DISH Network recently introduced an online appointment portal that’s bound to please anyone who has ever had to set aside a four-hour time window waiting for a service tech to arrive. With My Tech, customers not only get an accurate ETA for service calls, but will also be able to know who the technician is scheduled to arrive at their home.
A video provided by DISH goes into a little more detail about how the process works. Customers first get an alert informing them of a 75-minute window during which a service technician will arrive. This is often substantially less than other household utility services, allowing customers to miss less time from work or perform personal tasks.
As the scheduled arrival nears, another alert with the name and a picture of the technician is sent to the customer. Software that uses Google Maps provides the current location of the technician, along with a real-time countdown that is even more accurate than the original ETA.
One of the worst things that can happen with any appointment time window is for the technician to show up with ten minutes remaining in a four-hour time window. While technically that complies with what was promised, customers are effectively restricted to their homes for three hours and fifty minutes. What’s even worse is for the tech to show up late because the customer has to wait not only during the originally-scheduled window, but additional time until the tech arrives.
DISH’s 75-minute window is relatively small, when compared to other companies that set appointments with time windows. UPS My Choice is a membership program that sets a two-hour window for customers to expect delivery of a package. Comcast Xfinity also sets appointments in a two-hour window with credits given if the tech fails to arrive on time. Cox appears to use a three-hour window over the lunch hour; a two-hour window otherwise.
One of the other concerns about appointments for technician service in homes is security. Stolen cable boxes, home invasions, possible con men, and fears of fake techs casing homes can all happen as a result of criminals posing as techs.
The My Tech portal is such a good idea that all utilities should use some equivalent of it. It requires no installation of mobile apps or PC software, is easy to use, provides safeguards against imposters gaining access to homes, and eliminates time wasted waiting for techs to arrive. DISH Network should be praised for creating something so helpful.
Edited by
Rory J. Thompson
