Handle the billing month. Reach the subscribers who fall behind.
Your Chatterbox® opens through a secure link or QR code, with phone and SMS added in your Pilot. It answers account queries, takes statement requests and holds the payment-reminder conversation for organisations with subscribers on recurring billing.
- Runs on your website, terms of service and procedures first. No billing data needed for the Preview.
- Sits alongside your billing system, dialler and SMS gateway. Nothing replaced, nothing to install.
- Subscribers reach you, you reach subscribers, and your team sees one record.
Moments every billing month brings back.
None of these are rare. They arrive on a cycle. Because they repeat, the knowledge needed to answer them is finite, small enough to approve, and mostly already in your terms, your billing system and your exports.
Accounts age past due, and a small team tries to phone them.
“They answer the phones too. Next month’s bill lands before they get through the list.”
Your Chatterbox® runs the follow-up by voice and Conversational SMS, and records what each subscriber said, so your credit controllers start with the exceptions.
Statement day fills the queue.
“The queue is full before nine and the first hour is nothing but statements. People hang up before we reach them.”
With your billing export loaded, your Chatterbox answers balance and due-date questions on the secure link and records statement requests for your team, so the queue is left for the exceptions.
A batch of debit orders bounced.
“Pay day passes before anyone reaches them. By the time we do, the money is gone.”
From the returns list you export (the debit orders your bank sent back), your Chatterbox reaches them by call or text on the dates you choose. On a spoken call, a new payment date is recorded as a promise to pay.
The billing question arrives in isiZulu.
“A subscriber asks a critical billing question in isiZulu. The conversation breaks down.”
In the customer-service interface, subscribers write in any of South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages and speak in English, isiZulu or Afrikaans. Your team still receives a structured English record.
The SMS reminder was sent.
“The gateway says delivered. Nobody knows who replied, who promised to pay and who disputed.”
Your Chatterbox shows your team what each reply meant: a payment claim, a promise to pay or a dispute. Not a delivery count. Your Pilot proves SMS replies on your own base.
The call rings out after closing.
“The office has closed. The subscriber does not phone back, and nobody knows they called.”
Your Chatterbox answers after hours, takes the need and records it for the morning, so the subscriber who called after closing is not the subscriber you lose.
Different moments, one cause. Your billing cycle creates the same contact every month, and the same contact is handled by hand every month. That is not a problem to solve one call at a time.
When a subscriber reaches you, the answer comes in their language, including after hours.
When a subscriber contacts you, something matters to them right now: a statement, a debit order they do not recognise, a service that has stopped, or a question about coverage or hours. It is the moment they judge your organisation. It is also where subscribers are lost: the call nobody takes, the queue they abandon, the phone that rings out.
Statement day
With a billing export loaded in a Pilot, your Chatterbox® answers balance and due-date questions on the secure link, from your latest figures, and records statement requests for your team.
Payment claims
When a subscriber says they have already paid, it records the payment claim for your team. Payment stays on your existing channels.
Debit order questions
It explains pro-rata charges (a part-month amount when a package changes mid-cycle) and debit order dates from your approved terms and billing data, before the subscriber disputes the debit at the bank.
Moves, cancellations and upgrades
It gathers the complete request, confirms the account, and hands a structured task to operations. Nothing is lost in an inbox.
General questions
It answers coverage, hours, packages, outages and how-to questions the same way every time, from approved knowledge.
After hours and full queues
It answers when your team cannot, including after hours. When the queue is full, it takes the message and records the need, the importance and the next step, so the contact is not lost.
Suppose a subscriber, having confirmed their account number, changed their package mid-month, and a billing export is loaded during a Pilot.
“Where is my statement, and why is my debit order higher this month?”
“Your package changed part-way through the month, so this month’s debit order includes a pro-rata charge. I have logged your statement request for the accounts team.”
- Reference
- 2731 9053, shown to the subscriber
- Need
- Statement copy and a debit order query
- Already answered
- Pro-rata charge explained from billing data
- Next step
- Accounts team to send the statement
- Status
- Awaiting your team
Your team starts with the question and the context. The subscriber does not explain it twice.
When you reach a subscriber, it is a conversation, not a broadcast.
Late-paying subscribers are a cash-flow problem before they are a customer-service problem. Each cycle, a new group falls behind: too many for a small team to reach, too few to justify an operation of their own. A reminder earns its place only by being short, accurate and useful when the subscriber replies. Your Chatterbox® treats each one as the start of a conversation.
Know what each subscriber said, not only whether the message was delivered. One conversation, out and back.
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01
The reminder goes out
Drawn from the age analysis you export (who owes what, and for how long). A call or a text, within permitted contact hours. Replying STOP ends reminders on every channel.
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02
The reply is understood
“I paid” becomes a payment claim and “I cannot pay” an arrangement need. On a spoken call, a date becomes a promise to pay and a dispute puts the account on hold during the call. Your Pilot proves SMS replies on your own base.
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03
Recorded for your team
Each outcome is recorded for your team: payment claim, promise to pay, dispute, person request or opt-out. Call transcripts are kept with each account.
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04
Handed to your team
When a subscriber needs a person, or asks for one, the request is recorded for your credit team, with the transcript and what each reply meant attached.
- “I have already paid” Payment claim recorded for your team.
- “I can pay next week” Promise to pay, with the date.
- “I cannot pay this month” Arrangement needed. Handed to your team.
- “You have overcharged me” Dispute. Account on hold during the call.
