Andrews & Arnold Ltd
BRACKNELL
We have a sophisticated billing system which allows several customer options. Some of these may be selected when setting up an account. Some require you to contact our accounts department to change them.
Some services are provided on an ongoing basis. For these you are billed periodically, normally in advance on the first day of the period covered by the bill. We can insist on calendar monthly bills if we wish, but this would normally be if we are having problems with your payments being made on-time. We can invoice you several days before the period starts.
The following billing periods are available.
Note: Many services are provided on a non-refund basis. i.e. they have no termination notice period, but any period already invoiced must be paid. As such, the selection of billing period may effect the timing or cost of terminating your service, hence we recommend monthly billing.
In special cases we can offer weekly or bi-weekly billing if appropriate.
When a service starts or ends your bill may be for a partial period, e.g. 1.5 months, so as to align to the selected billing cycle. When working out how many months a period is, we work on whole days. Part days count as a whole day. For billing cycles based on calendar months, each day is considered as a part of its month - i.e. 1/28th or 1/29th of February. For billing based on weeks, each day or part is 1/7th of a weekly. For lunar billing, lunar months are considered 29 or 30 days based on full moon dates, and each day is 1/29th or 1/30th of its lunar cycle.
Note that broadband prepaid usage tariffs include a monthly usage allowance which applies per calendar month, even if billed on another cycle. When billed, the days covered by the bill for each calendar month have a correspnding portion of the monthly usage allowance applied based on the number of days in that month.
We have several credit terms options available, and can provide custom terms if required. Credit is not a right and provided at our discretion only. Credit may be withdrawn. All terms are based on the invoice date/time (tax point) as stated on the invoice (even if the invoice is in advance for future services). All terms define the date/time by which payment must actually arrive - either at our offices or in our bank account.
If you have requested Direct Debit before the invoice is issued, we automatically extend the terms to cover the time taken for Direct Debit to be set up.
Even if we offer credit terms, we may request that initial payment for new customers is in advance or sent before we provide equipment or enable services.
We are happy to provide a formal letter confirming your agreed credit terms if you wish. If you need different terms, please ask our accounts department. Business customers have to pay within terms to avoid statutory late payment penalties. For consumers we do charge interest on late payments.
We have several payment options.
If you are making a one-off purchases then we would expect payment as cheque with order or by card. We may require this for the initial invoice for a new customer even if setting up payment by other means.
We apply payments to your account with us, clearing the oldest invoices by due date. As such you do not have to send several separate payments for multiple invoices on the same account - one payment will be fine.
It is also very important that if you are not paying an invoice for some reason, and paying later invoices, that you let us know the dispute for the invoice you are not paying - otherwise your payment will clear that invoice and leave later ones unpaid.
Ongoing services will be shown on your periodic bill. The bill will normally have all of the services listed on the one invoice.
When ordering a service you normally have two options - purchase order number (P/O) and reference. If you specify a P/O then we will group all of the services which have the same P/O on the same invoice, and ensure services with a different P/O are not on the same invoice. Using different P/Os means one invoice for each P/O each period.
Where a reference is specified we will quote this on the individual line items on the invoice to help you identify the services we are supplying.
We normally operate on the basis that a customer has one account with us for all services. The P/O and reference options allow different sites to be billed on different invoices if required, but one account. If you have set up multiple accounts by mistake, please do contact our accounts department who can merge them in to one account for you.
However, some large customers operate different business units. We can set up multiple accounts for a customer in such cases. If you have multiple accounts you must make separate payments for each. If you are paying multiple accounts with one payment we will merge the accounts in to one.
Customers with end of following month billing will, by default, have batch billing. This means that we will try and ensure we only invoice you once each period. We will delay one-off charges until that bill (we may issue proforma invoices so you have details of these at the time). Many customers with complex payment systems find one bill per period useful. However, we cannot guarantee only one invoice per period. You can have this turned off on your account if you prefer. Customers with batch billing and longer than a monthly period (e.g. quarterly) can receive an interim monthly invoice if there are new services or additional charges due rather than these being delayed for more than a month. If you have selected different purchase orders for services they will result in multiple invoices as each invoice quotes only one purchase order reference.
For regular periodic bills, customers with end of following month billing are billed one day before the start of the period (i.e. the last day of the previous month for monthly/quarterly billing). This means payment is due within 28 to 31 days depending on the length of the following month.
Some customers on quarterly or annual billing with 30 day credit terms fail to pay within the 30 days. If customers persistently pay late in such cases we may change your account to split billing. This means your quarterly bill or annual bill will become 3 or 12 invoices - one for each month. They are issued on the same day with the same payment terms at the start of the period, and can be paid by one payment - so they are equivilant to once invoice for the quarter of year. Of course, if you would prefer your bills to be split by month like this we can set this up on any account.
Credit terms are there to allow you time to send us payment. They are not an interest free loan with every invoice. We understand that many companies have complex and time consuming processes for approving invoices and sending payment - hence allowing the time to pay.
If you are paying by Direct Debit, then the time taken to pay is down to us. It is how long it takes us to collect payment. We have a BACS run every day and so can collect payment within 2 working days (or 5 working days with the notice email sent for changed amounts). As such, we only need the invoices to have credit terms long enough to allow for us to collect payment.
As such it makes no sense to have Direct Debit and long payment terms like 30 days. That would only make sense if we were giving an interest free loan with every invoice!
Having said that - we would rather payment by Direct Debit. It is cheaper and more reliable than most other payment methods. So, we do allow Direct Debit and long credit terms to exist at the same time. This allows time for you to have invoices approved and signed off before the money is taken - and so time to query the invoice if you think there is a mistake. If there is a query, it is obviously better to correct this (e.g. credit note), and then take the right money, rather than have to send a refund later.
With Direct Debit and long terms we will take the payment soon enough for us to be able to try again within the terms if there is a problem. This normally means around 7 working days before the end of the payment terms. For end of month terms and 30 day billed on the 1st this is usually around the 20th to 22nd of the month.
We will send advance notice of each payment 5 working days before it leaves your account.
Business customers are normally billed showing the VAT exclusive amount for the goods/services, and then VAT added to the total at the end.
Consumers are normally billed showing the VAT inclusive amount for the goods/services and a total at the end. We show a summary of the NET and VAT at the end.
However, you can opt for either style of billing if you prefer. This can make a difference of pence in some cases.
Invoices are sent by email. They always include in the email a plain text version of the invoice, which is the formal invoice. We normally attach to the email a PDF version of the invoice with our full letterhead for printing.
You can opt to have the invoice in plain text only if you prefer, with no PDF attachment.
In either case, the plain text is electronically signed as required by European electronic invoicing directives. It is not encrypted.
The PDF invoice may have attached information as well - e.g. information relating to the invoice, or new services, or changes to terms, etc. The plain text states if there is such an attachment. If you are unable to open the PDF from the email then it is also available on-line. Ask our accounts department if you need any help.