Sorry but I'm confused. No one at DISH can answer questions accurately about prepaid and Radio Shack dealers are no better.
I went to CVS for the Green Dot Money Pack. I found Green Dot Visa and Master Card. They cost $9.95 to activate. They had a Green Dot Money Pack for $4.95 but the manager said it was just to reload your original card. I'm confused as to what I need.
The DISH customer service said you cannot just buy a day or two, once you activate it runs until it runs out. But that is just with the DISH card right? She said it didn't matter.
Please help me.
And I can get a new prepaid receiver on eBay for half of Radio Shack cost!
The GREENDOT MONEYPAK is the one you want/need. Not the credit card.
The one with the fee of $4.95 is the one you need. It will have(this is the current layout of the face of the card as of 9/10/08 since I got one just this past week at WalMart. Best place to go since the cashiers seem to know how to load it.) the words "green dot" in a green space surrounded by a white circle with the word MoneyPak in BOLD GREEN LETTERS, with Money laid out in the upper right hand corner. It will have CASHIER INSTRUCTIONS on how to load it at checkout for those who don't know how(the cashiers that is).
YOU DO NOT NEED A PRELOADED CREDIT CARD TO USE A GREENDOT MONEYPAK.
I know that the above is in caps, and represents shouting, but I just want too emphasize the point that a preloaded credit card is not needed, just the Moneypak. So don't listen to anyone who tells you this.
Once you load the Green Dot MoneyPak with Cash(lets say $20 as an example. It ranges from $20-$1,100), and then have the $4.95 added to the amount, the total to get the greendot moneypak will be $24.95.
Pay, and the receipt printed out at the register(this goes for when buying from WalMart. At other stores like Rite-Aid, this may not apply and the number on the bottom of the card is the one you use), an ACTIVATION NUMBER will be printed on the receipt.
This is the SUPER IMPORTANT NUMBER you will need when calling Dish NOW!/YA!, so SAVE THE RECEIPT, ALWAYS! Even if you get it somewhere else, save the receipt anyway.
So when you get home and call Dish Now, and you tell it you are using a Green Dot Moneypak to order programming, it will ask for that activation number. Type it into the phone using the keypad, and then follow the prompts from there.
A detailed description of what to do is type up on the first page(I think) of this thread by me. I tis long winded, but no detail is left out, although some of the info is a little out of date(can't seem to get 2 days of programming for ordering 1 day at a certain time anymore. Oh Well). Just read that.
With the GrennDot MoneyPAK you CAN order 1 day at a time of prgramming, but the the DISH NOW! CARD, which is found at Radio Shack in $40 increments, you have to use the full amount towards the programming. You have no choice. So in this case, the CSR has NO IDEA what they are talking about, which is COMMON unfortunately.
i would not order a standalone Dish NOW! receiver from EBay, but that is just personal bias/experience.
I would go to one of the trusted Online dealers I listed in an earlier post in this thread(on page 2 I think), and order it from them.
And make sure you get the LATEST AVAILABLE Dish NOW!/YA! receiver, which is the DP 301, and not the Phillips 3900.
And if there is one newer than that, get that instead.