- “I want to speak to someone” Person request recorded, with context for your team.
- “Stop” Reminders end on every channel.
Follow one call round, run in a Pilot, from the list you load to the work your team receives. One call reaches a subscriber who says they have already paid.
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Load your age analysis
See what goes out, and what does not.
Your age analysis The spreadsheet you export- Account
- Status
- Payment method
- Phone
- Days overdue
240accounts loaded
- 150 Selected for this call round
- 90 Excluded, each with its reason 12 of these are for a person to review
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You approve what goes out
Each completed call is recorded with its outcome.
This call round150accounts
Approved by your team
Calls go out within permitted contact hours.
Five of the 150 calls- Account AAnswered
- Account BAnswered
- Account CVoicemail reached
- Account DBusy
- Account ENo answer
The call to Account B is followed in the next scene.
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The right person first
Each reply becomes one next step for your team.
Account holder confirmed
Subscriber“I have already paid. Why are you calling?”
Your Chatterbox®“Thank you. I have recorded your payment claim, for our accounts team to check.”
Team record · what your team sees- Reference
- 6402 7182
- Need
- Payment claim on an overdue account
- Already answered
- Payment claim recorded for your team
- Next step
- Your team checks the payment against your bank statement
- Status
- Awaiting your team
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Handed to your team
A colleague takes the work, with the reply and the next step attached.
Team record · what your team sees- Reference
- 6402 7182
- Need
- Payment claim on an overdue account
- Already answered
- Payment claim recorded for your team
- Next step
- Your team checks the payment against your bank statement
- Status
- Awaiting your team
Owner A colleague on your accounts team Set by a person on your team.The work is recorded. It is done when your team has checked the payment.
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Review the round
What was reached, what was said, and what waits on your team.
150 callsWhat subscribers said- 38 Promised to pay, with a date
- 14 Say they have paid Payment claims, for your team to check
Payments confirmedAwaiting your team’s check
A payment claim is not a confirmed payment. Your team checks it against your bank statement.
- Subscriber
- Your Chatterbox®
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One record
- Reference
- Need
- Next step
- Your team
What the Preview shows. What the Pilot proves.
The Preview runs on your website, terms and procedures. It answers the questions your terms can answer, on the secure link and QR code, and can go Live there. Balances from your billing export, calls and Conversational SMS on your numbers, and the reminders are proven in a Pilot, on a small group first. Nothing reaches a subscriber until you say so.
We do not promise a recovery percentage or a days-sales-outstanding figure (how long, on average, accounts take to be paid). Your Pilot measures that on your own book.
Fit comes from how your billing cycle works. Not from how big you are.
Structure qualifies an organisation, not size. The question is not turnover, headcount or subscriber count. It is whether each billing cycle leaves work a small team cannot finish before the next.
Likely a strong fit when
- A fixed billing date, many small balances, and a service you can suspend when one is unpaid.
- Accounts still overdue after retries: subscribers who pay by cash, EFT or card, bounced debit orders that need a conversation, or both.
- A small team that works the age analysis and also answers the phone.
- Mobile numbers on file, and subscribers who reply or call back.
- Statement, balance and debit-order questions arrive every month.
Probably not a fit when
- Contact does not repeat monthly: project work, consultancies, one-off sales.
- No billing export or age analysis can be shared, and the job you want is reminders or balance answers. A knowledge and request-capture job does not need one.
- The overdue accounts are few and large, or retries clear almost every one.
- You need your billing system changed or integrated before you will evaluate anything.
- Live spoken languages beyond English, isiZulu and Afrikaans are essential from day one.
Organisations like these
- Internet service providers
- Armed response and alarm monitoring
- Funeral cover, short-term insurance and medical scheme administrators
- Vehicle tracking and telematics
- Property managers, body corporates and estate offices
- Gyms and clubs on monthly contracts
- Independent schools and colleges with monthly fees
- Retail credit, rental and account-servicing books
We would rather be ruled out early than become the wrong system for your organisation.
Common questions from organisations with subscribers
Does the Preview need our billing data?
No. The Preview runs on your website, terms of service, billing policies and procedures. It shows whether a Chatterbox® can understand and use your knowledge. If a question is outside that knowledge, it says so and records the request rather than guessing. Billing data comes later, for a Pilot, and only if you choose to go that far.
What does a Pilot need from us?
Your age analysis or billing export, as a spreadsheet or CSV file you export on a regular cycle. Your Chatterbox® does not connect to your billing or accounting system, and nothing is installed or changed there. Telephony access if you want live calls on your numbers. Your handover rules: who takes disputes, who takes arrangements, and when. Those three things set the timeline, and we tell you how long before you commit to anything.
What happens when a subscriber disputes a charge or complains about the service?
On a spoken call, the account is put on hold during the call. On the secure link, a dispute or a service fault places a hold on reminders while your team looks into it. The conversation is handed to your team with the transcript and what each reply meant attached. A subscriber withholding payment over a fault is not treated like a deliberate defaulter.
Bring your billing month.
Start a private Preview with your website, terms of service and billing policies. Ask it what your subscribers ask you on statement day. Your team tests it before any subscriber sees it.
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01
Provide your knowledge
Your public website, terms of service, billing FAQ and procedures.
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02
Open your private Preview
Your knowledge, your rules, visible only to your evaluation team.
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03
Ask the statement-day questions
When does my debit order run? What is a pro-rata charge? I have already paid, what happens now? If it handles them from your terms, we talk about your data feed. If not, you stop.