Automated Complimentary Service

There are four ways to delivery complimentary service. These are listed below from most desirable to least desirable.

Note: Regardless of the technique chosen, if the customer is an Account in BillMax and is to never receive an Invoice or a Billing Statement, make sure to de-select all Account Automated Billing Methods.

Discounting

Give complimentary Service by using Discounts. Discounts may be given by either specifying a percentage discount or a discount amount. In addition, an expiration date for the Discounts may be entered.

The effect of specifying a discount is that both a Sale and a Store Credit are booked to the Account. This enables tracking the amount of complimentary service.

The discount may be specified on the following Customer Management Entities:

Account
1. Percentage based only.
2. Applies to every billing entered for the Account.
User
1. Percentage based only.
2. Applies to every automated billing entered for the Packages and Services associated with the User.
Package
1. Percentage based or Amount based.
2. Applies to automated billings for the Package.
3. Does not apply to Services or Fees associated with the Package
Service
1. Percentage based or Amount based.
2. Applies to automated billings for the Service.
3. Does not apply to the Fees associated with the Service.

Zero Dollar Pricing

When setting up a Package or a Service, the pricing may be set to $0.00. However, if fees are being assessed they will continue to be assessed.

Zero dollar sales are entered in the customer's financial record. Whether they are displayed to the customer or not is controlled by the Package or Service Definition setup. Packages and Services that are setup with any pricing that deviates from the Package or Service Definition will show up in the Billing Exceptions report.

The disadvantage to using Zero Dollar Pricing is there is no record of the financial amount of complimentary service.

Free Pricing

When setting up a Package or a Service, the Package or Service may be marked as Free. This may be useful when allowing a customer to "try before buying".

The disadvantage to using Free Pricing is that there is no financial record of the package or service.

Provision Services outside of BillMax

This last method is not recommended but may be desirable under special circumstances. Provisioning services outside of BillMax means that there is no record in BillMax of the services. This business practice can lead to missed billings and fraud without a thorough audit procedure in place. Exception lists will have to be maintained.