Do I Have to Bill My Customers?

Members of the ISP-Wireless list talk about that headache of ISP service: billing customers every month.

[December 4, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in November, RE asked,

"My partner believes we should stop sending any bills (emailed or mailed) and just rely on our customers to send money if they want service. Any thoughts?"

Most respondents advised at least sticking with emailed invoices:

[GB noted] "Expecting the users to just send money is ridiculous. We email our bill to the subscriber. If they prefer that we send a paper bill, we add a $1 invoice charge to their statement."

[TF agreed] "We offer our customers a choice of billing options. They can get an email statement or a paper statement, or use a credit card and get a receipt after the transaction takes place. If customers want paper billing, it costs $1 extra. This has worked great so far."

[JD added] "Send, at a minimum, monthly email bills and/or statements of credit card transactions, so that they know when and where the charge was from. Otherwise, you'll end up with a ton of chargebacks."

Others warned that eliminating billing altogether is just asking for trouble:

[PT observed] "Every month, I turn off 8 or 9 percent of my users, and many come in the following day to pay. The off and on stuff is a lot of work. If you abandon billing, I'd like to know how your percentage of turn offs changes. I suspect that a lot of 3, 6, and 12 month customers would become confused about when they are due, and then get very angry when they're turned off."

[JW agreed] "I really don't think that not sending a bill is going to work. I'm afraid you'll have a huge amount of cutoffs to do, and a lot of very peeved customers."

[JP added] "Customers do not pay unless they are billed, especially busy people who have lives to lead. Personally, I have the money to pay my bills, but if they don't send them, I don't pay them. I work 60 or more hours a week, and if someone expects me to remember to send them money monthly without an official reminder of some sort, they are not likely to get it."

CO offered the clearest advice of all:

"Just send out invoices. It's not hard."

—End