DirecTV review: unethical business practices 11

I DO AGREE WITH THE COMMENT THAT WAS POSTED. tHE ONLY CONCERN WITH MASTEC THAT I HAVE IS HOW CAN THEY HIRE SUB CONTRACT COMPANIES THAT ARE THIEFS AND DON'T PAY THEIR TECHS WHAT THEY OWE THEM?TECHS ARE SUB CONTRACTORS AND THEIR CHECK SHOULD BE FOR WHAT THE TURN IN NOT FOR 3/4THS LESS THAN WHAT THEY TURN IN (THIS IS A RIP OFF COMPANY LOCATED NEAR ASHEVILLE (30 MINUTES AWAY). SUB CONTRACTORS DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE WORK THEY ARE ASSIGNED THEY CAN DO WHAT WORK THEY DECIDED THEY WANT TO, IF THEY DONT WANT TO DO A $20 SERVICECALL THEY DONT HAVE TO THEY ARE SELF EMPLOYED. BUT THEY DESERVE TO BE PAID EVERY WEEK FOR THE WORK THEY DO, MASTEC PLEASE CHECK INTO THIS THEY SCREWED MY HUSBAND AND FAMILY OUY OF ALOT OF MONEY. BE AWARE DONT FALL FOR THIS COMPANY (S&C)ABBREVIATED.

I know first handed the issues referred to in the above article and subsequent post. Currently, I work as a subcontractor for a company located near Piedmont holding a contract through Mastec to install and service Direct TV. As a technician the chargebacks are phenominally rediculous. I have been charged back for service calls where the problem resided in the piece of junk refurbished recievers that Direct TV places into the field at new prices. Yet, no one can give an adequate answer as to how thier refurb receivers failing is my fault as a technician. If it were my fault the charge back would be fine. Also, I know about the charge backs for phone-lines from experience. Imagine this past check when I get charged $30 for phone lines, yet over 50% of the new installs I did in that period had no phone service, or refused to allow the phone line to be connected to the reciever. Couple the $30.00 charge back for phones with 2 service call charge-backs for thier junk recievers, and $70.00 out of one check is a large chunk of money, especially considering I have to pay for drop materials out of that check as well.

Now to top the cake, the company near Piedmont thought it a great idea to create so called pay-scales, where based on 4 categories you can be at one of 3 levels as a tech. To reach lead tech you have to get 3 out of 4 of the categories within thier determined percentages. Two of those categories are sin7 (service calls within 7 days), and responders (phone-lines). I point attention back to the piece of junk receivers we have to install, and the absence of phone service within the dwelling where the system is installed. This particular company decreases your pay by knocking you down a tech level for not reaching their percentages, which can mean as much as $20 less per install, and then charges you back on top of that. Somebody please tell me how this is ethical. The owners of this company can take thier Aspen ski vacations while the ones making them all this money are being screwed, kept in abject poverty, and taken advantage of at every turn.

What's more...in several of the tech meetings we were instructed to tell the customers whatever it takes to get the phone-lines hooked up. Translation...Lie to them if you have to. Why? Because for EVERY phone-line the owners of this company receives $5.00 from Direct TV. The technician has to get OVER a certain percentage before he even gets a phone-line bonus on his check, and then the pay per phone-line is only $3 out of the $5. The truth of the issue...Direct TV receivers work ust fine without a phone-line connected to them.

First off to date their is NO complaints on file with the BBB and has not been in the last 36 months they have a score of a B with them. Second the phone line is not for trhe box to work properly its to monitor what that boxes is doing making sure there are no retired programer out their making money on the side giving people free stuff. If you guy are serious about this please follow through with what you are saying. If you intended to to call the BBB and did not you just may have F*ed your fellow man

All of the above comments are true! I have been with the company for 6 years. I can't even imagine how much money they have screwed me out of up to this point. It would make me sick. I would just like to add something else that is going on right now. They tell us that we get paid piece work, so we are not able to claim our hours for driving to, and from, the first and last job of the day even if it is 2 hours away. At the end of every week, we have to turn in a timecard saying when we started and finished for the day. Even though we are piece work, we still get paid overtime for working over 40 hours. So, now I am required to drive for 2 hours to my first job for free, and another 2 hours home from my last job for free. Of course, everyday the drive time is not like this, but if you figure out how many hours per week your getting screwed out of, it doesn't make you very happy. I still have more about the hours. Next, we are required to take a 30 minute lunchbreak on the day as well. So, everyday, I put a lunch from 12-12:30 even though there is not enough time in the day to take a lunch break. If I don't do this, they will not accept my timecard. So, there goes another 3 hours per week. Let's figure out how many hours of overtime per week that this place is screwing just 1 person out of then multiply that by the thousands of technicians nationwide. This is a direct sentence from the front of the timecard. DO NOT SIGN THIS FORM IF THE INFORMATION ON YOUR DAILY TIME RECORD IS NOT COMPLETE AND ACCURATE.
By signing this form I certify: (there are actually 5 different lines here but I am pulling this from line 4 in bold print) I UNDERSTAND NO MASTEC EMPLOYEE, INCLUDING MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS, IS AUTHORIZED TO INSTRUCT ME TO INCORRECTLY REPORT MY WORKING TIME, MEAL PERIODS OR ABSENCES FROM WORK.
Just think that is very amusing!

