[BREAKING] Verizon Wireless cancels $2.00 fee.

[cereal killer]

Talk about a short lived policy. Verizon Wireless just decided to pull the plug on their new $2.00 fee. The customers have spoken and the FCC threats were heard loud and clear.

There you have it folks. The fee is gone and it's business as usual.

Verizon Wireless Will Not Institute Single Payment Fee

12/30/2011

Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week.

The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.

“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless.

Source: Jeff Kagen / VZW

 

[OneTenderRebel]

You guys are welcome, I called up the VZW headquarters and threatened to roundhouse them all to the mid section if they didn't cancel this......obviously they obliged.

 

[N4UPD]

Dang ya'll beat me too it. Was coming in here to post it. Just saw it on MSN page. Glad to see it gone.

 

[cereal killer]

You guys are welcome, I called up the VZW headquarters and threatened to roundhouse them all to the mid section if they didn't cancel this......obviously they obliged.

I didn't want to post that in the article because it would only encourage more violence but thank you

 

[cece5702]

Talk about a short lived policy. Verizon Wireless just decided to pull the plug on their new $2.00 fee. The customers have spoken and the FCC threats were heard loud and clear.

There you have it folks. The fee is gone and it's business as usual.





Source: Jeff Kagen / VZW

Woo Hoo!

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[DF Smod]

I ran into a few of the guys behind this too...

Then I found the main culprit...

...pretty sure we're safe from two dollar fees in the future :big smile:

Geschickt mit meinem Galaxy Nexus aus Deutschland

 

[gadgetrants]

Cool, just in time to make the BONEHEADED LIST OF COMMUNICATION/MEDIA MOVES of 2011.

File this one somewhere near:

- Netflix splits into two services and increases prices, or Netflix renames it's DVD service to "Qwikster"

- HP decides to scrap PC business -- or WAIT, who said that, no we don't!!!

-Matt

 

[konsciousk]

Chuck Norris must have threatened Verizon.

 

[k1ngr4t]

Cool, just in time to make the BONEHEADED LIST OF COMMUNICATION/MEDIA MOVES of 2011.

File this one somewhere near:

- Netflix splits into two services and increases prices, or Netflix renames it's DVD service to "Qwikster"

- HP decides to scrap PC business -- or WAIT, who said that, no we don't!!!

-Matt

You forgot Bank of America's debit card fee as well.

 

[TyrantII]

It's only going to get worse as more and more industries become oligarchies.

Back in the day when you had 20-30 big comapnies (and lots of smaller ones) fighting each other, they'd never think of passing off fee's like these to the customers to make a quick quarterly increase. No competition? Well, not much keeping them from doing so.

What you going to do, go to Sprint / AT&T? (if you can get out of contract)

It's the sad state of our conssumerist economy. Can we get some Capitalism back maybe? Or is the government doing it's job as a counterwight "socialism"?

 

[gadgetrants]

It's only going to get worse as more and more industries become oligarchies.

Back in the day when you had 20-30 big comapnies (and lots of smaller ones) fighting each other, they'd never think of passing off fee's like these to the customers to make a quick quarterly increase. No competition? Well, not much keeping them from doing so.

What you going to do, go to Sprint / AT&T? (if you can get out of contract)

It's the sad state of our conssumerist economy. Can we get some Capitalism back maybe? Or is the government doing it's job as a counterwight "socialism"?

I think I look at the world through rose-colored glasses and don't quite see it so grimly (though I admit you might be 100% right). I think moves like this are actually totally reasonable, and get floated all the time. If I were in private business, the phrase "what the market will bear" would be on my lips 24/7. The goal of the company is as much success and profitability as possible. So I also think lots of business regulation helps to keep those tendencies from going unchecked. And in this case, it was probably more like:

Guy 1: Damn, we're losing a lot of money on those call-in bill payments.
Guy 2: Let's float a $2 service fee and see what happens.
***Customers rebel***
Guys 1 and 2: OK, bad idea. Let's continue eating the cost.

-Matt

 

[nateohio]

I think I look at the world through rose-colored glasses and don't quite see it so grimly (though I admit you might be 100% right). I think moves like this are actually totally reasonable, and get floated all the time. If I were in private business, the phrase "what the market will bear" would be on my lips 24/7. The goal of the company is as much success and profitability as possible. So I also think lots of business regulation helps to keep those tendencies from going unchecked. And in this case, it was probably more like:

Guy 1: Damn, we're losing a lot of money on those call-in bill payments.
Guy 2: Let's float a $2 service fee and see what happens.
***Customers rebel***
Guys 1 and 2: OK, bad idea. Let's continue eating the cost.

-Matt

I might accept that if they weren't already making a huge profit on text and calling plans. What does a text cost the cell phone company to send? Next to nothing, something crazy like .00005 cents. How much is your average consumer spending on text per line $20-30 a month.

That and their overpriced data packages. I would have no problem paying increased data charges, if they would make the text and calling plans cheaper. Something they haven't done (with the exception of sprint) in years.

 

[Mbk]

Great news CK....And there you have the Power of the Android community's combined voice!! (with a little help from our friends...)...scared VZW shootless...lmao

 

[obxsalvo]

I might accept that if they weren't already making a huge profit on text and calling plans. What does a text cost the cell phone company to send? Next to nothing, something crazy like .00005 cents. How much is your average consumer spending on text per line $20-30 a month.

That and their overpriced data packages. I would have no problem paying increased data charges, if they would make the text and calling plans cheaper. Something they haven't done (with the exception of sprint) in years.

Comcast is offering free tex. messages up to 250 per day if you have your home phone through them. I'm thinking of dropping back to the cheeper Verizon plan. Just have to see how Comcast works out. Still trying to figure out how to send pix tex via Comcast tex.

 

[gadgetrants]

I might accept that if they weren't already making a huge profit on text and calling plans. What does a text cost the cell phone company to send? Next to nothing, something crazy like .00005 cents. How much is your average consumer spending on text per line $20-30 a month.

All it takes is a few defectors to break the model (like the Comcast example). But the big boys won't budge. If I take off my rose-colored glasses for a minute, and look into my crystal ball, I can all BUT GUARANTEE there will be a congressional hearing in the next 5 years over price-fixing in the voice/data market. (There was a nice example recently of the settlement over LCD displays.) There is no reason to justify the cost vs. price, including the feeble "But the costs to expand our outdated network hardware are so high!!!" argument. I'm pretty sure it's collusion. I only wish there were some way to put down $1,000 on it right now (kind of like shorting a stock) and collect $10,000 on the settlement in 5 years.

Each of us needs to find a friend in corporate wireless telcom management, to tip us before the shredding (anyone remember Judge sets WorldCom trial; orders no shredding - Houston Chronicle) starts.

Wow, maybe I'm more cynical than I realized!

-Matt