Troubleshooting Transaction Payment Discrepancies

Sometimes customers may report that their payment status appears incorrect — for example, showing an amount as owing when it has already been paid. Below are common causes and how to resolve them.

Common Causes of Payment Discrepancies

1. Payments Made in Advance of Due Dates

If a customer pays a charge before its due date, the system may show a negative balance (credit) or display the charge as unpaid in certain summary views. The charge is correctly marked as paid in the Transactions section, but the summary box in the customer portal may not reflect this until the due date arrives. This is a display issue — you can reassure the customer that their payment is recorded and no further action is needed.

2. Discount Date Mismatch

If a discount is applied to a charge but dated in the future, the system will not account for it until that date. This can cause the balance to appear overdue, and automated overdue payment emails may be sent to the customer. To fix this, ensure discounts are dated when they are actually issued, not at a future date. If a discount has been incorrectly dated, contact the Sonas support team to update the date on the back end. You cannot change discount dates yourself from the front end — only the date description can be edited via the orange edit icon.

3. Manually Added Charges

A staff user may have added a charge that was forgotten about. Check the event's transaction breakdown and the Activities log to confirm all charges are expected. Use good note-keeping practices when adding manual charges so you can recall why they were created.

4. Payment Plan Configuration

If automated payment calculations appear incorrect (e.g., for last-minute bookings), check the payment plan settings under Company > Payment Plan to make sure they align with your terms and conditions. Update the payment plan if the generated schedule does not match expectations.

5. Unallocated Discounts After a Service or Item Change

If a charge is cancelled and creates a discount (e.g., a customer changes services), the discount and the new charge may both sit unallocated on the account. To resolve this, create a Proforma via Actions > + New Proforma, allocate both the discount(s) and the new charge to it. The proforma will show a zero balance. Then convert the proforma to an invoice by clicking the teal invoice icon — the invoice will be marked as paid and the discount will no longer appear unallocated.

How to Investigate a Discrepancy

1. Go to Event > Transactions to review all charges, payments, and their statuses.

• Regenerate the payment plan (without deposit) to recalculate the charges. See How to Change an Event's Payment Plan.
• Add a manual charge for the difference via Actions > +Charge in the Transactions section.

6. Customer Reported a Payment That Was Not Actually Made

A customer may accidentally report a bank transfer as paid via the portal when the funds have not actually been sent. This creates an invoice with a Pending Validation status. Check the event's Activities log to see if the customer reported the payment. If funds have not been received, confirm with the customer whether they clicked "paid" in error. If they did pay, wait for funds to arrive and click the Verify button. If they did not, contact Sonas support to cancel the reported payment.

7. Payment Showing as Pending With No Option to Verify

If a payment has been received but the invoice shows as Payment Pending with no verify button, it means the customer did not report the payment via the portal. In this case, you need to manually mark the invoice as paid using the same process as adding a payment to a charge. See How to Add Payments. If the payment has already synced to Xero, adding the payment in Sonas will not create a duplicate — it only updates Sonas to reflect the correct status.

How to Investigate a Discrepancy

1. Go to Event > Transactions to review all charges, payments, and their statuses.
2. Compare the total in the package section with the sum of individual charges in the transaction breakdown.
3. Check the Activities log for any recent changes to charges or discounts.
4. If the package total and the sum of charges don't match, a modification may have been made after the payment plan was generated. Either regenerate the payment plan or add a manual charge for the difference.

Payment Reminder Email Best Practices

Use a single, generic payment reminder email template rather than charge-specific ones (e.g., separate "50% due" and "final payment due" emails). A single reminder is sent X days before all charges regardless of the charge type, so having multiple charge-specific reminders can result in the wrong email being sent at the wrong time.

Checking Overdue Payments Across Events

To see which customers are overdue on payments:

1. Event List: Look at the status column — a red currency icon means overdue, amber means payment pending, and green means up to date.
2. Finances Section: Go to Finances, select the "Accounts" display mode, and filter by payment status "Overdue." This generates a report of all overdue accounts, which can be exported from the Actions menu.

Note: There is currently no automated notification for late payments. Use the methods above to monitor overdue accounts.

Tips for Avoiding Payment Discrepancies

• Date discounts when issued. Backdating or future-dating discounts can cause balance mismatches and trigger incorrect overdue payment emails.
• Use notes and check Activities. When adding manual charges, make notes so you can recall why they were created. The Activities log records all changes including who made them and when.
• Mark payments promptly. When your accounts team sees a payment has been received, they should mark it as paid in Sonas right away to prevent incorrect payment reminders from being sent to the customer.
• Use "Pay as Customer" only with Stripe. The "Pay as Customer" option is for processing credit card payments via Stripe. If Stripe is not set up for your venue, use the Add Payment button instead. Invoices will still be created and synced to your accounting software either way.

To see future payments due and forecast cashflow:

1. Transactions Mode: In the Finances section, switch to the Transactions display mode. Filter by type "Charge" and use the due date filter to define a time period (e.g., a specific month). This shows all charges due within that period. Export the list for further sorting and analysis.
2. Cash Flow Reports: Navigate to Reports and create or view a Cash Flow report. This provides a visual forecast of amounts due in a defined period. Cash Flow reports can be adjusted for overpaid or overdue accounts.
3. Filtering by Description: When looking for specific payment types (e.g., anniversary payments), export the Transactions list and sort by the description column in Excel to isolate the relevant charges. Charges associated with an invoice (INV) indicate they have been paid.

Note: There is currently no automated notification for late payments. Use the methods above to monitor overdue accounts.

Updated on: 26/06/2026