In the latest example of a corporation trying to nickel and dime its customers, the telecom giant has announced a new “$2 payment convenience fee” for people who, well, want to pay their bill.
Basically if you are the kind of person who can’t commit to auto-paying your phone bill and like to pay online or on your phone, well, your bill is going to be going up two bucks a month starting on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, January 15.
Yeah, there are ways to go month-to-month without incurring the fee—electronic check, a Verizon gift card, paper check in the mail, or paying in person at a Verizon store — but if you want to pay your bill online or on your phone, well, be ready to part with two hundred pennies.
So, why is Verizon doing this? According to Big Red, “The fee will help allow us to continue to support these single bill payment options in these channels [the still free options] and is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments in alternate payment channels (online, mobile, telephone).”
So…basically Verizon (which is not exactly in the poor house) found a place where they could wring out a few extra pennies and is doing just that. What comes after this? Fees for accessing more than 100 cell towers in a month?
Verizon needs no discussion or approval to add or increase fees?
UPDATE: Verizon caved.
They are charging the easiest methods to help pay for the complex methods? What a crock of baloney.
If they truly wanted to get rid of the complex methods, then they should charge the $2 on those and everyone would flood to the easy methods.
Verizon needs no discussion or approval to add or increase fees?
Depends on the contract the customers all signed.
We can all agree these fees are bullshit opportunities to get another buck out of customers.
Big whoop. If you read correctly, this is only for Verizon wireless, and only for those making a single payment by phone, wireless phone or through the Verizon website. No charge for normal people who either have the bill automatically go to a credit card or get a bill and pay it through online banking or by mailing in a check.
The payment methods subject to the charge are, in my experience, only used by those with less than 48 hours left before they get cut off for non-payment. (e. i. deadbeats)
Besides, it’s for wireless. If you don’t like Verizon, there’s that warm and fuzzy AT&T you can deal with :).
First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Big Whoop, right?
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.” – Maggie Kuhn, founder of the Gray Panthers
The payment methods subject to the charge are, in my experience, only used by those with less than 48 hours left before they get cut off for non-payment. (e. i. deadbeats)
Your naivete is astounding.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a class action lawsuit come of this. I’ve yet to have a fee be “convenient”.
Comcast does the same thing, only their fee is higher.
This is better than the Illinois tollway which charges you double for using a manual tollbooth that is harder to track.
Up next a $5.00 charge for bill creation SQL Statements.
Don’t give them ideas!
maybe they should just say they want to charge everyone more money “just because.” at least it would be honest.
I cancelled a 2nd phone line with AT&T not so long ago, they billed me $150 + $75 for early termination (I had it for 2 years … I don’t see how even in theory that could be “early termination” …).
I called them up and I inquired about this and they stated “it was in your contract” and I said “Well, I never had a contract and I would have noted something like this if told”. They reviewed everything in a week reversed the charges.
I think in an industry that has done very with “evergreen contracts”, hidden fees and constant changes in terms that the idea of charging $2 for credit card payments is very much in line with the expectations that the average customer expresses as tolerable.
The wireless industry has done a very good illustrating just how willing the average customer is to accept virtually any type of unfair arrangement and this breaks no new grounds in that department.
The sad problem is that Verizon is the only carrier with decent coverage in the places that matter. Bastards.
(Take a map and remove anything withing 20 mi. of a city and 10 mi. of a town. What’s left is the places that matter.)
Tracfone ….pay as you go. Oh, that’s right, you can’t use your Smartphone.
My phone costs me about $100 per year. No hidden fees ever. And it works great.
Beat ya, Virgin throw away. 80 bucks a year, not per month. I have computers at home so I don’t need to carry one.
Though I was one of the first on my block to pay through the nose for a Motorola StarTAC back in 98′. Great phone.
Still in working condition and kept in the car just for emergency 911.
I loved the StarTac flip phone. Should bring it back. Why does a phone HAVE to be a computer?
They’re for people who can’t run a real computer.
From Wikipedia
“StarTAC 2010
In October 2010, the French firm Lëkki re-introduced the StarTAC as a ‘retro’ phone. Refurbished second-hand phones using the original specifications (including the small screen and single-band communication) are available in yellow, green, pink, and black.”
