A Warning for those getting a KaKu dish

[grydlok]

That bos isn't any different than Bestbuy, CircuitCity, or whatever Dropping off you new TV and leaving YOUR box.

 

[str8poolbanger]

As a senior tech, I can say that WE are NOT permitted to leave any debris behind including the box. I always ask the customer if they can throw away the box for me and if not that its not a problem. Usually they will say yes. Concrete in a pole mount is mandatory and AT9 requires minimum 150 (i use 160). Signals are off the charts and not easily accepted according to whats on the screen. Not having the pole listed on your work order, thats just off the wall to me. We are REQUIRED to have at least 1 pole each for standard dishes and AT9 along with the concrete. Again I am independant so my rules might alter from a in house.

 

[charper1]

No Str8, I think you are correct and at a minimum using very good common sense and good business practices. I think far too many (not the majority) try to take advantage of unsuspecting customers and try to get them to pony up for the quickcrete, pole, and anything else they might be able to get away with.

 

[bwaldron]

That bos isn't any different than Bestbuy, CircuitCity, or whatever Dropping off you new TV and leaving YOUR box.

Huh. I've had an HDTV and a couple of appliances delivered recently, and in no case were the boxes left here.

Nor was I left with a box from my recent D* dish upgrade.

 

[Jimbo]

How do you compact that white protection material inside the box?

I don't care how they do it, put it in the truck, just like any other company would.
It's not that big of a box .... The box was in the truck when they got there ...
The guy's I got my 60" TV from took the box.

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

I on the other hand always tried to put the 5lnbs on poles when I was installing. Of course not everyone wouldu go for it, but I really hated drilling holes in peoples roofs. Sometimes its a royal pain to find a stud in the roof.

My 5lnb sits very nicely on its pole, with 100lbs of quickrete holding it in place.

Same here !!

How are you guys sealing the roof when you place dishes on the roof, do you have a bucket of roof cement with you ?

Jimbo

 

[Teronzhul]

We were provided with Bishops tape rather than cement.

 

[tech007]

Same here !!

How are you guys sealing the roof when you place dishes on the roof, do you have a bucket of roof cement with you ?

Jimbo

We have silicone that we put in the holes. But in my opinion its not that big of a deal we dont drill over living space its just on the very edge on the roof or on the eve.

 

[mikew]

Another reminder about KA/KU...no diplexors. If you've thrown a diplexor into the mix and forgotten about it, you will have signal issues as well.

 

[jpn]

D* aint going to do sh@# about that box since it's your packaging for your dish. It's no different then leaving the ird boxes. It doesn't belong to us, it's yours.

The issue isn't the box. It's leaving it in the driveway without saying anything about it. A good gust of wind would have blown it into the neighbor's yard, or scattered it across a couple of yards. We've just moved-in, it wouldn't be a good way to get to know people.

All they had to do was ask where they could leave it; not whether they could leave it. There were two installers, and they were early-20-ish disrespectful hacks.

FYI: D* DID compensate me. I got a $10/month credit for 6 months. And I'm going to have another service call to repeat the install.

 

[jpn]

We have silicone that we put in the holes. But in my opinion its not that big of a deal we dont drill over living space its just on the very edge on the roof or on the eve.

At my last house I was told NOT to use silicone. Instead I used some kind of moldable stuff, like modeling clay, that I got in the electrical aisle at home depot. Kept breaking-off chunks and pressing it into any holes, and molding it around the entire base of the dish footing.

I've forgotten what it's called, but it was recommended by an installer on this forum so you might find it if you search threads with my username. Try a date-range of Feb 06 thru June 06.

 

[chadzx11]

I don't care how they do it, put it in the truck, just like any other company would.
It's not that big of a box .... The box was in the truck when they got there ...
The guy's I got my 60" TV from took the box.

Jimbo

When I was doing D*, it was fulfillment work. Internet and phone orders. Equipment was shipped TO the customer (fedex and UPS), and I did not leave with anything that I did not arrive with, except when we were moving and I needed boxes. In that case, I asked the customer if I could have their cardboard before I removed it. Those big boxes that can hold a dish and 4 recievers came in handy at moving time. When removing those big boxes, it was necessary to field strip them in order to get them to fit (they needed to be flattened).

On the flipside, when I was doing E*, I would remove the boxes, unless a customer requested them. That happened a lot because customer's often were switching from D* and wanted something to put the old reciever in.

 

[iafirebuff]

"Black Jack" or roof cement - looks like sticky black tar works good too. It can be applied in freezing weather, rain, etc. Just wear gloves though...it is messy!

