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Thought i'd heard it all...

  • 03-12-2009 9:24pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,249 ✭✭✭


    Got a bollocking from a customer today, because the Sky + box wouldn't fit in the space underneath her tv beside her vcr.!!

    She had an old style mahogany tv unit in the living room where she wanted the box to go beside her video.

    I told her it wouldn't fit and took out the box to show her.

    "This is unacceptable, i should have been told about this when i signed up."

    I replied, " you should have been told that the box probably wont fit into your tv unit when you signed up??"
    "Yes.. this is most unsatisfactory....etc...etc...blah blah...."

    I gave her options, different locations, using magic eyes etc... but she wouldn't entertain them.

    I've heard some things in nearly 10 years of installing sky, but this ranks near the top...lol


    Any other installers have tales of silly requests and rants by customers??


Comments

  • Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 3,585 Mod ✭✭✭✭St Senan


    I remember a few years back when we working on Sky contracts after Door to Door sales reps and the amount of abuse and fustration aimed at us installers from the customers. One women living near Wexford town expected us to put her sky dish on the aerial pole disconnect the cable feeding an 8 way amp in the attic connect the dish to the cable so she would have sky on all her tvs now this was the time before sky multiroom. A man in kilmuckridge would only get the job done if the dish was put in his attic. at another install i was handed a bucket of paint to paint the dish and cable while the ladder was still up Also at another house i was greeted with don't think you are putting up that Disk on my house i was told i needed to have a landline phone to get sky in.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,269 ✭✭✭3rdDegree


    scaller wrote: »
    ....Also at another house i was greeted with don't think you are putting up that Disk on my house i was told i needed to have a landline phone to get sky in.

    Officially, you do!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 502 ✭✭✭Finne1993


    3rdDegree wrote: »
    Officially, you do!

    Not anymore, only needed if you have multiroom. I think Wizard007 will confirm this


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,341 ✭✭✭✭Tony


    Overheard in Lidl. " I want to return the satellite dish, it does not get sky sports"

    Desktop PC Boards discount code on https://www.satellite.ie/ is boards.ie



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 679 ✭✭✭Wizard007


    3rdDegree wrote: »
    Officially, you do!

    As said above, only if you have Multi-room. It's not necessary for a single box install. Sky do a manual activation to pair the card with the box.


    We've had the not knowing a dish is needed also. What used to crack me up - people giving a false land line number to get Multi-room, book the lads in to do the job, and when they go out, no landline active. Now they're all checked before the customer is booked in.

    Another one is when they go to do a job " oh the sales rep said you'd have no problem moving this box to this room for me and do this work in the attic and maybe put in a couple of magic eyes as you're at it " and expect it all done for nothing?

    An install in a halting site once, everything went perfect. Two days later a call from the customer, like a lunatic down the phone about his satellite signal gone. Went through the works with him, did you move dish etc etc. He said no, he didn't touch the dish. Sent the lads out - he had moved the mobile home completely around :o


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 130 ✭✭Verso


    Thanks lads for these.

    Something to laugh at on a Monday before an awful budget.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,249 ✭✭✭kbell


    Had another today, lady had new tv hung on wall.
    Asked her where she'd like the sky + box to go.
    She pointed to a table on ground under telly, no problems there.
    When connecting box to tv she freaked out saying she didn't want any cables showing!!
    She had only redecorated the room...etc....
    Told me that she assumed that because the tv was hung on the wall then there would be no cables visible at all... lol

    Had the "dish has to go in attic" scenario a good few times, and even had a lad follow me around the outside of his house with a tape measure, making sure i left a 13 inch gap between each cable clip. lol

    Best had to have been, a sky rep told the guy i was installing for, that i'd be able to fit the dish onto his solar panel on his roof, because he lived in an eco-friendly wooden house and didn't want anything attached to the outside of his property.

    Ah there's been some classics over the years...


  • Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 3,585 Mod ✭✭✭✭St Senan


    I hate having to chase people for money owed or having a cheque bounce on you.

    I called to House a few years back to install sky+ multiroom i asked the woman what room was the standard box to be fitted in she said it was for her daughter that lives two house's away.

    Also i have had trouble in the past with people booking Multiroom and having no land line or i often get people saying that they have a land line and that its not working at the moment.

    But as i have said in another thread what gets me is people knowing you are calling out at a certain time to install sky or Freesat. And when you arrive at the house you get attacked by a dog and then have to clear away clutter and ornaments from the tv unit still dodging the dog.

    I had a dog one time pissing on my drill while i was clipping cable. I left a house another time and drove about a mile when i was attacked by the customers cat that had sneaked into my van.
    {And before anyone ask the cat limped/walked home sore.}


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,341 ✭✭✭✭Tony


    I stopped accepting cheques a long time ago beacuse of this. Did a multiroom freesat for a guy who bounced the cheque because he had "changed his mind" a week after the install.

    scaller wrote: »
    I hate having to chase people for money owed or having a cheque bounce on you.


    Desktop PC Boards discount code on https://www.satellite.ie/ is boards.ie



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 509 ✭✭✭PyeContinental


    kbell wrote: »
    a sky rep told the guy i was installing for, that i'd be able to fit the dish onto his solar panel on his roof
    I would say a lot - if not the majority of - customer relations problems start here. Sales people will answer yes to any question if it will help close the sale. They way they see it, every sale they make appears the same on their screen. It makes no difference whether it goes smoothly for you or not. In fact, how your day goes doesn't really ever cross their mind.

