Real problems operators run into with quotes and invoices, what causes each
one, and how to fix it. For anything billing-cycle related, start at
Settings → Finance → Billing Health: it lists invoices and rate cards
that will bill wrong, with what to do for each. See Billing Health.
Invoices
The invoice shows the wrong service period. How do I fix it?
First check where the period came from: the invoice's Source line in its
detail view.
fills in the most recent *closed* cycle for customers billed in arrears and
shows This period hasn't ended yet when the end date is in the future.
Invoices made before that default existed may carry the cycle that was in
progress at the time.
Editing an invoice doesn't change its service period. For a hand-typed draft,
delete it and create it again with the right dates. For a sent invoice, void
it and create a new one. For a rate-card customer's past cycle, use Bill an
earlier period… on the customer's Sites → Rate Card tab (⋯ menu)
instead of typing dates.
The invoice says Rate Card, but I never set up a rate card for this. Why?
Only invoices the billing engine cuts from a rate card say Rate Card. A
hand-typed invoice says Manual, even when it used the customer's default
cycle. If an older invoice reads oddly, check the customer's Sites → Rate
Card tab: no rows there means no rate card ever billed them.
The customer says they never got the invoice email. What do I check?
and Bounced means the address was wrong or blocked. Check who is set to
get billing email for the customer; see Billing Recipients
and Email Recipients. The company email
on the customer record can be switched off for billing, and a contact with
no email can't receive anything.
through a connected mailbox never reach PortaPro. They arrive in that inbox
as a "Delivery Status Notification". Look there.
reject branded invoice emails with "550 High probability of spam" while
your hand-typed email to the same person gets through. Turn on Plain
email delivery under Edit Customer → Billing. Their invoices and receipts
then go as plain text with the PDF still attached.
The invoice reads Partial but nothing is owed. Why?
A rounding remainder of a fraction of a cent can leave a fully paid invoice
marked Partial (most often a check paid at the cash price). Billing Health
lists these as Invoice marked Partial that has actually been paid in
full. Nothing is owed, so don't send a reminder; contact PortaPro Support
and it will be corrected to Paid.
I need to change an invoice I already sent. Why can't I edit it?
An issued invoice is never edited in place. Edit Invoice creates a
revision with a new version number (for example INV-000247.1), voids the
original, and carries its payments across. The revision is a draft until you
send it, and the customer still holds the old version until then. See
Revising an Issued Invoice. A draft that was never
sent just edits normally.
I sent an invoice from the wizard, the send failed, and now there's a draft. What happened?
The wizard saves the invoice first, then sends it. If the send fails, the
invoice stays as a numbered draft and the error shows on the Send step.
Pressing Send Invoice again retries the same invoice. If you closed the
wizard, open the draft from the Invoices list and send it from there.
The customer has account credit but the invoice still shows the full amount. Why?
Credit on file is applied when the invoice is sent (or resent) while it is a
Draft, Open or Partial. An invoice saved with Save Invoice and never sent
hasn't had credit applied yet. Send it, or apply credit by hand with Apply
Credit. Credit paid by card pays the card price; see
Why can't I add more than one line for this customer in the invoice wizard?
For a customer with no service locations, the Add Item button only shows
while the invoice is empty. Add a site to the customer first; the wizard then
shows a card per site with Add item to <site>.
Invoice numbers are skipping. Is something wrong?
numbers went up by two (001498, 001500, 001502 and so on). That no longer
happens.
invoices (cycle drafts, a quote's Create Invoice, or a wizard send that
failed). Deleting a draft doesn't give its number back, so a deleted draft
leaves a gap.
Wizard drafts (saved with Save Draft) have no number at all, so they
never cause a gap.
Why are there two cycle drafts for the same customer and period?
Billing Health flags this as Two rate-card invoices cover the same customer
and period. Open both, delete the duplicate draft (or void it if it was
already sent) and keep the one that matches the rate card.
Deleting a cycle draft doesn't stop the period from being billed: the next
run can draft it again. To leave a period unbilled on purpose, use Skip a
billing period on the customer's Sites → Rate Card tab (⋯ menu) or on
that row in the cycle draft review. See Cycle Close & Invoicing.
A payment the customer made online isn't showing on the invoice. What do I do?
Refresh the invoice first. A bank transfer shows ACH Pending for 1 to 5
business days before it counts as paid. A card payment PortaPro missed is
picked up by an automatic check that runs every 30 minutes. Don't record it
again as a cash or check payment, or it will be counted twice when the real
payment posts. See Collecting Payments.
There's an "Incomplete" payment on the invoice. Was the customer charged?
No. An Incomplete payment is a payment page that was opened and closed
without paying. It never counts toward the balance, totals or receipts.
Quotes
"Create Invoice" or "Convert to Job" fails on a quote with options. Why?
A Good / Better / Best quote carries every option until one is chosen. Until
then PortaPro refuses to invoice it or turn it into jobs, so it can't bill
all the options at once. Choose the option the customer agreed to (or let
them pick it on the quote page), then try again. See
Why is there no "Create Invoice" on this quote?
Either it is a recurring quote (those bill through the rate card after
you activate the service, so they never get an invoice from the quote), or an
invoice already exists for it.
The customer accepted the quote online, but no jobs were created. Why?
It depends on the quote and your settings:
start service by default, because the quoted start date is only an
estimate. Open the quote and click Activate Service to confirm the real
billing start date. To activate automatically, turn on Activate service
automatically when a customer accepts under Settings → Finance → Quotes.
See From Quote to Service Plan.
be paid before the jobs are booked. They are created when the deposit
invoice is paid. You can also Waive Deposit. See
accepted is set to Wait for the office to convert manually, acceptance
only records the signature. Use Convert to Job and Create Invoice
yourself.