Managing Customers

Overview

A customer record holds an account’s contact details, billing settings and status. Its numbers, services, features, invoices and payments all sit underneath it. Billing administrators, credit controllers and support agents use this guide for everyday account work.

For every field, and step-by-step instructions for each action, see the Customers reference.

This guide shows you how to:

• Add a customer
• Close an account, and choose between Final Bill and Drop Customer
• Reinstate, suspend or pause billing on an account
• Control empty and low-value invoices
• Set up portal access and credit limits
• Fix common account problems

Quick start

Most common tasks

Add a customer -> Main menu > Add New Customer, or Add menu > Customer Find a customer -> SmartSearch in the left-hand menu Close an account -> Customer page > Actions menu > Final Bill Customer Stop billing straight away -> Customer page > Actions menu > Drop Customer Send a payment link -> Customer page > Actions menu > Generate Payment Links Create a TODO -> Customer page > Add menu > TODO

Adding a customer

What you need:

• The customer’s name, billing address and email address
• Their billing cycle, payment terms and payment method
• A saved set of default values for this type of customer, if you have one

Steps:

1. Search for the customer with SmartSearch to check they do not already have an account.
2. Go to Main menu > Add New Customer.
3. Load default values from Default Values > Load, if you have a suitable set. See Managing Default Values.
4. Enter the customer’s details. You can add missing details, such as an email address, later, but they must be complete before the first invoice is produced.
5. Click Save.
6. Add the customer’s numbers, services and any features not linked to a number.

The platform creates the account and shows the customer’s page.

Changing a customer’s details

Open the customer and click Edit. Record why you made the change in the Update Reason dropdown and Update Details field.

Some edits reach beyond the customer record:

• VAT Rate updates the VAT on transactions on Unsent and unapproved invoices. Approved invoices keep the old rate.
• Payment method changes every invoice that has no payment method of its own, including approved ones. That decides which collection run they fall into.
• Name or address changes do not update invoices already produced. Recreate the bill PDF for any invoice that needs the new details.

See Editing a Customer for the detail.

Closing an account

There are two ways to close an account. Both handle billing only; ceasing the customer’s services with your carriers is a separate step.

Final Bill Customer

Final Bill is the standard way to close an account. It bills everything up to the final bill date, keeps producing invoices until the balance is cleared, then drops the account.

When to use: the customer is leaving and should receive a closing invoice.

Required:

• Final Bill Date: the last date charges apply. Include any notice period.

Optional:

• Cancellation Notice Given: the date the customer told you.
• Apply Early Termination Charge: charge the rest of any committed term on features still in contract.
• Status Reason: why the account is closing.

What happens:

• Numbers and features get an end date matching the final bill date.
• Charges are added up to that date. Anything billed beyond it is refunded.
• The next billing run produces a final invoice. Late call traffic within the active period can produce further invoices.
• The platform drops the customer in the first billing run after the balance reaches zero.

Example: on 15 January a customer gives notice to leave on 31 January. Set Final Bill Date to 31/01/2025 and Cancellation Notice Given to 15/01/2025.

Drop Customer

Drop Customer stops billing on the drop date and drops every number and feature on the account.

When to use: billing must stop now, and you will raise any final invoice yourself.

Required:

• Drop Date: the last date charges apply.

Optional:

• Cancellation Notice Given, Status Reason
• Ignore Traffic Number Type: how to treat calls that keep arriving on the account’s numbers.

What happens:

• All active numbers and features are dropped.
• Charges are added up to the drop date. Anything billed beyond it is refunded.
• No further usage charges are allocated, even for calls inside the active period.
• Billing runs produce no invoices for the customer. Raise a manual invoice if one is needed.

Which to use

Use Final Bill unless you have a reason not to. Its main advantage is that calls arriving after the leaving date, but dated before it, are still billed. Drop Customer stops usage billing outright, so late CDRs for the final weeks are not charged.

