Yes, this is my biggest gripe with the mydish site. Dish really needs to fix this so that Welcome Pack is listed there, to avoid this type of confusion. As it is now, it is just a PITA for those who wish to switch to Welcome Pack, since it isn't listed, and you have to call or chat to get it instead of changing the package yourself online. Meanwhile, it is costing Dish potential money from those who already have Welcome Pack and might wish to upgrade, but they don't do so for the same reason as the OP: they are afraid that they will not be able to get Welcome Pack back later. What sense does it make to keep subscribers "locked" into a low-end basic package? (Or rather, make them think that they are locked into keeping that package, if they ever want to get it later.) Welcome Pack does not require the G4 Smart Card, so it is not like Flex Pack and the Channel Packs, which are not listed unless all of your receivers are compatible. So, I really see no reason not to list Welcome Pack as an available package option.
Because If people know if it's an option they will get it and Dish doesn't make a good enough profit selling that package.
The other issue with the "welcome pack" is the confusion it creates. What I mean by that is customers will subscribe to it to save money, and after a few months they will realize there is no channels to watch, and will associate their crappy selection of channels with dish network service being crappy in general.
All day long I hear from customers that their provider shows the same thing over and over and that's why they are switches.
I dare not say the same channels they get on Comcast, they get on Dish, Directv and Uverse.
It's a common misconception.
Here is another reason why...
I had this 80 year old man who used to pay annually for Dish. Every year he would come in and we would spend 3 hours going over all the Dish packages.
He would finally pick a package like AT200 and HBO for example, we would call Dish together, figure out the price with all the added fees and he would write a check and we would mail it to Dish to cover the entire year.
A few days later his kids and wife get pissed off he changed the package, and would call Dish and add the everything pack back without his knowledge.
6 months would pass, and he would come into my office wondering why his service was off and had a $300 bill in the mail.
So we would then figure out the difference for the everything package, his past due bill and he would send in another check to Dish.
This went on for at least 7 years....
Finally when Dish started getting more anal on customer account security, we yet again changed the package and put a ton notes on the account not to change it and put a password.
So instead of changing the package, his wife decided to order Comcast with the everything pack.
So now he had a bill for Dish and a bill for Comcast.
So the last time he saw me, Dish had screwed me out of my contract a few months earlier so I was no longer a Dish dealer and no longer had his account.
Looking at both his bills for Dish and Comcast, he asked me how he could save some money.
So I ended up suggesting he cancel both Dish and Comcast, sign up as a new customer with Directv with the everything pack and just do auto-pay instead of trying to pay the year in advance.
The point here is that people try to be cheap going to smaller packages, but at the end the smaller packages back fire on the provider because not only they make less profit, but end up loosing the customer because the smaller pack doesn't have the channels the customer wants.