Verizon FiOS → [Billing] Be aware: future payment date gadget has no effect

I just got installed and billed this month. I logged on to "My Verizon" and selected "Make a One-Time payment with another option." On that page, there is a "Schedule Payment Date" input field, with a calendar gadget to its right to help you fill in a date. This is the doodad which has absolutely no effect. On 18-Mar-2015, as my bill was due on Tue., 07-Apr, I selected "04/03/2015" (the Friday before). Then I proceeded to click on the "add a card" link and enter in my credit card details. Then going to the next page, yes, there is a field labelled something like "Charge date." It is always the current date. I figured since I quite clearly filled something in for the "Schedule Payment Date" which was not 03/18/2015 that this must be the date the charge was set up, not the date it would be actually charged. But lo and behold, I logged into the Web site for my credit card later that night, and there was already a pending transaction for paying my Verizon bill, and today it shows as no longer in "pending" status.

The one possible thing I can think of which may have caused this behavior is that I don't wish Verizon to store my credit card number, so I made sure that box was unticked. I took that to mean they would want to store those data for future use of the "one time payment" function, which I would really prefer not to do. But you would think if the "Schedule Payment Date" blank is not the current date, and storage is required, their app should point that out, and refuse to go to the confirmation page if that is the case.

So, this is just a word of caution for current and future customers. I would have preferred to time my payment so it didn't go on March's charges. As it is, I found out my billing cycle ended 17-Mar, so indeed it did not go on March, so no foul this time. But had I taken care of that Verizon bill a couple days earlier, it would have been a surprise.

I always make manual payments to Verizon. They screwed me over once by double charging me with the autopay option and I had to fight to get it fixed.

Think of it this way...

The day you make the online payment is the day that the charge to your card will be made. If you want your payment to be done on 4/3/15, then log in to your account on 4/3/15 to make your payment.

I have been using the "Make a one-time payment with another option" myself for the last couple of years. As I remember it, this was the only option that allowed me to specify the particular credit card I wanted to use--can't remember the specifics of the other options. The one thing I wanted to avoid was any sort of automatic payment--I'm happy to let someone add money to my bank accounts but I'm not in the least bit interested in letting anyone take money out of my accounts on any sort of automatic basis so I pay online "manually" using the "Make a one-time payment..." process. I do have the card I use saved.

I started paying online when Verizon started screwing up my payment sent by postal mail--I'd mail the payment in plenty of time but Verizon appeared to be delaying the processing. I've found the "make a one-time payment..." process to working quite nicely and the payment is processed the day I make the charge online.

If I remember correctly, you can only schedule a one-time online payment in advance if you're using a checking or savings account. Credit card payments are executed immediately.

Oh, I know all too well. I had been a customer of theirs for voice for a few years when I lived in south Buffalo when they began to offer ADSL service. I had two lines at what I guess served as a demarc (just a normal RJ14 jack). They were also on separate bills because they wanted some ridiculous "records change order fee" (like $50 or something) to consolidate the two. The line I ordered DSL for was being used for a dialup modem at the time, and was on the outer pair. I Web ordered for ADSL self-install. The very day my next phone bill came, I noticed a seventy some dollar "missed premesis visit charge" so I called them up and said in effect "what words of 'self install' did you not understand?" (I guess they figured I would be unable to take the outer pair and feed that to the inner pair on another jack, and they should be rewiring stuff.) They agreed I should not have been charged, and said my bill should be reduced. But as I was on automatic deduction from my checking account, they took out the full amount, around $110, instead of the corrected amount. It was an "account credit." So since they were unwilling to apply that credit to any other account, I still paid them for the voice line but at $35/mo. (roughly) I didn't have to pay anything for the "modem line" for the following two months, and the month after that was reduced some.

So, y'know, would they have been willing to reimburse me for an insufficient funds charge had there only been the ~$30-$40 in the checking account? Yeah, right...very unlikely. But as it is, there was no problem because I liked to keep the balance on that account around $400. And I know it would not have been more than a penny or maybe two, but it irked me that the money was in their account earning interest and not mine. So it's at that point I discontinued automatic billing and paid them by Visa every month. It was an inconvenience to have to do that every month, but it was slightly preferable to having them willy-nilly take out whatever they THOUGHT they were owed.

This is precisely why I don't want them even to store my credit card number for any longer than they have to. Not only does that make those data available in the event of a compromise, but they have the potential to charge whenever they want. I know, as soon as I've given up the goods, the potential is there, but still, if they promise not to store it, I'd rather they didn't.

hmmmm...One would hope if that's the case that the option would be removed from the UI if a CC is used. Oh, well.

Even though I'm in AT&T territory, isn't it still possible to pay with a check there?

Yes, but no thanks. I'll keep my bank accounts restricted to those whom I trust. Using a credit card instead is one more layer of protection.

>>steely: Credit card payments are executed immediately.

On some level, that makes sense--not sure why...'-}}

>>rchandra: but it was slightly preferable to having them willy-nilly take out whatever they THOUGHT they were owed.

EXACTLY!!!

I don't normally store my credit card with online vendors but because the card I use to pay Verizon is not the one I normally use for online purchases and I would have to go an dig it out of my wallet every month, I went ahead and stored it.

Oh, hmmm....yes, I could have missed it. My bad. It would help at least to put it in a brighter color to make it more prominent.

EDIT: I guess when I was entering in the CC data, the date stuff was off the top of the window (i.e. not visible), so I didn't see it change to the current date and grayed out.

I still think it's backwards, in that it shouldn't even appear unless options which use it are selected.

Agreed. Either that, or make it the last option next to the Submit button. That way you'll see it after selecting the payment type and once it has been switched into "fixed" mode.

Not a surprise that something Verizon designed is confusing, though