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Selasa, 14 Desember 2010

Billing Disputes: Communication Key to Prevention, Resolution

To keep away from billing disputes, it helps to understand why they happen in the first place. Billing disputes most often arise from (one) delayed billing, (two) invoices that exceed estimates, (three) billing errors and (four) dissatisfaction with goods or services provided.

Money's hard to come by these days. And that has businesses and consumers both doing their best to be definite they give and get what is owed and fair. Ironically, it is that drive for fairness that leads to thousands of billing disputes each year-billing disputes that take valuable time away from your core business and threaten your business' hard-earned reputation.

In all events, the best way to prevent billing disputes is through lovely communication. Do it continuously and do it in writing.

Understanding these reasons is half the battle in stopping billing disputes. Clearly, in the event you do some work for a customer and then wait six months to bill him or her, that allows much time to forget the level and extent of the services you provided. And in the event you charge over you said you would without any explanation or written agreement, you are setting yourself up for trouble.

  * State in writing what each party is providing. The customer obviously will be providing payment. The business, , needs to indicate what specific goods or services it is providing, along with any warranties.

  * In addition to stating your rate for goods or services in writing, you need also to disclose, in writing, any additional costs that may appear on the final bill, such as taxes or shipping.

  * If changes are made along the way to what either party is providing the other, be definite to put it in writing and be definite both parties have a duplicate of the agreed-upon changes.

  * Invoices at regular, agreed-upon intervals is actually a kind of communication in itself. In the event you have a project that takes several months to complete, it is a lot simpler for most customers to pay every month amounts along the way than getting hit with the whole amount at the finish. Regular invoices also keep customers abreast of how the charges are accruing.

If despite your best efforts a billing dispute occurs, communication is still the key. Don't avoid it. In lieu, address it proactively. Talk together with your customer right away and be definite to listen so you understand exactly what his or her concerns are. Then you can report the details and how costs were assessed. If the customer still disputes the amount, you can gently refer to what you have in writing. If the issue remains, explore discounts, payment options and other ways to accommodate the client or customer.

Keep in mind the finish objective is satisfying your customer. Otherwise, you lose not only that customer, but the others-current and prospective-that they or they will then tell. Working in lieu to discover a reasonable solution will keep the customer happy and your reputation intact.

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