Started off good. Company has gone downhill since 2008
Pros
When I hired on to this company in 2003, the work schedule was good, morale was good, camaraderie between management, and other techs were good. Starting around 2007-2008 things started going way downhill.
Cons
Management: They will lie directly to your face. REPEATEDLY! Most managers rule with tyrannical like authority. Some managers in their mannerisms and their actions would make the Anti-Christ look like a pushover! Most managers have a bad attitude filled with this little axiom: 'Well if you don't like it you can find another job'. For me finding another job was not a problem. I now am employed by a company with a substantially higher rating on this site, making more than double what I was making with them. :) They do not care about you for the most part. Most managers only care about your hard work and the bonus on their check, that you earn FOR THEM! Promotions: With the current CSAT metrics deciding if you get promoted or not, understand, YOU WILL NOT GET PROMOTED! Current metrics are impossible to maintain over a 90-120 day period. Their are too many parts of the CSAT scores that are beyond the techs control. Examples: No connectivity via phone line/internet is a check mark against you. If a customer does not have a phone or internet connection you cannot maintain a '10' on the connectivity score. It has happened to me repeatedly as a tech and the responses I got from 2 FSM'S were: "You need to get this higher, or you might be terminated" and the other actually told me "Sucks to be you" I never cared for Danny too much. He repeatedly blocked my promotions, because for whatever reason he had a personal vendetta against me, that was actually documented by HR repeatedly, yet no disciplinary action was taken against him. Bad equipment from your van is a check mark against you. Also their equipment has a defective rate of about 10-20% I can almost guarantee, that you can take 1 van, pull 10 722 receivers from it, 1-2 of them will be bad out of the box! Bad customer rating is a check mark against you. Customers are not your friends, they will lie about you in order to get perks from the company, such as free service. I actually had a customer hook up a PS3 incorrectly, 5 days after I did an install, only to call my FSM and claim I broke it. My FSM actually went out there, hooked it up correctly and left. The same customer actually called and complained about my FSM as well in an effort to get 3 months paid service. Oh yeah, I still received a 'write up' for that incident. I also had another customer call to complain about me not wanting to do a job. It was on Christmas Eve 2003, at about 7pm at night. This customer had 14 inches of standing water in his crawlspace. He demanded that I get in there to get his TV service installed. I politely told him I valued my life more than getting his TV installed that night. When he told me 'I had ruined his Christmas', I got somewhat upset and told him 'if TV is your motivation for having a good Christmas Holiday you have serious issues that need to get worked out. I also added 'How bad would your Christmas be, if your house burns due to an electrical fire? What? No Answer? Interesting. So remember: Customers are not your friends. Many will give you Zero ratings out of spite, ineptness, anger, or wanting free services or items. Many customers skip the survey all together, putting the tech in a really bad spot! Production: Most level 3 and 4 techs are routed 70 points a day minimum. The average route for me when I was a level 3 was 80 points, with 1 or 2 days a week being at least 90 points. 90 points is an average of 15 hours of work. 6 points = 1 hour. Oh yeah, the company wants that 90 points done in 10-13 hours. If your production drops below 5.5 points per hour it is a check mark against you. Also, the 2-6 hours you spend driving, loading your van, and doing other administrative tasks is not figured into your 'production' time. So if you complete a trouble call, (12 points) in one hour, but you spent and hour or more driving to the location, your CSAT score for that metric is literally 'on the bubble'. Micro-management. I don't really need to say much about this aspect. But there is nothing worse than a IM, GM, Regional Manager, or higher, who can not and will not do a tech's job, telling techs what they are doing wrong. Especially when said tech is a level 4, and all or most of his/her metrics are higher than 7.0 I don't know whose backside they pulled the 9.7 CSAT number from, but that needs to change! God himself would have a hard time maintaining that number. Especially when 5 means average and that you are doing your job correctly. I would tell you if your looking for employment with this company, don't waste your time. There is a reason all the dish vans, and service centers have 'Technicians Needed' signs. There is also a reason this website is loaded with negative reviews from unbelievably qualified level 3 and 4, current and former technicians.