US phone company reverses new fees

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Sat, 31 Dec 2011 3:03p.m.

Verizon Wireless on Friday dropped a plan to start charging US$2 for every payment

Verizon Wireless on Friday dropped a plan to start charging US$2 for every payment

After a customer backlash, Verizon Wireless on Friday dropped a plan to start charging US$2 for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit or debit cards.

In a statement on its website Friday, the company said "customer feedback" prompted the decision to drop the "convenience fee" it wanted to introduce on January 15.

Verizon wanted to steer people to electronic check payments, which are cheaper, and automatic credit card payments, which are more reliable.

A petition on Change.org against the fees had gathered more than 95,000 names by Friday afternoon, a day after Verizon, the country's largest cellphone company, announced the fees. The petition was set up by Molly Katchpole, who earlier this year started a successful campaign to make Bank of America drop a US$5-per-month fee for debit-card use.

Payment processors for power companies usually charge "convenience fees" of up to US$5 for every payment made by phone or online, but cellphone companies haven't taken the step yet. The furor against Verizon hints that they may have to wait further.

Verizon Wireless serves 91 million phones and other devices on accounts that pay the company directly, and more who pay indirectly through other companies. It's a joint venture of Verizon Communications of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

AP

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Comments

04 Jan 2012 12:38p.m.

Jay wrote:

I really am at a loss to understand Verizon's decision. The announcement of a $2 "convenience fee" (<a href="http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-credit-card-convenience-fees">http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-credit-card-convenience-fees</a>) and its renouncement on the following day must be one of the dumbest business moves of 2011 in a very strong field. What were the Verizon guys thinking? This $2 fee looks to a customer exactly the way BofA's $5 debit card fee did a couple of months ago when it caused a huge backlash, prompting the bank to quickly scrap it (but not before the damage to its reputation, such as it was, was already done). I would've expected no one to try anything remotely resembling such a fee for at least a couple of years. As I said, I'm at a loss.

02 Jan 2012 04:17p.m.

John wrote:

"The furor against Verizon hints that they may have to wait further." - because it's going to happen eventually regardless, right? Because people opposed to massive corporations making MORE billions at our expense are just to be ignored, right? I hope Verizon go under.