Employees of Ar's & Yours Antenna & Tower Service are cordial (& "seem" helpful) I give them that, but beyond this I couldn't have had a worse experience with an installer. Though the initial meeting with employee #1 (a guy that I take generally is responsible for satellite disk installations) to size up my situation went well, at this point it seemed to just be a song & dance intended to make a sale.
Upon the day of installation (a week or so later), employee #2 shows up between 10:30-45AM of a 9-11AM time slot (fine enough I guess), takes a look at my hardware for install & promptly informs me that he can’t begin work without a written release from my landlord (note: I had talked with Ar's ditzy receptionist who didn’t seem to have even the most rudimentary understanding of antenna installation a good half dozen times during this process & not “once” did she mention this requirement & for the record I had spoken to my landlord regarding this.) so I called my landlord to “absolutely” verify that the install was alright . During this time employee #2 went to his truck to get his ladder that ended up being too short to reach the top of my building (hmmm, it seems employee #1 would have given him this basic info) so he told me he had to return to the shop to pick up the long one (all this on the clock at $80 an hour). The shop is just a half mile away so I “assumed” he would be back shortly but after 45 minutes he was not back & hadn’t called. I called Ar’s to see what was going on & after being put on hold several times the receptionist told me that a second guy was needed to load the ladder who would not be available until late into the afternoon. I work 3rd & sleep in the afternoon, at this point it was 11:30 on a 95 degree day, so this far less than ideal she suggested that the install be rescheduled to the following Monday (present day being Wednesday). I had uninstalled the antenna & all hardware from the prior wall mount to have ready for this install so I was not at all thrilled to: a) reinstall everything until Monday just to do it all over again due to their blunder, or b) have zero TV reception for the duration. I informed her of this more or less & after pleading she said she would see what she could do & call me back, after a half hour she returns call stating that she could get hold of employee #1 to help if I didn’t mind staying up a bit longer (I was hoping ideally to have this wrapped up by 2PM latest), I begrudgingly accepted & at about 12:30PM employee 1,2&3 show up, this time #1 chain smoking & looking like death (so much for the floorshow…). They started unloading & I noticed that #3 tossed a spool of standard rotor cable on the ground. I took note of this & having had a long conversation with the receptionist a few days prior regarding the rotor I have & its requirements for coax NOT (higher priced) rotor cable, I asked if she had passed this on, alas they were clueless & seemed VERY confused by the idea of a rotor being powered this way. I led #1 upstairs to look at the rotor sheet to verify this & after much going back & forth with #2 (who supposedly was an experienced antenna installer of +20 years) accepted this fact & finally got back to work. #2 went to the roof & I stayed with #1 who was working on the wall plate. I heard drilling & was worried as the landlord requested that the chimney would not be drilled into, I was under the assumption that a strap mount was going to be used or at the very least options would be discussed. I went up to the roof & sure enough he had drill installed the cheaper Y-Wall to the chimney mortar, rather disgusted I informed him of my landlords request which upon he just shrugged. I really began having doubts regarding this guy’s ability & started watching over the antenna install like a hawk (a very tired, hot, frustrated one). I asked about grounding of the antenna & he stated that it would/could not be grounded & suggested that an expensive surge protector be used instead.
I had hoped to have used a mast long enough to be a minimum of 2-3’ above the metal cage of the chimney & get above the power lines & the bulk of trees. I had another long conversion with the receptionist prior regarding this & she assured me that she would send out the 5’ AND THE 10’ mast. I asked #2 about this & he stated he was just going to hack saw the 5’ (the only one brought) in half placing it just a few inches above the metal. I called him on this & he stated that “it didn’t matter” as well as the antenna clearance of power lines & trees did not affect reception (I guess you learn this in +20 years on the job “rolls eyes”) , hot & fed up I threw up my hands & stated “we’ll see”. Upon installing the rotor I asked if he had a compass to adjust the direction & “of course” he didn’t TO BOOT he mounted the north rotor arrow due south & it would be that way right now if I hadn’t corrected it.
To draw frustrating fiasco to a close they finished running the cable, oh so professionally affixed to the mast with electrical tape. We went inside to finish the hook up & scan, reception was better but one usually channel (7 Detroit) seemed worse, this was about 3 PM (about 3 hours past my bedtime) & HOT, I just threw down the remote stated that “this is what I paid for”, they diddled around a bit more before giving me the bill, $400! a solid $100 over the estimate, I was very tired & just too fed up to dicker over this so I just paid up, suffice to say for the final time from this establishment.
Last edited by Blackbeen; 21-Jun-2012 at 9:13 AM.
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