Just a day after it confirmed that it would be adding a $2 'convenience fee' for paying bills online or over the phone, Verizon's cancelled the charge, citing negative customer feedback as the reason for the shift. The fee was set to go into effect on January 15th.
The proposed fee also caught the attention of federal regulators: as Reuters reports, an FCC spokesperson said today that "on behalf of American consumers, we're concerned about Verizon's actions and are looking into the matter." It's not the first time the FCC has looked into Verizon's billing practices — Bloomberg reported last year that Verizon agreed to pay a settlement of $25 million to the US and at least $52.8 million to customers as part of an FCC investigation into "mystery fees." Verizon's lightning fast capitulation is the second major one this year, after Bank of America went back on its proposed $5 monthly debit card fee.
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Well that didn’t last long.
Good riddance.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:21 PM EST reply Recommend (31) Flag actions
They’ll probably raise all rate plans by an extra $2 at renewal and offer at $2 credit for paying the way they prefer.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 7:46 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
They will get that extra $2 somehow!
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 8:54 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They realized that people know what their profit margins are and that they can afford to not gouge their customers any more than they already do.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 11:23 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
People are tired of being nickled and dimed to death by these companies!
Posted on Jan 02, 2012 | 6:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Power of the people!!!
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:21 PM EST reply Recommend (12) Flag actions
Hell yeah. This and (though on a much larger scale) the spread of the Occupy movement is why the corporations and the government wants to own the internet.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:41 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
occupy movement is dying. They know they are just a bunch of low life scum bags who want a free hand out.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 8:29 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Watch Fox News much?
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 11:23 AM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Ha, ask half the people their why they are protesting and they can’t give you a straight answer.
“Um, this hot chick I’m dating is into it and I’m only doing this to get laid….”
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 3:31 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
The worn out Fox News retort. Pathetic.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 5:11 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
No, power of the FCC
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:52 PM EST reply Recommend (9) Flag actions
The FCC can’t really catch a break, when it does something it doesn’t get credit, when it can’t do something because its hands are tied by congress then it gets abuse.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:59 PM EST reply Recommend (11) Flag actions
Agreed.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:00 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Maybe it’s a mindtrick on their part, they charge for something and then they drop the charge and everyone goes “good on Verizon for listening to their customers”..or maybe I should stay off the bubbles.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:23 PM EST reply Recommend (9) Flag actions
Honestly, shenanigans like this are why I despise (and will never again be a customer of) Verizon. They burned me with their mystery fees oh so long again and it looks like they haven’t changed a bit.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:01 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Customers reacted negatively to being charged for paying their bill?
I can’t believe it.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:24 PM EST reply Recommend (20) Flag actions
Now all they need to do is raise the price 2 dollars across the board, then offer a 2 dollar discount for those who sign up for auto-pay.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:24 PM EST reply Recommend (11) Flag actions
Exactly. Verizon is going to recoup the “fee” somehow — just in a way that is more palatable to customers/FCC.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:48 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Doesn’t AT&T do something similar? I thought it was a $10 credit if you sign up for bill pay.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:25 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
They never did credit us for signing up. :/
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:08 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Which is fine, because that means it’ll be in the contract, and only apply to people signing a new contract.
The whole problem with the $2 fee was that it was a backdoor way of Verizon altering the existing contract by charging more. I don’t care if Verizon raises my bill $20 when I re-up with them; I care about new charges that I didn’t sign up for.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:41 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m sure they will do exactly that, except for the 2 dollar discount offer part.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 11:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Well what did they expect? Positive feedback?
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:24 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (18) Flag actions
i was literally in the middle of writing that same thing
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:25 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
INTERNET! FUCK YEAH!
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:26 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:32 PM EST reply Recommend (16) Flag actions
Verizon you cheap bastards you had it coming to you.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:26 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Publicity stunt.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:26 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
The next one will be stealthier, and not at the same time as they have had massive outages.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:33 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
It could be because people complained….
OR
Because the FCC inquired about the $2
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:27 PM EST reply Recommend (10) Flag actions
I’m sure there had to be some people within Verizon that thought this was a terrible idea but probably were mandated to give it a shot.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:27 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Yay.. I save 1.2% on my cellphone bill.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:29 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You give them an inch, and they’ll go the extra yard.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:30 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Give them an inch and before you know it they’ve got a foot, much more than that and you don’t have a leg to stand on.
