Thanks for bringing this to my attention.One reason customers get so upset about bills is that they have a built-in mistrust of companies, from small mom-and-pop companies to corporate giants. Well, especially corporate giants. Most people believe businesses will and—worse—are ripping them off, barring a 50 percent off sale. So when billing problems spring up, they launch into defensive mode. As a result, your first step will be to win their trust.You rip them off? Mother Teresa is more likely to rip them off. Then go through the objective and indisputable reasons why the situation is the way it is. Was your company to blame? No problem. Were the customers at fault? Let them know ways to avoid the problem in the future.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Let’s see how I can help you figure this out.
Why don’t we take a look at your bill and see what’s going on.
My job is to help you.
We can sort this out.
I’ll be happy to help you. Why don’t you tell me what’s happening.
I’m sure we can figure this out.
Don’t worry, we’ll find a solution.
If this is the amount you owe, we have plenty of payment options. If not, we’ll take care of it right away.
Don’t worry, we’ll do what’s fair, believe me.
Let’s look at this together.
Just let me know what you think the problem is, and we’ll sort this out.
Quick tip: Speak softly and engage customers as much as possible. They need to feel that they are involved and that the process is transparent.
Our billing is regulated by …
If you look at your policy, you can see exactly how we bill.
Our ads indicated that the sale was good only for …
As you can see in your contract …
The terms and agreements section of your contract states that …
The contract is a legal agreement, so we need to abide by that. If we billed you the wrong amount, we will definitely correct it.
We do not determine our prices—they’re based on a regulated standard.
Let’s calculate how the billing department arrived at that amount.
The amount of interest that you pay was established when you signed the contract—it’s a legal matter.
You can get details about our billing policy by going on our Web site … or I can tell you them now.
Blaming them: You didn’t return our calls.
Being neutral: We didn’t hear from anyone even though we left messages with our phone number.
Blaming your company: Our company is really bad at getting bills out.
Being neutral: Things like this happen.
Blaming them: You didn’t send the bill in on time.
Being neutral: We didn’t receive the bill until October 10—11 days past the due date.
Blaming your company: The bill was filed incorrectly
Being neutral: The numbers in the file were not correct.
(bad news) Even though your bill is two weeks late, (good news) we haven’t sent it to a collection agency yet.
Here are more phrases using this strategy:
Although we can’t accept your checks, we can take a credit card.
You must pay 10 percent in interest, but we can reduce the total since you’re willing to pay in cash.
Your payment was three weeks late, but if you pay it today, I won’t add interest.
Since you paid an old bill, I won’t charge you interest on the delay in your paying the new one.
If you want to learn more about our collections procedures, please go to our Web site at … or call me at …
You can find a Q&A that will address all your questions on our Web site …
Please see our Web site to learn more about our policy on late payments.
Go to our Web site for clear and complete information about our collections policies.
You can learn more about how to pay electronically—and avoid overdo payments—by going to our Web site at …
The Web site has a great Q&A that outlines the best way to get your payments in on time and avoid paying interest.
Do not say: You’re wrong about this. You must pay the amount on your bill. Sorry.
Do say: Let’s take a look at your bill and see whether it’s correct.
Do not say: We couldn’t have been wrong. We haven’t sent an incorrect bill in the 20 years I’ve been here.
Do say: Well, we usually don’t bill incorrectly; in fact, we haven’t been wrong in the 20 years I’ve been here. But let me look to make sure.
Or use these perfect phrases:
Why don’t you show me exactly what you think the problem is.
Our billing department is usually on target with bills. But, who knows. Let’s look.
I can see this situation is complex. Let’s figure out what’s going on.
If this amount is incorrect, then I definitely want to fix it.
Let’s make sure this is correct. We don’t want you to pay more than you should.
I can see that you …
A few issues may be confusing you: The rates increased in November, and …
Well, this part looks correct because … Now let’s look at …
What plan are you under?
When did you purchase this product?
Do you happen to have your sales slip?
Let me look up your account on the computer and see what’s really going on.
Let’s look at your payment history closely.
We accidentally credited your payment to someone with your name.
Oh—I see what happened.
Thank you for bringing in your receipts. These helped clarify the situation.
What happened was …
Because your billing history is so complex, we accidentally …
The reason this happened was …
There are ambiguities in … so we …
Apologize, but don’t overapologize:
Sorry about the mistake.
Sorry about this problem. I’m happy we could clear it up.
Thanks for letting me know, and I’m sorry this caused you trouble.
Accept my apologies. We rarely make mistakes on billing.
Assure them that the problem won’t happen again and give the evidence of why:
Now that … this shouldn’t happen again.
We have changed your information in the system so you should be all set.
I’ll make sure that you are assigned to our veteran financial experts, since your situation is complex.
The policies rarely change, so this shouldn’t come up again.
Because … happened, you were billed incorrectly. But that’s an anomaly, so you should be all set.
We are going to follow up with your … to make sure it’s all set.
Quick tip: Let customers know that you are glad for the chance to catch the problem.
Because you were two weeks late …
The interest had accrued …
Once we send your account to a collections agency, there’s nothing we can do.
According to your contract, which is a legally binding agreement, …
You have a two-week window, but we did not receive the check until …
According to our records, we sent you a reminder on …
Negative: You didn’t pay the bill on time.
Positive: You needed to pay the bill on time.
Negative: You didn’t sign the agreement form.
Positive: You had to have signed the agreement form.
Negative: You didn’t get it in until early November.
Positive: We needed to receive it by September 20, but it arrived in early November.
Negative: We cannot open your account because you haven’t paid the back amount.
Positive: We can open your account once you pay the back amount.
Negative: You have a history of waiting until the middle of the month to send your bills.
Positive: Be sure to get your bills out on the first—not in the middle—of the month.
If you have any questions, call me at this extension.
Make sure that you fill out the change of address form—that will help a lot.
If you pay online, we can credit the payment three, even four days faster.
If you pay on the same day every month, you won’t forget to pay the bill.
Why don’t you use the payment form—it will be a lot faster.
We can e-mail you an acknowledgment, if that will help you feel comfortable.