When to Terminate account for non-payment

C

CarlC

New member
We have our billing software suspend an account when it is overdue on payment by one day, and the terminate on the 30th day. I noticed that every once in a while we get a client that we terminated wanting to pay and get reinstated. Do you think the 30 day termination is fair ?
 
Hello,

we also terminate services after 30th days...but we still keep a backup of the account on our backups server for 3 more months because we also have faced this issue with "lazy" customer that didn't renew on time.

Regards,
 
Sure, 30 days is fair as long as you've spelled out your policy in your TOS. How long do you keep a backup of that account after it's been terminated?
 
30 days is fair enough BUT my concern is suspending one day after over due. I think you should allow like 5 days for clients to pay before you suspend
 
Since it takes approximately 4 working days to cash a cheque, clients should be given the benefit of doubt by not suspending their account before routine finacial procedures would enable them pay. Thus allow them at least 5days
 
This is how we send out invoices and reminders

For New Clients

Invoices are due on the day an account is created.
If order left unpaid then
After 1 day a First Overdue reminder is sent.
After 2 days a Second Overdue reminder is sent.
After 3 days your order will be cancelled and your IP blocked and reported.

For existing clients

An invoice will be generated and sent 14 days before the due date
A reminder will be sent 1 day before the due date
Invoice then resent on due date and then if unpaid
After 1 day a First Overdue reminder is sent.
After 2 days a Second Overdue reminder is sent.
After 2 days your account will be suspended and a 20% or £2 late fee is added to the invoice, whichever is greater.
After 3 days a Third and Final reminder is sent
After 14 Days the account will be terminated.
so basically from issue to termination they have had 28 days to pay the invoice or contact us
7 days after termination, if any invoices still remain unpaid, they will be passed onto Express Debt Collection and a £5 fee added to the invoice

Cancellations must be submitted no later than 7 days prior to your next due date
 
jkateega said:
Since it takes approximately 4 working days to cash a cheque, clients should be given the benefit of doubt by not suspending their account before routine finacial procedures would enable them pay. Thus allow them at least 5days
Click to expand...

so if it takes upto 4 days for a cheque to clear, then generate and send the invoice out 10 days before due date and then inform clients that cheques must be at least 7 days before due date as it takes 4 days to clear.
 
easyhostmedia said:
so if it takes upto 4 days for a cheque to clear, then generate and send the invoice out 10 days before due date and then inform clients that cheques must be at least 7 days before due date as it takes 4 days to clear.
Click to expand...

Actually we generate these our invoices 14 days before due date but for the beneffit of dought if a client genuinly has reason why they shouldnt pay before the due date then we allow them at least 5 days after overdure before we suspend the service.
 
jkateega said:
Actually we generate these our invoices 14 days before due date but for the beneffit of dought if a client genuinly has reason why they shouldnt pay before the due date then we allow them at least 5 days after overdure before we suspend the service.
Click to expand...

we don't accept cheques, so don't have to wait til it clears, but with Direct Debits and credit cards, for all the client pays, it take 7 days before we get the funds in our bank.
But if a client contacts us to say they will be late paying then we will halt any suspension and late fee for a couple of days, but if a client does this in a regular basis then we let the system run as it should.
 
easyhostmedia said:
But if a client contacts us to say they will be late paying then we will halt any suspension and late fee for a couple of days, but if a client does this in a regular basis then we let the system run as it should.
Click to expand...

Well we accept cheques especially from clients who are in our state. While we can accept to delay the suspension if a client requested for more time in anycase not more that 30 days we still charge that client the late fee of $2 or 10% whichever is higher.
 
jkateega said:
Well we accept cheques especially from clients who are in our state. While we can accept to delay the suspension if a client requested for more time in anycase not more that 30 days we still charge that client the late fee of $2 or 10% whichever is higher.
Click to expand...

We will only extend the time for a week, clients need to understand, they took the service and agreed to your TOS and need to pay invoice on time.

Some forget that you also have expenses and if you allow some clients will take a lend of you and will always pay late.
 
We send payment notification to the our client prior. Notification repeats till due date and on next day of due date the service goes down automatically. The service will be in suspended status for 5 more days. and then the service terminates.

30-days would be too many days for keeping slots occupied ... Better off server backup and terminate the account..
 
30 Days period is sufficient for auto-termination also make sure to keep the backups as auto backups will cover it but if not then you need to keep the backups
 
Prewebhost said:
30 Days period is sufficient for auto-termination also make sure to keep the backups as auto backups will cover it but if not then you need to keep the backups
Click to expand...

why keep the backups which actually take up space.

simple, if they are terminated for abusing your servers, then they are not entitled to a copy of the backup.

If they are terminated for non payment 9/10 they would have taken their own backup and moved elsewhere, if not then they will only get the backup once they pay outstanding invoices and 7 days after termination the backup is removed from backup server
 
I think it also depends on what redundant resources you have at your disposal. If you have a lot of unused resources you can afford an extra day more than one who is running at capacity
 
For shared hosting - 30 days is typical.
For dedicated servers - after 7-10 days we typically will put the server at the end of the deployment queue.

Just my two cents.
 
Best practice would be to send a notification pre-hand. If you have worked with the client for for multiple billing, i would give +5 days buffer!
 
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