[neckhardt]

Is it just my area or everywhere where getting a service call is a challenge.

Our service went out last Wednesday (I am assuming a bad SWM). Their service hours here during the winter are 8:00 to 4:00. Unfortunately, my wife and I recently started new jobs and we can't take time off during the day for a service call. I told them I would be available after 4:30 on any day. They made an appointment for yesterday, and put a note that nobody over 18 would be available before 4:30. Of course the guy shows up at 3:30 and leaves telling us we need to make another appointment. All they could do was offer a Saturday appointment. After calling DirecTV and talking to the CSR, Retention Specialist, anf the Office of the President, their only "solutions" to my problem were:

"can't you get a relative to let us in?", NO,
"can't you get a neighbor to let us in?", No, they all work like we do,
"can't you take a half a day off of work ?", No, I'm new here and don't want to take a chance of losing a job for TV, besides a give a kid who was in a bad car accident a ride in to work with me, and I can't ask HIM to lose a half a day of pay for you to service my system.

So it has become apparent that if I have an equipment failure, I have to wait between 1 to 2 weeks for service. Is this normal or just a local issue?

 

[veryoldschool]

Sorry you're having a problem, but you also don't give them much opportunity either.
What was the tech to do?
Wait for an hour "hoping" someone would show up?
These techs aren't paid by the hour, so an hour of dead time comes right out of their wallet.
Clearly weekend appointments are in high demand.

 

[TAK3210]

Is it just my area or everywhere where getting a service call is a challenge.

Our service went out last Wednesday (I am assuming a bad SWM). Their service hours here during the winter are 8:00 to 4:00. Unfortunately, my wife and I recently started new jobs and we can't take time off during the day for a service call. I told them I would be available after 4:30 on any day. They made an appointment for yesterday, and put a note that nobody over 18 would be available before 4:30. Of course the guy shows up at 3:30 and leaves telling us we need to make another appointment. All they could do was offer a Saturday appointment. After calling DirecTV and talking to the CSR, Retention Specialist, anf the Office of the President, their only "solutions" to my problem were:

"can't you get a relative to let us in?", NO,
"can't you get a neighbor to let us in?", No, they all work like we do,
"can't you take a half a day off of work ?", No, I'm new here and don't want to take a chance of losing a job for TV, besides a give a kid who was in a bad car accident a ride in to work with me, and I can't ask HIM to lose a half a day of pay for you to service my system.

So it has become apparent that if I have an equipment failure, I have to wait between 1 to 2 weeks for service. Is this normal or just a local issue?

I don't think any "notes" that may get entered by the CSRs make it out to the techs. Somebody needs to tell the CSRs to stop offering that up as a solution to the customers' requests, imo.

 

[veryoldschool]

I don't think any "notes" that may get entered by the CSRs make it out to the techs. Somebody needs to tell the CSRs to stop offering that up as a solution to the customers' requests, imo.

Maybe not all of them make it to the techs, but I do know some do.
The OP's problem, looks to simply come down to being hard to match their schedule. It was one of the last appointments of the day, and the earlier ones were completed leaving this one "ready to work" before the OP was there.

 

[TAK3210]

Maybe not all of them make it to the techs, but I do know some do.
The OP's problem, looks to simply come down to being hard to match their schedule. It was one of the last appointments of the day, and the earlier ones were completed leaving this one "ready to work" before the OP was there.

But, if the tech got the note that nobody would be home until 4:30, why drive over there?

 

[veryoldschool]

But, if the tech got the note that nobody would be home until 4:30, why drive over there?

Maybe the note was there and maybe it wasn't, but "it was the next job".
What was he/she to do?
Sit on their butt for an hour and wait?
These are morning or afternoon appointments, for a reason.

 

[TAK3210]

Maybe the note was there and maybe it wasn't, but "it was the next job".
What was he/she to do?
Sit on their butt for an hour and wait?
These are morning or afternoon appointments, for a reason.

I guess drive over the guy's house and hang a note on the door. :lol:

 

[Jon J]

Can you make a private deal with the service person to come after hours for an extra fee?

 

[veryoldschool]

I guess drive over the guy's house and hang a note on the door. :lol:

Maybe it's just that I do see this from both sides. As a customer I don't like waiting and yet the installer gets a list of jobs for the day and has no idea how long each will take.
Had the installer been running late, this thread wouldn't have been started.
Had the installer not left a note, this thread would have been about a missed appointment.

 

[MysteryMan]

Sorry you're having a problem, but you also don't give them much opportunity either.
What was the tech to do?
Wait for an hour "hoping" someone would show up?
These techs aren't paid by the hour, so an hour of dead time comes right out of their wallet.
Clearly weekend appointments are in high demand.

+1......the OP is expecting the service call to completely revolve around his schedule. Sorry, but you need to be a little flexible.

 

[davejacobson]

While shutting down service at 4 seems an hour to early to me that apparently is their hours. Now can you make car service after hours without extra$$$$$ no. How about a doctor or a dentist no. For most things that you want someone to do for you there is daytime hours. For all service type work there is usually only daytime schedule unless emergency calls.TV is not an emergency.A saturday appointment seems to be a very good choice. Alot service companies dont do saturday work.Repairing (or installing)a dish system after the sun goes down just brings up all sorts of issues IMHO.Take the saturday call and be happy. The somebody over 18 has to be home is a liability issue which has not caught up with us yet here and I routinely service my customers with no one home.

