Verizon to charge $2 fee for online payments (credit card, home)

[bentlebee]

The nation's largest wireless company is instituting a $2 "convenience charge" for those customers who make one-time bill payments either online or by telephone. The fee will go into effect on Jan. 15.

The fee will help allow us to continue to support these single bill payment options ... and is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments," the company said in a statement.

Verizon to charge $2 'convenience fee' for bill payments - Dec. 29, 2011

People should just dumb Verizon...

[Dallas Kitty]

I use my bank account to make all payments online but hacking and card info stealing is at such an extreme I'm going back to writing checks and using USPS to deliver!

[crazynip]

Ridiculous... companies save a HUGE amount of money with online payments. I know this because I am in IT and work on these sorts of projects and KNOW the ROI versus human transactions... you are flat out getting GOUGED. I have not had any interaction with Verizon since I dropped my land line in 2004. And it's because of stuff like this.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by crazynip

Ridiculous... companies save a HUGE amount of money with online payments. I know this because I am in IT and work on these sorts of projects and KNOW the ROI versus human transactions... you are flat out getting GOUGED. I have not had any interaction with Verizon since I dropped my land line in 2004. And it's because of stuff like this.

I dropped. Them in 2005 and that was the best thing ever and never regretted it, my only regret was not having done it years before. It would have saved me a lot of hours on the phone to get my bill right...

[kbrkr]

What exactly is a "single bill payment option"? You Get Bill, Pay Bill. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? What am I missing? Are you supposed to allow them to automatically deduct any payment they want from your checking account?

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by kbrkr

What exactly is a "single bill payment option"? You Get Bill, Pay Bill. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? What am I missing? Are you supposed to allow them to automatically deduct any payment they want from your checking account?

Single bill payment is where you get your bill and pay it online instead of having it set to automatically come out or mail in your check.

This is what I"ve been doing, but screw that 2 dollar charge, i'll just mail it in and make them deal with the check.

[Kevin from Tampa]

This is the cell phone equivalent of an airline charging you 10 bucks for your luggage or whatever. It's a revenue generator for them, pure and simple.

I'm a Verizon customer and mostly am happy with their service, but I'll be mailing my bill in. $2 is no big deal, but in this case, it's the principle.

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by rezfreak

Single bill payment is where you get your bill and pay it online instead of having it set to automatically come out or mail in your check.

This is what I"ve been doing, but screw that 2 dollar charge, i'll just mail it in and make them deal with the check.

Not really! Here is the quote from CNN article three ways that you can avoid the fee.

There are three ways for customers to avoid the charge: Customers can make a one-time payment using an electronic check, they can pay their bill using their home banking accounts, such as Citibank (C, Fortune 500) Online, or they can use a Verizon gift card or rebate card. Otherwise, single telephone and online payments will incur a $2 fee.

What you have been doing is what I highlighted above.

The fee is if you go to verizon site and stablish the payment so that they can take the payment out of your home bank AND you are doing this every month, hence, a one-time bill payment.

If you let them do this automatically from either debit or credit on recurring basis, it still is free. As said here:

Customers can still enroll in a service that will debit their bank accounts or charge their credit cards on a recurring basis for free.

Since you are paying FROM your home bank (mine is BOA) directly to verizon, you should be good.

So, I don't see it as a big deal.

[apmat]

It's for people who use a one time payment using a credit or debit card. The banks charge a fee to Verizon to use it and Verizon has chosen to pass it along to the customer. They were providing you a service for free and now they are charging for it. No big deal.

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by apmat

It's for people who use a one time payment using a credit or debit card. The banks charge a fee to Verizon to use it and Verizon has chosen to pass it along to the customer. They were providing you a service for free and now they are charging for it. No big deal.

I get the same charge on other bills like my home owners association bill payment. I'm surprised other merchants pass along the expense to the customer as well.