We run into that when a customer “pays” their bill online at their bank at
midnight and thinks we’ve been paid. We don’t see a 2 week delay though, more
like 3-5 business days.
But with auto bill pay, I think most banks let you specify the day of the month
a payment is due (like your rent check is due on the 1st of the month), they
put that date on the check, and calculate how much in advance to mail it so
that it will arrive in time. I suppose it depends on the bank.
From: Adam Moffett
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 12:04 PM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Steer customers to ACH (vs CC)?
The only issue I remember with auto bill pay is the customer sometimes doesn't
appreciate the delay inherent to the process. They would set it up to be
"paid" on the due date and the bank will deduct it from their account on that
day, but we don't get the check for two more weeks so we'd be calling them
about their late payment.
I bet the banks love this arrangement more than anybody. If they deduct from
the customer's account immediately but don't have to send the funds to the
payee for a few more weeks then they could be holding that cash in their own
interest bearing fund in the meantime.
On 11/11/2015 12:56 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote:
I love auto bill pay, where the customer sets up for the bank to
automatically mail a check each month to arrive on or before the payment due
date. I stress to customers that unlike other bills with phony fees and taxes,
our bill is exactly the same each month so they can use auto bill pay. We
often get an envelope full of these checks, they always scan correctly, and
they seem never to bounce (I think the bank deducts them from the customer’s
account before mailing them). I know some of the folks here don’t like
processing them, but I just don’t understand that, it’s minimal work.
This method saves the customer a stamp, and given our rural area, a customer
mailing a check by putting it out for the mail carrier involves lots of risks.
Like soaked by rain, chewed by mice, or lost somewhere between their mailbox
and the post office.
We did for awhile have ACH indirectly through a third party payment portal,
and I was surprised to discover exactly what you described, I did not realize
an ACH payment could bounce just like a check.
It is always the problem customers who want special payment methods. I
reluctantly set up payment via PayPal for one problem customer to pay, and I
guess if PayPal accepts ACH that would be a way to accept ACH. I assume though
if the ACH payment bounced, Paypal would claw back the money from you. Or
maybe delay availability to make sure it cleared. I hate the Paypal method
anyway because we have to finagle the payment manually in our billing system
and then either get a check periodically from Paypal or use it to buy stuff on
eBay.
Unfortunately, no one seems to understand budgeting anymore, except the
seniors on Social Security. They want to see how long it takes for their
Internet to be turned off, then look in the couch cushions for change or see if
they have any gift cards with money on them. But somehow when you go to their
house to repo the radio, the power is on, their cellphone works, they have food
on the table and gas in the car. Internet is at the top of life’s necessities,
except when it comes to paying bills.
I always wonder at the lines in front of the RedBox kiosks. Who pays $1 to
rent a movie when you can get a Netflix subscription? I assume it’s the
pay-as-you-go economy. You go to the grocery store, and at the end if you have
a dollar bill in your pocket, you rent a movie. If not, no movie. It’s too
hard to know if you can afford $9 each and every month. And if your job is
driving for Uber, maybe I can understand how you just can’t plan your income.
From: Jeremy
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 10:41 AM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Steer customers to ACH (vs CC)?
I originally loved ACH, for the cost savings. Now I have realized that it is
the only way that a customer can defraud us with our current billing method.
They login and run an ACH on a delinquent account, get it turned back on
automagically, and then it bounces, we add a fee, they repeat the process, we
turn it off, add another fee, rinse, lather, repeat. Finally we give up and go
get the equipment and now we're out like $250. Being a prepaid service we
usually shut them off after 20 days and so that would be the most that anyone
could possibly hit us for (20 days of service). With checks they can bounce
the install and then play the re-activation game for two months before we get
frustrated and pull out.
We have yet to start sending customers to collections. For those of you that
are, how does it work out? Are the reclamation of these minor amounts worth
the slanderous hate speech that is sure to come from that customer for life
after you hit their credit? We have been eating the cost, cutting ties, and
moving on.
As far as how we push them toward ACH, I simply explain how bad bill pay
sucks. It is like sending cash in the mail and it goes through a third party.
If they are late mailing it then service gets shut off, and late fees get
added. I also tell them that credit cards cost us more to process than checks.
I basically just tell them that we prefer ACH, but we will take anything. I
regularly question whether ACH is a good idea or not. We have more problem
customers on ACH than any other payment method.
On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 8:41 AM, Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote:
Our bank wants a $25/mo minimum fee for us to process ACH payments, so we
don’t accept ACH. The per transaction fee is not bad, but the minimum is a
problem.
From: Justin Wilson - MTIN
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 9:29 AM
To: af@afmug.com
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Steer customers to ACH (vs CC)?
Give them a discount. Much of it depends on the bank. We had folks who
absolutely hated ACH because their bank would charge an overdraft if the ACH
failed. They like the CC, even if it was a debit card, because if the money
wasn’t there it just declines it. No $30 fee or whatever. But, it depends on
the bank. This is what wasn’t attractive to us was banks treated it different.
Credit card either runs or it doesn’t. ACH typically is not as smooth for a
variety of reasons.
Justin Wilson
j...@mtin.net
---
http://www.mtin.net Owner/CEO
xISP Solutions- Consulting – Data Centers - Bandwidth
http://www.midwest-ix.com COO/Chairman
Internet Exchange - Peering - Distributed Fabric
On Nov 11, 2015, at 10:21 AM, Christopher Gray
<cg...@graytechsoftware.com> wrote:
For the people who accept both ACH and CC payments, do you do anything to
promote the use of ACH (to reduce your costs)?
Thanks - Chris
