What PoolBoss Says
Credit the visit only when the miss was yours and you didn't make it up. If the customer locked the gate or left a dog out, bill as normal and offer a make-up visit when you have room. Write the rule into your service agreement so you aren't arguing it one customer at a time.
A customer texts you on the 3rd. The gate was locked twice last month, your tech skipped both stops, and now she wants two visits taken off the bill. You were there both times. You've got the photos. She still feels like she paid for something she didn't get.
You'll get that text again, so settle it once. Below is a rule for who pays based on what caused the miss, the right dollar amount for one visit on a flat monthly bill, why a make-up visit beats money back, and the few lines to put in your agreement.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- Credit a missed visit only when you caused the miss and the pool never got a make-up.
- On a flat monthly bill, one visit is worth the yearly price divided by 52.
- Have the tech pick a reason for every skip at the stop, because the reason decides who pays.
Should I credit a customer for a missed pool service visit?
Credit it when two things are both true. You caused the miss, and the pool never got serviced that week. If either one is false, don't credit.
So ask two questions every time. Who caused it? Did the pool still get its visit, that day or a later one? A sick tech with nobody to cover is on you. A locked gate is on the customer. A make-up visit two days later means nothing was missed.
This post picks up after the stop is already lost. For the two minutes at the property, see what to do at a gate you can't get through.
| What caused the miss | Whose miss | What the customer gets | What you bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locked gate or blocked pad | The customer's | A make-up visit if you have room | The normal amount |
| Pet loose in the yard | The customer's | A make-up visit if you have room | The normal amount |
| Customer asked you to skip | The customer's | Nothing owed | Flat monthly: the normal amount. Per visit: nothing for that visit |
| Tech out sick, nobody covered | Yours | A make-up visit, or a credit if you can't fit one | The normal amount, minus any credit |
| Ran out of time on the route | Yours | A make-up visit, or a credit if you can't fit one | The normal amount, minus any credit |
| Truck broke down | Yours | A make-up visit, or a credit if you can't fit one | The normal amount, minus any credit |
| Storm or lightning | Nobody's | A make-up visit if the pool needs one | The normal amount, if your agreement says so |
| Holiday you take off | Yours, by choice | A make-up that week, unless the agreement lists the day off | The normal amount |
The reason on the skip decides who pays
You can't run this rule from memory. Three weeks later, nobody remembers why a stop got skipped. If the record only says skipped, you'll hand over the credit to end the argument.
So the tech picks a reason at the stop, every time. In PoolBoss a skip won't save without one. The choices are locked gate, pet in yard, customer request, ran out of time, and other. Other needs a typed note.
The first three are the customer's. Ran out of time is yours. It has its own button so it never gets filed under something else. File a short day as a locked gate and you've billed a customer for your own miss.
PoolBoss also emails the customer when a stop is skipped. The email gives the reason and any note the tech typed beside it. It goes out as long as your customer emails are on, you have their email, and they haven't turned those emails off. So the customer hears why that same day. The bill at the end of the month isn't the first they hear of it.
Good route software makes recording why a stop was skipped a required step. The reason is what you bill from.
One visit is worth your yearly price divided by 52
Most operators credit a missed visit at the monthly price divided by four. We think that number is wrong. A flat monthly price buys a year of weekly service, paid in 12 equal bills. It doesn't buy four visits.
Count the Tuesdays in 2027. Eight months have four of them. March, June, August, and November have five. You do the fifth visit and the bill doesn't go up. So one visit is worth the yearly price divided by 52.
Among 150 companies that post a starting monthly price for weekly service, the median is $150, per The Pool Count. At $150 a month the year is $1,800. Divide by 52 and one visit is $34.62. Divide the month by four and you get $37.50. That's $2.88 too much every time you credit a visit.
Some years a weekday comes around 53 times. Friday does in 2027. Use 52 anyway. It's close, and you can do it on your phone.
The math only matters on a flat monthly bill. If you bill per visit, a visit that didn't happen never goes on the bill.
By default, PoolBoss builds recurring invoices as drafts for you to review. A per-visit customer's draft comes from the visits that were completed. A flat monthly customer's draft is the set price, so a credit is a change you make to that draft before you send it. Nothing comes off the bill on its own.
| Monthly price | Month divided by 4 | Year divided by 52 | Gap per visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| $120 | $30.00 | $27.69 | $2.31 |
| $150 | $37.50 | $34.62 | $2.88 |
| $180 | $45.00 | $41.54 | $3.46 |
| $200 | $50.00 | $46.15 | $3.85 |
Offer the make-up visit first
When the miss is yours, offer a make-up visit before you offer money. At $150 a month, a credit hands back $34.62 and the pool still sits two weeks between visits. A make-up costs you one stop and the water stays on schedule.