- The Duke of Wellington
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:36 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
what? oh, what you meant to say was: “You give them 2.54 centimeters, and they’ll go the extra 0.91 meters.”
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 12:09 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You’re missing the point.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
“Due to negative customer feedback”…willing to bet that it had NOTHING to do with customer feedback and EVERYTHING to do with Federal regulators looking into their billing practices.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:29 PM EST reply Recommend (8) Flag actions
I like to think that my snarky comment on some technology blog was what caused them to drop it.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:30 PM EST reply Recommend (8) Flag actions
Guessed this would happen the moment I saw the news of this. Glad to hear they dropped it no matter what the real reason for it is!
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:30 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Well, at least they haven’t had network issues on top of this… :-p
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:31 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I guess this will just turn into one of these unexplained fees and taxes on every bill instead.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:33 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
now if only they would roll back their data caps.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:38 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
They just wanted to take your mind off their latest network outage. (I think it worked.)
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:38 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Disagreed. Now they’re remembered for one more negative thing.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 12:12 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
I will never allow anyone access to my bank account “automatically” to pay my bills. All it would take is one mistaken overcharge and I’ll be waiting months to get my money back. I will never trust any corporation with that level of access to my personal funds.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:39 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
months? A simple phone call and 24-48 hours should fix it. What bank do you have? I don’t know of any bank that takes “months” to get funds back.
and don’t you pay taxes? Do you have direct deposit though your employer?
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 8:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You can deposit money into my account all day long but I will never allow anyone free access to withdraw funds for any reason from my account. Do you not understand that? If I give them free access and they make a mistake in their favor and don’t acknowledge it, I could wait months to have the dispute resolved and since I gave them permission to access the funds, the bank wouldn’t necessarily pull the funds back just because I said so.
The mistake may never be made by the company but if I don’t give them access, then I know it will never be made.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 7:27 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I wonder if it was really the negative feedback or the FCC
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:43 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Right on Verizon! you will never charge me to pay you my money lol!
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:45 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
…there are no LTE network issues…there are no LTE network issues (the Verizon jedi mindtrick).
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:47 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
loooooooool
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:50 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
(┛◉Д◉)┛彡_looooool_
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 3:57 PM EST reply Recommend (4) Flag actions
I know the picture really says it but I have to say it too: “where’s my two dollars!?!”
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:53 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
That is an amazing amount of detail on that picture of the dollar.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:02 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Ol’ George is photobombing himself, too.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 7:02 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They expected positive feedback?
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:10 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
OK, now I am wondering if all this is just a marketing stung. We already heard about banks trying to increase feeds and then they dropped. Recently Godaddy said that they were supporting SOPA and now they back down, and now Verizon was saying that they will add an additional feed and now they are dropping that as well. Is this just to make customers feel that they are in control, but in reality there was never an intention on increasing prices or supporting SOPA, and now that they backed down, they are the good guys and some more customers will come, and those who are already in the service feel a little bit happier?
Just a thought…
Thanks,
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:11 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
It is possibly a publicity stunt. However in regards to the Godaddy issue, many people that I know that have domains hosted with them all chose to move their domains to a different company due to their support for SOPA. Godaddy doesn’t seem quite big enough to not care about several dozen customers taking their business elsewhere. I could be wrong though.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:01 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
’Let’s threaten to burn down people’s houses, and when we decide not to at the last minute, they’ll love us forever’? Odd theory.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 8:20 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I could be wrong about this, but this is my theory. Usually when businesses pull asshole stunts like this, people couldn’t be mobilized fast enough to really complain and protest against it. So it happened, and people would grumble about it, and occasionally protests would become large enough to get attention.
But with the speed that news moves at on the Internet now, public outcry is a lot faster and louder. These things used to begin and end on forums of dedicated fans who were very attentive to these causes. Now it goes viral and companies suddenly have well connected groups of customers organizing protests and boycotts. In the face of that, it’s a lot easier to cave than it is to take the negative publicity.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 10:17 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
They still want that $2 fee. They are most likely planning a way right now on how they are going to do it.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:12 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Why did they not plan better. A $2 fee is unpalatable. A $X discount for paying via the way they like however is.
They could have hidden the cost in some future price increase.
