A Guide to Avoiding Billing Scams at Your Repair Store

45

Have you ever felt that your money is disappearing into thin air and you have no way to stop it?

You, my friend, are not alone.

Running a repair business is no easy task. As a repair shop owner, you are responsible for overseeing repairs, managing employees, and sorting through the mind-numbing inventory, all while handling billing and invoicing, aka the financial nightmare. You are bound to make errors when there is a lot of work to be done. However, making an already challenging task more tumultuous is like inviting unwanted trouble. 

We see repair businesses that, unfortunately, still use traditional manual logs to manage their finances. While there is nothing wrong with sticking to what brings you comfort, despite being tiresome, it is high time to consider the broader picture of what is best for the business by opting for a systemized billing and invoicing software.

Let me tell you why it’s important and how your business could silently suffer because humans are not very sincere when it comes to money. 

Prevalence of Invoice Frauds

As I mentioned, insincerity is common when it comes to finances, and manually managing them just makes it easier to commit fraud, which in turn is detrimental to your business. On average, out of a total of 13 attempts at invoice fraud annually, nearly 9 of them are successful, affecting over 44% of companies. 

Even big companies like Amazon reported over $19 million in losses due to manipulated payments. That’s really alarming!

Why Is Your Repair Shop at Risk?

Repair shops are often overwhelmed with work on a day-to-day basis. A typical day involves managing repairs, checking inventory, overseeing employees, and handling billing and invoicing. It is also necessary for your store to have a transparent charging system so that each customer is aware of what they are being charged for. It’s crucial to develop trust. However, doing it manually is prone to errors, which can cause mistrust. With so much on the plate for every single day, the chances for errors and being scammed increase exponentially. 

If a sound system is employed, more than half of the work that requires no manual labor can be completed with just a few clicks. Having inventory, repair tickets, and payments all sorted and accessible in a single system is the most effective solution to ensure that no losses or fraud occur due to poor management. 

Common Types of Billing Scams

There are several ways that scams occur. They may sound like they are easily preventable, but they are like a leech that keeps on sucking, causing irreparable damage. 

Fake invoices

Often, fake invoices are generated. In this scenario, fraudsters send invoices that appear to be legitimate. Due to a lack of verification on the owner’s side, payments are made, only to discover that the vendor or the job they paid for doesn’t exist. Around 71% of the companies reported to have been affected by invoice fraud. This issue is particularly prevalent in smaller businesses that have limited insight due to weak approval systems. Forbes reported that 

In such cases, repair shop owners receive bills for spare parts; however, as stable methods of verification are lacking, the money is paid. This is where it gets worse. The vendor doesn’t exist. Who did you pay? A ghost, probably.

Vendor impersonation

Hackers have become overly cunning and intelligent. In some cases, it is even possible for them to impersonate the vendor and hack into their system to send you bills. You unknowingly sent the payment to their account instead of the actual vendor from whom you took services. This is also one of the most common types of billing and invoicing-related fraud. 

Duplicate invoicing

Now, this may be challenging to pull off if the person you are trying to scam is Superman with laser vision and a sharp memory, but there are cases where multiple payments are made across a single bill. The only changes in the scamming invoices are minimal, typically involving a slight alteration of spelling, name, or ID. If you have employees in your shop, it’s very common that some of them alter the price by a few dollars and pocket your hard-earned money. 

If this is so easy to do, what do we do then?

We choose wisely and trust software that guarantees us transparency and maximum security, like RepairDesk. 

Keep Your Hard-Earned Money Secure with RepairDesk 

Of course, several softwares claim to be the best; however, RepairDesk offers a coherent, concise, and user-friendly billing and invoicing system that covers all the bases, providing you with peace of mind.

Custom PINs for the safety of your Repair Store

As a repair business owner, you have complete authority and freedom to create custom PINs to authorize your payments. Furthermore, you can also develop PINs on sections that you do not wish for others to access. That way, the transactions can be closely monitored, leaving little to no room for error.

Centralised invoice history

Through the RepairDesk POS system, every order taken, every payment made, and every pending payment is accessible with just a few clicks. Not even a simple transaction, such as attaching a screw to the most expensive part, goes unrecorded in the system. Having such a keen eye on them keeps you up-to-date with your sales, revenue, and finances. 

Integration of tickets and payments 

Whenever a new ticket is generated, it automatically calculates the price, advanced payment, and the remaining payment associated with the ticket. You can print it out to hand over to the customer immediately and also flag it so that you know if any payment is due. Furthermore, RepairDesk integrates with several platforms, making the process convenient for the customers but also easy for you to manage. So convenient, right? 

Imagine if you had to deal with all of this manually. Yikes, now that’s scary!

Terms, conditions, and taxes

To avoid miscommunication, it is important for you to be clear about your store’s policies. It is also integral to building trust. RepairDesk takes convenience one step further by allowing you to add terms and conditions to each payment. Furthermore, if your store is based in the US, taxes are automatically calculated according to your state, so you never have to worry about forgetting taxes or making errors in your payments.

Recorded check-ins and check-outs by employees

Each employee is required to check in and check out at the beginning and end of each shift. This makes keeping tabs on them much easier, which is almost impossible with manual entry. 

Accurate data reports and analytics

With RepairDesk, it is very easy to see well-articulated reports of your payments. This allows you to track any unnecessary activities and check for anomalies if any occur. Having this feature is not only a perfect security feature but also an excellent way to track the progress of your business. 

Payments through several modes

RepairDesk allows you to make payments through RepairDesk payments, PayPal, and Stripe, giving customers the option to choose their preferred payment method. Additionally, it is a unique way to track payments across different platforms as well. 

E-signatures

To ensure maximum security, RepairDesk allows you to obtain digital signatures from customers. Such a step is a guaranteed way to prevent scams, invoice doubling, and any other mischievous tasks. Having such freedom and authority keeps your doubts and concerns at bay, allowing you to focus on growing your business instead of worrying about it. 

See Why RepairDesk is better than Manual Billing Tools

	RepairDesk	Manual Billing
PIN security	Yes	No. Any random person can manipulate it
Real-time Invoice History	Yes. From the moment the repair ticket is generated to the payment, everything is entered by the software at the same time	No. At the time, the job is the priority, not the details, which can lead to details being missed
Link of tickets/Invoice	Yes, the integration makes sure none of the payments are left	No, these are two separate things often leading to mismanagement.
Fraud risk	Little to none	Extremely high
E signs	Yes	No, however, manual signatures can get mixed up depending on how many steps are there to get the job done
Access to the repair shop	Only to those with permissions	Any person can access it because it has no safety precautions

Be Vigilant; Spot the Red Flags

As a repair business owner, you should be very careful with your business. Despite your tight schedule, you must keep a close eye on your business, particularly on billing and invoicing. If you notice anything suspicious, immediately investigate it, and doing so is a piece of cake using software.

Final Thoughts

Your business is precious, and nobody should be allowed to damage it and take away even a cent from your hard work. Therefore, choosing methods and solutions that are guaranteed to prevent such issues should be your top priority. If you can’t decide who to choose, do your research, ask the customers, take that hard step, and enjoy the joy it brings you!