Its just that my Droid on Verizon wireless is so useful. When I have an address for a customer and confusing or no directions in, the Google navigation and/or street view is a great time saver. Going to the trouble of finding a safe place to stop, getting out the laptop and firing it up to use mapping software that only approximates the address location is less than ideal. But I can’t/won’t try this in Canada because Verizon’s international roaming rates are brutal. (one weekend in Ontario cost me $200 on top of the normal $90.)
Remember, BofA wanted to charge $5.00 a month for using your debit card, the backlash from that decision got them to change that policy before it was implemented.
Now let see if Verizon wireless customers would do the same…
Don’t count on it. My wife’s plan has been paid automatically for a while.
For some reason that arrangement just irritates me. I had rather pay them then have them take it from me.
It wasn’t backlash from customers. The Obama admin didn’t want their stupidity revealed where they did the bidding of WalMart and other retailers and lowered the debit card fee paid by those companies that Bank of America passed on.
I retired from Verizon after 36 years and now the also want to ruin my health care that I received in lieu of salary. They are some greedy bastards, this is on the same lines as what Bank America did before people took their money out. This company made a profit of 22 billion over the last 5 years their CEO makes millions and they are going to do this when people are down.
Verizon = assholes.
Just learn to do without . Cut the cord. Go without a phone
I agree 100%. Cable TV and cell phones are a huge waste of time and money. Life is sweeter without them.
I did cut my cell phone for most of 2011. Even that was a prepaid one. But eventually, since I walk at night a lot, I decided that I needed some way to at least call 911. (pay phones are rare as hen’s teeth these days).
It also comes in handy occasionally for those “how many cans of tomatoes do we have at home..they’re on sale here at the market” kind of thing.
BUT, most of my family and friends will not be getting the new number. They can pester me enough with the land line.
Any USA cellphone can call 911, regardless of whether you have a service plan or prepaid credit.
So who are you hurting? I’m sure Verizon could care less and what happens when you really need a phone? Seems like your giving up a lot just to try and prove you don’t need it? Cable TV or Satellite I can understand. I dropped that whole waste of money a couple years ago. But phone is much different and much more a need then a want for me.
NET PROFIT MARGIN, 2010
Verizon Communications Inc. – 2.39%
Industry, Telecommunications – 13.73%
No comment as to whether they should be raising prices or cutting out fat…
I like the other telecom/gumment stunt, it’s not a tax it’s a fee.
A lot of this might not be Verizon but rather the credit card and bank cards charging fees for these type of transactions. Verizon might be passing this along. Why do we complain about this, but say nothing about the postage and cost of checks to mail a payment? I signed up for auto pay and have never looked back. If you cannot commit to this type of payment solution. Then maybe you cannot afford your plan?
What in the hell has been coming out of our B schools for the past couple of decades? Moral responsibility is evidently now considered laughable and not part of business anymore. Bill collection used to be an element of “cost of goods sold”. Now it’s no longer called greasing the palms, it’s greasing the customer’s backsides. I miss the days when Ma Bell put an indesctructible phone on the wall for $10 a month.
Corporations aren’t primarily about providing products and services, they already have that so now they’re about profits and shareholder equity.
The guy who came up with this will get a promotion, and perhaps a nice bonus. It will go on his resume as an accomplishment…increasing corporate profits by x%.
another reason not to have a cell phone
It’s not a fee for folks who “want to pay their bill.” It’s a fee for accepting a payment that is in a form not tied directly to their bill.
You still “pay your bill” in whatever standard manner you’ve always done it. Credit card, bank account transfer, check…
No fees for those.
The fee is on “I’m going to send you money in some non-ordinary way.”
Define “non-ordinary.”
They have long had easy access to make monthly payments with a card, takes maybe 60 seconds, and they’ve probably had this system for several years just like every other major player in dozens of industries.
For me, this is the way I’ve been paying my bills for over seven years. Suddenly it’s “non-ordinary”?
Really?
The guy in the pix should know, he is a Mets fan…
sorry, couldn’t resist. Me neighbor is also a Mets fan and I feel bad for him every year.
Don’t MC and Visa have in there contract they can not charge extra for paying with credit/debit cards?
Yes
That’s why the airlines started calling it a “convenience” fee instead of a credit card use fee. You know, a rose by another name – only just the thorns.
But, isn’t paying on line LESS expensive than processing a paper check or handling a walk-in bill payer? I’d be curious to see what percentage of their customers pay on line.
I’m reminded of some airline companies who added a “convenience” fee for paying with a credit card when they know that something like 90% of their customers pay by credit card. On other words, it was not a convenience fee but a fare increase.
If this trend continues, I may have to start carrying my checkbook around, again.
I think a lot of the problem, what I am seeing these days, is a lot of people, (at least those who are awake) do not trust autopay, paying online, or giving their number out on the phone..and for good reason. In my small town a popular Italian restaurant just closed because of a compromise with a their computer and theft of credit card numbers. 150 people now have to deal with ID Theft and threatening to sue the business…they shut their doors.
Keep your friends close, your CC numbers closer.
What about a fee (reversal) for my time tracking down the overcharges and mistakes on a bill, or a tech problem. Be it Verizon, Dish Network, software and/ or hardware support…etc. My time means NOTHING to these people. If they make a mistake, I’m supposed to swallow the sincere apology:
“I’m sorry sir that you are experiencing these problems, let me transfer you over to our technical services moron, who will proceed to waste more of your valuable time, ask you the exact same questions I just did, and by the way, Engrish is his 5th language, so please be patient and thank you for being a valued blah blah blah customer, oh and by the way did you know that most of your stupid questions are addressed on our website yadda yadda yadda”
But I digress.
My least favorite phrase: Your call is important to us, please stay on the line…
My call is so important they send it overseas where they have two people manning 10 lines.
Time to occupy bullshit corporate tricks street.
They do this because they can. Do you think that they would continue if even 10% of their customers walked? But you would all rather complain than do anything (other than complain). Hey, at least they use the proceeds to pay for the tea party!
My father is on contract with verizon and I don’t think he can leave until the contract expires. He has already expressed that he wishes to no longer be on contract when this one is up so they may lose him entirely soon.
I don’t know if this will trip the payment changes clause in these contracts or not. If so, he may just be able to leave early without penalty. Let’s hope so. 🙂
You’d have to check but this may constitute a change in service which means he can end his contract without penalty.
But ATT is no better, and just as many will switch to Verizon this year.
This is the beauty of unregulated utilities. If you’re a CEO.
Please use your brain and stop humiliating yourself in public.
Verizon is one of the very few ultra wealthy organizations with the cash to bribe…um “lobby” both Congress and the White House; both parties of course. As such they are party neutral. In fact it is most likely fair to say that the partisan twaddle you push is totally beneath them. They don’t need to worry about which party is in power because they pay off, excuse me, “lobby” both.
Of course the Party in power gets the most as checking income for Democrats in Congress goes up when they are in power while that of Republicans goes down and of course income for Republicans feel sharply right after the last Presidential election then rose sharply after the Democrats lost all those seats.
Of course you did already know this didn’t you? If so why are you still loudly proclaiming your status as a door mat?
This will be dropped when people send in paper checks again just to say F U. People are getting sick of this kind of crap. It didn’t work with Bank of America or more recently when GoDaddy supported SOPA. This will fail and people will like Verizon less and less. Would be nice to see another player in the mobile field that can compete against ATT and Verizon.
Competition would be good but they already own all the bandwidth. Our extremely astute leaders sold it to them.
Actually, I think they leased it.
Write out the check, fold in in thirds along with the bill statement place it in an envelope, add any flyers or promotional material that was sent with the original bill. TAPE the envelope with satin finish Scotch tape taking care to cover the corners.
For extra fun, tape or staple the check to the bill statement.
This will greatly increase the processing time of your bill and will cost Verizon more then $2 in labor costs.
Better yet, pay your bill in change and mail it to them in their postage paid envelope. The weight will make the postage more than $2.
I’ve decided to charge Verizon $4.99 to cover my monthly cost of paying them.