Cost of getting a dish realigned

oconnorw

What would the average cost be in the Dublin area
Thanks

seanmacc

It's not actually that hard to do it yourself. You can buy an electronic sat finder. Its just a matter of been able to get up a ladder, loosen a couple of bolts and tighten them where the sat finder gives you the loudest beep. It may not be your Satilite thats off alignment. If its signal issues you have it could well be the LNB or a corroded cable.

John mac

you could ring sky(presuming you are using the service) and say you want to cancel, because the signal keeps disappearing.

they might give you a free call out.

excollier

I think it would be expensive if you were charged more than €30, it,s only a ten minute job, after all.

Tony

excollier wrote: »

I think it would be expensive if you were charged more than €30, it,s only a ten minute job, after all.

Its not a ten minute job unless he has satellite installer living next door.

excollier

It is a ten minute job when the installer gets there, unless the dish has rotted off it fixings, how big is Dublin, surely it's not going to cost a more than half a gallon of diesel in to get there, likely much less.

kbell

Depending on dish location, it can be any amount of time.

excollier

Yes, ok, but generally speaking, ten minutes. Dishes rarely go so far out of line.
Point taken, it could, conceivably, take much longer, but not usually.
Look on the positive side, the OP is looking for a simple dish re-alignment, not a day's work.

kbell

Assuming it is the dish that's at fault.

excollier

Now come on, he asked for a dish re-alignment, I gave a sensible price for just that, any number of other problems could have occurred, surely, but just walk up a ladder to re-align a dish, plain and simple, €30 would be plenty, any more would be just plain greedy.
End of.

kbell

excollier wrote: »

Now come on, he asked for a dish re-alignment, I gave a sensible price for just that

How much do you charge for installing a dish, seeing as your obviously in the trade??

Tony

Sorry but thats just utter nonsense , why must we always have this arguement every time this topic crops up.

Firstly take vat off that €30 , take fuel and insurance out both for the vehicle and public liability. Factor in the cost of the vehicle and tools/equipment (unless someone gave you all this for nothing)

Nobody just "walks" up a ladder and theres nothing plain and simple about realigning a dish, it takes time,care and attention to detail to do it right.

OP I would go with John Mac's suggestion, ring sky and threaten to cancel, they will most likely give you a free service call to hold on to your monthly payment to them.

excollier wrote: »

Now come on, he asked for a dish re-alignment, I gave a sensible price for just that, any number of other problems could have occurred, surely, but just walk up a ladder to re-align a dish, plain and simple, €30 would be plenty, any more would be just plain greedy.
End of.

excollier

Well, having installed many dishes, of all types, I beg to differ, re-aligning is simple and quick nine times out of ten, and does only take ten minutes or so.
To say otherwise, especially about a Sky dish, or anything aligned to 28.2e (or 13e or 19.2e) is not being honest, is it?
So unless it is really difficult to access, and takes ages to do so, then it really is a simple quick task with a half decent meter.
What more can I be than honest.

Tony

Then you should contact the OP and offer to do it for 30 euro after all it only takes ten minutes. Does every dish realignment you do in Donegal take ten minutes ? I seriously doubt that.

Do you pay vat , vehicle insurance and public liabilty insurance ?

If you want to have a rational discussion then questioing others honesty is really not the way to go.

darth_maul

to say it will only take 10 minutes is stupid, as a fellow installer in Donegal a "simple re-alignment" usually involves rusty bolts, rotten cable, rusty dish, Now how a phone call or enquiry with a person looking for a dish re-alignment should go is, explaining to them that a No signal fault may or may not be a dish re-alignment, it could be a number of things and you would have to see it first before knowing. Remember that we are working at heights and with heights comes a certain amount of danger which also has to be factored in. As does the cost of your decent meter. Its not just our time we are selling, its our experience, knowledge and access to specialised equipment as well as the travel and on-site time.

now a local call to a dish that I had put up, which is at a convenient height and was just actually just needing re-alignment then less than €50 would be about right.

Oh and to say that "how big is Dublin" is again silly, Dublin may be small but travelling around in traffic can be time and fuel consuming which all has to be factored in. Also you have to remember that in Dublin unlike Donegal most houses are 2 storey and many have their dishes on the chimney. (must declare that I am a Dub living and working in Donegal)

Now when we rid this trade of the taximen come installers (like our previous poster) who charge feck all cause they have another source of income and no tax or insurance liabilities then we may be able to make a decent living and the customer may get a better service.

