ServiceCore empowers you with the ability to have credit memos automatically created for customers whose rental is picked up before their billing cycle ends, reducing the number of manual tasks in your day.
You can always manually calculate the prorated credit amount and create the memo within ServiceCore yourself, but with automatic credit memos you can save yourself the time and let ServiceCore do the calculation and creation for you.
With automatic credit memos, you’ll be able to set up criteria for when a credit is created and review the information before deciding to apply or void the credit.
Before You Start
Here are some things you should know before you continue:
- To see if you have access to this feature in ServiceCore, please check out this article on user permission levels.
- Credit memos are tied to customers and services (line items). Services must be added to your account before they can be added to a credit memo.
- Credit memos can only be applied to an invoice one at a time.
- Automatic credit memos are turned off by default so you'll need to turn on this feature in your account's Settings.
- Automatic credit memos don't apply to flat rental rates, but can be used with daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly rental rates.
- Automatic credit memos are primarily used for rentals billed in advance, not in arrears.
Turn On Automated Credit Memos
The first step to using automated credit memos is to turn on the setting in your ServiceCore account. To do that, just follow the below instructions:
- Click on your name in the top right corner.
- Click into "Settings" from the drop-down menu that appears.
- Click into "Preferences" under the Company section.
- Click to expand the Rentals section.
- Scroll down to the 'Should pro-rated Credit Memos be generated for inventory returned early?' section.
- Click on the "Yes. When inventory from an Advance-billing rental is returned early:" option.
- Click "Save" at the bottom.
Please Note: When you enable automated credit memos, your existing recurring invoice templates will not be automatically deleted when inventory from an advance-billed rental is returned early. You must remove the rental's recurring invoice(s) manually so ServiceCore doesn't continue to generate them for a rental that's ended early.
After you select the "Yes" option, you'll see two additional settings appear that you can use to further customize the automation.
You can adjust the number of days at any time, just keep in mind that any rentals that haven't been picked up yet will be credited according to the new number you add, not the original number.
Please Note: The first field only accepts numeric values between 1 and 27 because it assumes a 28-day billing cycle. The second field accepts numeric values between 1 and 365.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These FAQs address common questions and quick clarifications to help you use this feature with confidence.
What Is Needed For A Credit Memo To Auto-Create?
In order for ServiceCore to automatically create a credit memo, the below list of criteria must be met:
- A rental exists and the Delivery job is marked Complete.
- The associated recurring invoice template must have a rental rate that isn't a flat rate amount (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly).
- An invoice exists and uses in-advance billing (not arrears) with a 28-day billing cycle.
- The Pick-Up job is marked Complete before the rental's billing cycle is complete.
TIP: A Pick-Up job can be for all units onsite or just a few; both will trigger the automatic creation of a credit memo.
When Is A Credit Memo Auto-Created?
ServiceCore automatically creates credit memos when the Pick-Up job for a rental is marked Complete before the rental's billing cycle is finished.
Where Can I Find An Auto-Created Credit Memo? / How Can I Tell It's Working?
There are two places where automatically created credit memos will appear in your ServiceCore account:
- In the main Accounting section under the Credit Memos tab.
- In the Accounting section of a customer's profile under their Credit Memos tab.
You'll see the Source column display an 'Auto-Generated' label instead of 'Manual' for credit memos automatically created by ServiceCore. New credit memos will also display a status of 'Unapplied'.
What Information Does An Auto-Created Credit Memo Contain?
An automatically created credit memo will contain all of the information normally displayed on a manually created credit memo in addition to the below items:
- Service Address
- Rental ID
- Message stating “Prorated credit from early pick-up on job [Job ID number]”
Will Surcharges Be Added To An Auto-Created Credit Memo By Default?
No, surcharges aren't automatically included in credit memos, regardless of whether they were created by yourself manually or by ServiceCore automatically.
You can manually add it as a line item under the Services section of the credit memo after it's auto-created.
How Do I Manage/Apply An Auto-Created Credit Memo?
At the bottom of each automatically created credit memo, there are buttons that will allow you to apply, edit, print, email, and void the credit memo you're looking at.
The workflow when using any of those buttons is the exact same as applying, editing, printing, emailing, or voiding manually created credit memos outside of refunds.
Do Auto-Created Credit Memos Auto-Apply To Invoices?
No, credit memos automatically generated by ServiceCore will not automatically apply to any invoice.
If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@servicecore.com!