Ha! Funny how people who post comments like these are not educated on chargeback's and the contractor/sub contractor relationship between MasTec and it's sub companies. Also funny how MasTec takes the brunt of the blame... ha!

I also am a sub contractor.I have been doing Directv since they have been around and things now are pretty bad with chargbacks and things you can not live up to but its always to thier advantage.All of the above except the "HA" comment is truth.One thing is certain, if I were ever to win a major lotto, I would take action against those that need a good kick in the wallet.Never work for a company that has "now hiring"painted on their vehicles.There is a reason for that and its not a good one.
The only thing I like is I get off when Im finished.I get back charged for phones(when cells are only available), their faulty equipment, customer's calling DTV and DTV not routing the service call back to me, but yet they charge me $60.oo for somthing I may have only been paid $35 for. And so on.No pay for no line of site, not getting paid for customer's not home and so on.If I really were in business, like Im labled, There would be a $45. service call for NLOS, and the same for cx not home or customer cancelling at the door.Its amazing to me what these people get away with.I like the service (programming) that DTV has, they just need to treat their front lines better.(Much Better)Maybe its time for me to move on.

Mastec has TOTALLY SCREWED my husband out of so much money...HOW IN THE HELL ARE THEY STILL IN BUSINESS?

I should've known...my wife warned me, when I had to sign the contract to be hired as a sub-contractor that stated I would be charged $300 if I quit within 6 months! Then after having to follow other techs around at my own gas expense for weeks...no other training than that. Started end of Nov. didn't get paid until AFTER XMAS! And it was only around $80! This company completely takes advantage of you! and that is an understatement! They charge you back for phone lines your not even able to install, only have cell phone or DO NOT want it connected to their phone line! When I think I've made around $2000 for 2 weeks work...I get a check for less than $600! I do not uderstand how they can continue TO TAKE ADVANTAGE of us! it is completely WRONG!

Total rip off companies Mastec Advanced technologies and Directv all the all complaints seen above are true to this day in 2015. I really don't understand how this is not only allowed but continues to get worse with each passing year. I am a veteran of 30 years in the satellite industry. I have seen and worked for some really bad companies over the years but this outfit takes a cake. However I feel that Directv is the root cause of all these issues. They put all these rules in place and the buck just keeps getting passed down the chain and the people at the bottom get to pay for it all. Something seriously needs to be done about this!

My husband was a subcontractor for Mastec. The company he worked for was called suntech though, and when they started ripping him off, so he looked for a new job. Today he went to go pick up his last check from suntech in South Carolina by the way. So if you live in or around Elgin then stay clear of them. His check was $400 short. They claim it's from call backs, which they just so happened to have gotten in a 2 day time span which was like I said $400 worth. Yeah right! A lot of the dates that they said he did the service on were way past his 90 day period where he would be responsible for those clients, so they really had no business messing with his money. The owner of the company is a real jerk, and a thief! Stealing from hard working people, who are just trying to make a living. We have four children to take care of, and my husband busted his butt for his company, and this is what he gets in return! Jonathan Heath Hopkin is the owner of this company, so if you happen to see his ad in craigslist or wherever, then jus make sure to run the other way.

I been waiting to get an upgrade from Directv for the last 3 months with no luck. I was told by a John at Directv customer service that the company that does the installation in my region is MASTEC. The 3 months that I've waiting for an upgrade this company MASTEC has called Directv and advice them that in June, I called and cancel in August they said they cancel because they didn't have the equipment and they spoke to me and today the 3rd time MASTEC claims to have spoken to me and canceled because they didn't have the equipment. 3 times they lied, I have never spoken to anyone in MASTEC in reference to my order. I'm going on 4 months and neither Directv or MASTEC has been able to resolve my problem. Directv keep apologizing and rescheduled. What a way to do business.