It's hard to call customer - 'your hosting/domain has expired, please make payment as soon as possible'

Do you have any proper [notification email/ reminder email] that we can share?

Its not hard at all. ;)

------------------------------

Customer Name [ Client ID xxxx ]

This is a notice that invoice 2006 in the amount of
$29.97 is PAST DUE. If your account has been suspended,
please contact us once you have made payment to have it reactivated. Please
remit payment immediately to avoid account termination.

You can review the details of this invoice and remit payment at:

https://xxxxx.xxxxx.xxx

If you need help with this, or have any questions, please contact us at:
http://xxxxx.xxxxxx.xxx

Thank you!

AxisHOST.com, Inc.
Serving the web since 1997

------------------------------------------------------

Feel free to use it.

--Tina

Thank you so much :-)

When can we send this notification?
a week? a month? after expiry date or before?
Could you give me the time frame..

We give people 10 days after being invoiced to pay up. Some folks as little as 3, some as much as 30 or even longer.

ok let say today is expiry date. [17/11/06]

[03/11/06 - 16/11/06] - Invoice sent
After expiry date - last reminder sent

When can we suspend their site?
and when can we terminate it?

It's really dependant on WHO your customer is. If they are a larger business, you want to leave a little more "slack" in your suspension times. If they are personal websites, you might consider suspending them sooner. Assuming you have those options, it might look something like:

Business Accounts:
-Payment Due: Net 30
-Past Due Notice: 45 Days
-Suspended Services: 60 days
-Removed Account: 90 days

Personal Websites:
-Payment Due: Net 15
-Past Due Notice: 30 days
-Suspended Services: 45 days
-Removed Account: 60 days

For us, 95% of the customers who are past due, didn't receive the invoice because of outdated contact info or someone left the office etc. They respond very quickly when services are suspended.

Hope this helps!

It might also depend on what your TOS says. Generally speaking, I dont think there is a industry standard.

It's really dependant on WHO your customer is. If they are a larger business, you want to leave a little more "slack" in your suspension times. If they are personal websites, you might consider suspending them sooner. Assuming you have those options, it might look something like:

Business Accounts:
-Payment Due: Net 30
-Past Due Notice: 45 Days
-Suspended Services: 60 days
-Removed Account: 90 days

Personal Websites:
-Payment Due: Net 15
-Past Due Notice: 30 days
-Suspended Services: 45 days
-Removed Account: 60 days

For us, 95% of the customers who are past due, didn't receive the invoice because of outdated contact info or someone left the office etc. They respond very quickly when services are suspended.

Hope this helps!
Thank you for your post, inet7. I really appreciate it.
I agree with you that most of the customers didn't update their contact info/email.

What is the solution for this situation. Did you call them. Is There a Polite Way to Ask them for outstanding balance?

Anyone please help !

Well, most customers respond immediately when they are suspended. During that time, we talk on the phone>Make payment arrangements>update their contact info. Most customers understand when you say "The system shut you down because your account was past due, lets get your information updated and then post a payment for the balance so it turns you back on". They are more than willing to pay at that time.

In the event users do NOT respond, then yes...we call them before the sites are deleted. By this time, our billing system has sent them numerous notifications via email and US Postal mail with the status of their account. Those "notifications" have different language in them based on the severity of their past due date.

Can we delete/terminate their account without notify them?

Some cases where IT person who in charge domain/hosting acc leave his/her company. Then domain become expired and some of the domains in redemption period. How to explain to director/chairman [non IT person] in proper way. Most of them refuse to pay more [redemption period - normally more than 100usd].

anyone pls help !

Most "non IT" people will understand that if the information was incorrectly registered (to a non exec employee) that it was the cause for the expiration. If you talk to them "carefully enough" and don't blame them for the problem, I've found that they are more than willing to pay the extra fee to get the domain out of redemption.

Good luck!

Is There a Polite Way to Ask them for outstanding balance?
What's there to be polite about when customers don't pay on time? If you invoice them 7 days in advance and send a reminder invoice the day before they are due, they have no excuse to be late. My overdue notices go something to the effect of "Your account is now suspended. Pay up or get a late fee tacked on. If you go too long, the collections agency gets involved." (Of course more professionally written and slightly more polite -- after all I do want my money :) -- but that is the idea)

What's there to be polite about when customers don't pay on time? If you invoice them 7 days in advance and send a reminder invoice the day before they are due, they have no excuse to be late. My overdue notices go something to the effect of "Your account is now suspended. Pay up or get a late fee tacked on. If you go too long, the collections agency gets involved." (Of course more professionally written and slightly more polite -- after all I do want my money :) -- but that is the idea)

we are afraid to lose the customer :-(

Most "non IT" people will understand that if the information was incorrectly registered (to a non exec employee) that it was the cause for the expiration. If you talk to them "carefully enough" and don't blame them for the problem, I've found that they are more than willing to pay the extra fee to get the domain out of redemption.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your posts!
Wish you good luck too :-)