PestBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Past-Due Pest Control Accounts: A Follow-Up Routine That Gets You Paid

Every pest control company has a few accounts that fall behind. A card declines, a mailed invoice gets buried in a pile on the counter, a commercial account's new bookkeeper does not know who you are. Left alone, those accounts get older, the amounts get larger, and the odds of collecting get smaller. A routine fixes most of them before they get that far.

Past Due Is a Process, Not a Feeling

The previous article, Letting Pest Control Customers Update Their Own Card in the Customer App, covered the easiest fix for unpaid accounts: getting the customer to update their own card. This article covers what to do when that is not enough.

Most small companies handle past-due accounts by feel. When the owner notices the account, they call. When they are busy, nobody calls. The result is that some customers get chased within a week and others go six months without a word. A routine applied to every account is fairer to customers and better for your cash.

See What Is Unpaid

You cannot follow up on what you cannot see. PestBossPro shows unpaid invoices and has past-due follow-up built in, so the office can see open invoices in one place instead of digging through tickets. Look at the list on a regular day each week, not whenever there is time.

Sort the list by what kind of problem each one is:

• Declined card: the customer probably does not know. A text pointing them to update the card in the customer app fixes most of these.
• No card on file: an invoice was sent and not paid. A reminder with an online payment option often does it.
• Disputed: the customer has a question about the charge. Answer the question before asking for money again.
• Commercial: the statement is waiting on an approval somewhere. Find out who and where.

A Simple Follow-Up Schedule

Here is a routine that works for many small pest companies. Adjust the timing to fit your customers:

• When the invoice goes unpaid: a friendly reminder by text or email with a way to pay online in the customer app.
• About two weeks: a second reminder, a little more direct, with the amount and the visit date.
• About a month: a phone call. Ask whether something is wrong with the service. Sometimes the unpaid invoice is a complaint in disguise.
• Before the next scheduled visit: decide whether to service the account. Many companies pause recurring service until the account is current.
• After that: a final notice stating what is owed and what happens next under your terms.

Two-way texting keeps the conversation on the account, so anyone in the office can see what was said and when.

Pausing Service

Pausing service on a past-due account is a business decision, and it is worth deciding ahead of time rather than in the moment. Write your rule into your service terms, something like “recurring service pauses when an invoice is more than 30 days past due,” and tell customers when they sign up.

When an account is paused, put a note on it so it does not get scheduled from the Waiting List by mistake, and so the tech does not show up at a house the office is trying to collect from. When the customer pays, take the note off and schedule the visit. Hold re-services on past-due accounts too, which is a point your re-service policy should spell out, as covered in Re-Service Visits at No Charge: How to Invoice a Pest Control Callback.

Tone Matters

The aim of past-due follow-up is to get paid and keep the customer. Most late payers are not trying to stiff you. Write reminders the way you would want to receive them: what is owed, for what visit, and how to pay. Leave out threats until the final notice, and keep those to facts about your terms.

If an account becomes truly uncollectible, talk to your accountant about how to write it off. Do not keep scheduling service on it in the hope that it fixes itself.

Prevent More Than You Chase

The best past-due routine is the one you rarely need. A card on file at sign-up, invoices at completion, clear line items and online payment in the customer app prevent most late accounts from starting. Look at what is still open during the month-end review, covered in The Pest Control Month-End Billing Review: A One-Hour Routine.

Every Account, the Same Steps

Past-due accounts get collected when they get attention on a schedule. Look at the list weekly, sort by the kind of problem, follow the same steps for everyone, and decide the pause rule before you need it. For the rest of PestBossPro's billing tools, visit the pest control invoicing software page.