Verizon to charge $2 for online/mobile app bill payments

[6souls]

Service outages have made Verizon customers grumpy the past few days. They probably won't be any happier about a leak from Droid-Life and confirmed by Phonescoop that start charging a $2 "convenience fee" for paying your bill online or by phone starting January 15th.

This is preposterous for a few reasons. First, it's telling customers that the default state of nature as a Verizon customer is for everything to be a pain in the ass. You're charging to make something more convenient, when that convenience comes at no extra cost to you. In fact, that leads to the second thing: It almost certainly costs Verizon more to handle your bill if you pay by check/mail.

In fact, the last time a carrier tried to charge customers for how they paid their bills, it was T-Mobile doing the opposite and charging for receiving a paper bill at all. That fell through, but at this point, it's more common than whatever the hell Verizon is thinking. The charge doesn't affect auto-pay customers yet, but it's a shot across the bow; and for those of us who like to give our statement a scan before firing off a wad of currency to Verizon, that habit's about to become a luxury.

I'd bet something expensive that if everyone were to stop paying their bill online or by phone, and instead inundated Verizon with millions more envelopes, it would be a net loss for Verizon. So, incensed Verizon customers, let's see if my hypothesis holds true. Don't pay your bill online. Stuff your payment in an envelope, slap a stamp on it, and drop it in a mailbox. Let's bury them under a mountain of paper and see how they like that.

http://gizmodo.com/5871940/verizon-i...ur-bill-online
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/12/28...ng-january-15/
http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=9549
http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/29/is-...ou-an-extra-2/

"Verizon said that the fee will be waived in a number of circumstances, including: electronic checks sent through My Verizon Online, My Verizon Mobile, or via telephone; autopay enrollees who pay using credit/debit/ATM cards or electronic checks; payments made through customer home-banking services; credit/debit/ATM card or electronic check payments made at in-store kiosks; Verizon Wireless gift cards or Verizon Wireless device rebate cards to pay a bill in-store, online or by telephone; or a standard paper check or money order mailed directly to Verizon Wireless with a monthly invoice/bill."

tl:dr - $2 surcharge for 1-time Credit Card payments, no additional fee's if using auto-pay or some other method of payment.

[hey]

The fuck? Why are they charging us for something that saves them money?

[Salodin]

The fuck? Why are they charging us for something that saves them money?

Kinda makes me want to sign up for their paper mail again just to spite them...

[Cleverness]

I don't think words can express how completely ass backwards this is. I am really at a loss for words.

Parents were debating switching carriers from Verizon when they finally upgraded to Smartphones of their own, to get a good deal with a 2yr contract. This should prolly be good enough to deter them away.

[6souls]

It's to cover the charge credit companies pass along to them, but paper costs them more.. （╯°□°）╯

[Talint]

The fuck? Why are they charging us for something that saves them money?

To recoup the fees imposed on them by Visa/Mastercard/etc.

My apartment complex and electric company have similar "convenience fees" when paying by card.

[hey]

To recoup the fees imposed on them by Visa/Mastercard/etc.

Meanwhile they don't charge extra to recover the cost of dealing with checks.

[Ragnell]

Its dead jim

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/12/30...nvenience-fee/

[tyven]

PWNED

[Salodin]

Damn that was fast...

[Aylee]

" company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. "

How was charging us 2 dollars more a month improving the efficiency

[Sunrider]

Glad they changed their minds so quickly. I've been a Verizon customer for a while, I'd almost feel bad about dropping them with the conclusion of my contract.