CABL Forum - Whats Changed in the past 3 years?

Since three years ago the cable biz was a great place to work, lots of money Primes and MSOs treated the installer mostly ok in some respects. Ive watched 4 pay cuts, most as a supervisor so i was not affected much but always sold it as a this is how it is or go work at Mcdonalds to the techs i supervised.  We all know were treated a employees but we sucked it up cause the checks we large, really large. We put up with the rules and stood by and watched fellow installers get pushed around and stepped on, sometimes there checks stolen right before you eyes.  Your thinking im glad its not me and how do I do all these triple plays before 10 tonight and not get charged back. We had pride in our workmenship and the customer was happy.

After the most recent change in lower prices, I remember a MSO employee who attended all of our supervisors meetings saying you got a 15% raise in prices accross the board on codes. After I sat with a MSO installer and worked out the old codes and new codes it was 22% drop from the current codes. Now I was taken back how could the MSO contact say our prime got a 15% code increase and the techs got a 22% drop in prices. I looked into this and got myself a copy, somehow it landed on my door step. Before I was tasked with dropping off invoices at one point I hat the the prices the MSO paid the Prime on the old codes and new. It seems the Prime got the raise and further cut the installers prices. 37% percent drop to the tech for the same work if not more. What? Did the rent go up at the Primes location, gas go up, oh it was the new projects the owner had to obtain more positive cash flow for. During the price change/drop the entire Primes work force was not told the new prices, for almost a month know one was told the prices until there checks were handed out. This was true. I was lucky I was installing Commer VOIP and those prices stayed the same. Like sheep only a very few got vocal.

I did the numbers right on the hood of a MSO employees van while waiting on a customer to get home.  This also included the 100.00 charge back for something as simple as a fitting not tight or a drop not installed deep enough in heavy roots.  I talk with some, well they usedto be, "heavy hitters" "cable dogs" which i thank them for the fittings and wire these days :). They doing there best to break half the $$ they used to make.

Whats changed I read how the MSO's are laying off employees and restructing to cut costs, but the prices they pay the Primes is going up. Theres a huge disconnect with this.  Prices are going up and installers are getting prices cuts?

This raises serious issues not only from the installers but the customers they visit. I install Direct TV now, every MSO customer I install at has had enough with substanded installations, service calls and poor  custmer service. I of course having been a trainer and service supervisor I pick apart the installation, I find issues with the drops, outlets misconfigured, remotes not programed, everything I had to fix on techs who didnt care when i worked for Cable. Of course I point this out to the new Direct TV customer who is over joyed at someone who knows what there doing.

This came from a recent install this Saturday, this customers drop was twisted like a slinky, old wall box, old crimp fittings, MTA was split three times, HDDVR -20 on high band channels. This guy is friends with the Primes Owner JK. He told me how he speaks to him 2-3 times a week and hes told him of his issues. Blah blah. Now I know if any of JK's friends had issues wouldnt he send his best guy to fix them, He did or someone from his office. Nothing was fixed only a fitting at the box. This goes to show you. Piss poor moral and work ethic. So he called DTV and I showed up. I re-ran all his a/o's and while pulling the new runs, which were under the home, two of them were crewed down the center conduct. The customer got more pissed. Im eating it up.

Lawsuits are popping up like wild fire. Techs standing up. "If your gonna treat me like an employee than?" Installers are getting charged back for things like being late at morning check in, MSO QC techs justifing there jobs saying lose fittings. I can turn a torque fitting by hand off a splitter, most MSO QC use 7/16 wrenches not torq. So hows this right. This makes for a bad work enviroment.

Supervisors more worried about making extra $$ ontop of there daily rate treating techs as dogs and pass there duties off the there due-boy techs which most of the time dont fix the problem.

Managers dont take charge and look out for the techs, only worry about what can i do to stay under the radar so I dont lose my job.

The guys in charge of getting new techs signed up spilling the beans on everything going on within the company.

This job used to be something I enjoyed. One guy asked us in a meeting what is it that we do? This was at some point long ago a friend, Gary. All the supervisors said Cable, Phone, Roadrunner........

I said Customer Service....... Primes dont provide it, the installers do. Every price cut, every charge back for issues, what happened to customer happy? If the customer is happy then the job is a 100% pass.

When you have a unhappy installer or supervisor "YOUR WORTHLESS!" you cant provide a value to the customer.

Wheres the Customer Service these days?

As long as the MSO and Prime keeps is course I can keep providing customer service to MSO's X-customers. Keep up the good work Cable Guys!!!!

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Whats Changed in the past 3 years?