FRIENDO

I believe it would cost 65 to 70 Euro, approximately the same price as a call out charge for a workman to service a dishwasher or washing machine.

ISAA

10 minutes my arse, travel time, Insurance, Tools, VAT, etc, cop on, 60-70 euro is a more correct price.
It's a sputid statements, 30 euro for a repoint, that puts professional installers out of business. Only part time, and doing another job, would do a job for 30 quid.:mad:

Regards,

St Senan

darth_maul wrote: »

Now when we rid this trade of the taximen come installers (like our previous poster) who charge feck all cause they have another source of income and no tax or insurance liabilities then we may be able to make a decent living and the customer may get a better service.

Agree 100%. there has been many a thread on here Locked or destroyed with regards to guys double jobbing or chancers putting up dishes.Of course these chancers can charge €30 to drive the length of there county put a ladder and realign a dish and not paying a cent in tax or have no pl insurance.

STB

Same individuals all the time as well Scaller!!

Even a galloping horse would notice who was in the trade and who wasnt!

Feckin tradesmen earning a living, shame on you chancers.

excollier

STB wrote: »

Same individuals all the time as well Scaller!!

Even a galloping horse would notice who was in the trade and who wasnt!

Feckin tradesmen earning a living, shame on you chancers.

Calm down everyone.
I am no chancer, I simply answered the original question how much to realign a dish - €30 if it is straight forward and it takes about ten minutes. Which usually it does
And by the way I was using a good quality meter, a Satlook Micro G2, but the Lacuna which I also used is good enough for Astra 2.
Did I call anyone a chancer?
Thanks Darth-Maul, you are rid of some competition up here, I de-registered last December. More money for you and ISAA, eh? Good luck.

Tony

excollier wrote: »

I simply answered the original question how much to realign a dish - €30 if it is straight forward

Fine then send pm to the OP and arrange a convenient time.

Straight forward will not work if the house is facing north.

excollier wrote: »

Did I call anyone a chancer?

No just dishonest

excollier

Well if you find aligning a dish to Astra 1 & 2 and Hotbird difficult, then what does that say, I apologise to you and grovellingly retract all that I said before. Obviously they must be hard to detect.
If a previously fully working dish is already fitted on a north facing house, and it has simply moved slightly, then it is no more difficult than any other dish, so that argument carries no extra monetary charge.
Anyway, my apologies to the OP for how this thread has been hijacked, and I hope he finds someone in Dublin to fix his dish for a reasonable cost.

Tony

excollier wrote: »

I hope he finds someone in Dublin to fix his dish for a reasonable cost.

So your not doing it for him then ? It only takes a few minutes ?

St Senan

Any guy who would travel to a house to realign a satellite dish for €30 is not legit in this business simple as that. To say to legit installers it would only take 10 mins is insane
I do a lot of Service calls during a month. An average time to a call out to a house is anything between 45 mins to 1hour 30mins. Again I say any guy who would charge less than €60 for a call out is not paying a cent to the TAX man. After deductions are made from €60 for Diesal, PL insurance, and Tax man then a legit installer would probably be left with around €30.

Owen

excollier wrote: »

If a previously fully working dish is already fitted on a north facing house, and it has simply moved slightly, then it is no more difficult than any other dish

You're assuming the customer's diagnosis is correct? A lot of people think 'oh the dish moved', when it could be the LNB, or the cable after getting at fault.

Your price estimate of 30 Euro's clearly based on no knowledge of running any business whatsoever. Subtract the price of Diesel, and you're down 10 euro minimum. So 20 Euro to take potentially 2 hours out of your day with Dublin traffic to 'simly relign a dish'.

staker

scaller wrote: »

Any guy who would travel to a house to realign a satellite dish for €30 is not legit in this business simple as that.

How about the fella who installs a B&Q's best for €30,the punter becomes so exasperated after having no signal and no returned or answered calls he rings a professional service and baulks at the prospect of having to pay for a call out,and possibly a new dish?

St Senan

staker wrote: »

How about the fella who installs a B&Q's best for €30,the punter becomes so exasperated after having no signal and no returned or answered calls he rings a professional service and baulks at the prospect of having to pay for a call out,and possibly a new dish?

