Stupid Business Tricks: “Receipts” vs. “Invoices”
Today, I received a shipment from a company from whom I had rented a (gasp) dirty video. The shipment included a piece of paper on which the transaction details are recorded. This, by itself, is entirely reasonable. So, what's the stupid business trick?
- The piece of paper says “invoice” across the top. This is a stupid thing to call a piece of paper you are sending to a retail customer, since it implies a demand for payment, even though it's already been paid. (Back before we had our own order management software, the less-than-wonderful software we were using called these things invoices, and you couldn't change it. We got lots of freaked-out customer calls.) What's so wrong with “receipt”?
- The invoice doesn't include any information about payments that have been applied, really making it look like a demand for payment.
So, what have we learned today?
- Don't call things “invoices” in prepaid retail transactions.
- Always show payments that have been applied to an order, and make it clear that no balance is due (if that really is the case).
posted 12:09