 

[TDK1044]

Can you make a private deal with the service person to come after hours for an extra fee?

Yep. If you get a good tech, get his business card. There's a great tech who works in my area who will always fit me in between bookings if need be.

 

[RobertE]

The timeframe during winter hours are there for safety purposes. At the peak, sunset is just a little past 5pm. The tech needs enough daylight to complete the job without working outside in the dark.

The OP has 3 choices.

Take time off and be home during the ENTIRE 4 hour window.
Find someone to be there during the same window.
Make the appointment for a day off.

 

[neckhardt]

The timeframe during winter hours are there for safety purposes. At the peak, sunset is just a little past 5pm. The tech needs enough daylight to complete the job without working outside in the dark.

The OP has 3 choices.

Take time off and be home during the ENTIRE 4 hour window.
Find someone to be there during the same window.
Make the appointment for a day off.

While any of your suggestions would be nice, My wife and I recently started new jobs. We don't have the time off to be able to do this easily. We have nobody that can let them in as all of our neighbors work just like we do. So the last option you provided guarantees a 1 to 2 week wait for service.

In this economy, I have to believe that we are not the only ones in this situation. Customer service means servicing the customer. Maybe you have to go out of your way a little bit to make the customer happy. What if the problem was not outside (as is our case I believe)? Why not come and look at it and if it is outside come back at a later date to complete the fix? You actually stand a good chance of fixing the problem without actually having to go to the dish. Our dish is 3 feet off of the ground. There's not much of a safety hazard there other than dropping a tool on your foot.

 

[TDK1044]

The quality of customer service must vary depending on location.

I have never had to wait longer than two days for a service call. In my area, they also offer evening and weekend appointments. A neighbor recently had D* out on a Sunday morning.

They need someone over the age of 18 to be at the house, because whatever the issue is, they have to see your system up and running before they can sign off on the job.

 

[crawdad62]

The quality of customer service must vary depending on location.

I have never had to wait longer than two days for a service call. In my area, they also offer evening and weekend appointments. A neighbor recently had D* out on a Sunday morning.

Yeah I've never waited more than a couple of days. In fact when I had new equipment installed last month they offered the install the next day or the day after which just happened to be Christmas Eve (Saturday).

 

[neckhardt]

While shutting down service at 4 seems an hour to early to me that apparently is their hours. Now can you make car service after hours without extra$$$$$ no.

There are car dealers that offer evening hours after 5:00 to accomodate their customers that can't be without a car or leave work. Is the practice prevalent? No. But they recognize the need to differentiate themselves from their competition.

How about a doctor or a dentist no.

Again, there are doctors and dentist that have late hours. In fact, my next dental cleaning is scheduled for 5:45 PM.

TV is not an emergency.

Tell that to my wife and kids.

A saturday appointment seems to be a very good choice.

And convenient too, unless it is 1 1/2 to 2 weeks later.

Alot service companies dont do saturday work.Repairing (or installing)a dish system after the sun goes down just brings up all sorts of issues

Dish, Direct, cable companies, etc all know that Saturday service is necessary to properly service your customers.

In my case, the problem is probably inside of the house, but regardless, the dish is 3 feet off of the ground. Any "issues" are minimal.

IMHO.Take the saturday call and be happy.

I took it, but I don't have to be happy about it.

The somebody over 18 has to be home is a liability issue which has not caught up with us yet here and I routinely service my customers with no one home.

You get no argument from me on that one. That's why we specifically had it put on the W/O that nobody over 18 would be there until 4:30.

 

[hombresoto]

There is no' second shift' for installers. We start at 8. Is it reasonable for us to have to work 12 hours a day six days a week? It isn't easy with a family for the 3 seasons of the year when we are expected to work through 8pm and we may only get to sit down and eat dinner with said family one night a week. Yes I chose this job but when I did there were two windows. 8-12 and 1-5. The 4-8 appointments came much later on and finding a new job isn't easy in this economy. I have ALWAYS been expected to work saturday and accept that however I do not believe it is fair to have 4-8 appointments scheduled for me every day. It's worse when the only other job is an am and I have to wait up to 4 hours for the customer to come home.
Just my .02 ...

 

[SledgeHammer]

OP, I don't get what you are upset over. They told you that service hours are from 8:00am to 4:00pm. So why are you upset that they wouldn't come at 4:30pm? The DTV service tech wants to go home from his job just as much as you do from yours.

I can understand that you have a job. I have one of those too. Nobody else is at home, so service calls during the day are not convienient for me either.

Why not just make a Saturday appointment?

OR

Why not just replace the SWM yourself? Its just moving a few cables around. Unless of course you have the one thats built into the dish and its up on the roof. I wouldn't do that myself.

Generally when I call for a Saturday appointment, I get the upcoming Saturday.

 

[wahooq]

Had the installer been running late, this thread wouldn't have been started.

Yeah we would just under the heading "DTV Always Late?"....instead of the present title...hahaha