Verizon Charges $3.50 Fee To Pay Them

[riffjim4069]

FYI...this affects us since we pay most of our bills using credit card (cash back bucks) and there is no way we're ever enrolling in autopay since we go through out bills with fine tooth comb. Anyway, it looks like we'll just make payment from our checking out each month because there is no way we're going to be pay $3.50 to use our credit card.

Verizon Charges $3.50 Fee To Pay Them
FiOS customers now seeing one off online payment penalty
11:03AM Monday Sep 20 2010 by Karl Bode
tags: Fiber · business · Verizon FiOS

FiOS users in our Verizon forums note that Verizon is now charging users a $3.50 fee if they want to pay their bill online with a credit card. According to Verizon, the new fee is because Verizon is using a new vendor "to process credit/debit/ATM transactions," though if we recall, Verizon landline phone customers have seen this fee for a while. Conveniently, you'll be able to avoid this fee if you set up autopay with Verizon using the exact same credit card. Of course autopay customers likely pay less attention to what they're paying each month -- something that may or may not be the best idea for a company with a history of messing up their math and imposing phantom charges.

Verizon Charges $3.50 Fee To Pay Them - FiOS customers now seeing one off online payment penalty - dslreports.com

 

[whatchel1]

FYI...this affects us since we pay most of our bills using credit card (cash back bucks) and there is no way we're ever enrolling in autopay since we go through out bills with fine tooth comb. Anyway, it looks like we'll just make payment from our checking out each month because there is no way we're going to be pay $3.50 to use our credit card.

Verizon Charges $3.50 Fee To Pay Them
FiOS customers now seeing one off online payment penalty
11:03AM Monday Sep 20 2010 by Karl Bode
tags: Fiber · business · Verizon FiOS

FiOS users in our Verizon forums note that Verizon is now charging users a $3.50 fee if they want to pay their bill online with a credit card. According to Verizon, the new fee is because Verizon is using a new vendor "to process credit/debit/ATM transactions," though if we recall, Verizon landline phone customers have seen this fee for a while. Conveniently, you'll be able to avoid this fee if you set up autopay with Verizon using the exact same credit card. Of course autopay customers likely pay less attention to what they're paying each month -- something that may or may not be the best idea for a company with a history of messing up their math and imposing phantom charges.

Verizon Charges $3.50 Fee To Pay Them - FiOS customers now seeing one off online payment penalty - dslreports.com

Someone that's worse than Charlie.

 

[riffjim4069]

Someone that's worse than Charlie.

Too funny...too sad...too true! Verizon did this with their phone billing years ago, so we just paid online with our checking account.

 

[dlma1]

There is no charge if you use auto pay via credit card. Only if you pay "manually" online.

 

[riffjim4069]

There is no charge if you use auto pay via credit card. Only if you pay "manually" online.

It's not a huge deal since we just switch to paying with out checking account...but there is no way we would ever autopay anything other than our mortgage.

 

[bicker]

Credit card processors charge Verizon a fee. So clearly Verizon needs to get something of value in return to justify the cost that that fee they're charged represents. If you pay by check, then Verizon is not charged that fee. If you make the commitment to pay your bill by credit card each money automatically, that provides a higher level of assurance that the bill will be paid in full and on time, and that is of value to Verizon, and justifies the fee they're charged. Folks paying by credit card can derive valuable benefits from doing so, in the form of the "cash back bucks" you mentioned; the subscribers can benefit financially and Verizon is charged a fee but gets no assurance of full payment on time if automatic payment is not enabled, so in that context the fee Verizon charges its subscribers for paying that way make sense.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Verizon sucks, Bottom line. I've had them for Years on my Internet and Home phone, and thats almost the end of the road.
Try calling for internet issues, and you won't get an american.

 

[harshness]

Credit card processors charge Verizon a fee.

The typical non-negotiated processing fee is a flat $.24 + 2.25% of the amount. For a $150 bill that works out to about $3.615 per transaction.

 

[bicker]

So they perhaps could be charging a little less than they're being charged. Interesting. I suspect, though, that Verizon is able to cut that down to $3.50 or perhaps even a little lower.

Thanks for the detail.

 

[dlma1]

Verizon sucks, Bottom line. I've had them for Years on my Internet and Home phone, and thats almost the end of the road.
Try calling for internet issues, and you won't get an american.

I have had only 1 internet related issue in 3 years and I talked to a pleasant American woman who solved the issue in about 5 minutes. I have been very pleased with my 35 Meg upload/download speeds for internet. Never had a phone problem once. TV service has been excellent - no downtime ever.

 

[vurbano]

Directv Sucks, Bottom Line. Love FIOS.

 

[riffjim4069]

I have had only 1 internet related issue in 3 years and I talked to a pleasant American woman who solved the issue in about 5 minutes. I have been very pleased with my 35 Meg upload/download speeds for internet. Never had a phone problem once. TV service has been excellent - no downtime ever.

Agreed...I literally know dozens, if not hundreds, of people who have FiOS in Virginia and Texas and they all love the service; their experiences mirror yours. In fact, our FiOS service has been running 24/7/365 the past 3-years without 1-second of outage. Anyway, has anyone noticed the only people having problems with Verizon phone/internet are Hemi and Bob H...and they both live in the same area of Western PA? Something in the water? My initial thought is this is a localized issue. Heck, for all we know Bob H's nephew may be doing the installs, an illegitimate son handling engineering, and a local area niece fielding helpdeck calls. BTW, the niece isn't speaking in a foreign tongue, she is speaking an inner-planetry language because she was abducted by alien beings.