I'm a Dish subscriber too, but still just with SD. My installation was pretty simple, and the installer was prompt, courteous, and did a pretty good job. Another installer that did the work on my previous home was even better. He really took a lot of time to get the dish dialed in perfectly and did a beautiful job on the cable runs. OTOH, the install job on my in-laws home looks like what a couple of guys would do on a Sunday afternoon with a 6 (or 12) pack between them. Lots of messy bundles of wires held together with twist-ties, cables draped loose over the roof, etc.
Since Dish & DirectTV contract out their install work, it entirely depends on the installers. Some are great, some are horrible.
A good friend has DirectTV HD and went through a similar process that you are going through. Just had a lot of issues getting the installers to show up when promised and to get everything working. It worked out in the end, but he went through a couple of months of missed appointments, mis-alignments, non-functioning HD channels, etc. He eventually had to talk directly with the company that did the install, instead of DirectTV.
I would threaten to cancel your service as that's about the only thing that seems to motivate service companies these days (TV, phone, etc). Not in a spiteful way, but be couteous about it. Tell them that you don't want to drop Dish, but you will be forced to switch back to Cable if they can't figure out your HD ASAP. See if that motivates them.