    If they took the time to set realistic expectations, there would be far less inconvenience on your and the customer's part, but as far as they see it, anything negative might reduce the risk of a sale so they will just agree with everything as long as it looks like that will secure another sale. It also takes more effort to listen carefully and examine what the customer is asking. This makes the phone call longer too. Each call can be finished more quickly if you just say "yep" every time it's your turn to talk :)

    Nice stories though guys. Bit of an eye opener there Scaller, as to how inconsiderate people can be.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,341 ✭✭✭✭Tony


    The sky reps generally sell face to face though so no real excuse for misselling in my opinion.

    Desktop PC Boards discount code on https://www.satellite.ie/ is boards.ie



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 509 ✭✭✭PyeContinental


    I thought that people would generally see a flyer in their newspaper or magazine showing the signup deals and people would give them a call.

    My comments about sales people not setting customers' expectations properly isn't just specific to Sky though.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 679 ✭✭✭Wizard007


    Exactly, there is no excuse for it Tony, but some of them will go to any lengths to get a sale.

    Another one we had was when an engineer went out to do an install. Woman of the house home alone. She kinda took a liking to him and was trying her best to persuade the engineer to "take a little time out" ;)

    He "claims" he could not get out of there fast enough. Yeah, I believed him! :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,341 ✭✭✭✭Tony


    My comments about sales people not setting customers' expectations properly isn't just specific to Sky though.

    Yep its the disconnect caused by sales people not having to install and make the promises come true, I guess a stringent commisiion clawback might be "educational" in this regard. We have the same problem with some electricians who tell customers their house is wired to spec for satellite, again they dont have to make it work.

    Desktop PC Boards discount code on https://www.satellite.ie/ is boards.ie



  • Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 3,585 Mod ✭✭✭✭St Senan


    Tony wrote: »
    We have the same problem with some electricians who tell customers their house is wired to spec for satellite, again they dont have to make it work.

    BRIGHT SPARKS


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭monkeypants


    Wizard007 wrote: »
    he had moved the mobile home completely around :o
    Lesson learned; always ask. Next time, "Might seem like a strange question, but you haven't rotated your house 180 degrees have you? Thought not. Never mind."

    What are magic eyes?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 509 ✭✭✭PyeContinental


    Tony wrote: »
    Yep its the disconnect caused by sales people not having to install and make the promises come true, I guess a stringent commisiion clawback might be "educational" in this regard.
    Indeed. I would say this actually happens next to never though. People don't tend to concentrate much on what was or wasn't said a week or two ago as long as new sales are being made! :rolleyes:

    As for the electricians like that, I doubt those ones would be any different in their attitude with all their work.

    To get a bit back on topic, but not a satellite story specifically:
    I once went out with a girl who worked in either Virgin or HMV, or some other record store like that. A "Greatest Rock Anthems" CD had an ironic sticker on the front of it proclaiming "Comes with free Air Guitar". This was in the days before the console games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero or whatever, and it was when films like Wayne's World meant that everyone knew that an Air Guitar was just an invisible guitar that you pretended to strum when you were singing along to Van Halen or something like that.
    She had to explain to one guy who was insisting on his free Air Guitar that it was just the motion you make when you pretend to hold a guitar and strum it and even had to do the actions for him. Instead of being embarrassed, he kicked up a major fuss in front of everyone, demanding that he be given his free Air Guitar and could not be reasoned with.


  • Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 3,585 Mod ✭✭✭✭St Senan


    Wizard007 wrote: »

    Another one we had was when an engineer went out to do an install. Woman of the house home alone. She kinda took a liking to him and was trying her best to persuade the engineer to "take a little time out" ;)

    He "claims" he could not get out of there fast enough. Yeah, I believed him! :P

    I have been in his situation a few times. I was often met at the front door a few times with a smile and a nightshirt or towel, or you work away i am just getting changed with the room door open.
    I was onced asked was i any good at giving massage's. Thank god my father outlaw was with me that day.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,140 ✭✭✭John mac



    What are magic eyes?


    these


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,341 ✭✭✭✭Tony


    , he kicked up a major fuss in front of everyone, demanding that he be given his free Air Guitar and could not be reasoned with.

    Priceless:D

    Desktop PC Boards discount code on https://www.satellite.ie/ is boards.ie



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,341 ✭✭✭✭Tony


    Damn this has never happened to me:)

    scaller wrote: »
    I have been in his situation a few times. I was often met at the front door a few times with a smile and a nightshirt or towel, or you work away i am just getting changed with the room door open.
    I was onced asked was i any good at giving massage's. Thank god my father outlaw was with me that day.

    Desktop PC Boards discount code on https://www.satellite.ie/ is boards.ie



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,677 ✭✭✭staker


    Went out to a service call once where 2 other installers had ran away from.

    This little old lady opened the door, straight awya on the offensive
    "If you don't fix my Sky I'll set the dog on you", to which I replied that I had a replacement box as the job order had stated so, and would be taking the broken box back to depot.
    "That's my Sky box and you won't be taking it anywhere".
    After that she just erupted into a manic frenzy"Ye're blackguarding an old woman, I won't Effin have it bla bla bla", she disappears to the kitchen:confused:
    I looks to my helper, he's thinking the same, and we make it to the van as she's coming throught the door with a shovel:eek::eek:

    I lets the office know what's happened and they say yeah,yeah we believe you:rolleyes:

    5 mins later the boss is on saying he had Sky on the phone with a customer who's accusuing me of accosting her in her own home:eek:

    I was never so thankful to have a witness with me that day!!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 679 ✭✭✭Wizard007


    Thanks John.

    Sorry Monkeypants, Sky Digital TV Link :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 509 ✭✭✭PyeContinental


    Wow Stalker, that is some insanity to have to deal with. Might have been quite a bit more trouble for you indeed if you did not have a witness to verify your side of the story. :eek:


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