Reinstating, suspending and pausing billing

Each of these is on the customer’s Actions menu. The Customers reference has the full form for each.

Action	Use it when	Effect on charges
Reinstate Customer	A dropped customer returns	Reinstates the numbers, services and features dropped with the customer. A past Reinstate Date adds back-dated charges.
Suspend Customer	The account is paused	Stops recurring charges. Usage charges still apply.
Unsuspend Customer	The pause ends	Back-fills the recurring charges missed while suspended.
Make Customer Non-Billable	The account should not be invoiced for now	Automated billing runs skip the customer. Charges still build up.
Make Customer Billable	Billing should resume	Back-fills missed recurring charges.

When you reinstate, the numbers and features dropped automatically with the customer come back. Items dropped separately, on an earlier date, do not. To include them, set Also Reinstate Numbers/Features Dropped On to the date they were dropped.

To bill back-dated charges straight away rather than in the next billing run, raise a manual invoice after the action.

Other customer actions

Action	What it does	Conditions
Generate Payment Links	Creates links the customer can use without logging in: card payment, Direct Debit setup or Instant Bank Pay, depending on the payment providers you use	The customer needs a MyAccount profile that allows those payment methods
Generate PIN	Creates a new PIN for the Stats Site. The old PIN stops working.	The customer must be active
Add Shared Contact / Remove Shared Contact	Links an existing shared contact to this account, or removes the link
Link To Xero / Unlink From Xero	Connects the customer to a Xero contact using its Xero Contact ID, or removes the connection. Data already in Xero is unchanged.	The Xero integration must be active. See Xero.
Raise Credit Note	Gathers pending refund and credit lines on the Unsent invoice into one credit note, produced immediately
Write Off Debt	Creates a credit note that clears the outstanding balance	The customer must be dropped
Write Off Credit	Creates a debit note that clears a credit balance	The customer must be dropped
Restore Deleted Calls	Returns all deleted call records for the customer to billing and reports	Can change the customer’s balance significantly

Empty and low invoices

Each customer has two settings that decide what happens when an invoice would be empty or small. Each has a dropdown (the action) and a value box (the amount).

Empty Invoices applies when there are no charges at all:

• Do not produce: no invoice is created.
• Produce anyway: a £0.00 invoice is produced.
• Add Low Usage Fee of £: a fee of the amount in the value box is added.

Low Invoice sets the test, and Low Invoice Action sets what happens when an invoice falls below the amount in the value box:

Low Invoice	Compares the threshold with
N/A	No check
If invoice value is less than £	The invoice total
If call spend is less than £	Call charges only
If absolute invoice value is less than £	The invoice total ignoring sign, so a credit of £3.00 counts as £3.00

Low Invoice Action	Effect
Do nothing	The invoice is produced as normal
Rollover amount to next invoice	No invoice is produced. The charges stay unbilled and go on the next invoice.
Add Low Usage Fee of £	Adds a fixed fee of the amount in the Low Invoice Action Value box
Pad with Low Usage Fee to £	Adds a fee that brings the invoice up to the Low Invoice Action Value. A £3.50 invoice padded to £10.00 gets a £6.50 fee.

Credit balances need care. With If invoice value is less than £ and Rollover amount to next invoice, a credit is always below the threshold, so no invoice is produced and the customer is not told about it. Use If absolute invoice value is less than £ to roll over only small credits.

Customers on Final Bill status always get an invoice, whatever these settings say.

Examples:

Customer	Empty Invoices	Low Invoice	Low Invoice Action
Minimum monthly charge of £10.00	Add Low Usage Fee of £10.00	If invoice value is less than £10.00	Pad with Low Usage Fee to £10.00
Occasional caller, invoice only when worthwhile	Do not produce	If absolute invoice value is less than £5.00	Rollover amount to next invoice
Contract customer who needs a monthly statement	Produce anyway	N/A

Invoice formats

The platform produces three versions of each invoice:

• Short: totals, invoice number and payment instructions.
• Long: adds charges by category and VAT.
• Full: adds itemised calls and usage graphs.

