Service plans paid by bank debit: the mandate

Overview

Asking for automatic collection is a request; holding a live mandate is a capability. The plan page keeps them apart: Automatic payment asked for, but the client hasn't agreed yet, The client agreed but hasn't saved a payment method yet, The saved payment method was removed — invoices are being sent instead, or Charging … automatically. The client authorised this on …. Until the last one is true, every visit is invoiced with a pay link.

How the client authorises

1. On the plan's page, press Ask the client to authorise payments. The screen confirms: “Sent to jane@example.com. They'll see the amount and the schedule before agreeing to anything.”
2. The client opens the link — a page in the plan's language, headed “Authorise automatic payments — Spring & Fall gutter clean” — reads the terms, ticks I have read the above and I authorise these payments, and presses Agree and continue. Nothing is charged that day.
3. Stripe's secure page collects the card or the bank account. For pre-authorized debit, Stripe shows its own PAD agreement and emails the client a copy.
4. A bank account may need verifying: the client sees “Your bank details were received but still need to be verified… in a day or two.” Once the bank confirms, the plan page switches to Charging … automatically.

If the client ticked the box and then abandoned the card form, the plan says The client agreed but hasn't saved a payment method yet and keeps invoicing. Send the authorisation link again re-sends the same request.

What the terms say

Stripe requires a merchant charging off-session to state, and keep a record of, four things: that a series of payments will be initiated, their timing and frequency, how the amount is determined, and the cancellation policy. FieldQuo's page states them in plain sentences, built from the plan itself, and the exact text is snapshotted with the client's acceptance — improving the wording later cannot rewrite what an existing client agreed to.

• You authorise the company to take a series of payments from the payment method you save on the next screen, without being asked again each time.
• The first payment is taken on the first-visit date, and then every three months (or the plan's cadence).
• Each payment is the plan's amount, tax included where a tax rate is stated. That amount is fixed and cannot be changed while the arrangement runs.
• How it ends: a number of payments in total, no payments after a date, or no end date — payments continue until either side ends it.
• The client can end it at any time by contacting the company, at the phone and email on file. No payment is taken after cancellation.
• Every payment raises an invoice the client can see in their client account.

The debit itself

On each visit date the plan raises the invoice and charges the saved method under the mandate, without the client present. A card settles at once: the occurrence is Paid and the client receives the invoice framed as a receipt, from your company, not a Stripe receipt from a name they do not know. A bank debit takes about five business days to clear, so the occurrence sits at Payment in progress — the invoice is not marked paid against money that has not moved — and Stripe sends the client the debit notice the mandate requires. When it clears, Paid and the receipt; if it comes back, Payment failed and the invoice with a pay link.

What stops it

• Remove the saved payment method on the plan page: the authorisation is withdrawn in FieldQuo first, then the method is detached at Stripe. The plan keeps running and invoices each visit instead.
• Cancel plan: nothing further is billed, and the method is detached the same way. If Stripe does not confirm the detachment, the screen says so and asks you to check the client's record in Stripe.
• The client asking you to stop: the terms tell them to contact you, and you cancel. Nothing at Stripe can bill on its own — no subscription is created there — so a cancelled plan cannot leave a live biller behind.
• A declined charge or a bank asking for authentication the absent client cannot give: that occurrence is invoiced with a pay link and the mandate stays for the next one.

Who can do this

Sending the authorisation request and removing a saved method both need View, create, and edit on Invoices plus the Payments switch — a Manager, an administrator or the owner. Someone who could not set a mandate up cannot tear one down either.

Why this is listed under Only in FieldQuo

On FieldQuo's own comparison pages a capability counts as “only in FieldQuo” when it is not listed on the other product's pricing page at any tier. Collecting a recurring plan by Canadian pre-authorized debit, with the mandate wording recorded against the client's acceptance, is not listed by any of the five products FieldQuo compares itself with; recurring plans themselves appear on one of those pricing pages (Housecall Pro's top tier).

Frequently asked questions