Invoice Overdue content dilemma

[Nerdster]

Hi all,

 

I am interested in what others using WHMCS have on their invoice overdue content.

We have had a ongoing problem with trying to balance out a friendly reminder that invoices are overdue and that if payment is not made within a period of time, there account will be suspended and data possibly terminated... blah... blah...

 

I think its important to let customers know that when an account is terminated that the data is lost forever, but we do not want to sound like we are holding a gun at the clients head to pay the invoice.

 

here is a sample of how our invoice content is set out:

 

Dear {client_name} (company name),

This is a billing reminder that your invoice no. 13445 which was generated on 12/02/2012 is due on 17/02/2012.
If you have paid this invoice and are still receiving these friendly reminders, please contact our billing department as soon as possible.

Nerdster Pty Ltd uses an automated billing system that will recognise non-payment of an invoice.

Our billing system will allow up to 7 days from the invoice due date, after which if no contact has been made the system will automatically suspend the hosting account.

21 days from the suspended date, the account will then be classed as closed.

Our system will then terminate the account after 14 days from the date the account was suspended.

Please understand that when an account is terminated, all data and files are completely deleted.
If you are having problems making the payment but wish your services remain active, please submit a ticket to our billing department to arrange a payment plan.

 

 

To give you an example of what we are dealing with, we have had some customers calling us up saying that somebody sent him a threatening email (our automated WHMCS system) that if he doesn't pay his invoice we will terminated all his data. and he threatened us to stop sending these emails or he will leave our service.

 

Obviously this is how he interpreted our overdue invoice email...

 

On the other hand, before we added this information to overdue invoice template, we had a client that did not pay his invoice within the 21 days, he did not attempt to contact us, and after another 21 days we terminated the account. The client returned from holidays to find his site completely deleted and he had no back ups.

This customer called us almost 2 months after the final (3rd) invoice was sent, and abused us for terminating his site.

 

This is why we added the termination information to the invoice, but its extremely hard to maintain a balance.

 

HOW DO WE KEEP THEM HAPPY?

 

I would really love to hear how others are dealing with this and what content is informative to the customers and does not come across as threatening to the customer.

 

Thank you, and I do look forward to your idea's.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Nerdster

[Damo]

We use a slightly modified standard template for all reminders. Just to bring the terminology in line with all our other communications.

 

I don't know how many clients you have reaching termination point but why automate it? It takes very little time to contact the clients in question and discuss their account. What ever happened to good old fashioned customer relations?

 

If there are true costs to leaving a suspended account on your servers then perhaps look at charging a fee to re-activate the account.

 

In just over 10 years of hosting we have only had to terminate two accounts for non-payment. A handful of accounts over this time remained suspended for two months however we still charge the client for a suspended account. In order re-activate the account they must pay all arrears and a re-activation fee (based on the time required for admin).

 

HOW DO WE KEEP THEM HAPPY?

 

Start but not treating "THEM" like a liability. There's usually valid reasons why an account goes unpaid. Be pro-active in understanding your clients and their business.

[Nerdster]

Hi Damo,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

The purpose of my post is to see if other hosting companies were experiencing the same kind of response from these reminder emails.

 

We have only had one termination and 4-5 complaints about the way the invoice reminder email reads.

But that is enough for us to search for a solution

 

We do respect and appreciate all our customers. My earlier post does sound dramatic, i guess it was from the frustration that we do try so hard to give our customers a good service yet this problems was occurring.

 

I received a PM from another WHMCS forum user today, telling me of a similar experience he had many years ago, and he mentioned that he does not terminate the accounts even up to 6 months of unpaid invoices, and 90% of the late payers do eventually pay a late fee that you mentioned to restore the account.

 

Anyway will try this and see how it works out.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to reply back to me Damo, its much appreciated.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Nerdster

[m8internet]

I have not had any complaints about the wording of the standard template

In fact many customers pay the day after the First Invoice email is sent (28 days before due)

 

However the main complaint is when the website becomes Suspended for non-payment, and the customer claims they did not receive any email notifications

I receive all copies so confirm they were sent and so advise the customer to check the email address, inbox, and spam filter

 

I did have one customer contact me a long time after they had not made payment

The content had been deleted it was so long and was furious / angry, and kept sending me threatening emails that they wanted their data back

After explaining we send 2 advance noitces, an expiry day, and 1 Final Notice, this allows 45 overall, and at least 28 days after expiry before the content is deleted, the customer finally agreed with the process

Ironically this same customer signed up for a new account several months later

[malfunction]

I think there's a strong case for a feature request for additional email templates to cover the bases more effectively here.

 

During the lifecycle of an account termination the wording used in the initial gentle reminders should be quite different from the dire warnings issued immediately prior to suspension/termination and attempts to combine into one generic message are inevitably going to annoy people or alternatively water down the message so much that they take no action.

 

Perhpas these could be added to the automation settings so we can send supension warnings at suspension date -1 &-5 and termination warnings at termination date -1 & -5 for example.

[Nerdster]

I think that's a great idea malfunction.

A separate email notification 48 hours prior to suspension would solve a lot of problems.

 

Thanks for your reply guys.