No signal? Send a payment link instead
By the end of this article you’ll know what the payment screen does without a connection, why, and how to get a customer paid up when their card can’t be charged from the phone.
Why a card charge needs a connection
Most of what you do on the phone is saved on the device and sent later. A card charge is the one thing that isn’t, on purpose. If the app saved a charge and replayed it when the signal came back, a replay that ran twice would take the customer’s money twice — and with no connection the app can’t tell a charge that failed from one that went through. So a charge either happens now, while you’re online, or not at all.
That’s why, with no signal, the payment screen replaces the card half with No connection and the line Charging a card needs a connection and is never queued offline. You can still record cash or a check below — it will sync when you’re back online. The Collect button isn’t disabled — it’s gone, so there’s nothing to tap that could look like it worked.
What you can still do offline
- Record cash or a check. The Cash or check panel works with no signal, and the record syncs later. See Record cash or a check.
- Build the invoice. Lines and discounts save on the phone and go out when you reconnect. See The invoice for a job.
- Come back to the charge. When the connection returns, the card half of the screen returns with it.
Emailing a payment link also needs a connection. Tap it offline and the app says You’re offline. Reconnect to send the payment link. — nothing is sent later on its own.
Send a payment link
A payment link is an email to the customer with a Pay now button for the invoice’s balance. They pay by card on their own phone, wherever they are, and the payment lands on the invoice by itself. It’s the way to take a card when the phone can’t — no signal now, or no card on file for the job.
- Get back to a connection.
- On the job, tap Email payment link. It sits under Collect Payment. On the payment screen it’s also offered the moment the app reports that no card is on file for the job.
- The app confirms Payment link emailed to followed by the customer’s address. That’s it — you don’t need to stay on the screen.
If the job has no invoice, the app says This job has no invoice yet, so there is nothing to send a payment link for. Create the invoice first. If it says Couldn’t send the payment link. Please try again., try once more; if it keeps failing, ask the office to send one from the invoice.
Good to know
- The customer needs an email address on file. There’s no text-message version of the link.
- The link asks for the balance as it stands when the customer opens it — record a cash payment in between and it asks for what’s left.
- A link is good for two days. After that the office can resend it, and so can you from the list of unpaid invoices — see See who still owes you.
- The office sees every link on the invoice, with whether it was paid. See Send a payment link.