Equipment upgrade w/o Credit Card

[Kentstater]

Another sister related question.

My sister called E* to get the upgrade from her 301 to a DVR. The promotion is basically $99 for the DVR and a $99 rebate.

My sister has automatic monthly payments through her checking account, but has no credit or debit card. I offered to use my credit card and they said I could do that to pay for the DVR but they had to have one in her name to make sure she sent back the 301 receiver.

Basically she cannot take advantage of their promotions or upgrades because she chooses not to use credit cards.

Is there anyway around this?

[garys]

She can get a Debit Card attached to her checking account. As long as it have a VISA number, Dish will treat it like a credit card. I have used mine like this for years with Dish.

[Slamminc11]

Do a pre-paid card maybe?

[tmanmi]

Have her get a prepaid visa: http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/index.html

As incompetent as Dish is these days, I would never give them access to my checking account with a debit card.

[finniganps]

The answer is basically "No" - they want assurances that they will get their receiver back. I understand why folks don't want credit cards, but the reality is that for certain things you need them. The alternatives presented (except the debit card) above have fees/costs associated with them and are essentially getting a credit card which I think she chooses not to have. What she could do to get a DVR is buy a model 501, 508 or 721 from e-bay. These have no monthly fees. You'd probably need to buy it through Paypal unless she has an account that hits her checking account, but this is a way that she could get a DVR w/o a credit card. You'd need to check on installation cost for the 721 which requires an additional line, but the 508 shouldn't need any installation (switch cables). 508's and 721's are going for $100-$160. If you can get the installation, I'd go for the 721 (two tuners), but obviously she'd have to buy these. These are MPEG 2 receivers, so they will become obsolete at some point when everything is MPEG 4, but I imagine that will be a few years from now.

[garys]

Have her get a prepaid visa: http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/index.html

As incompetent as Dish is these days, I would never give them access to my checking account with a debit card.

Some Debit cards have Visa numbers, not Checking account routing info.

[Kentstater]

Thanks folks, the frustrating thing is that I am trying to help my sister that is challenenged in many ways and has wisley gotten away fom credit.
I have all the resources she ussually needs, I just can't utilize them in this situation.