Verizon Wireless Customers Fight $2 Charge | Jeff Kagan Tech Analyst

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Jeff Kagan

Tech Analyst

     

It looks like Verizon Wireless is now officially under the gun. The big question now is will Verizon Wireless change their mind and not charge customers $2 just to pay a bill online because of this pressure from thousands of their customers?

I think the answer will eventually be yes. They will change their mind. This was a horrible idea.

This new Verizon fee flip-flops the entire idea. It started as a convenient way for customers to pay bills online, and a less expensive way for Verizon Wireless to collect monthly charges from customers, And it turns it into a profit center. That’s right. It completely flips the whole thing around. If customers did not push back it would stick.

I think Verizon did not expect this push-back. I think instead of alienating themselves from their customer base they will do a re-take on this and will likely come out with another announcement shortly saying forget about it.

It reminds me of the ATM story. Remember when these devices were originally installed? It was to save the bank money and let customers do transactions with a machine. Customers didn’t like the idea of doing business with a machine, but eventually got used to the idea. Today that industry has done a complete turn-around. Today banks charge a fee to use the machine. There is a revolt going on in the banking industry as well. However banks have not changed their policy.

Why will Verizon? Because this is not an industry wide move. This is just a Verizon move. If customers are unhappy they will leave for AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel, C Spire or other another cell phone company.

This is a perfect example of why the AT&T merger with T-Mobile was denied. If there are fewer competitors, then customers don’t have anyplace to run.

My prediction is Verizon Wireless will do the right thing thanks to customer pressure.

My prediction is this is also the early days of consumer power thanks to the Internet and always being connected. The customers today have so much more power and they are just starting to realize that fact.

They already have more than 50,000 customers signed up to complain to Verizon and give the name, phone numbers and email of key Verizon public relations executives like Marquett Smith, Peter Thonis and Bob Varettoni.

Listening to your customers sounds like a pretty good idea guys. Earn profits on your service, not on customers paying bills.

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Please attribute to Jeff Kagan, Tech Analyst with www.jeffKAGAN.com

If you would like to discuss, call me at 770-579-5810 or send an email to jeff@JeffKAGAN.com

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Jeff KAGAN| Tech Analyst w Atlanta based jeffKAGAN.com

Analyst sharing perspective on the changing industry for 25 years

~ Also Columnist, Author, Consultant, Speaker

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Phone 770-579-5810 Email jeff@jeffKAGAN.com Web www.jeffKAGAN.com

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