Scared to move!

[SATin]

I will probably be moving soon and am scared about the nightmare ahead with dish.

I prefer to do my own careful wiring, dish pointing, etc.

I'm wondering if I should just buy everthing I need for a new install and just take my receivers with me. Delaying telling dish that I moved.

Or if I should just call them up and have the installer come and possibly have Dish mess things up in one way or another. I've read too many scary stories here about the left hand not knowing what the rght hand did etc.

So, I'd love to hear some expert opinions on what I should do.

Do dishmover and potentially regret it, or do it myself keeping everything perfect, but delaying telling dish about the move? Is it THAT important to tell them I've moved?

Can I just tell them that I moved and already set the system up or will set it up myself?

I wish dish would allow people to do their own installs if they choose to. They could always put up a $10 per min tech support line or something for self installers.

Does dish care if I buy stuff (all legit) from ebay or dish store etc? If not, why don't they allow self installs?

I was also wondering, is there anything special going on in their website Customer Care Log In section? Is it worth registering? Or just keep with the phone contact.

Thank you for any help:)

[Alpaca Bill]

I've moved in the past and just took all my equipment (dish, switches, and receivers) with to the new house. Installed it myself and then called Dish to update my location info with them.

Even when they offer "professional installation" when upgrading receivers, I just tell them I plan on installing myself and they credit me $50 (which is what is "built in" to their promo offers anyway).

Even my last move I called to check with Dish Mover but they would not duplicate my then current install. It was a Dish DP500 and a Dish DP300 with 2 DP34 switches to send 7 feeds thu my house (2 each for the 921s, 1 each for the 508s, and 1 for the 301). All they would offer was the Dish 500 and a series of DP21 switches and I would have to pay for the other pieces. I told them that was a joke and I just took my equipment with me and had the same installer for the last system come out to do this one. I just didn't have the time to do the install at the time otherwise I would have done it myself.

Now my installer is kinda a paranoid tech freak but he not only grounds the dish(es) but also each switch. Yet I still have been thru 6 921s now and I am looking at a possibility of a 7th next week!

Don't be afraid of the big bad wolf if you have the confidence and capability to the install yourself.

I guess I should add that I installed cable tv for 2 different companies in the past, I have wired 2 of my own houses and barns, and built 2 dedicated home theaters (including all the wiring). I will be building my third HT at my new house in the next year.

[Nightlife1970]

The reason Dish wants their techs to do the install, is because "MOST" customers are not able to do it properly. Now there are customers that are more than able to do it. But I have had to go out on so many service calls where there is some nightmare install, and most were done by the customer. This was because they did not want to pay for the mover.

Had one not to long ago. Customer is calling dish to complain his service is not working. He wants credit for time with no service, and wants a service call for free. Looking at the notes on the customers account you can see that there was an address change about three months ago. I get to the customers house and there is a dish tied onto a wroght iron hand rail with what looks like coat hanger wire. The cable drapes from the dish in through a cracked window to the receiver.

[greatwhitenorth]

One caveat about taking your Dish and switches with you, under the DHA agreement, those are not "your" LNB's and switches. They are required to remain at the old address. If you're not under the DHA, of course, then you would be free to take them.

The simplest "lie" to tell Customer Service is that the dish and cabling was already installed at your new house, and all you did was plug it in. They would certainly accept that explanation.

If you decide to go the "Dishmover" route, you can take an active role in the installation. Spell out exactly to the installer where you want the cable, where you want the dish, etc. Most installers (especially DNS) will go the extra mile for the customer, and take a lot of pride in our work. Very few people on this site take the time to report the good installations, just the bad ones. Good luck, and let us know what you end up doing.

[robert koerner]

<I prefer to do my own careful wiring, dish pointing, etc>

I watched the first installer and asked a lot of questions; told him to get off my roof.

The second installer knew what he was doing, did a great job, and mused I had difficulty with the first installer because he had run out of parts (I believe I know enough about RF so that all the installer has to know is how to wire and plug things into each other).

Mine was a simple install, was free, and I didn't feel like buying a special crimping tool, or meter to aim the dish.

Bob

[SATin]

So it sounds like I can just tell them straight out after the fact that I already moved and installed myself?

Again I wanted to ask: Does dish care if I buy stuff (all legit) from ebay or dish store etc? If not, why don't they allow self installs?

It just seems so strange that there's no mention of the 411 on the Dish site, yet I can get one from Dish Store?

I was also wondering, is there anything special going on in their website Customer Care Log In section? Is it worth registering? Or just keep with the phone contact.

Thank you :)

[greatwhitenorth]

Again, E* discourages self installs because so few people can do them correctly. Yes, there are people such as yourself who can, but you are definitley in the vast minority. It isn't that difficult once you master the particularly obscure skills used in an installation, but most people have no experience there.

As far as the 411, it was released to retailers before E* will release it directly. E* is expected to sell (or lease) it sometime in January IIRC. I've seen it, it does exist, really:lol: