Posted on 12/29/2011 11:43:07 AM PST by John W
Verizon Wireless plans to charge subscribers a new $2 fee every time they pay their wireless bills online or directly over the phone.
A leaked memo from the company first reported by Engadget, showed some of the details of the new plan. And the blog Phone Scoop got confirmation from a Verizon representative on Thursday of the change.
The new fee will go into effect starting January 15 and doesn't apply to customers paying their bills with an electronic check or who enroll in autopay using a credit, debit, or AT&T cards, according to the memo posted on Endgadget. Customers using Verizon Wireless gift cards or Verizon Wireless device rebate cards and customers using standard paper check and money orders made payable directly to Verizon Wireless will also not be charged a fee, Phone Scoop reported.
Verizon said that customers making single payments online will be notified of the fee before they complete their transactions.
The fee associated with paying your bill online is part of a larger trend by companies to extract more money from customers to access certain forms of payment. Bank of America was criticized earlier this year for its plans to charge customers a $5 fee to use debit cards.
Verizon's plan seems to make little sense, given that the company offers several ways to avoid the fee. Verizon didn't elaborate on why it's charging this fee. My guess is that the company that clears these payments is charging Verizon a fee that Verizon is passing on to customers. Still, it seems ridiculous that paying a bill online or by phone could cost Verizon more than processing a hand-written check or money order that is sent to the company through the regular mail.
Verizon has not yet responded to CNET's request for more information on this topic. So stay tuned for updates.
Its not a TAX, and its not a Obama’s fault (plenty of things are however).
Verizon is a private company that decides what it wants to charge, you have no obligation to do business with them.
Or is the conservative viewpoint now that companies should not be allowed to set their own prices?
Have you had to contact customer service (i.e., do they speak something close to English)?
All those things may be true except, "deposit the check" AT&T doesn't actually deposit your check, it's done through electronic funds transfer, once they receive your check your account is debited almost immediately. AT&T is not alone in doing it this way.
I see my "returned" checks in my on line account and almost all of them are "cashed" this way.
Of course! But that's not what you asked. They can charge a million dollars a day if they want.
My wife signed a one year contract with "Curves" and payments were automatic from our checking account. Near the end of the contract, in the tenth month, she notified them that she would not be renewing, they assured her that the deductions would stop. They did not.
The thirteenth month she went to "Curves" to complain, they mailed her a check for the amount,. The fourteenth month, same story. The fifteenth month we went to the C.U. to see how to get this nonsense stopped and were told that we would have to close the account and open a new one with a different account number. Instead we visited "Curves" and all but jumped up and down on the desk. They sent us a check for two months, knowing full well that it would happen again the following month. It finally stopped after that.
The only other entity I allow access to my account is FreeRepublic, which I trust to make monthly deductions. I'm confident that if I ever ask F.R. to stop, they will.
“..Its not a TAX, and its not a Obama’s fault (plenty of things are however)..”
:::::::::::::::
No, it is not a GOVERNMENT tax. It is a Verizon TAX (or whatever one may call it) that represents an increase in the cost of doing business with them, for no sound reason. And I do disagree that Obama and his insane fascist business practices are a cause of this totally illogical business thinking. Back before this horrid period in our history, companies even rewarded people for paying their bills on time, regardless of how they did it.
I hope Verizon pays dearly for this line of thinking. It surely does not represent clear, positive capitalist thinking — to say nothing of how to motivate people to do business with your company. And these comments have nothing to do with conservatisim — only healthy American capitalism which has made this country great with (at one time) the greatest economy in the world.
Yes and the English isn’t so good. I had the same problem with AT&T though, so I consider it a wash customer service wise.
Sigh...same thing with Cricket - I always get “Peggy”. Guess it’s universal.
I only have to write one check anymore, and it is hand delivered to the recipient. I would not write a check and entrust it to the US mail system. This week alone, I have had the mail workers deliver wrong packages to my PO Boxes, twice. At least if I am online, I know the site, I get an immediate receipt, and the company can’t say I didn’t pay, because I have proof all over the place.
All of those accounts you mentioned actually charge to a credit card, not your bank account. That is how I pay them. I know some people don’t have “credit cards” but can set up a dummy checking account to pay bills. No reason to entrust the US Postal system to carry those checks, and unscrupulous companies to claim they didn’t receive the payment. I have had more horror stories regarding check payments than online transactions (zero).
I haven’t had any issues paying the 3 bills a month I have by mail, but then again I don’t wait till the last minute to pay either.
I pay electric bill, cable bill, and life insurance once a month and haven’t had any troubles. The last time I tried to pay a bill by phone a few years ago (my house note), they wanted $30.00 for the privilage. No thank you!
I never pay by phone, so I wouldn’t know about those charges. Writing a check and paying by mail is time inconvenient, and when I had to, years ago, I didn’t wait until the last minute, but still had BS to deal with. I haven’t had the problem since I switched to electronic payments. I moved to this “rural” town in the spring, and have one bill, to the town, I have to pay by check now. I despise it. I haven’t ordered checks in close to 10 years, probably have to unless I can figure out how to convince the town to start taking electronic payments.
idiots....they’ll love my quick and EARLY way of paying them and they’ll get a nice sticky, messy envelope with a check from now on, about a day before its due....
Verizon scraps $2 fee
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Well, that didn’t take long.
Verizon said Friday that it was scrapping a controversial $2 fee for one-time bill payments announced just a day earlier. The announcement had immediately sparked an uproar online from customers irate about the prospect of incurring further fees simply by paying existing ones.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/30/technology/verizon_fee_canceled/index.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.