Verizon to add $2-a-month ‘convenience’ fee; options available for avoiding it

With Verizon having confirmed on Thursday that it is making a $2-a-month ‘convenience’ fee addition for customers paying their bills online or over the phone, the move – which takes effect January 15, 2012 – was wildly criticized on the Web.

However, in its blurb posted in its News Center, Verizon specified that the $2 monthly fee will be applicable to subscribers who take the online or telephone route to make one-time credit or debit card payments. The carrier also said that there are several options which can be availed by the customers who wish to avoid the mentioned payment.

Going by the elaboration, customers who make use of AutoPay will not have to pay the new fee; as will those who make their monthly payments via checks or have the carrier charge their credit or debit cards each month.

Despite the fact that the new fee move by Verizon had been widely denounced on the Web, the charge can be avoided by customers if they automated bank transfer and credit or debit card; pay at a Verizon store; use a money order or a Verizon gift or rebate card, or make an eleventh-hour, one-time payment over the phone or Web by handing over their bank account number as well as the routing number of their bank.

Noting that the new charge was basically a ‘convenience’ fee, Verizon spokesman David Samberg said that the new fee will essentially “cover the costs of those last-minute payments. We don’t want anyone to have to pay this.”