The pool doesn't care whose fault it was. Take a 15,000-gallon pool that has dropped to 0.5 ppm free chlorine. The PoolBoss dosing engine puts it at 32 fl oz of 12.5% liquid chlorine to get back to 2.5 ppm. That's before you brush or look at the filter. Skip the make-up and you pay for the catch-up at the next visit.
Put a limit on it. A make-up happens within the same week, on a day you're already near that pool. If you can't fit it by then, give the credit and move on. A make-up you promise and never run is a second missed visit.
For a customer's miss, a make-up is a favor. Offer it when you're in the area and the pool needs it. Don't promise it.
Holidays hit your Monday customers hardest
Decide holidays once, in January, and tell customers ahead of time. A holiday is a miss you can see coming, so a surprise is on you.
They don't fall evenly. Of the 11 federal holidays on the 2027 schedule, 6 are observed on a Monday, 3 on a Friday, and 2 on a Thursday. None land on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.
Say you take all 11 off and don't make any up. A Monday customer gets 46 visits that year. A Tuesday customer gets 52 at the same price. At $150 a month, the Monday customer comes up $207.69 short.
You've got three ways to fix that. Work the small holidays and take off the big ones. Slide the holiday week by a day, so Monday's pools get done Tuesday. Or list the days you take off in the agreement, by name, so the price already counts them.
Put the rule in the agreement before it happens
Four short lines end most of these arguments. Write them in plain words and have your own attorney look them over. This isn't legal advice, and the rules for service contracts differ by state.
Your agreement is where this rule lives. A missed-visit line is the clause that settles it in advance. Send the change to the customers you already have. A rule they've never seen won't help you when the text comes in.
- Access. The customer leaves the gate open and keeps pets put away on service day. A visit you can't do for that reason bills as normal.
- Your misses. If you miss a visit for your own reasons, you make it up within the same week or credit it on the next bill.
- The credit amount. One visit is the yearly price divided by 52.
- Weather and holidays. The days you take off are listed by name. Visits lost to unsafe weather bill as normal, and you make up the pools that need it.
When one account keeps missing
Three customer-caused misses in one season is a pattern. By then the credit isn't the question. The question is whether the account pays for the stops you waste on it.
Hypothetical example: a $150 a month account locks you out 3 times between June and August. You bill all three, because the agreement says so. You've still driven to that house 3 times for nothing, and the water has gone 3 weeks without you.
Fix it in this order. Check the gate code and access notes on file, because a wrong code on your side is your miss. Move the pool to a day the customer is home. Then raise the price or let the account go.
Count your own side too. If one tech has a pile of ran-out-of-time skips, the route is too long for the day. Credit those customers, then shorten the route.
Sources
- Federal Holidays, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- When a Safe Building or Vehicle is Nearby, National Weather Service
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Should I still bill for a rained-out visit?
Yes, bill it as normal, as long as your agreement says weather days bill at the full rate. Nobody caused the storm, and a flat monthly price covers a year of service. What you owe the customer is a straight answer and a make-up for the pools that need one. A pool that was clear and balanced last week can wait for its next visit. A pool that was already low on chlorine can't. Don't send a tech out in lightning to save a visit. The National Weather Service says to wait 30 minutes after the last thunder before you go back outside. Tell customers that same day which pools you'll get back to and when.
What if my technician was sick and nobody covered the route?
That miss is yours, so every pool on that route gets a make-up visit or a credit. Try the make-up first. Split the sick tech's stops across the next two or three days, and start with the pools that had low chlorine or heavy use last week. Tell every customer on the route that morning, before they wonder where you were. For any pool you can't reach by the end of the week, put a credit on the next bill for one visit, figured as the yearly price divided by 52. Don't wait to be asked. A credit the customer finds on the bill builds more trust than one they had to fight for. Then fix the cause. One sick day shouldn't empty a route, so decide now who covers which stops next time.
Keep reading
- What to do when you can't get to a pool for service
- Two techs on one truck or two trucks: which finishes more pools?
- How to split a pool route when you add a second tech
- How to run a pool route through storm season
- How to hand off a pool route when a technician quits
- How to dispatch pool service jobs efficiently
- More pool service routes guides
