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Verizon Wireless Cancels 2 Dollar Convenience Fee After Backlash

Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless company, cancels its plan to charge customers two dollars every time they pay their bills online. As it turns out, the company seems to be coming to the same conclusion as its customers.

"So you have to pay more even though you're trying to pay your bill?" Beth Harriage is unimpressed. "What's the incentive there? You should get a reward for paying your bill," Beth says. "It's stupid."

Friday afternoon, Verizon nixed the plan altogether. In a statement on the Verizon website, President Dan Mead says Verizon wants to "...encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time."

Clint Bircheat says he could understand a "convenience fee" if it went toward processing paper payments, but the online fee doesn't make much sense to him.

"But I mean, make you pay to pay your bill? That just seems silly," Clint says.

It was much more than a laughing matter to the nearly 100,000 people that signed a petition to stop the fee on Change.org in the span of about one day. One man comments: "I'm outta here." Another: "Sprint is looking real good to me when my contract is up next year."

"You would think that they could have been a little more creative in ways to collect money and fees," Clint says.

For now, it looks like Verizon will be re-thinking its plan for 2012.

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