HVACBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Letting HVAC Customers Update Their Card From the Customer App

There is an old routine in a lot of HVAC offices: a customer calls with a new card, the office person grabs a pen, writes the number on a sticky note, repeats it back, types it in, and then the sticky note sits on the desk for a week. Every step of that is slow, and some of it is risky. Letting customers update their own card fixes it.

The Problem With Taking Cards Over the Phone

The steps for handling a failed charge are laid out in Declined Cards in HVAC Billing: What Happens and What to Do Next. The fix in almost every case is a new card, and how that card gets into your system matters.

Taking card numbers over the phone has real downsides:

• Mistakes. One wrong digit and the next charge declines too.
• Paper. Numbers end up on notes, notepads and the back of invoices.
• Time. A two-minute call for something the customer could do in thirty seconds.
• Phone tag. The customer calls while the office is on another line, and the update waits.

How It Works in the Customer App

HVACBossPro includes a customer app your customers open on their phone. Along with the live route map on service day, service requests, maintenance plan sign-ups, ratings and referrals, it is where they handle billing:

• See their invoices.
• Pay an open invoice online.
• Add a card on file if they do not have one.
• Update the card when it expires or gets replaced.

When a customer updates their card, the next charge, whether at completion or on a schedule, uses the new one. The office does not have to touch it.

Telling Customers Where to Go

The feature only helps if customers know it is there. Mention it at every natural moment:

• At sign-up. “You can update your card any time in the app.”
• After the first visit. The tech can say it when the job is done.
• After a decline. A short text through two-way texting: “Your card on file didn't go through. You can update it in our app.”
• When they call with a new card. “The quickest way is the app, and that way your number never gets read over the phone.”

Some customers will still want help. The office can walk them through the app on the phone while the customer types the number themselves.

Why Customers Like It

Customers are used to updating cards on their own for streaming services, phone bills and online stores. Doing it for their heating and air company feels normal. It also feels safer than reading a card number to a stranger.

For landlords and property managers, it means one place to manage the card that pays for every address they own. For a busy homeowner, it means fixing a problem at 10pm instead of calling the office during work hours.

Keeping Numbers Off Paper and Out of Notes

Make it a company rule: no card numbers on paper, in job notes, in texts or in emails. If a customer texts a card number anyway, do not use it from the text. Reply asking them to enter it in the app, and delete the message if your phone allows.

This protects the customer, and it protects your company. A sticky note with a card number on it is a liability. A card the customer entered in the app is not something your office ever handles directly.

Tie It to Maintenance Plans

Maintenance plan customers are the ones most likely to have a card expire between visits, since their tune-ups come six months or a year apart. When the plan visit comes due on the Waiting List, it is worth a quick check. If you charge plan fees on a schedule, an expired card is the most likely reason a charge fails. A seasonal reminder to keep the card current in the app saves a round of declines. The guide on Billing HVAC Maintenance Plan Visits: Per Visit, Up Front or Monthly covers plan billing, and Online Payment From the Customer App: How HVAC Customers Pay on Their Phone covers paying invoices in the app.

Let Customers Handle Their Own Card

The fastest, safest way to keep cards current is to let the customer do it. Point them to the app at every chance, keep numbers off paper, and let the next charge pick up the new card. For every billing feature and guide in this series, see the HVACBossPro HVAC invoicing software page.