Automatic notification when a customer payment is due

Look at Memorized Transactions. Create the initial invoice and then select Edit>>Memorize invoice. You can have the invoice automatically generated or to prompt you to generate it. Specify the frequency is annual.

I don't see any option in the screen to have to send the invoice to the customer. You will need to do that last step manually.

In his posting of Sun, 20 Jan 2008, Laura writes

Thanks for the suggestion Laura, but I cannot see it working for my application unless I save every Sales receipt and that would seem to be a pain

It would be really brilliant if there was a neat answer to this problem. There must be many people with this same problem. All the people running clubs or situations where an annual payment is required.

Perhaps I should post under a different thread.

Cheers

Richard

Actually, in the bottom left corner of the invoice is a 'to be emailed' box that you can mark. Set up the memorized invoice to 'remind you' when it enters the invoice and then you will know that you need to email them.

Michelle L. Long CPA

Richard wrote: ...

... If you don't (save the info, that is) how is any application (QB or no) going to be able to generate it and know to whom to send it?

If you're using QB, Laura's suggestion seems the way; for an internet-accessible group it would seem a 'bot based on the users' signup records could be coded relatively easily to prompt them in the forum when their access period is getting ready to expire however, which is where I'd probably choose to do it instead of in QB.

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Hi Michelle,

I've never used Intuit's e-mail server so I am not familiar with this feature. Once the invoice has been posted how do you e-mail it to them?

Thanks, LauraG (from AIPB)

Hi Laura!

When you email an invoice in QB 2008, it will open Outlook and send it from there. This allows you to add other attachments, request a read receipt, make it high importance, and it goes into your sent folder.

QB 2007 didn't use Outlook so you needed to send yourself a copy if you wanted a record of it.

HTH!

Michelle L. Long CPA

All of which make e-mail splatter on spam filters.

Thanks for trying to assist. I did not make myself clear when replying to Laura, but what I meant to say was that it would be cumbersome to sae a memorised invoice of sales receipt for every transaction. Perhaps I did not correctly understand the scheme she had in mind!

Please would you explain what you mean by a Bot please. I do not want to use the forum for reminding individual members that their annual payment is due.

Many thanks

Richard,

Here is what I had in mind...

Member A renews his membership (for 1 year) on Jan 10. You create an invoice for the membership $30. As you create this invoice memorize it to kick off annually. Select the box to have the invoice e-mailed. Go into Receive payments and apply the payment to that invoice.

Member B renews his membership on Feb 1 for another year. Create the invoice, memorize it and apply the payment received.

Fast foward to 2009...On Jan 10, 2009 you are prompted to post Member As next invoice and on Feb 1 you get a message concerning Member B.

Currently you are using a one step process to enter a Sales receipt for the payment. You don't have any reminders setup. Instead of 1 step (sales receipt) you now have 3 steps (invoice, payment & memorize) but I think the reminder and e-mail message give you better management of your memberships. I'm not sure how it is cumbersome. Each step take seconds to do.

Richard wrote: ...

This is getting OT for this forum but I'll make one further response/amplification to my thoughts from previously. Further down this road probably should go to some other forum.

So you'd rather they just not be able to login one day? That seems "user hostile" to use a phrase an employee of mine once coined...

A 'bot (short for robot) is simply a small piece of code to do a task--in this case, either scan the members or using a database that has the right data already in it, generate the renewal notices automatically...I was assuming you had some programming facility, but if not, you may need some assistance. Of course, there are chron facilities that could be used as well w/ only a little effort...

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In his posting of Wed, 23 Jan 2008, Laura writes

Laura

Many thanks for that. I did after all understand you correctly the first time, nut then as now my concern is does having hundreds of these memorised invoices cause QB a problem. I thought that the memorise facility was really to provide a few "templates".

Many thanks

I do not follow your logic. What I said was "I do not want to use the forum for reminding individual members that their annual payment is due." I think it would be inappropriate to use the forum in this way and I feel sure the members would also.

I rather thought that within QB would be a neat way of doing what I had in mind...perhaps not.

Thanks for trying to help.

I have never heard that having hundreds of memorized transactions would cause QB problems.

You could, I think via the route outlined but it seems like it would require quite a lot of handwork that might be eliminated otherwise.

What you do at the site is your business of course, I was merely suggesting a reminder screen if they're late would be better than simply refusing the connection. I suppose you require a valid e-mail address for the subscribers, but I'd question relying only on e-mail for any (or at least the sole) manner of invoicing my customers (if that were all I had for income anyway)--it's too easy for stuff to be filtered that I'd think there would be a reasonable probability they'll never see it.

I'd probably run a chron process in conjunction w/ my server and use it to write the data for QB to import myself...but I write software as a routine (altho not internet software, but it's the way I would tend to try to solve a problem--automate whatever that can be).

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In his posting of Wed, 23 Jan 2008, dpb writes snip

Thanks for your assistance. My replies are getting delayed as for some reason my postings are not going for hours on occasions!

I think members would generally regard on list requests to specific members as spam.

We have e-mail addresses for all members as the list operates totally that way so it should not prove a problem.

Well you have a definite advantage as I am a mere user of what I can buy off the shelf

Cheers

Richard

PS It would seem that provided that QB can handle hundreds of memorised invoices that this could be the way to go.

In his posting of Wed, 23 Jan 2008, Laura writes snip

Thanks Laura.

Cheers

I found it easiest to put a recurring appointment in Outlook for each of my recurring invoices ( we have many that have to be billed monthly for our sub service) and Outlook reminds me to bill whomever needs to be billed right on time or in advance of the date however I tell it to in entering the date.

In his posting of Fri, 25 Jan 2008, Bobbo writes

Thanks for your suggestion, however I feel happier going the route suggested by Laura and Michelle at the moment though I'm sure your system works well for you.

Cheers