You choose which version is attached to emails, which is downloaded from MyAccount and which is printed. For example, attach Short to emails to keep them small, and let customers download Full from MyAccount when they want the call detail. See Bill Lengths.

Portal access

Customers can use two portals:

• MyAccount: login with email address and password. Customers can download invoices and, depending on their profile, make payments and set up Direct Debits. What each customer sees is set by the MyAccount Profile on their account. Profiles are created by system administrators; see MyAccount Profiles.
• Stats Site: the legacy portal, with login by account number and PIN. The Legacy Stats Site and Legacy Enhanced Stats Site fields choose the features available, with Enhanced adding the fuller reporting set. Use Generate PIN to issue a PIN.

Contacts at the same customer all have the same access. You cannot give one contact more access than another.

Credit limits

Each customer has three limits in Billing Details:

• Credit Limit: the most the customer can owe.
• Unsent Credit Limit: the most their Unsent invoice, the charges not yet invoiced, can reach.
• Overdue Invoices Credit Limit: the most they can have overdue.

The platform does not restrict service when a customer reaches a limit. Use the Customer Credit Limits report to find customers near or over their limits, then decide what to do.

Set a limit from the customer’s expected spend and payment record. For example, start a new customer at one to two months’ expected usage, and review it once they have three months of payments on time. A Direct Debit customer can usually carry a higher limit than one who pays by bank transfer, because you collect the payment.

TODOs for a customer

Use Add menu > TODO on the customer page to create a task linked to the account. Create it from the invoice, number or feature it concerns instead, if there is one, so whoever picks it up sees the context. The customer’s open TODOs appear in the summary on their page.

See Managing TODOs.

Troubleshooting

A dropped customer is still being invoiced

1. Check the status. A customer on Final Bill keeps receiving invoices until the balance is cleared and the account drops; this is expected.
2. Check for manual invoices raised after the drop.
3. Check for charges dated before the drop date that were still unbilled.

Credit anything charged in error. See Credits and Refunds.

Numbers or features did not come back on reinstatement

Only items dropped automatically with the customer are reinstated. Anything dropped separately before the customer stays dropped unless you set Also Reinstate Numbers/Features Dropped On to the date it was dropped. To fix it afterwards, reinstate each missing number or feature with its own Reinstate action.

The customer cannot log in to the portal

First find out which portal they are using.

• MyAccount: check that the contact’s email address is verified and that the customer has a MyAccount Profile. Send a password reset if needed.
• Stats Site: check that the customer is active and that Stats Site features are enabled. Generate a new PIN if needed.

If the customer can log in but cannot see a feature, check their MyAccount Profile, or for the Stats Site, whether they need Enhanced access.

Deleting a customer

Delete a customer only if the account was created by mistake, or to meet a data protection request. You need Data Protection permissions.

1. Save copies of any invoices or correspondence you need to keep.
2. Make sure the customer is dropped.
3. Go to Actions menu > Delete.

The customer is marked for deletion and can be restored for 30 days. After that, the account and everything under it, including numbers, invoices, payments and call records, is permanently removed.

Advanced users only: manual status changes

Caution

Use the actions above wherever one exists. Editing the Status field directly in Expert Mode skips the action form, so there is no Status Reason prompt and no early termination charge.

To drop a customer by hand:

1. Edit the customer.
2. Change Status to “Ex-customer” (or your dropped status).
3. Set the Dropped / Reinstated Date, or leave it blank for today.
4. Click Save.

The platform drops the customer’s numbers and features on the same date and stops billing. A dropped status stops billing whether or not a date is set.

To reinstate by hand, change Status back to an active status and set the Dropped / Reinstated Date to the reinstate date. Then check each number and feature, and reinstate any that are still dropped.

Related guides

• Customers reference: every field and action in full
• Managing Numbers
• Managing Email Addresses
• Emailing Customers
• Managing Default Values