WindowBossPro Blog — Tech App

Charging the Card on File When the Window Cleaning Tech Taps Complete

For a lot of window cleaning companies, getting paid is a separate job from cleaning windows. The tech finishes, drives off, and sometime later somebody in the office writes up invoices, mails or emails them, and waits. Some customers pay that week. Some pay next month. Some need three reminders. WindowBossPro closes that gap by tying the invoice, and the payment, to the tap that ends the job.

Complete Does More Than Mark the Job Done

The arrival side of the visit was covered in The Arrived Text: Letting the Homeowner Know the Window Cleaner Is Here. This guide is about the other end of it.

When the tech taps Complete, three things happen. The office sees the job done with its photos and notes. The invoice is created from the job, with its line items and sales tax. And if the customer has a card on file and the account is set to charge on completion, the card is charged. By the time the van is backing out of the driveway, the job can be paid.

The tech does not handle the card, see the card number or ask for payment at the door. The charge happens from the office side, using the card the customer already gave you.

Getting Cards on File in the First Place

A card-on-file charge only works if the card is on file. There are two main ways that happens in WindowBossPro:

• Online sign-up. Your website sign-up form captures the card when the customer signs up, and the sign-up converts into a client with one click.
• The customer app. Existing customers can add or update their card themselves.

For recurring residential customers on quarterly or twice-a-year plans, a card on file is the difference between getting paid four times a year automatically and chasing four invoices a year by hand.

Charge on Completion or on a Schedule

Not every account works the same way. WindowBossPro supports auto-charging on completion or on a schedule. Charge on completion suits most homeowners: the job is done and the card is charged. A schedule can suit customers who prefer to be charged on a set day.

Customers without a card on file still get the invoice, and they can pay online from the customer app. Past-due follow-up handles the ones who forget.

Whatever the setup, the tech's side does not change. They tap Complete the same way on every job, and the account settings in the office decide what happens to the payment.

Monthly Statements for Property Managers

Charging at every completion is wrong for some customers. A property manager with nine buildings does not want nine charges on nine different days. A business with three storefronts every two weeks does not want six invoices a month.

For those accounts, set the client to Monthly billing. The tech still taps Complete on each location as usual, and the office still sees each one done. But instead of separate charges, the customer gets one statement at the end of the month covering every location, with each line labeled with the address. That is much easier for a property manager to approve and much easier for your office to collect.

Why the Tech Should Not Tap Complete Early

Because Complete can trigger a charge, it matters that it is tapped only when the job is really done. A Complete tapped in the driveway before the back windows are finished, with the card charged is a recipe for an angry call if the tech then gets rained out.

The habit is simple: count the windows, check the sides and extras on the card, take the after photos, then tap Complete. If the job ended partway through, follow your company's rule for partial jobs and leave a clear note. The checklist side of this is in No More Missed Windows: Using the Window Count and Sides as the Tech's Checklist.

What About Extras Sold on Site?

If the homeowner asks for screens or tracks while the tech is there, the extra needs to be on the job before the invoice is created. The tech notes the request and lets the office know, and the office adds it as a line item. The next guide covers that handoff in detail: Upselling Screens and Tracks on Site: From the Tech's Note to a Line Item on the Invoice.

Paid Before the Next Driveway

Tying payment to completion takes the billing day out of the week. The office reviews instead of typing, customers with cards on file rarely need a past-due notice, and cash comes in as fast as the glass gets cleaned. For everything else on the tech's phone, see the WindowBossPro window cleaning app page.