most installs do go in without issue...you do remember some. I note that the crazy ones with the unrealistic customer expectations seem to come from the same (sloppy) sales offices.

I thought I was the only one,

Thanks!

Joe

[BattleZone]

Had a customer last week who let my tech start the job, and once he got started, called to cancel the job. I'm not sure what she told the CSR, because the job showed the tech as being on-site and working, but the job was indeed canceled. Of course, she didn't bother to mention this to the tech. When he went to activate, naturally there was no way to do so. Digging into the work order history, this same customer had done this twice before.

I called her up and spoke with her, and explained to her that since she was no longer a customer of the provider, I was going to be sending her a bill for my tech's labor, and I was calling to confirm the billing address. When she protested, I explained what a Contractor's Lien was, and that I had her signature on the work order to begin the work (my company policy for all my techs), so that it would be a routine matter to process the lien. Her alternative would be to call the provider back and re-open her work order, which is what she chose to do.

Normally I wouldn't take that kind of measure, but this particular customer had been purposely trying to "work the system" to get free service, at the expense of the techs (mine in this case). I also had her account extensively noted; she won't be getting any freebees.

[MadMac]

We used to get the people who would play what we called "S***s Lotto". Example:

Refrigerator with a few small stress cracks in a small area of the lining. Manufacturer's approved fix was a patch which moulded itself into the cracks, very effective. I get this call, two techs have been there before me. Father (speaks no English) is there with two daughters in their 20s. He wants the unit replaced - the daughters are very reasonable, he refuses the repair outright (he'd done the same to the two guys who went there before me). I explain that this is the only thing I can offer, but he still refuses the repair. I leave, close the order out as "customer refused factory-approved repair".

Three months later, the same people turn up on my route - I call it up on the laptop, turns out that there's now been NINE calls in the last three months, same thing every time. I call the house and get one of the daughters, and explain that there's no point in me coming there to tell them what they've already been told umpteen times - she agrees, and I suggest the best course of action is to have this referred to a manager to sort it out. She agrees with this and I kick the call back to dispatch, explain to them that this needs to be escalated. It eventually turned out that we replaced the fridge just to shut them up :rolleyes:

Then, you get the idiots....

One of the guys goes to this house - they have a front-load washer with the dryer stacked on top in an outbuilding with no proper drain, the hose is on the ground and the water ran into the bottom of the machine, frying the motor control board. We fix it and warn them that next time, they'll be charged.

A while later, I get called there for the dryer. I get there, and it's in the garden....incinerated. Just as I'm about to try to find out what happened, the local Fire Department arrive with the Police as company. One of the firemen tells me that they were called there a few nights previously, and what had happened was that the guy had decided that it would be cheaper to ron the dryer from a tank of propane he got at the local Home Despot. Nothing wrong with that per se, but he omitted the small, but very important, step of converting the burner from Natural Gas. The fire folks had come back to cite him and requested the OB to be on hand in case of problems. As for the dryer, it was beyond repair, and we weren't going to cover it on his Maintenance this time......

[ndole]

I'm no bill collector. If I wanted to do that for a living I wouldn't have sank $X,000.00's into tools & trucks so I can be an INSTALLER!

(and be bent over every other way that D* can think of to get freebies out of me.)

I'm not asking for a $70/hr (drive my company into the ground) uaw-like job here. I just want to be treated fairly, and be payed for my time. If I run into a situation when my cx can'r be activated, I take a different approach. I make it very clear that I will not get payed until they pay their bill, and until that happens I'm not going anywhere. In so many words they get the point.

[CJTE]

For the record guys, unless something has recently immensely changed for the worse (which actually, policy-strictness wise the system has gotten tighter), a truck roll CAN NOT be setup on an account with a balance due (as in past due).

However, that isn't to say that the CSR set the customer up with X service call, then the account went unpaid, and now can't be activated. I suspect 99% of the time this is what happens.

The only way a CSR can activate a receiver on an account with a balance due is to credit the account for the amount due (assuming its even within their credit limit), editing the account, and then deleting the credit. Its much easier said than done, to start with. Secondly, CSR's have been getting lower and lower credit limit. The current one for most CSR's is $150/week.
There are some system quirks that CSR's have to credit, like mishaps where service calls should be free but the customer got charged $70/whatever... Thats half the CSR's credit limit on one call!
Or when a customer is elligable for a free upgrade but the system is charging for the equipment... Sometimes that one call is beyond their credit limit and they have to have a supervisor do it. And when I say supervisor I don't mean a floor supervisor, I mean the special credit dept. that you can't talk to on the phone (its an internal dept. that the floor supervisors email).

The CSR's aren't trying to screw techs over, sometimes there literally isn't anything they can do.

Oh, and for every 100 dumb CSR's you get, there's atleast 5 dumb techs :-P


EDIT:
and on a side-note... Siebel/RIO isn't all that it's chocked up to be. It's a front-end to a much nicer back-end account/receiver system & database, with a few other systems integrated into it.
So what happens when RIO crashes? At least prior to all the integration you could rig something together if one system failed. Now one is all...
It's slow. I mean, it's never been fast, but now that its the ONLY thing EVERYONE uses, its SLOW. And customers wonder why CSRs try to keep them talking or go off on tangents...
and finally... To put it blatantly, it's STILL too convoluted! The whole transition to the system was so that the dingbats working the phones (and don't get me wrong, not all of them are dingbats but most of them... Oh my gosh.) wouldn't have to figure the system out but they STILL don't understand!

Ugh. For some people, it's like you just took away a computer and gave them a babies toy. For other people, well they aren't computer-literate so it doesn't even matter!

/vent.