What to do if a Customer Is Not Billed Automatically
If you have a subscription plan set up in your Helcim account, there might be a time when you come across a customer who was not billed automatically despite being subscribed to an active plan.
If this happens to you, follow these steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.
If the Customer’s Last Payment was Declined
One of the reasons a customer might not be automatically billed is if their last scheduled payment was declined. A decline could happen for many reasons including an expired card, incorrect information being entered, unavailable funds, etc.
If a payment is declined, the following process will happen for the customer:
- Helcim will move the subscription plan for that customer to a “Due” status
- If you have the ‘Invoice Due Reminder’ set to
On
, you will get an email indicating there is a due invoice for one of your customers - If you have the ‘Invoice Due Reminder’ set to
On
, your customer will also receive an email indicating they need to submit payment for an invoice
While the customer is in “Due” status, the subscription plan will not auto-bill.
To get the customer back on auto-billing, follow these steps. Log in to your account, then click on Invoicing
and Due Invoices
.
Select the Invoice for the Customer from the list of Due Invoices.
Then click on
Process New Payment
from the Actions
button drop-down menu on the top right-hand side of your screen.
Select the transaction type and complete the payment.
Once the payment has been processed for the due invoice, the subscription plan will be automatically returned to “Up-to-Date” status and automatic billing will resume as normal.
If You Process the Payment Without Using the Due Invoice
If your customer settles their outstanding invoice without going through the “Due Invoice” then the invoice will remain open and the subscription plan will not continue with auto-billing. To resolve this issue you simply need to mark the invoice as “Paid”.
To do this, log in to your account and click on Invoicing
and Due Invoices
.
Select the Invoice for the Customer from the list of Due Invoices.
Then click on
Process New Payment
from the Actions
button drop-down menu on the top right-hand side of your screen.
Select
Other Tender Transaction
.
Now you can enter the details of how the customer paid to close the invoice.
Tender Type: Use the drop-down to select how the customer paid for the outstanding balance
Amount: This will auto-populate with the amount due
Note: You can enter any additional details or comments you would like attached to the invoice using this textbox.
Click on Save
to mark the invoice as “Paid”.
A confirmation message will appear confirming the invoice has been marked as “Paid”.
Next, you need to update the customer’s subscription on the plan to be Set as Paid
.
To do this click on, Customers
and Customer List
from the left menu
Next, click on the customer that you are looking for.
Then click ‘View Subscriptions’
Click on the Subscription Plan you need to edit.
Then click
Set as Paid
.
Once the customer’s plan is moved to
Set as Paid
auto-billing will resume as normal.
Using a Dunning Management Software tool can help your business maintain consistent payments. Learn more here.