Messed up manual client/product addition for existing hosting account - afraid to cancel

[JEfromCanada]

I have a reseller account, and have sold hosting to a client. This was done several months ago before I had actually set up my WHMCS information. Now that I have WHMCS properly defined, I wanted to manually enter my client and his hosting package information into WHMCS so it would be there when it's time for him to renew.

 

Foolishly, I didn't read any documentation before trying this. I created a new Client, and assigned the appropriate hosting package to that client. Since the payment had been made months ago, I used a price override to set the price to $0.00. Right now, the order is set to pending, but already paid.

 

The way the screen looks at the moment, it seems to me that at renewal time, because of my price override, the client will be charged $0.00 for the package (instead of the expected renewal price).

 

Question 1: Is this assumption correct, or will the actual package price be billed at the time of renewal?

 

Assuming that I've messed up, and that the package will be offered for $0.00 on renewal, I want to cancel this "order". But, I'm afraid to do that, because I don't want the system to delete the client's existing hosting package which is currently active.

 

Question 2: If I cancel the existing manual order, will WHMCS delete the client's files, or will it leave them intact?

 

Question 3: What would have been the correct procedure to set up an existing client and package, so that no billing would be expected until the renewal date? A URL to a documentation page would be sufficient, or if not available, a detailed explanation would be appreciated.

 

Question 4: Assuming there is a way to continue with the order as entered, if I choose *not* to run a setup script and *not* to send an activation email to my client, does that mean that his current files and access privileges will stay as they are, or will they be overwritten?

 

Question 5: Assuming I can finish the order without any damage to existing files, is there a way I can go into the client's account to change the renewal date and price so that things will work properly at renewal time?

 

 

I know I've written a book and asked a lot of questions, but it's in the hope that I can get answers without a lot of to-and-fro posts.

 

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

[brian!]

Question 1: Is this assumption correct, or will the actual package price be billed at the time of renewal?

renewal price can be changed at any time - but i'll come to that in Q5.

 

Question 2: If I cancel the existing manual order, will WHMCS delete the client's files, or will it leave them intact?

http://docs.whmcs.com/Order_Management

 

Cancel Order - Sets the order status to Cancelled, runs module termination for any active products in the order (removing accounts from the server and setting the product status to Cancelled) and also sets the invoice status to Cancelled.

 

Question 3: What would have been the correct procedure to set up an existing client and package, so that no billing would be expected until the renewal date? A URL to a documentation page would be sufficient, or if not available, a detailed explanation would be appreciated.

http://docs.whmcs.com/Importing_Data#Manual_Client_Entry

 

To manually import your clients and their hosting accounts, you should use the following steps.

 

1. Go to Clients > Add New Client
   
2. Fill out the clients details - the minimum required fields are First & Last Name, Email Address & Password
   
3. Click Add Client
   

Once the client has been added, you can proceed to add their hosting accounts. You do this as follows:

 

1. On the client summary page, click the "Add New Order" link in the Actions panel
   
2. The client will be preselected, so you should fill out the rest of the form - begin by choosing the payment gateway you want the client to pay with
   
3. Next, choose the product/service and billing cycle the client pays by
   
4. If the package comes with a domain, enter the users domain in the box provided. And if the domain is registered with you, you should select the "Register" option and choose any addons the user has for their domain.
   
5. Ensure both tick boxes for sending an order confirmation and generating an invoice are unchecked so the user is not emailed about the order you are adding
   
6. Finally, set the Order Status dropdown to Active and then click the submit button to add the order to WHMCS
   
7. You will now be shown the order screen summarising the details of the order you just added
   
8. Now as the final step, you must go into the products and/or domains page and set the correct next due date. To do this, from the order screen, click on the link in the Item column of the items ordered - this will take you straight to the details screen. From there, you can edit the next due payment date (and for hosting accounts select the correct server and enter the username for the account to allow suspensions & terminations to be performed by WHMCS)
   

 

Question 4: Assuming there is a way to continue with the order as entered, if I choose *not* to run a setup script and *not* to send an activation email to my client, does that mean that his current files and access privileges will stay as they are, or will they be overwritten?

if you do nothing, no changes will be made to the server.

 

Question 5: Assuming I can finish the order without any damage to existing files, is there a way I can go into the client's account to change the renewal date and price so that things will work properly at renewal time?

http://docs.whmcs.com/Clients:Products/Services_Tab

 

just change the "Recurring Amount" and "Next Due Date" values and they'll be the ones used when renewal time arrives and the renewal invoice is generated.

[JEfromCanada]

Thank you for the complete and thoughtful answer. I had seen the documentation information about cancellation, and that the package would be removed upon cancellation. That's the part that scared me. Since the original sale was not made through WHMCS, I wasn't sure if WHMCS knew about the "package" that had been sold, and therefore, I wasn't sure if cancelling the invoice would leave the hosting information in place.

 

But, based on your answer to Question 5, I've decided to not cancel the invoice, just mark the account as active, and I've modified the due date and price for the next period.

[brian!]

Since the original sale was not made through WHMCS, I wasn't sure if WHMCS knew about the "package" that had been sold, and therefore, I wasn't sure if cancelling the invoice would leave the hosting information in place.

instinctively, I don't think it would know - but I wasn't 100% sure as I didn't enter the details into your WHMCS... and if in doubt with WHMCS, it's often safer not to cancel or delete.

[WHMCS John]

Hi,

If the Server and Username entered under the client's Products/Services tab are accurate, then module commands you perform will affect the server; so cancelling the order would terminate the account from the server.

 

Changing the invoice status would not affect the service's status.

 

I'd also recommend my latest video tutorial, which touches on order handling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClwhZeeSe4c