Prepaid Credit Card for Roku Setup

I was setting up a Roku 3 and confronted by the setup routine that required a valid credit card number before it could proceed. I googled for a way to proceed without divulging a credit card number, but found no workarounds. This requirement is not listed on the box that the Roku comes with. This of course is not an oversight by the Roku company so I think this is a bit shady if you ask me, a quasi-bait and switch. The box is already opened so certain stores will not take it back for a refund.

So given that this Roku is not for my own use, I could not use my own credit card. I went to the local Walgreen and bought a disposable VISA credit card from a company called OneVanilla.

At the register, I told the sale clerk that I wanted $50 put into this card. He gave me a I-bet-he-use-it-to-pay-for-online-porn look, and rang up $50 plus the $4.95 surcharge. In addition to the regular receipt, I also got a separate receipt that says "Gift Card" that has the serial number of the OneVanilla card.

The credit card has the expiration date of Feb 2022. At home, I opened the package saw that the card inside looks exactly my regular VISA card. It can be used as a "regular" credit card or as a debit card. The sticker on the card directed me to the OneVanilla website to register the card. There, I put in the card's number, expiration date, and the 3-number code. The site also asked for an email address and a password. That was it. So now this particular card's number is associated with my email address and a password. There is an option to create a PIN number to be used as the PIN for the card to be used as a debit card, but I did not create it.

I went back to the Roku website and put in this credit card's number, expiration date, and the 3-number code, and billing address. Just like a regular online purchase with a credit card. It worked. The Roku site said that the credit card is on file with them, but no charges have been made to this credit card number. Fine, you son of a ...

So although the Roku 3 is setup fine, I am still miffed by Roku's non-disclosure that to use its services, you need a credit card. At least with AppleTV, you can setup without the need for a credit card (last time I did it was a few months ago). If your intention is to use the Roku to access free contents via its 1000s of channels, then either you have to give Roku your credit card or get one of these disposable ones.

I have already sent a nasty email to Roku complaining about this. This is not how you should treat your customers.