This is basic stuff. Verizon give me a call, I’ll help you out with this.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:19 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Up next VZW charges a $2 inconvenience fee
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 4:40 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Dude, don’t forgive them for this when there are other companies that never would have tried it to begin with.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:11 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
When Verizon first announced the $2 fee, there was a lot of bitching and moaning. I was one of those bitching and moaning. Now the charge is being dropped and as I read through these comments I still see just a bunch of bitching and moaning. Verizon is a FOR-PROFIT business; and they’ve never pretended otherwise. The $2 fee attempt was wrong, but honestly not at all surprising. And I’m not saying Verizon deserves a pat on the back for backing off, but seriously, can’t we just move on and be pleasantly surprised instead of still-bitching-and-moaning?
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:22 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Verizon should (in your words) wring every nickle possible out of you fuckers until you bitch about it. Isn’t that what the “free” market is all about?
Just sayin’…
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:31 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Right… those are my words. Thank you for clarifying.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:59 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Well, not exactly…but…anyway…doesn’t matter…
I spelled nickel wrong. Can’t fix it That bugs me…
Why can’t this comment system allow edits?
:-)
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 6:25 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
No. We must let them and every other company who wants to try this shit know how we feel and that we don’t easily forget.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 12:41 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
So now they just raise other fees by like $.50 every six months until they’re getting their $2 anyways right?
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5:29 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Ha Ha! – Nelson
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 6:07 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
To paraphrase Ahnold: “They’ll be back.”
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 6:55 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
In the UK you very often see companies mainly gas, electric and phone charge extra for not using Direct Debit (uk autopay). Actually appears on the bill as Non Direct Debit Charge. You either opt in or opt out. But this has been practiced for a long time and not partway into contracts.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 7:09 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
When Verizon wants money, Verizon gets money. I’m sure they will find a way of recovering the projected revenue from that $2 surcharge and then some.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 7:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I mean that was a cheap exploit of the poor who lives pay check to pay check. As a Verizon customer myself I see this move as low and shameful.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 7:43 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Oh this it’s such bullshit. This whole thing was completely intentional. They propose a new fee and then immediately remove it “due to customer feedback.” It’s a win/win because if people didn’t fuss, they’d get a brand new $2 fee from everyone for nothing. Verizon’s such garbage.
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 8:01 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
I had been considering switching to Verizon soon. But due to this and other BS stunts they pull, I am (likely never) going to switch now.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 11:51 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
Same here. I was considering it cause I really want the Galaxy Nexus but stuff like this shows me that Verizon can’t be trusted.
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 6:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I understand this is a simple case of following the links in the most recent story, but why isn’t this a Storystream? Ended too fast?
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 8:02 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
How could Verizon have ever thought this would go over well with customers?!
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 8:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
verizon said and i quote " plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions" NOW TELL ME HOW THAT WAS GOING TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF THEM TRANSACTIONS??? it was going to improve their bank acct.
this is the bigges piece of Corporate speak i have heard in all my life
Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 9:38 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
C’mmon people they need to accumulate funds through these fees! How else do you think they will pay for those Verizon ads running 24/7 on every channel and every episode of every show
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 2:27 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I don’t understand these big corporations…. Isn’t Verizon posting big profits? WTF is their problem?
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 9:37 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The VP of CS and billing probably wanted to get a bonus for raising his department’s revenue. LOL
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 11:53 AM EST via mobile reply Recommend Flag actions
i think we have a winner^^^^
Posted on Dec 31, 2011 | 3:45 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m glad that people are finally able to revolt against this bullshit that corporations and companies try and pull on their customers.
Posted on Jan 01, 2012 | 1:04 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This “fee” is perplexing to begin with. You would think they would want to encourage people to go paperless so Verizon did have to spend money on paper and postage fees. Paying for servers argument doesn’t work because those servers are there either way.
Posted on Jan 02, 2012 | 12:03 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I see. AutoPay was still “free”. They were trying to get people to sign up for AutoPay, which would result in people paying less attention to their bills each month. Then they could really hit you with fees until you notice (or don’t) those monthly withdrawals are a lot larger than a few months ago.
Posted on Jan 02, 2012 | 12:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Also, not to mention, if you do want to dispute charges on your bill, you can’t hold out paying the bill that month. They get the money and then it’s you fighting to get it back while the money sits in their accounts gaining interest, much harder than you getting them to just change the bill.
Posted on Jan 02, 2012 | 12:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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