Verizon To Charge “Convenience” Fee For Payments Made Online Or Via Phone Starting January 15th [Rant]

(10:23 pm PDT, Dec 28th 2011)

Verizon To Charge “Convenience” Fee For Payments Made Online Or Via Phone Starting January 15th [Rant]
Good ol’ Verizon, always passing the savings onto its customers. If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in that last statement, prepare yourselves for disappointment. Verizon apparently believes you should be charged a “convenience” fee for paying your bill. Yea, I know — what a convenience it is to shell out hundreds of dollars to a company that has three outages in one month. Okay, so the “convenience” fee really only applies to anyone trying to pay their bill online or over the phone with any method other than electronic check. You’re also safe from being charged a fee if you are enrolled in AutoPay.

When these types of stunts are pulled by companies, I always call bullshit — and that’s not going to change here. This is nothing more than Verizon passing down charges they should be paying. Sort of like the whole “go paperless and save a tree” BS. It’s always about the company saving money at the expense of the consumer. We give them the “convenience” of not having to spend money on paper, ink, and shipping by going paperless, but where’s our savings? Think is works the other way around — nope!

Well folk, starting January 15th, if you plan on paying your bill online or over the phone with any method other than electronic check, be prepared for a $2 “convenience” fee. That’s right, you now have to pay to use the “convenience” of a credit card; the same card the system requires you to have in order to build credit. Try spending your life paying cash or check for stuff you can afford and you will find yourself denied by every loan department in the U.S. when trying to get a mortgage. Catch 22 for sure. It’s ironic that when you try to first sign up for service through Verizon you must pass a credit check or pay an ungodly deposit. Basically they don’t trust you unless you have good credit, but if you try to use that credit to pay your bills, it’s a convenience that they think should cost you extra. Makes sense — right?

I’d say fight back by switching to paper billing and mailing in your payment — that way Verizon’s payment processing costs go through the roof — but I’m sure in the end, they’ll find a way to pass that cost back down to you (perhaps a $5 outage fee to restore their networks when they fail.) I know I’m pissing and moaning but I have Verizon and have been dealing with this crap for years (and I don’t even get service at my house). Next you’ll tell me to switch carriers, well — it’s sort of like why I stay with Comcast: there’s no better option.

That’s my rant and I’m sticking to it. Call me whiny, call me spoiled, call me whatever you want — it’s my money and I’ll cry if I want to.

Apps you might like

Comment »

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527133175 Neil Carver-Smith

    Dear Sir,

    I note that you will now be charging a ‘convenience fee’ on payments. I fully understand this additional charge as I, myself have had to make changes in my budget over recent weeks.

    I have to inform you that from the above date I will be charging your company for the time taken to deal with all unsolicited phone calls, sms and traditional postage from you.  As an astute business person you will appreciate that “time is money” and regrettable though it is, I must recoup some of the increased costs that I find myself paying for my telecommunications.  My current charges are $100 per hour with a minimum 10 minute charge.

    As a gesture of goodwill (it is Xmas after all) I will not charge for the first occurrence of this but when they next call, I will inform your telecentre staff that I have informed you of the new agreement and that further calls will incur charges. Likewise I will return the first letter I receive from you free of charge will and enclosed note.

    I appreciate that you are probably very busy so I don’t expect a personal response to this correspondence, I have lodged a copy with my accountant to confirm sending and used registered mail too.

    Seasons Greetings

  • http://www.howtosaythankyou.com/ how to say thank you

    Three outages in one month terrible!

  • http://www.galleytech.com Galley

    Back in the day, Sprint charged me a $5 fee to pay my bill in the store.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve paid them by electronic check for years so this won’t affect me but I can tell you about another related change from them. I still get a paper bill and couple of months ago they stopped including a pre-addressed envelope for payment. So, add the price of an envelope on top of the price of your paper checks and postage. Oh who am I kidding, you steal envelopes from work, don’t you?

  • http://www.baby-changingbags.com/ baby changing bags

    I think Verizon subscribers were hit by an outage yesterday and now the company is asking a $2 Convenience fee when paying your bill via credit card. GOSH!!!

  • Anonymous

    Easily avoidable if you are doing automatic billpay through your bank (with the exception you have enough money to pay those bills) 99% of my payments are done through the bank to avoid convenience fees such as this.

  • Anonymous

    Credit card processors/visa/mc/amex charge vendors more to accept business
    cards and for cards not presented and swiped in person.  A vendor has
    to accept credit cards, in person, the credit card company rules, but, vendors do
    not have to accept cards not presented in person, for security reasons.
    Therefore a “convenience fee”. We are charged more than double the
    normal charges by the credit card processing companies for these
    transactions.  Also, those cards that give you cash back, someone is paying for that and it isn’t the credit card company.  Would you care to guess who picks up that tab?   We have a small repair business and these charges just
    eat us up, since most of our charges are by businesses who do not want
    to give their workers the company cards, so they need to be done over
    the phone.  These remote charges can turn a  3.0% credit card processing fee into a
    7.0%+.  Just think, for every $100 you made, if someone was taking out an extra $7 out of your pocket for you to use your credit card.  That is the kind of crap a small business has to put up with.   Put your anger where it belongs, not to the businesses, but to
    the credit card processors and the banks.  We have had 2 of these remote
    card fee hikes in just the last 4 months.  Yes, people, the businesses who take your credit cards have to pay the card card companies through the nose, just for the privilege of letting you pay us with your credit cards.  Remember this the next time you charge something for $2.50. 
    And then,  people wonder why merchandise and service prices have to
    keep going up, it is just the cost of taking the damn cards.  This is how the CC people up their profits when the government limits the debit card fees, they sock it to the little guys, again.  It will drive us out of business, not that we have much of one in this economy in the last 3 years.

  • http://www.gwinnettbuzz.com FinanceBuzz

    Billidog, it is your choice to accept credit cards. No one is making you. Of course, it comes down to power in the transaction as to whether to charge the fee or not. If there are acceptable alternatives to you that do not charge me a fee, I’ll go elsewhere to use the card. Verizon knows you probably have a contract and there also other barriers to exit that means they can probably get away with the fee. Given the oligopolistic nature of wireless telecom, I fully expect AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to follow in their footsteps.

    • Anonymous

      This is true, it is our choice to accept the cards, either that or close the doors to the shop. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tiger-Land/100001035672849 Tiger Land

    This is BS. US big business is corrupt and with the help of lawyers, they screw up average consumer.
    Go green billing initiative is BS and so is this verizon one. Someone commented about Banks taking advantage via Credit card fees, u are so ignorant. Credit card companies charge minimal credit card fees for volume transactions. Verizon is just covering the cost of maintaining a website or IVR on your dime…

    No consumer protection in this country.

  • Anonymous

    This is all the banksters, not Verizon.  As low esteem as I hold for them, this is not their doing, but the ridiculous fees the banks now charge for everything, including, it seems, breathing their air.  Checking transaction charges are regulated by the Federal Reserve, so banks can’t add another 2 bucks to Verizon’s fees for those.  But any other way their is to transact business, the banks are gouging everyone, including monster corporations like Verizon.

    Of course, I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that the banks charge Verizon a buck for these transactions and they add another for their “trouble.” 

About the author

Vincent MessinaVincent Messina has been writing and evangelizing about Android for the past three years. When he's not playing the part of "Loki" to his 5 and 4-year-old, he can be found here, covering all things Android. He adamantly believes Android has the greatest community around and can be harassed at any of the following locations: Google+, Twitter.

email hidden; JavaScript is required| Read more posts by .

Posted in Android, Carrier, News, Top stories | Tagged: , , , , , |


scribol