Save a stamp, spend an extra 3 bucks. WTH, Verizon?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

We recently moved. Where we moved to, cable TV was not available, so we bought a Verizon bundle that included DirectTV, high-speed internet, and phone.

Yesterday, I got my first Verizon bill. I wrote a check, went to put it in the envelope, and noticed, there on the envelope, where the stamp goes, was a little note: Save a stamp, pay online.

Well, cool. That way, it’ll be paid instantly, right, plus I save a stamp. Win/win.

So I go to the website, fill out all the necessary boilerplate nonsense, at which point I am redirected to their 3rd party bill-pay option. There is a $3.50 fee for paying online (or by calling their toll-free number; I checked).

So, I can save a 42 cent stamp by paying $3.50 to pay with my debit card? Seriously?

There are so many exhortations all over the bill and the envelope to pay either online or by phone, that I’m certain Verizon must be getting a cut of this $3.50.

Oh, and while I’m bitching about Verizon, we started out with a very basic DirectTV plan. Somehow, it does include Showtime, but does not include any of the major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS). Well, I miss watching Ellen daily, so I called to upgrade my service. I was pleased to find that I could add just one network for $3.50 month, so I chose to add NBC. However, it could take up to 45 days for this to come through, since they have to send my request to NBC, who will then either ‘approve’ or ‘deny’ my upgrade. :confused::dubious:

2

They have to check the files to see if you ever pissed off Leno.

3

Here’s what happens:

The broadcast networks have deals with their affiliates, granting them an exclusive territory. If you’re in Denver, only the Denver NBC affiliate is allowed to send you NBC content. If you want to get that content from a satellite dish (or equivalent), the local NBC affiliate has to waive that deal, allowing NBC to send you content without the local commercials in it.

It seems like a silly mess, but there actually is a reason for it.

4

My credit card company does the same thing on their envelopes except they want to charge me $7 to pay online. I don’t think so fuckwads.

5

Edit to note–this is replying to InvisibleWombat

That’s weird. I have DISH Network, and one of the optional packages includes local broadcast channels–but only one station from each network. Kinda wish I could get a national feed direct from the network instead…

6

It happens to me too. Paying my utility bill may be a bitch, but I’m not going to pay $3 when I can just pay 42 cents per month to mail that damn check.

Ditto for paying online my VS credit card.

And the same for my wonderful university, UGA, which requires me to pay student fees either online or in person. And if I pay online, I’m slapped with an extra $3. Uh, no, thanks, I’ll go make the line.

I’m still surprised that now that free online paying is available in so many places, there are still others who charge you for that.

7

What kind of tool actually pays the $3.50?

8

You might want to check if they’re run by the Loch Ness monster. He wants your three-fiddy.

Your bank may have bill pay online. It may be free now or with some wrangling.

9

I’ve been laughing at these companies for years. Waa waa pay on line so we don’t have to do as much. Coincidentally we’re charging you $x.xx for helping us out. I guess you get checks then.

10

My mortgage company has a perplexing policy - I can set up automatic on-line payments for free as long as I only pay monthly. However, if I want to pay bi-weekly in conjunction with my paydays, they’ll charge me something like $2 per payment (an extra $52 per year for my computer to talk to your computer? Please!!!) Yet if I mailed in an extra payment and they had to pay a person to open the mail and process my check, I wouldn’t be charged for that. Explain it to me… :confused:

Fortunately, none of my other on-line payments stick me with a fee. The only people I pay by check are doctors, dentists, and vets. So a box of checks lasts forever now!

11

Our DMV also charges extra for renewing auto licenses online. But then again, you avoid standing in line at the DMV, so that one makes sense to a certain extent.

12

Well, the kind of tool (or forgetful moron; don’t ask how I know. . .) who waits until the cut-off date to pay the bill. Then it becomes a choice of paying the $3.50 or paying the $25.00 re-connect fee! :smack:

Actually, I just signed up for a local bank account today, and they do, in fact, offer free bill-pay. And if the bill I want to pay isn’t one they’re set up to pay electronically, they will actually cut a check and mail it, at no charge to me.

Believe me, as forgetful as both my husband and I are, we are setting up auto-pay for as many bills as we can!

Now, when we lived in Maryland, our phone company actually deducted a buck from each bill if you chose to view and pay your bill online. That made sense!

13

OK, here I am, Ellen deprived, working up a good head of steam, and you try to bring reason into the discussion? For shame, sir, for shame!

No beer for you! :stuck_out_tongue:

14

I pay almost all my bills online and don’t pay fees for any of them. I think some of them have several options of how I can pay, some of which do require a fee, but they all have a free option or I wouldn’t use them. My cable bill is charged to to one of my credit cards, and the rest I have deducted from various bank accounts. Offhand, the only check I write each month is to my HOA; I think they do have a bank payment system, but I don’t feel comfortable with them having access to my bank account.

15

Interesting. We’ve got the same package, in Minnesota. Ours includes all the local over the air stations, but none of the Showtime/Stars/HBO stations.

I love the deals these guys offer. Last week, we lost half of our stations. Waited a couple of days, still gone. So I called up DirectTV. “Of course Ma’am. We’ll send a technichian out. And out of the goodnesss of our hearts, we won’t charge you the $49.99 service fee for him to do that.”

What??? Your equipment goes bad (and the service tech told me it was their equipment) and you were going to charge me $50 to fix it? I’m so glad our contract is up next month.

16

It’s still pretty absurd that it can take 45 days for this to happen. It’s not like NBC and the local affiliate just realized that they’ll have customers trying to do this. It ought to be a simple and quick process.

17

I am happy to offer my services. :wink:

18

Well, the ‘up to 45 days’ was probably just Verizon covering their asses; they did say it could be “as little as 24 hours”, though I checked just a bit ago, and no Ellen yet. . .

Still, yeah, if they’d said “Up to five business days”, or whatever, I could have understood that. This makes it sound like my ‘request’ or ‘application’ or what-the-hell-ever it is, is sitting on some flunky’s desk, waiting for a rubber stamp.

19

Where you are now, is putting up an antenna to get over-the-air signals a possibility? Over-the-air digital broadcasts look darn spiffy, so if you can receive them, it’s worth considering. Go to AntennaWeb, put in your address, and see what the signals are like at your location.

20

Did you see if Verizon will let you use a credit card? I had a company that charged $1.00 for debit transactions but if I used the debit card as a credit card (It was a Debit Visa) it cost me nothing