 

[chadzx11]

Same here !!

How are you guys sealing the roof when you place dishes on the roof, do you have a bucket of roof cement with you ?

Jimbo

As a QC guy, I can tell you that there are a LOT of installers who don't use anything, period. Half of the guys I worked with at E* used nothing. No wonder they had a lot of roof repair claims. I have never had 1, and I installed for 8 years.

The way to avoid having to drill multiple holes is to mount on the overhang. Locating a dish at or near an attic vent will let you SEE the stud that you are mounting to.

One problem I ran accross frequently was moron customers who put new roof on top of old, instead of paying to have the old roof stripped off. I had one customer who had 9 (!) layers of shingles. Even if I installed 6 6" lagbolts, they would not have held that dish steady, because there would have been 9 layers of flexible material under it.

 

[chadzx11]

Here is an example of how you can find a stud to mount on. This is at my house.

 

[jpn]

After 2 days nobody called to setup an appointment.

My Tuesday call to D* is not going well. The banana-head CSR is trying to tell me that cementing a pole is a special install.

My response:
1. You're the only person I've encountered who considers cement optional
2. I was not advised that pole is a special install. Had I been advised, I would have requested that the installer climb a ladder and put the dish on my 2nd story roof where there are no line-of-sight issues.
3. Having to make so many calls for an install is ridiculous. Wait times on hold have become unacceptable when they used to be quick; customer service is slipping. I was mildly unhappy when the 3 lnb arrived; I was more unhappy when the 5 lnb w/pole wasn't cemented; I'm really unhappy at the tone I'm geting this morning.
4. If I didn't have a 2 year-commitment I'd be calling cable right now.
5. You can try to fix this, or get me your supervisor, right now.

She escalated to the Install Resolution dept. I got to repeat my story again. And he finally setup a 3-way call w/Mastec.

The D* guy gave a job number and asked me to explain. I repeated the story AGAIN. I'm getting tired of hearing my own voice on this. And the Mastec person decided to run and get his supervisor. More on-hold.

Now I've been on the call over one hour. I need to leave for a meeting.

My next call will be to Customer Retention. There ought to be some limit to the number of calls before D* is considered in-breach of my commitment and I can terminate w/out penalty.

 

[lou_do]

I will NEVER have another roof install, after paying $4000 for the damage that was done the last time they installed a dish on my roof. It leaked real bad, while we were on vacation, and by the time we returned home we had big time damage to the roof, ceilings and walls.

When I moved into this house, I told them it was a wall mount or nothing. They were glad to mount it on the wall. The installer told me he prefers to do wall mounts. In August, D* come over to mount the new AT9 and that installer was happy to put it right where the old one was. He stated it was a great place to have it mounted and the block wall was a lot more solid than mounting it on the roof. Plus with it mounted on the wall in a protected area behind the house, it survived 2 hurricanes in 2004, and we had satellite TV back as soon as we fired up the generator. The neighbors waited weeks to get their cable back.

I look around my neighborhood and see all of the D* and E* dishes mounted on the roofs, they look like sails, to catch the wind, and as soon as we get another hurricane, they will be history. But, we would be happy if we never see another hurricane again.

 

[iafirebuff]

I see alot mounted on roofs in my area. I had an 80cm FTA dish mounted on my shed's roof, but would never roof mount anything to my house. I don't want to take any chances

 

[jpn]

the block wall was a lot more solid than mounting it on the roof. Plus with it mounted on the wall in a protected area behind the house, it survived 2 hurricanes in 2004, and we had satellite TV back as soon as we fired up the generator. The neighbors waited weeks to get their cable back.

Key point: block wall. My house is framed with vinyl siding. Given the size of the KaKu dish, maybe 2 of the screws would hit a stud. Then I'd have 45 lbs. of dish hanging on my siding, subject to every bit of wind it would see on the roof. The weight of the dish would be pulling it away from the house rather than down into the roof.

 

[chadzx11]

Key point: block wall. My house is framed with vinyl siding. Given the size of the KaKu dish, maybe 2 of the screws would hit a stud. Then I'd have 45 lbs. of dish hanging on my siding, subject to every bit of wind it would see on the roof. The weight of the dish would be pulling it away from the house rather than down into the roof.

Mounting to the vinyl is not acceptable. Too much flex, plus it screws up the siding. I have a 52 page manual from D*. For those of you getting wallmounts on masonry, this should be achieved using lag bolts and shields. The manual calls for this specifically, and NOT those masonry screws and washers I keep seeing (the little blue ones). Additionally, NONE of the lag bolts are to be installed in a mortar joint. I see that a lot, too.