Prepaid dish

crappieguy

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Feb 6, 2005
311
0
northwest alabama
I saw a retailer chat tonite introducing PRE PAID dish network service. Did anyone else see this. And has anyone seen this 301d receiver yet? Anyway heres the deal. Customer pays $99 for dish and receiver. $19.99 for self install kit. Then pay $30 for a prepaid service card. For 30 days of dish latino or at60 with NO locals. EVERYONE qualifies. NO CC or SSN needed. They don't care who you are.
 
well How does it actually work. I mean really not just what dish claims. We have A LOT of ppl here that have no SSN or BAD credit and it seems that they would really jump on board.
 
From what I've heard it works like prepaid cell phone service. You buy a card for programming, call a number on the card and put in some information and it activates/maintains programming for your receiver. One of the things that any potential customer for this program needs to be aware of is that they will not be able to order PPVs. Not through the receiver or even through a CSR if they called E*. Basically E* is taking no risk at all by accepting customers in this fashion. The customer has paid for the equipment and E* doesn't have to worry about whether or not the programming is paid for since the customer has to pay for those cards.
 
Wouldn't this basically be the same as the Free for ALL Promotion? Do you then own the reciever?

Is the 301d reciever required for this program?
 
nsafreak said:
From what I've heard it works like prepaid cell phone service. You buy a card for programming, call a number on the card and put in some information and it activates/maintains programming for your receiver. One of the things that any potential customer for this program needs to be aware of is that they will not be able to order PPVs. Not through the receiver or even through a CSR if they called E*. Basically E* is taking no risk at all by accepting customers in this fashion. The customer has paid for the equipment and E* doesn't have to worry about whether or not the programming is paid for since the customer has to pay for those cards.

Then they could sell Pre-Paid PPV Crds.
 
mogack said:
Wouldn't this basically be the same as the Free for ALL Promotion? Do you then own the reciever?

Is the 301d reciever required for this program?

Yes you own the receiver, and for dealers no chargebacks. :)
 
So, as a retailer, what is the commission? I used to be a Wireless Phone retailer, Pre-paid didn't pay squat.

No Charge backs but Very little commision either, we only got pennies on the dollar every time they baught a new card from us(if they ever did).
 
You actually make $50 on each sale of equip.With NO RISK. You either sell self install kit (and make $10)or tech gets an install out of the deal. Not to mention if they install themselves. How many SC are techs gonna get out of the deal.
 
Sounds like something I might do for those that I think may be high risk customers. I could offer installation of the system for an extra fee. Got a lot of high risk customers around the area and some others that may have had the service before and didnt pay a bill and this is their second chance for customers like that.
 
This is good for a lot of people that may not always be able to afford television all of the time and is easier for the system for seasonal disconnect customers. This also prevents them from ordering a lot of programming. This is good in a way because I have noticed some customers that would order more programming than they can afford then they would get behind a month and get a bill for $150-175+ and they think "no way am I going to pay that" or "no way can I afford that" so they do not pay anything and it gets shut off and that is that. This prevents that from happening and they pay in advance for programming in which is not a large amount.

I do hope that they offer higher programming packages in the future that can be prepaid. Can the locals not be had either with the prepaid card? Do they not your name in the system if you purchase it this way?
 
crappieguy said:
10% of something is ALWAYS better than 100% of NOTHING


Good point!!!! And it sounds like it is only for a single reciever pretty quick install.

Great info. Look forward to learning more.
 
That is what I am thinking about here. This would be easy on the customer and the retailer even if there is less to be made. The risk is low so it makes more sense. There are no bills to try to figure out. You just pay for the card as you can afford it and go forth with it. The retailer even makes money on selling the cards.
 
So is the special receiver required? And (as a lifetime sub) is this program compatible with my SA* authorization? (Or would I need to have the special "prepaid" receiver, and then a 2nd receiver for SA*?)

I would like this just because I'm not interested in CC Autopay, and I tend to only want to subscribe to Dish about half the year anyway. This way, when I lose interest in watching Dish for a while, I could just let it lapse and not have any issues.
 
Is the "prepaid card" a smartcard that is inserted in the receiver and expires after a month, or is it like one of those gift card things where you call somewhere and place an order for service to be turned on?

jegrant, if you're a lifetime SA sub you already own a receiver right? I think this would be a separate account.