B&Q in Waterford are selling the ****e Ross kit for €40.50.

excollier

Tony wrote: »

So your not doing it for him then ? It only takes a few minutes ?

Grow up. I live in Donegal. If I lived in Dublin I would, and after all we were discussing a simple realign here.

Did you never consider, also, that many sole traders never approach the sort of turnover that requires a vat reg, so that knocks that argument on the. head straight away.
And what is the problem on here with someone doing installs as a part time business, there is no law against it. As long as quality gear is used and installed properly and safely, where is your gripe with a part time, legally registered business? We all need to earn a living, somehow.

excollier

scaller wrote: »

Any guy who would travel to a house to realign a satellite dish for €30 is not legit in this business simple as that. To say to legit installers it would only take 10 mins is insane I do a lot of Service calls during a month. An average time to a call out to a house is anything between 45 mins to 1hour 30mins. Again I say any guy who would charge less than €60 for a call out is not paying a cent to the TAX man. After deductions are made from €60 for Diesal, PL insurance, and Tax man then a legit installer would probably be left with around €30.

Prove that statement. I always paid my tax.
You can stop the witchhunt .
Your minds are made up and closed.
Once again, my apologies to the OP.

St Senan

I am not on a Witch Hunt. Can you prove to us how you can Justify charging €30 for a call-out fee to realign a dish and also deduct your Diesel, Tax and Public liability insurance from the €30. It seems that the only person that could do this is someone who has a different job with income and is working at dishes in his spare time.

Tony

excollier wrote: »

Grow up.

Great debating skills there

excollier wrote: »

I live in Donegal.

Correct but according to your logic travelling expenses do not come into play

excollier wrote: »

If I lived in Dublin I would, and after all we were discussing a simple realign here.

Theres no such thing as a simple realign if the job is to be done properly . The only thing "simple" here is your farcical arguemnt that has no basis in the real world.

excollier wrote: »

Did you never consider, also, that many sole traders never approach the sort of turnover that requires a vat reg, so that knocks that argument on the. head straight away.

How does it knock the arguemnt on the head since you refuse to answer the questions put to you. Do you even know what the threshold is for VAT registration ?
You have yet to answer the question as t whether you carry public liability insurance , perhaps you consider than an optional extra which a part timer does not need ?

excollier

scaller wrote: »

I am not on a Witch Hunt. Can you prove to us how you can Justify charging €30 for a call-out fee to realign a dish and also deduct your Diesel, Tax and Public liability insurance from the €30. It seems that the only person that could do this is someone who has a different job with income and is working at dishes in his spare time.

Absolutely correct, any problem with that? And I was registered and legit, and paid my taxes, before you keep on at me.
If you had bothered to read the whole story, I did say that I stopped installing last year.
Lets call a halt to this shall we, it is a bit silly now. I put my hands up to that, my fault.

excollier

Tony wrote: »

Great debating skills there




Correct but according to your logic travelling expenses do not come into play


Theres no such thing as a simple realign if the job is to be done properly . The only thing "simple" here is your farcical arguemnt that has no basis in the real world.


How does it knock the arguemnt on the head since you refuse to answer the questions put to you. Do you even know what the threshold is for VAT registration ?
You have yet to answer the question as t whether you carry public liability insurance , perhaps you consider than an optional extra which a part timer does not need ?

I refer you to the answer above, and the vat threshold is about €60000 turnover, way out of my reach as a former part timer, I was never in danger of earning that much.
Now lets call an end to this, and get you back to the big boys corner

St Senan

excollier wrote: »

Absolutely correct, any problem with that? And I was registered and legit, and paid my taxes, before you keep on at me.
If you had bothered to read the whole story, I did say that I stopped installing last year.
Lets call a halt to this shall we, it is a bit silly now. I put my hands up to that, my fault.

I did read the whole thread and there is no mention that you stopped installing all you said to Darth Maul is that you de registered last December.

Tony

So I take it from your refusal to answer that you do not in fact have public liability insurance ?

excollier wrote: »

I refer you to the answer above, and the vat threshold is about €60000 turnover, way out of my reach as a former part timer, I was never in danger of earning that much.
Now lets call an end to this, and get you back to the big boys corner

excollier

Tony wrote: »

So I take it from your refusal to answer that you do not in fact have public liability insurance ?

