Verizon Abandons Plans For $2 Convenience Fee

Can you hear us now?

That is the sentiment many Verizon Wireless were expressing when news broke earlier this week of the company's decision to charge a $2 fee on one-time bill payments made using a credit or debit card online or over the telephone.

In response to this, the company announced Friday that it will no longer be instituting the fee, which was slated to go into effect next month.

In a statement, Verizon acknowledged that the decision was made largely in part because of the backlash from thousands of its customers, many of whom took to social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook to vent their frustration.

“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” said the company's CEO Dan Mead in a statement.

Verizon has had a rough time in the final week of 2011. On Wednesday, customers using 4G handsets, such as the Droid RAZR, reported problems while trying to access the company's newest high-speed data network. While service was restored later in the day, it marked the third time that the network suffered an outage in the past month. The company later issued a statement attributing the issues to what it described as "growing pains" with the new network.

Despite no longer mandating a convenience fee, the company said it will continue to encourage customers to take advantage of its other payment methods, such as AutoPay or electronic checks.