Is Welcome Pack History?

[jerryez]

I just got this mailer from Dish about the 2018 price increases:

Also an promo to encourage me to move up to the Flex Pack:

Sounds like the handwriting is on the wall about the end of Welcome Pack.
Also, a pep talk about adding Alexa, voice remote, TV Anywhere and all the free promos coming in February.
And a Coming Soon about New Technology and Features that keep raising the bar.

 

[TalonDancer]

I got the same mailer recently announcing and breaking out the increase in the Welcome Pack and Locals. I just assumed the rest of the mailer was Dish trying, once again, to convince me to send them more money

 

[jerryez]

If I switch to the Flex Pack $34.99 with locals and I drop the locals, would my price be $24.99? Or are the locals $12 more added to the $34.99?

 

[chuckster_dude]

If I switch to the Flex Pack $34.99 with locals and I drop the locals, would my price be $24.99? Or are the locals $12 more added to the $34.99?

Locals are $12 on top of the $34.99.

 

[stardust3]

So what is the cost of the welcome pack now with locals?

 

[brejust]

So what is the cost of the welcome pack now with locals?

22.99 plus your state taxes

 

[Claude Greiner]

They will probably keep it, and will keep raising rates and removing channels till you get irritated enough to switch to a different package.

Anyone remember Dish Pix? I think it was pick 10 channels for $10/mo

It was around for years after they stopped promoting it.

 

[comfortably_numb]

My bill doesn’t break it down like that. Just shows Welcome Pack as $22.99. Also never received an email about TLC going away.

 

[pattykay]

I just got this mailer from Dish about the 2018 price increases:

View attachment 131061

If they are going to break it down like that, then they should give Welcome Pack subscribers the option of dropping locals.

 

[pattykay]

My bill doesn’t break it down like that. Just shows Welcome Pack as $22.99. Also never received an email about TLC going away.

Maybe TLC is not going away for you. I remember you also said that you are not getting HMM. Perhaps you somehow got grandfathered into keeping the old version of Welcome Pack. Remember from the uplink report about TLC that multiple Channel Groups were removed, even though Welcome Pack is the only package confirmed to be losing TLC. So, I am thinking that there might be multiple versions of Welcome Pack, and it might be possible that TLC is not being removed from all of them. The idea of multiple versions of Welcome Pack would also explain some of the account-specific glitches that I have seen. At one point, I had two Dish accounts with Welcome Pack. One account got TNT in addition to the Welcome Pack channels, but the other account got HLN in addition to the Welcome Pack channels. Neither channel was listed as being in Welcome Pack, and other subscribers on here confirmed that they were not getting either channel with Welcome Pack. Also, some Welcome Pack subscribers got to keep AMC for seven months after AMC returned to Dish, even though AMC had been removed from Welcome Pack.

 

[HelenDee]

How can new subscribers even sign up for Welcome Package?

 

[jerryez]

When I changed from Dish American to the Welcome Pack, I had to call in to get the Welcome Pack was not even listed in the MY Account area.

 

[pattykay]

How can new subscribers even sign up for Welcome Package?

Unfortunately, Dish makes new subscribers jump through hoops to get it. You have to sign up with some other package (usually Smart Pack or Flex Pack) and then when your service is activated, you can immediately call back and switch to Welcome Pack. Calling Dish to change your package is the only way to get Welcome Pack. There is no way to directly sign up for it as a new subscriber, nor can you switch to Welcome Pack through your online account login.

 

[navychop]

And IIRC there is a $5 fee to downgrade.

 

[comfortably_numb]

And IIRC there is a $5 fee to downgrade.

I did not pay a downgrade fee

 

[Claude Greiner]

Speaking of account glitches about 16 years ago when dish rolled out the first plans to give the customers 4 televisions for free.

When activating the account 2 of the boxes had HBO, regardless If the customer subscribed.

I only noticed it because I would always check all the channels.

 

[HelenDee]

If new customers are under a 2 year contact, what is the guarantee they are able to do the switch to Welcome. If this was Comcast u know what customer service, they probably say yes and when u try to change it is it no

 

[comfortably_numb]

If new customers are under a 2 year contact, what is the guarantee they are able to do the switch to Welcome. If this was Comcast u know what customer service, they probably say yes and when u try to change it is it no

You won’t have any issues. You will just lose any discounts you might have had.

 

[pattykay]

And IIRC there is a $5 fee to downgrade.

And that is why I said to immediately downgrade to Welcome Pack. Dish should waive the $5 fee, since you did not want the higher package that Dish required you to sign up with in the first place. Make it very clear that you want Welcome Pack when you first sign up for service, jump through the hoops that Dish makes you go through in order to get it, and there will be no fee for changing packages.

You won’t have any issues. You will just lose any discounts you might have had.

You will lose any discounts that are specifically tied to a higher package. As an existing customer downgrading to Welcome Pack, if you have any Loyalty credits that are not tied to a package (such as a $5 per month credit for six months) then you would keep those. Putting your account on a seasonal Pause, or closing your account completely, would remove all discounts, regardless of the type of discount.

 

[pattykay]

Speaking of account glitches about 16 years ago when dish rolled out the first plans to give the customers 4 televisions for free.

When activating the account 2 of the boxes had HBO, regardless If the customer subscribed.

I only noticed it because I would always check all the channels.

That would suck if you were paying for HBO. You would be missing the channels on two of your boxes.