My main client's payment system crashed for 48 hours last week

It was a new invoicing platform they forced us to use, called PayFlow Pro. I had three invoices totaling $2,800 stuck in limbo. I had to email their finance person directly and send paper invoices via overnight mail to their office in Charlotte to get things moving. Has anyone else had to create a backup payment plan because a client's tech failed?

3 comments

3 Comments

paigen523mo ago

Honestly, my backup plan is basically just me refreshing the payment page every five minutes until I wear out my F5 key. I probably did overreact with the overnight mail, but when rent is due, my brain goes straight to panic mode. It's like my common sense takes a vacation. I'm trying to be more chill about tech glitches, but my wallet gets real loud about it.

reese_singh873mo ago

Hold up, you sent paper invoices overnight? That's a huge overreaction. Their system was only down for two days. Most businesses have a grace period for payments anyway. Maybe you just panicked because it was a new platform. Tech has hiccups, it's normal. They probably would have processed everything automatically once it came back online without you spending extra on couriers.

johnh822mo ago

What do you do when a client's payment portal just vanishes? I had that happen last year. My fix was to have a standing rule with my top three clients: if the online system fails, I immediately send a PDF invoice to a specific contact email they gave me for emergencies. It's in our contract now. This way, the paper trail starts right away without waiting for their tech to wake up. It saved me a huge headache last quarter when their new software rolled out and died for a week.