Unethical
Behavior by Verizon
by Brian Belcher
PH 211-53
Fall 2016
November 19
For years now, Verizon has been
providing cell phone service to many people across the world. For the most part, the company has done
things that have seemed fair to its customers.
However, there was one issue in 2015 that may have changed the way
people think about Verizon. On August 7,
2015, Verizon brought to life a somewhat unfair data plan. This plan would make mandatory that customers
pay for their smartphone downright, or with smaller monthly payments. This plan went into effect six days later. According to cnet news, “It’s a radical
change in how Verizon operates and signals a broader shift away from smartphone
subsidies and service contracts.” Verizon is crossing its norm when it comes to
this data plan, and this is not only a major change for the customers, but also
the company itself. There is a lot of
question regarding how people feel about this new plan. There are four data plans in this new system,
that have number of monthly GB ranging from one to twelve. All of these plans offer unlimited talk and
text.
The negative effect that goes along
with this plan is that customers who are enrolled in family plans would pay
five dollars more than usual, which really would add up with a large household
family. According to cnet news, “Verizon
also eliminated its low-end 500-megabyte plan, priced at $20, which was an
attractive option for customers who weren’t heavy data users but still wanted
to be on its network-typically order individuals who didn’t need all the bells
and whistles of the latest smartphone.”
This quote basically says that customers who are not totally hip to the
new smartphones and are not on them constantly will still pay equally as much
as those who basically live on their phones.
It is the same idea as something such as going to a restaurant and
ordering something small for lunch, like soup and a sandwich, but paying the
same price as someone who ordered a four-course meal. This would be a very quick way for a
restaurant to lose business and profit.
The same applies with the Verizon case.
People who are not as cell-phone active as others will likely extricate
themselves from Verizon and Verizon would lose business very quickly as
well.
According to DesJardins, “Kant tells
us that we should act only according to those maxims that could be universally
accepted and acted on” (38). It also
provides the maxim answer to the question, “what am I doing?”. A Kantian might review this case as a poor
action displayed by Verizon. The maxim
answer to that question in this case could potentially be something as extreme
as losing big-time business. That is, if
enough people are unhappy with this new plan and decide to take their business
elsewhere. Another maxim answer to this
question is that Verizon’s competitors such as Sprint, T-Mobile, etc would see
increases in business as Verizon is losing business. It is safe to say that these types of cell
phone companies are major competitors and would not want to give big business
away for free.
Utilitarianism also has a good
number of views. Another thing that
DesJardin says is that, “Utilitarianism is an ethical tradition that directs us
to make decisions based on the overall consequences of our acts” (24). It could be fair to say that Verizon may not
have went along with this new plan if they knew that business could potentially
be lost if there were unhappy customers.
DesJardins then says, “A second tradition, one based on the importance
of ethical principles and rights, directs us to decide on the basis of moral
principles such as keeping your promises or giving people what they deserve”
(24). One might ask himself, do these
Verizon customers who barely use their phones deserve to paying the same amount
as people who are on their phones constantly? Everybody has their own
traditions and values in life, and those traditions should be paid for
appropriately. One last tradition,
according to DesJardins, is “Finally, virtue ethics directs us to consider the
moral character of individuals and how various character traits can contribute
to, or obstruct, a happy and meaningful human life” (24). It is somewhat difficult to connect that
value to this specific case, but it can be said that cell phone users and
non-cell phone users have different character in their personalities and those
specific character traits should be treated equally. There are many different values associated
with utilitarianism in general, and also this specific case.
All in all, some will agree that
Verizon’s new cell phone plan can be considered unethical or unfair. There are many different reasons of why this
is, but some may think the new plan is fair, because they can be considered
cell phone abusers. To sum it up, it is
a plan that is going to take a lot of getting used to for all of Verizon’s
customers.
Sources
By Roger Cheng August 7, 2015 9:01 AM PDT. "Verizon
Kills off Service Contracts, Smartphone Subsidies." CNET. N.p., 07
Aug. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2016.
