Terrible Install

[volkodav]

this is turning out to be really interesting. next time check every single channel on all receivers before tech lives

 

[Dish Dude]

have them replace both switches, you may have an issue with voltage somewhere, as the second switch keeps failing, have you tried to swap the 34's around, putting the original into the secondary spot. it doesn't seem like any kind of cable issue, as the location of the receivers have had no affect on it, just whichever one was hooked to the 2nd 34. what do the connections between the 2 34's look like, could be poorly done fittings in between with some braid in the connector.

 

[Kaydigi]

have them replace both switches, you may have an issue with voltage somewhere, as the second switch keeps failing, have you tried to swap the 34's around, putting the original into the secondary spot. it doesn't seem like any kind of cable issue, as the location of the receivers have had no affect on it, just whichever one was hooked to the 2nd 34. what do the connections between the 2 34's look like, could be poorly done fittings in between with some braid in the connector.

They have used standard black RG6 cable to connect the the switches. As I said in the first post, the installer connected both switches by connecting it "switch out to switch out" instead of "Switch Out to Dish In" It was like that for about 6 hours before I realized that. I'm not sure if that would cause damage to the switch.

When I add the 721 to the bad switch and out the 625 to the good one,. The 721 works incorrectly. I will switch the DP-34's around in a few hours and report back.

 

[Kaydigi]

Dish f**king sucks. Tech came here, wanted to change the 625. I told him no, look at the problem first.

I took him to the 721 and 522 on the old switch and showed him all channels worked.

Took him to the 625 and showed him what channels didn't work. He then went and did a check switch. The 119 Sat was green the Signal Strength jumped from 91-92 on occasion.

He said that my signal strength is weak and he wanted to re-aim the Dish. I asked him to change the switch first because I get all the channels on the old switch and my signal strength has been 91-92 for 2 years now. He says "Oh why didn't you call us sooner??"

He left without doing anything. Back on the phone with Dish... Will a Dish reaim really help things?

 

[webbydude]

91 or 92 is a tad low...but not enough to justify or create the given set of circumstances you are experiencing.

Did you actually sign the paperwork? If so, it may make things a bit difficult in bringing another technician out. Not impossible, mind you, since things are now covered under a "warranty". Last tech out is liable for the whole install. A crappy policy generally. But one that will help in getting things fixed for you.

 

[Kaydigi]

91 or 92 is a tad low...but not enough to justify or create the given set of circumstances you are experiencing.

Did you actually sign the paperwork? If so, it may make things a bit difficult in bringing another technician out. Not impossible, mind you, since things are now covered under a "warranty". Last tech out is liable for the whole install. A crappy policy generally. But one that will help in getting things fixed for you.

Another tech came and checked out over everything with no progress. They want to install a Dish 1000. So we will see in tomorrow.

 

[wobbie]

D1000 isn't going to help..... denmad that they change the switch before they do anything... if they don't have them call Dish tech support and you have a talk with them while the technicians are there.....Just out of curiousity.. where are you located and what installation company are you deaing with?

 

[Kaydigi]

D1000 isn't going to help..... denmad that they change the switch before they do anything... if they don't have them call Dish tech support and you have a talk with them while the technicians are there.....Just out of curiousity.. where are you located and what installation company are you deaing with?

When the second tech came he changed the switch and no difference. I'm in richmond, VA and the tech company is called DNS LLC Ashland.

The second tech, said the 105 signal was too low. I was getting 85-92 on the old switch but on the second (new) switch to the 625 was getting 68. He was stumped. He checked the lines, swaped receivers from switch to switch, and re aimed the Dish with no luck.

 

[dishcomm]

Dish f**king sucks. Tech came here, wanted to change the 625. I told him no, look at the problem first.

I took him to the 721 and 522 on the old switch and showed him all channels worked.

Took him to the 625 and showed him what channels didn't work. He then went and did a check switch. The 119 Sat was green the Signal Strength jumped from 91-92 on occasion.

He said that my signal strength is weak and he wanted to re-aim the Dish. I asked him to change the switch first because I get all the channels on the old switch and my signal strength has been 91-92 for 2 years now. He says "Oh why didn't you call us sooner??"

He left without doing anything. Back on the phone with Dish... Will a Dish reaim really help things?

Your mistake was attemting to tel the tech how to do his job...quite frankly ,I owuld have diplomatically told you to allow the porfessionals to do their job and proceeded with the service call. troble shoots have a certain order....you should have let the tech find the problem in his own way..of course when I precall my service customers to help narrow down the problem. This allows me to have some famiarity with the situation..
Any further interference from the customer and I would have left too.....

 

[SimpleSimon]

I have not yet seen confirmation that ALL power was removed from the first DP34.

Especially considering that it was hooked up improperly in the first place, that's GOTTA be done. Unplug all 3 receivers. Wait AT LEAST 5 minutes, then plug in the receiver that is attached to port 1 of the first switch. After that, plug in the others and see what happens.

If I'm right (50-50 chance), raise holy hell with the service center and E* themselves.

 

[Kaydigi]

Your mistake was attemting to tel the tech how to do his job...quite frankly ,I owuld have diplomatically told you to allow the porfessionals to do their job and proceeded with the service call. troble shoots have a certain order....you should have let the tech find the problem in his own way..of course when I precall my service customers to help narrow down the problem. This allows me to have some famiarity with the situation..
Any further interference from the customer and I would have left too.....

