Latest Telco Fee: Your Fee For Not Paying Fees
from the do-you-have-to-pay-a-fee-to-find-out-about-your-fees dept
For many years, we've had stories about people getting incredibly pissed off at hidden fees, often from the telco industry. The industry tries to defend those fees, but they're really just ways of lying about the actual price so they can advertise low prices and actually charge you a lot more. The telcos really love these fees. Remember last year when telcos no longer had to charge a certain government mandated fee, and instead simply replaced it with a new fee with a meaningless name that they just got to pocket? The latest is also a fun one. Chronno S. Trigger lets us know that Verizon is charging some customers a fee for not using its long distance service. Yes, you read that right. There's a $2 fee for some customers if they don't make any long distance calls. But, it gets even better. If you want to get rid of it, you can pay a one-time fee of $6.75 to block all long distance calls on your phone. Verizon, almost comically, tries to defend the $2 fee by coming up with an absolutely bizarre example: "Because what they're helping to do is supporting the network they would use if their cousin Tillie is critically ill in California and they need to arrange a critical-care nurse." Oh, of course. If only Verizon had said it was all so I could help cousin Tillie in the first place, I'm sure everyone would be thrilled to pay the fee. In the meantime, will Verizon be okay if its customers charge it a fee for having to waste time understanding all its fees? How about if they swear that money will go towards helping poor cousin Tillie who needs a critical-care nurse? Verizon obviously wouldn't mind that.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Verizon, heh
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Re: Verizon, heh
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Re: Verizon, heh
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hrmmm
Oh well, time to remove TD from my /ig
Its a pity that you decided to yahoo a perfectly google site.
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Re: hrmmm
But I don't like the new look either, just so you have it on record.
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Re: Re: hrmmm
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Re: Re: hrmmm
Hey, guys, be nice now. I grant, the new color scheme could use a bit of retooling... the opening splash is a touch heavy-handed... but otherwise, the refresh to the layout seems pretty clean and functional to me.
Oh, hey, and this nifty new pop-over for replies rocks!
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Re: hrmmm
... and it still chains "Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: ", I do wish that was fixed. Y'know, since everything here hinges on my opinion ;-)
I guess what I'm saying, though, is constructive criticism is a better way to go than just flinging dung.
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Re: hrmmm
Is that part of everyone's issue with the layout? I must say I like it, although I agree that the view should be threaded by default. Also, I like the pop-over for replies.
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Re: hrmmm
[...] I agree that the view should be threaded by default.
You can set this. Up in the cream-colored toolbar, all the way to the right, "Your Preferences". There's a radio button that'll let you set threaded as the default. I think it's per computer, though, so if you read TD from multiple machines you might have to set it more than once.
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Re: hrmmm
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Re: Re: hrmmm
Overall, I did prefer the old layout, but this is not so bad as to drive me away.
EtG
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Re: Re: hrmmm
Personally, I prefer a flat view.
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Verizon & VZW both suck
Now, as for their phone service, it, too, is crappy. I've since switched to Vongage (lol, might be Vonage-Verizon in the not-too-distant-future!)
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I encountered this same thing
My sister suggested that she should send an invoice to everyone in the country for NOT using her company's services!
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Don't care about the new design/color scheme/whatever of TD. It works. That's all that matters.
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Raked/Raped over the coals
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Re: Raked/Raped over the coals
3 additional lines: $9.99/ea
last bill: $124.78
difference: $24.82 in misc crap charges over the "advertised price"
I don't understand how this isn't false advertising. How long do you think Applebee's would get away with it if they padded the price of dinner out an extra $7 with "fees" and "charges" that weren't disclosed until after the meal?
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site
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Verizon's Fees
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verizon
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It's just like cable or DSL
If you order DSL without a phone line, there's also an extra fee.
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Re: It's just like cable or DSL
The other side of that story is that the primary purpose of the line is to carry television signals. What they don't tell you is that "on" is "on", when they flip the switch so you can pick up the internet feed, basic cable flows down the wire just as well even if you haven't specifically ordered it.
They can put clamping filters on the line so the broadcast frequencies don't pass, but they typically don't (unless they think there's a reason to) because those filters are a little on the pricey side. The extra fee is mostly to offset the people who know this and hook their televisions up after the installer has left.
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Verizon is not alone...
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more than $2.00
$2 to $4 as of May. Note that it's actually a minimum usage charge since the
$2 (or $4) is applied to the LD calls that you do (or don't make).
While this plan has "no monthly charge" (other than the
minimum usage), they do offer a different LD plan that has a
$3/month fee, and no mention of a minimum usage requirement.
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In the Washington DC area Verizon is hands down the only carrier with even decent coverage for the whole metro area. You can even use your cell in the metro.
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Re:
And I can complain because I also have other horror stories about the bill and tech support. (wireless, wired, and DSL)
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how to make verizon dsl a little bit cheaper
If all you want from verizon is the dsl, not the phone service, ask them and they'll do it, you just have to pay some stupid line fee (but it's much smaller than a phone bill, like $6 a month IIRC)
I have small buisness but at my old apartment i had it for VZ residential too.
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Re:
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Those f*ckers
Are you guys seriously charging 2 dollars minimum for me not using my long distance?
As discussed on the web here:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070503/184330.shtml
http://reporternews.com/news/2007/may /03/phone-companies-levy-new-fee-not-making-calls/
If you answer yes I will be moving my home, DSL, and cell phone to other providers ASAP. ($200+ per month) This will be the most expensive $2.00 Verizon ever charged anyone. So remove the fee and stop sacrificing customer support for the immediate short-term financial gain.
I look forward to your reply.
I was on the fence with them anyway and this will push me over the edge.
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ask for a cable
i am a small boy for another country for ask a cable internet network for free give to me it.
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