Dishonest installer

I recently was asked to see if I could get local stations ota at a residence in Gordon WI. The antenna was still in place from back when tv went digital so I asked if the owner had ever tried to get local digital broadcasts.  No, the dish installer tried before setting up the dish but was not able to get a signal.  The downlead had been cut by the installer so I went up to connect a fresh cable to the antenna.  The antenna was complete and in good condition except for the fact that the dish installer had disabled the antenna by disconnecting the uhf element from the studs where the downlead connects, thereby making it impossible for any signal to get from the antenna to the downlead.  I reconnected the element, connected the downlead and scanned for channels.  Without any adjustments all local channels are coming in fine.  
Do not trust these crooks to be helpful or honest, especially if doing so gets in the way of them making a sale.