I haven't been this happy in a long time. I separated myself from the anchor(Mastec) today. Rate cuts, phone line issues, gas prices and drives of up to 100 miles to my first job are just some of the reasons to cut these guys loose. Don't get me wrong there are some great people working in the Advanced Technologies system. I loved working in both Charleston and Savannah but unfortunately Charlotte is my home.
I've had my fill of these guys here in Charlotte. I'll either take up retailing or go to work for Dish Net. At least Dish Network still pays enough to make a living. Plus I have 3+ years of work orders of former customers to contact for side work.
I don't lay all of the blame on Mastec. The contractors I worked for were either too spineless or too greedy to understand that a happy technician is a better technician. Both Mastec and their contractors need to realize that a poorly paid technician is going to either work faster to make up the money he is loosing or is going to cut corners. The result of both of these scenarios is poor workmanship, bad installs, unhappy customers and a higher churn rate.
As of today the backlog here in Charlotte for a new install was approximately 11 days and the Contractor I was working for is losing techs faster than he can hire them. The kicker is that the NFL sunday ticket season hasn't even started heating up yet. I can forsee a 3-4 week backlog once August gets here. You have to be a die hard NFL fan to wait a month for some Sunday Ticket.
Tie all those things neatly together with the hold times to close jobs(Advanced Technologies) and horribly trained direcTV CSRS who just will not LISTEN to a technician and it sure isn't a very pretty picture now is it?
Oh well. I know this is/was just about the sweetest blog ever but I had to vent. I'm not the type to do it at the shop in front of everyone so here I am.
Thanks Cabl bar for being here. You guys and this site helped give me the courage to say "ENOUGH".
Antelope
Advanced Technologies-Mastec
Member #: 28834
Registered: 2/15/2004
Posted:
14
Name:
Jeff Matthews
Name:
Jeff Matthews
Occupation:
HSD & Cable Installer
Location:
North Carolina
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