Open your eyes and read!
I have stated, I am no longer trading, since last December.
No point on a part time basis. Not as though that's any concern of yours.
I am, though, still allowed an opinion. Even if it differs to yours
Let it go, please, and look after your own business, I'm sure it needs your undivided attention.

Tony

I have been reading but its impossible to read something you have not written IE an answer to a straight forward question which you have failed to answer.

If you had made this known at the outset we could have judged exactly what you meant by doing a realignment for 30 euro, yet you have the audacity to call others dishonest for suggesting that 30 euro was not enough.

So to summarise what you meant was 30 was fine and the customer had to take a chance on being liable for any accidental (or otherwise) damage or injury which might have happened.


It is a concern of mine when people like you seek to damage the very business I make a living from .

You said €30 was a sensible price. What's sensible about working on a customers house without insurance ? You say anything more than €30 is greedy yet surely it is greedy on your part not to pay an insurance premium . I would have thought you needed it more than most since you think its ok to "walk up a ladder" and spend only ten minutes at the dish.

Thanks for your suggestion but I already do look after my own business and my customers do get my undivided attention.

[QUOTE=excollier;72079936 I gave a sensible price for just that, any number of other problems could have occurred, surely, but just walk up a ladder to re-align a dish, plain and simple, €30 would be plenty, any more would be just plain greedy.
End of.[/QUOTE]

excollier wrote: »

Open your eyes and read!
I have stated, I am no longer trading, since last December.
No point on a part time basis. Not as though that's any concern of yours.
I am, though, still allowed an opinion. Even if it differs to yours
Let it go, please, and look after your own business, I'm sure it needs your undivided attention.

excollier

I suggested it would be dishonest to tell a customer that to align a dish to the three main satellites (28.2, 19.2, 13 ) is difficult and long winded, it's not.
So please, pay attention.
I was insured, to answer your main niggle. But on a part time basis, it was very difficult to maintain, not enough population up here to support yet another full time installer, work is very thin on the ground, unlike the large population, in a relatively small area like greater Dublin.
I only initially suggested that €30 would suffice for a short journey, and a very simple re-align.
How far does a gallon of diesel take you? I know all about city traffic,belive me, but how much does it cost to cross the city? One gallon? Two gallons? Half a gallon at €6.50 a gallon?
Right, I will say now that I obviously know nothing about the price of fuel, insurance or the real cost of satellite equipment. I quit the business with a very small profit and with a tax bill to pay, and no complaints.
If that upsets you, then that's just too bad. You are, undoubtedly, happy to see someone get out of the trade.
And I have never damaged the trade, only tried to get established, and share in the profits, but there simply is not enough to go around.
I bow to your all knowing superior knowledge, and I will say no more on the subject, not beaten, but I have better things to do with my time than argue endlessly with you about a few euros of extra profit.

Tony

excollier wrote: »

I only initially suggested that €30 would suffice for a short journey, and a very simple re-align.

You said no such thing.

excollier wrote: »

I think it would be expensive if you were charged more than €30, it,s only a ten minute job, after all.

If you were in fact insured then why did not you not simply answer the question . Your resort to insult simply weakens your argument

excollier wrote: »

Right, I will say now that I obviously know nothing about the price of fuel, insurance or the real cost of satellite equipment. I quit the business with a very small profit and with a tax bill to pay, and no complaints.
If that upsets you, then too bad.

Thats correct you know very little about running a satellite business. I'm not upset at all , I'm glad you are no longer in a position to damage our trade.

STB

excollier wrote: »

Calm down everyone.
I am no chancer, I simply answered the original question how much to realign a dish - €30 if it is straight forward and it takes about ten minutes. Which usually it does
And by the way I was using a good quality meter, a Satlook Micro G2, but the Lacuna which I also used is good enough for Astra 2.
Did I call anyone a chancer?
Thanks Darth-Maul, you are rid of some competition up here, I de-registered last December. More money for you and ISAA, eh? Good luck.

I didnt call you a chancer. I was sarcastically refering to the installers themselves that you and may others seems to begrudge making a living just because some know how to point a dish. Unfortunately that is a chosen profession for some people and they dont take it lightly that someone else can charge cheaper because they have "some" know how. Its irrelevant how much you know above that of joe public. Its the same with any trade. A little knowledge can be dangerous!

