I have purchased a newly built 3 story townhome here in NC and originally had my apt scheduled for Thursday am time. The installer came out whipped out his compas and said the dish had to go on the top roof b/c my unit was on the back and that was only way to get line of sight. He needless did not have a 40ft ladder and wouldn't get up one that I got for him either. This ended up in me calling his supervisor and being told his group only had 1 40ft ladder and might not be able to make it out there till saturday or next week.
Next course of action was me calling D* and i ended up getting a ring from the man that runs all the install crews in NC. he was extremely helpfull and got on the phone with the supervisor and forced him to come out here Friday am with a 40ft ladder.
Friday rolls around today and he comes a lil late and after looking around says he dosen't think it can be done at all. Problem being gutters are on the sides of the roof even though i didn't mind paying for them to be fixed outa my pocket afterwards. He then takes some pics to email his boss and leaves without even taking the ladder off the dang truck.
Now after talking to the Head NC guy again I will be having a actual "D* In-House Tech" come out to see the situation. hes gonna try to pull some strings for me and get them out today even though its the 4th and all but said itd be monday at the latest if something couldn't get done.


Okay now with all that outa the way what do you guys think about this since you've all had D* or Dish for so long and all. My other question is what is the situation with them possibly ending up saying that the job can't be done and what not??? Can they do that, refuse to give me service? I can't have a pole mount in the yard b/c im on the back and I can't put one out front b/c its not my property so the roof seems like the only option I have.

Any suggestions on what to do now?

thanks in advance, sorry for the lengthy post.

Heres a pic of the home. Mine is the one closest in the pick. They are designed to be back to back units so my home is half of that side wall there. No gutters on the side but there are on the front and back of the building.

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/9840/img065ti9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Of course they can refuse to install it - but that doesn't mean you can't have it. You just need to find the right installer who is willing to go up there.

Anyone know any good installers in Raleigh, NC. I have yet to run into any nor find any worth a damn.

I've seen installers in this area use a cherry picker to install on taller buildings; one borrowed/rented one from a tree service and installed a dish for someone around here.

was it a subcontracted installer or a local professional the person hired on the side? These people said they wouldn't get on equipment I got for them b/c I was going to get a boom or sizzor lift sent out to my place for them to be safer up there but they declined to do that.

The D* installers did not want to put the dish where I wanted it so I got them to just leave it and I put it up myself. It works fine. You do want to make sure that the upright mounting pipe is vertical. Properly aiming the dish is much easier if it is.

Topic edited.

DTV = Digital TV, as in over-the-air.

D* = DirecTV

Beautiful home by the way. Keep trying. Since you are serious about getting it installed (even offered to foot the cost of a boom), you should be able to get a installer who will work with you. Just be persistant.

Phil

From your pic the only way to get up there is from the left side where the overhangs are. The ladder must be "way out" to clear the roof over the entrance door and the soffit overhang, which looks pretty substantial. At least a 40' footer. Are you sure you are allowed a roof mount? That looks like a boom truck install. If you are willing to pay and a roof mount is legal it still may take a while to find a contractor who has the truck needed.

Should be able to I've installed on roofs like that. The issue is getting up there. In some cases town houses like this will have sat lines run to the attic or have a way to get lines there.

So you have to think how the 4 lines from the dish will get down to you homes cable distrbution area. Were all the cable jacks come together. Offten times they are in a uttility room, closet or some time come together in the cable box outside the house..

Anyway if some one can get up there you should be able to get somthing going.

What side is the sothern facing wall in that pic?

The D* in house tech came out today and forgot the 40ft ladder. hes commin again tomorrow at my convience precise time to do the install.
He was by far the best one I've seen out yet and when he got there after looking around for 5min he knew exactly how he was going to wire it all up and mount the dish. He was going to mount it on the corner of the roof for clear line of sight and hide the cables behind the gutter all the way down to get to the location where they come out of outside. He was shocked a lil that the other guys wouldn't do it as hes seen so many of this style home go up recently and done so many of these style installs. But also said he wasnt too surprised as those contracted people are not the greatest bunch and typically run into stupid issue a lot around here.

Oh well, So tomorrow I will have D* finally!! Now I just have to be prepaired for my HOA if they try to pull any BS on this. I've read a bunch of sh!t about ways people have gotten through it so I feel I should be ok.

Homerx:
The signal basically to have the dish facing pretty much the direction that the pic was taken from what i was told.