I was wondering if anyone has all their custys paying by bank transfer?, Am really fed up with doing all the work and not having the time to collect. Previously i would go collecting tues, thurs, and sat but its costing too much time and money, so am now looking at them paying on line.
Not sure if its gonna work and am interested in hearing from any of you who use this as their main method of payment.
I know it takes a few days too show up online and i will have to get them to quote their address so i know whos paid, and i will also probly have to get a mobile number from every customer so i can text them a freindly reminder if theyve not paid with in a week.
Any feedback greatly appreciated guys.
I don't have many customers paying this way but I wish to increase it.
I'm with Abbey business banking. Unfortunately, so far, the only point of reference I have is the customers' names. I have to wait until the 1st of each month to see any reference number that I supply. I phoned them only today to ask when they intended supplying the reference number in real time. It is possible for them to do it because they do it that way on their personal accounts.
I give the customer a reference so I know who has paid. For instance, if the customer lives at <fictional address> 47 Acacia Avenue and their postcode is RH1 1AA, their reference number becomes 47RH11AA. I have a database set up to record payment reference numbers amongst all the other details (I'm sure George and other software must have a section where you could look up reference numbers).
Direct bank to bank transfers like this tend to be free as well. If only Abbey would listen I could make this really easy for myself because I would be able to mark customers off as having paid instead of waiting till the 1st. At the moment I keep it only to customers who have unusual surnames so it's easy to track. In truth, it's unlikely that a customer would be charged the same amount and have the same surname but it's quite possible. I need to know who has paid as I go because one day I may be wondering if a customer owes me for one clean or two. The recent postal problems have highlighted a need for me to expand this side of my business. The customer does not even need internet banking to pay this way. Telephone banking is sufficient.