Sorry but you are wrong.

This was the 4th tech for the same problem in the last 10 days.

I'm tired of lazy installers. Why did 4 techs in a row tell me just run TV 2 522 from the downstairs? Why, because he didn't want to drill a hole for the cable. The installer told me that out of his own mouth. Sorry you're going to have to run a cable and drill.

Am I in the wrong so far? On to tech number 4

So this was the point where I told him to check the switch downstairs. The 3rd tech was just here a day before and he checked the lines from the switch and it was fine. So I repeated everything the 3rd tech said and that's when he suggested again to run a 522 TV 2 upstairs. I had to say no, I want all the boxes in single mode and I want 3 boxes.

So from this point he told me about the low levels etc, and why didn't I call sooner and I responded because I was getting all my channels fine for 2 years before your dept screwed up this 625 installation.

So obviously the Tech didn't listen to a word I said. I told him when he came in for the first time that I was receiving all the channels fine on my 522 and 721 on the primary switch. He never bothered to check those receivers to see where the Sat levels were (every other tech did).

He said I he wanted to re aim the dish because I am not getting a good signal. I said sure go ahead, and that's when he left.

Now all this was done in casual chitchat, not it a yelling or nasty way. He kept telling me my that my Dish is pointed wrong and that's why I am not getting channels 175 and 177. I continued to ask him why do I get them on my 522 and 721? He responded by saying that I am NOT getting them because the signal was to low. Oh man I thought to myself.

I laughed and let him do his thing. Am I wrong? I asked him all these questions nicely and he responded nicely. It was close to 6PM and his boss kept harassing him on his Nextel, so maybe that's why he didn't want to do anything else but a re-aim.

Dish tech number 5 came (the same day at 5:30)

He re-aimed the Dish to no avail. He then swapped the switches with no luck. He suggested installing a new type 2 super dish. He said then we should swap receivers (which I did before I called for service tech # 2).

I asked him is he going to get over time for staying late, and he said no. So I went ahead and disconnected the 522 for him since I can move the wire faster (connected optical cables behind an entertainment center etc..).

He took the 522 upstairs and the same problem. He suggested install a type 2 type super dish or a Dish 1000. I asked him what is a type 2 Dish and what is difference and couldn't answer me. No big deal, I would come on this forum and ask.


I spoke to his boss and he said they would come out Wednesday morning at 8 AM. His boss wanted to speak to me to see if that is okay because they couldn't make it on Tuesday.

Am I still wrong? I even gave the tech a tip because he really checked everything that I asked for.


Tech number 6

It's 9AM and everyone is a no show. I called the Ashland Co. and Dish and someone came out in a half an hour.

So now Dish tech number 6 is here. Since Dish tech 5 already checked the switch I didn't bother asking number 6.

I took him upstairs to show him the 625 was not locking on channels 177 and 175. First thing he did was go downstairs to the 522 and see if the channels were working there (which they were).

He went and checked the switch again and changed the barrel connectors. He gave me his walkie-talkie as he went out to the dish and told me to read of the signal strength. We did that for about 15 minutes. 119 dropped from 74 to 91 during his testing. He tightened the barrel connectors leading to dish and viola all my channels came back on.

So it took 6 techs to do that.

Am I wrong?


So to recap it took 7 (yes 7, seven) 721 boxes from Dish and 8 tech visit from Dish to determine the 119 LNB on my Dish was overheating last summer.

And it took 6 techs to
Replace a defective 625
And tighten barrel connectors to get Bomerang back on my 625.

I've had bad luck with Dish lately when setting up my 625 install, I had to argue with a english CSR in Denver that my 721 isn't HD.
She just wouldn't believe me.

I had to call Dish during peak hours during the intial 625 install because for some reason they deactivated my 522 why they activated my 625.

If this happened to you, you would be pretty pissed off. But I was very cordial to all the Dish techs that came and didn't rant to them like am typing now.

 

[Kaydigi]

I have not yet seen confirmation that ALL power was removed from the first DP34.

Especially considering that it was hooked up improperly in the first place, that's GOTTA be done. Unplug all 3 receivers. Wait AT LEAST 5 minutes, then plug in the receiver that is attached to port 1 of the first switch. After that, plug in the others and see what happens.

If I'm right (50-50 chance), raise holy hell with the service center and E* themselves.

It's all done

it took 6 dish techs but it was loose barrel connectors to the Dish.

 

[bigthrust]

I've learned that Dish installers come in 2 "flavors", competent and incompetent. My first install tech was "half-ass" and barely knew which way was up and my second tech was superb and fixed all of the first techs mistakes.

FLASHBACK: I got Dish when they first came out years ago. I installed my first Dish. I had it up for 6 years before I moved. I NEVER had a problem with it.

 

[Kaydigi]

I've learned that Dish installers come in 2 "flavors", competent and incompetent. My first install tech was "half-ass" and barely knew which way was up and my second tech was superb and fixed all of the first techs mistakes.

FLASHBACK: I got Dish when they first came out years ago. I installed my first Dish. I had it up for 6 years before I moved. I NEVER had a problem with it.

I hear you, what's funny is all the techs came from the same service center. You would think the GM over there would give a heads up to the techs to narrow down the problem.