Work with collection cases

Overview

The Collections Agent works on your unpaid invoices for you: it contacts customers, answers their replies and records promises to pay. You stay in control the whole time. You can see everything the agent did and why, step in on any case and hand it back when you are done. This article shows what you can use the Collections Agent for and how to work with collection cases. If something doesn't go as expected, see Troubleshoot the Collections Agent.

What you can do with the Collections Agent

Recover failed payments without manual follow-up

When a card or direct debit payment fails, the agent opens a case and contacts the customer according to the reminder rhythm in your guidance. It explains what went wrong, sends the customer's personal payment link and keeps following up until the invoice is paid. When the invoice is settled, the case closes automatically and the reminders stop.

Example: A customer's card has expired, so the monthly subscription payment fails. The agent writes a friendly email with a payment link. The customer pays with a new card the same day, and the case closes without anyone on your team being involved.

Answer routine questions automatically

Many replies to payment reminders are simple questions. The agent handles them directly, based on the verified invoice and payment data:

• It sends an invoice copy when a customer asks for it.

• It sends your payment instructions when a customer asks how to pay.

• It checks the payment status when a customer says they have already paid, and only confirms the payment if it can see it.

• It answers questions about the amount, the invoice number or the due date.

Accept promises to pay within your limits

When a customer asks for a little more time, the agent can record a promise to pay and pause reminders until that date. Your policy decides how far in the future a promise can be and how many promises a customer can make on one case. If a promised date passes without payment, the agent follows up again.

Example: A customer replies: "I get paid on the 25th, can I pay then?" The date is within your Maximum promise-to-pay days, so the agent confirms the date and doesn't send further reminders until then.

Keep sensitive and high-value cases with your team

Not every case should be handled automatically. The agent hands a case to your team when:

• the outstanding amount is above your Human review threshold,

• the customer disputes the invoice, asks for a payment plan or mentions a difficult personal situation,

• the customer asks to speak to a person,

• a promise to pay is outside your policy limits,

• the agent is unsure what to do.

You can also use your guidance to name further situations, such as complaints or business customers asking about contract terms.

Review cases before the agent contacts anyone

If you switch on Create new cases as pending in your policy, new cases wait until someone on your team hands them over to the agent. This is useful when you start using the Collections Agent and want to see which cases it would work on, or when you want to check certain customers before they are contacted.

Step in on any case

You can take over a case at any time, write to the customer yourself from the Conversations tab and hand the case back to the agent when you are done. The agent sees your note and continues from there.

Understand and explain every step

Every email, decision and action is recorded on the case. If a customer or a colleague asks why they received a certain email, you can see what the agent knew at that moment, what it decided and why.

Improve the agent over time

Your policy and guidance are versioned. When you notice that the tone or timing doesn't fit your customers, adjust the guidance.

Find your way around a collection case

All cases are listed under Collections in the navigation bar. Click on a case to open it. Each case has the following tabs:

Act on a case

Take over a case

Take over a case when you want to handle it yourself. While you own the case, the agent doesn't contact the customer.

1. Click on Collections in the navigation bar.

2. Open the case.

3. Click on Take over.

The case is now assigned to you, and the timeline shows that you took it over.

Write to the customer

1. Take over the case, if you haven't already.

2. Open the Conversations tab.

3. Write your email and send it.

The email appears in the conversation history and on the timeline. Emails you write yourself don't include the AI disclosure text, because they are not written by the agent.

Hand a case back to the agent

When you have done what was needed, return the case to the agent so it can continue.

1. Open the case.

2. Click on Hand back to agent.

3. Enter a note for the agent. The agent reads it in its next round, so explain what happened and what it should do next, for example: "Customer confirmed by phone that they will pay by bank transfer this week. Send one friendly reminder on Friday if the payment hasn't arrived."

4. Optional: Choose a date and time from which the agent should continue. If you leave it empty, the agent continues immediately.

5. Confirm.

Release a case

Release a case when you have taken it over but someone else on your team should handle it. The case goes back to the unassigned queue and stays with your team, not with the agent.

1. Open the case.

2. Click on Release.

3. Choose a reason, for example

   1. Picked up in error,

   2. Needs someone else,

   3. Blocked pending info or

   4. End of shift.

   5. If you choose Other, enter a note.

4. Confirm.

Hand over a pending case

If you use Create new cases as pending, new cases wait for you.

1. Click on Collections and open a case with the status Pending.

2. Check the invoice and the customer.

3. Hand the case over to the agent, or take it over yourself if you want to handle it personally.

Ask the agent to review a case now

The agent reviews each case at a time it plans itself, for example a few days after the last reminder. If something has changed and you don't want to wait, click on Re-evaluate now on the case. The agent reviews the case immediately, while still following your policy, for example the minimum time between contacts.

Change the status or priority of a case

Change the status of a case when the agent shouldn't work on it anymore or when you want to close it yourself. You can also change the priority of a case, for example when it needs more attention.

1. Open the case.

2. Click on Change status.

3. Choose what you want to do:

   • Suppress automation: The agent stops working on the case and doesn't contact the customer anymore.

   • Close case: The case is closed. Choose a close reason, for example Recovered, Invoice cancelled, Written off, Disputed, Sent to agency, Resolved offline or Duplicate.

   • Change priority: Set the priority to Low, Medium or High. The status of the case doesn't change.

4. Optional: Enter a note that explains the change, for example "Customer disputes the invoice. Our legal team handles it."

5. Confirm.

The case shows the new status or priority, and the change appears on the timeline.

Send an invoice to the Collections Agent manually

Cases are usually created automatically when a payment fails. Under Connectors → Billing, you can also browse the invoices from your Frisbii billing system and send a specific invoice to the Collections Agent yourself, for example when an invoice has no case yet.

1. Click on Connectors in the navigation bar and open Billing. The invoice list opens.

2. Find the invoice. The list works like the invoice list under Payments → Invoices in Frisbii: you can use the same filters, choose which columns to show and sort by created or settled date.

3. Click on the invoice to open its details.

4. Click on Send to Collections Agent.

A message tells you whether a new case was created or an existing case for this invoice was updated. Click on the link in the message to open the case.

Get the most out of the Collections Agent

• Start carefully. In your first weeks, switch on Create new cases as pending and set a low Human review threshold. Hand cases over one by one and check the emails the agent writes. Once you trust the results, switch pending mode off and raise the threshold.

• Read the Decisions tab regularly. It shows you how the agent interprets your guidance. If you often disagree with a decision, your guidance probably needs to be more specific.

• Be specific in your guidance. Instead of "be polite", describe what the first, second and final reminder should sound like, and list the situations you want to handle yourself.

• Always set default payment instructions. Customers pay faster when every email contains a direct payment link.

• Leave a useful note when you hand a case back. The agent only knows what happened outside the email conversation, such as a phone call, if you tell it in the note.

• Apply important changes to open cases too. When you correct something in your policy or guidance, choose New and open cases so that cases already in progress also benefit.

• Keep an eye on the notification bell. Cases that wait for a person don't move forward until someone acts on them.