I did wonder if you had a public liability insurance myself. Especially if you are going to go to somebody elses property and would take such chances for €30.

If you think about it, we could all do something cheaper with shortcuts taken. And I say this not being a sat installer by the way, although I have installed many dishes myself for myself. I still respect that it is a chosen professional business for some.

I am sure many ex sparks have seen it as a way through the recession, but the money isnt as great, and you cant break work down below a call out charge that a plumber would charge just for a reckie!

excollier

Fair enough. I hope I appear suitably chastised now.
I was fully legit and tried for three years to break into this trade full time, but there was never any more than part time work volume available to me.
So if I chose some loss leader tasks, with little
or no capital expense, then that's what I did.
I always used the best quality equipment, and only ever installed B&Q kit or similar if a customer provided it.
I regret posting an opinion that upsets anyone, and I resent the implication by one poster that I "damaged" his industry, I did no such thing.
Anyway that's all

dmm1000

excollier wrote: »

Fair enough. I hope I appear suitably chastised now.

to me and im sure to many others reading this thread excollier you appear to be suitably "bullied" more than chastised
those who are attacking you must realise that there are thousands in various trades throughout the country who are semi qualified / legit and that thousands of customers are prepared to take a chance on them to do jobs that little bit cheaper possibly of lesser quality (possibly as good quality) - many customers are happy with the results of these jobs

You have been attacked as if you were interrogated by some sort of official tribunal - some of the questions asked were none of his business the arrogance of this attack is plain for all to see - and it seems that this "bully" gets a kick out of ganging up on someone like yourself - the only mistake you made was engaging him for as long as you did

FACT - there are thousands of unqualified individuals in all trades in this country - those who wish to use them have a choice

icdg

Take it to PM guys.

oconnorw

Having read all the comments I must say that I agree with DMM1000's analysis of the situation.

Tony

Something strange going on here.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2266363&postcount=25

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52136927

FRIENDO

oconnorw wrote: »

What would the average cost be in the Dublin area
Thanks

I answered your question in post 16 of this thread (65 - 70 Euro approx).


Mods, I agree with Tony "Something strange going on here"

Craigels

i have 2 boxes a +box and a normal one my +box is the main box and the last few weeks keeps tellin me no sat signal being received but my other box works find been on the phone loads went through all the routine procedures and they couldnt fix it now they want me to pay 100 for a guy to come out and if the box is at fault i will need to buy a new one its about 2 years old a pace model.

i think its a crazy price to pay

FRIENDO

oconnorw wrote: »

Having read all the comments I must say that I agree with DMM1000's analysis of the situation.

DMM1000's did not answer your question

STB

dmm1000 wrote: »

FACT - there are thousands of unqualified individuals in all trades in this country - those who wish to use them have a choice

And so signs on it dmm, we have a lot of badly built, wired and plumbed houses and apartments to contend with through unscrupulous developers. This was partcularly evident during the boom!

When I read about tragic stories about houses burning down etc its the first thing that comes to mind. There were a few over the last couple of weeks whose fault may lie with such choice.

I think the difference here is that people have no regard for those who have persisted at the sat & aerial game as a way of living and those who think they can reform it by entering a trade with suggested bargain installs.

I know my own limits when it comes to plumbing for example! I certainly wouldnt be offering my services to anyone as a sat installer or a plumber !

Lets face it these bash the installers threads are becoming as boring as the TV licence threads.

tmcw

Seeing the mentality on display here makes me glad that figuring out how to install aerials and satellite dishes has been simple, and isn't the black art that some installers claim it to be.

One thing that struck me about the hostility to the €30 "quote" was that, ok, maybe no profit in that, but it may lead to repeat business or referrals; isn't that a part of what business is about?

Tony

It is a crazy price to be asked for if you are paying a monthly fee to sky. Some people have had success by ringing up to cancel and in many cases sky have agreed to make everything right for free.

Craigels wrote: »

i have 2 boxes a +box and a normal one my +box is the main box and the last few weeks keeps tellin me no sat signal being received but my other box works find been on the phone loads went through all the routine procedures and they couldnt fix it now they want me to pay 100 for a guy to come out and if the box is at fault i will need to buy a new one its about 2 years old a pace model.

i think its a crazy price to pay