{"id":46966,"date":"2012-04-10T15:04:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T13:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=46966"},"modified":"2013-01-04T14:53:15","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T12:53:15","slug":"dstv-installer-accreditation-not-a-sham-multichoice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/46966-dstv-installer-accreditation-not-a-sham-multichoice.html","title":{"rendered":"DStv installer accreditation not a sham: MultiChoice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Information received from a well-placed source suggests that DStv installers are able to game MultiChoice\u2019s quality assurance process for accredited installers, but the pay-TV operator says it isn\u2019t possible.<\/p>\n<p>Installers accredited with MultiChoice undergo three quality assurances every year, but according to our source, companies get to choose which of their installations are inspected.<\/p>\n<p>MultiChoice disputed this, saying that their technicians randomly select customers from the installer\u2019s database.<\/p>\n<p>Asked to elaborate on its accreditation process, MultiChoice said that there are 1,200 accredited installers across South Africa that comply with the following criteria:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A minimum of 30 DStv installations successfully completed;<\/li>\n<li>Installers must use recommended equipment on all DStv installations purchased from MultiChoice recommended suppliers; and<\/li>\n<li>An installer must be a company which, among other things, operates from business premises, has a VAT registration number, and does DStv installation full-time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MultiChoice said that installers benefit from accreditation through access to training and continual product updates. Accredited installers are also the vendor of choice on referrals and recommendations, MultiChoice said.<\/p>\n<p>It was pointed out to MyBroadband that the \u201cinstaller finder\u201d tool on the care.dstv.com website doesn\u2019t necessarily return a list of the closest installers, however.<\/p>\n<p>A search for \u201cWaterkloof\u201d returned TV &amp; Video Doctor in Lyttelton, Centurion, and Aerial Excellence based in Garsfontein\/Menlyn in the top 4 results. Aerial Excellence was listed once for three different suburbs in the Waterkloof area.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, a search for \u201cLyttelton\u201d seemed to suggest that TV &amp; Video Doctor Lyttelton is duplicated 5 times under different suburbs. Searching \u201cAerial Excellence &#8211; Pretoria\u201d yields a list of 40 results for the same installer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_46970\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46970\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46970\" title=\"DStv installer finder Lyttelton search in April 2012\" src=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DStv-installer-finder-Lyttelton-search-2-April-2012.jpg\" alt=\"DStv installer finder Lyttelton search in April 2012\" width=\"600\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DStv-installer-finder-Lyttelton-search-2-April-2012.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DStv-installer-finder-Lyttelton-search-2-April-2012-100x54.jpg 100w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DStv-installer-finder-Lyttelton-search-2-April-2012-185x99.jpg 185w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/DStv-installer-finder-Lyttelton-search-2-April-2012-250x135.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-46970\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">DStv installer finder Lyttelton search in April 2012<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Multichoice said that to ensure fairness to all accredited installers, they rotate recommendations of installers in a given area. Searching for the same area multiple times revealed that results seem to be randomised each time.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the online tool, customers can SMS 33936 with their postal code and MultiChoice will respond with an SMS that lists 3 accredited installers near that postal code.<\/p>\n<p>Another potential area of concern is the accreditation of companies rather than individuals. What if a company gets accredited based on the work of an experienced technician that leaves the installer and is replaced by a rookie?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are in the process of instituting individual accreditations linked to the accredited company,\u201d MultiChoice said. \u201cHowever, we are dealing with a very complex product and need to ensure we send the best trained installers to our customers. When an installer leaves a company, they still need to be accredited to ensure they meet all our criteria on an individual basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MultiChoice said that they strongly advise customers to only use accredited installers to ensure the quality of workmanship.<\/p>\n<p>According to MultiChoice, the benefits of using an accredited installer are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adherence to MultiChoice\u2019s high standard of workmanship and code of conduct;<\/li>\n<li>Comprehensive installation experience on the various MultiChoice decoders;<\/li>\n<li>MultiChoice participation in problem resolution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201c[We] have also introduced \u2018recommended prices\u2019 for installers so customers are not \u2018overcharged\u2019 for a service,\u201d MultiChoice said. \u201cThe benefit is that the customer can now be assured that the price you are paying is a pricing system recommended by Multichoice.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"related\">Related articles<\/h3>\n<p><a title=\"DStv installations in decline: installers\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/46940-dstv-installations-in-decline-installers.html\"><strong>DStv installations in decline: installers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Is your DStv dish too small?\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/46562-is-your-dstv-dish-too-small.html\"><strong>Is your DStv dish too small?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"DStv satellite standards confusion\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/45906-dstv-satellite-standards-confusion.html\"><strong>DStv satellite standards confusion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Free educational satellite TV channel for SA\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/46378-free-educational-satellite-tv-channel-for-sa.html\"><strong>Free educational satellite TV channel for SA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"DStv and TopTV decoder prices lower than ever\" href=\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/19916-dstv-and-toptv-decoder-prices-lower-than-ever.html\"><strong>DStv and TopTV decoder prices lower than ever<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Installers can\u2019t get around quality checks, says MultiChoice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":46968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[10344,10346,85,35,475,427,10348],"class_list":["post-46966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-accreditation","tag-certification","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-satellite-tv","tag-satellite-tv-installers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47476,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46966\/revisions\/47476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}