Hi everyone, happy Friday to all!
I thought it was time to address some real life experiences again, so here are 3 common scenarios you will come across when doing your accounts, and the best ways to handle them:
1. Receipt/remittance has been provided-yet payment never arrives.
Ahh yes, the old ghost payment- I am sure we have all dealt with these. All it takes is a very friendly phone call to the customer to thank them for the receipt but advise them the payment has not been received. Ask them to please check their account as the payment has hopefully just bounced back.
2. The email you have for your customer is bouncing- ok so if your emails are coming back to you, this could be for a multitude of reasons. If they are web based (yahoo, hotmail, gmail) enter them in the search bar on the top left of the Facebook screen and hit enter- if the email is linked to a Facebook account, it will provide you with the corresponding Facebook profile- hopefully this is your customer. If the email is for a company (xxxxx@yourcustomerscompany.com.au) then go to the website of www.yourcustomerscompany.com.au and try to find an alternative address. Often info@ will work or accounts@, or admin@- try all three, or just call them company and ask.
3. Credit card payment declining- Grrrr, is there anything more frustrating? “Pending, pending, pending, DECLINED”. Obviously you would call the customer immediately and let them know, if they don’t answer then follow up with a text message. If that still doesn’t work, then you can ask them in a text message if you are able to take a lesser amount. There is that temptation to just try for a lesser amount anyway, but I would caution against this as by law you are only able to debit the amount that the customer authorized you to take. If you still do not hear back from them, try the credit card again the next day for the agreed amount.
Cheers everyone, have a great day
3 common scenarios and how to deal with them