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Service Plans FAQs

Frequently asked questions about the Service Plans feature.

Roland Ligtenberg avatar
Written by Roland Ligtenberg
Updated over a week ago

The customer's credit card payment failed, how do I update the card?

If the plan 'Continues Until Customer Cancels' does the customer's card get automatically charged?

  • Yes. Service Plans are a subscription much like online streaming services. The system will automatically charge the card on file year after year, or at any other billing frequencies you allow for that plan.

How do I refund a Service Plan payment to the customer?

  • If you need to refund a cash, check, other payment option, you can use the DELETE option from the payments table on the service plan details page.

What is the 'Payable by Cash, Check, or Other' option?

  • In order to automate as much of the Service Plans feature as possible, accepting only credit card payments for your plans can be best for your business. This way both indefinite plans or plans with a defined end date billed at 6 months, quarterly, or monthly, will automatically charge the credit card on file.

  • Note: If you accept cash, check, or other forms of payment and do not collect for the full price of the plan upfront, it will be up to you to collect on payments when they are due. You will see these plans in the Due for Billing section of your Service Plans Dashboard when they are due.

  • Because of this, it is recommended that if you are not collecting for the full price of any given plan upfront that the customer should pay by credit card.

Can I accept more than one form of payment for Service Plans?

  • The payments table on the service plan details page will allow you to pay for individual service plan payments with different payment methods. Select the pay button on the invoice you wish to process to select credit card, cash, check or other.

  • Please note that once a credit card has been added to the service plan, the card will be saved on file and automatically charged for each service plan payment. At this time the credit card cannot be removed from the service plan.

What if we don't charge for plans in advance?

  • If you prefer to collect for Service Plan visits at the time of services rendered rather than through the Service Plans feature, you'll need to utilize $0 Service Plans. Through this model, you will need to create a plan that has no price, accept all plans on behalf of the customer, use the invoice generated by scheduling the service plan visit to charge the customer for said visit.

  • Note: When adding a $0 service plan to a customer they will get a confirmation of their new plan with your company.

I accidentally created a service plan visit as a regular job, what do I do?

  • Existing invoices can be linked to a Service Plan visit from the customer's profile. Go to the customer's profile > Click the downward-facing arrow to the right of the address the Service Plan is assigned to > Select the Service Plan in question > Scroll down to the Maintenance Schedule.

  • Hover over the visit that has occurred and click the edit pencil to the right. Next to the visit name select There is an invoice attached to this visit. From there you will be able to attach any invoice under this customer's profile.

I made an add-on a certain price, but when the plan saved it was few cents less. Why did this happen?

  • Because we have the ability to accept monthly/quarterly/bi-annual payments through Service Plans these fractions must be accounted for in add-ons as well. When the plan is saved, the system divides the add-on price by 12 and then re-adds it for the yearly total.

  • In order to achieve round numbers for add-on prices. the best practice is to choose a number that is divisible by 12.

Do my customers get an invoice/receipt every time they make a payment or need to make a payment?

  • Customers will receive an email receipt each time an automatic payment is processed via credit card.

  • Invoices cannot be sent to customers proactively for them to pay online or be notified of an upcoming payment.

When a customer's plan is going to expire will they get a notification?

When I send a customer a service plan to accept, what do they see?

Can my technicians sell plans in the field?

If my plans end after a set duration, how do we renew a customer's plan?

I want to create Service Plans for my business, where do I start?

How do Service Plan payments appear in Quickbooks?

I am getting a Quickbooks error related to a Service Plan invoice, how can I resolve this?

A payment for a Service Plan has not pushed to Quickbooks, what do I do?

  • From the customer's Service Plan on their profile you can manually push invoices to Quickbooks Online. Go to the customer's profile > Click the downward facing arrow to the right of the address the Service Plan is assigned to > Select the Service Plan in question > Scroll down to the Billing Cycle.

  • If the RSA-# is in black, the invoice has not yet pushed to Quickbooks Online. Click 'Push to Quickbooks'. When the invoice has pushed over the RSA-# will appear in blue.

I have customers who have already paid for their plan, but I want to add it to their customer profile in Housecall Pro, is that possible?

  • Yes. For customers who have an active Service Plan with your company, a plan can be added to their customer profile to reflect their current status. Go to the customer's profile > Click '+ Service Plan' > Make the start date the past date at which it began > If any of the visits have already occurred they can be marked as completed > Select 'Accept plan for customer' > Select 'My customer has already paid for this plan'

I'm trying to merge two customers, but I'm getting an error that says one of them has a Service Plan. Why can't I complete this action?

  • If a customer has ever had a Service Plan attached to their profile (active, expired, cancelled, deleted, etc.) their profile cannot be merged with another after that.

  • Customer profiles are unable to be merged due to the ability to attach a card on file with a service plan. Even if the plan is deleted, the card will still remain tied to the account, and we aren’t able to move that to a new customer profile for security reasons.

How do I see all of my recurring service plans?

  • You will be able to see a new report titled 'Service Plans' on your dashboard. This will show you a quick breakdown of the different types of plans you have and how many agreements are currently active and how many are set to expire soon.

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