Customer Billing Guide

Use this as the operating process for Upstream+’s billing team.

1. Confirm the company is ready to bill

Open the company record in Upstream HQ and confirm:

• The customer organization is correct.
• The billing contact email and contact details are present.
• The company’s unique-well count is reasonable.
• The displayed expected monthly charge matches the intended well-based pricing.
• The company does not already have an active or pending Stripe subscription.

Do not start a second subscription if one is already listed. Escalate any “multiple subscriptions,” “mapping conflict,” or unavailable Stripe-status warning for review.

2. Select the billing arrangement

In the company’s billing settings, choose the applicable arrangement:

For new companies, Review Required is the safe default. It prevents accidental billing before the arrangement has been confirmed.

3. Complete the payment setup

For Auto-pay:

1. Open the company’s Billing Setup page.
2. Add the customer’s payment method.
3. Select it as the default payment method.
4. Confirm the billing contact and payment method are both present.
5. Review the expected monthly charge.

For Pay by Invoice:

1. Confirm the billing contact email is correct.
2. Confirm the arrangement is set to Pay by Invoice.
3. Review the expected monthly charge.
4. Start the invoice-based subscription.

The system uses Stripe’s configured pricing and the company’s well count. Billing is usage-based, so the team should verify the well count before starting or materially changing a subscription.

4. Start the subscription

Once the setup is correct:

1. Select Start Subscription.
2. Confirm the success message and subscription status.
3. For Auto-pay, verify that Stripe shows the payment method as the default.
4. For invoice billing, verify that the billing contact will receive Stripe invoices.
5. Confirm the subscription is active before treating the account as a normally billable import customer.

The application blocks billable data imports when it cannot verify an active subscription. That is intentional, it prevents service and billing from getting out of sync.

5. Monitor active customers

Use the Upstream HQ company list and Revenue Report to review:

• Billing arrangement
• Active, canceled, or cancellation-scheduled subscription status
• Unique-well count
• Expected monthly recurring price
• Actual paid invoice revenue
• Invoice history and upcoming invoice information

Set the Invoice Payment Alerts recipients in the Revenue Report. When Stripe marks an invoice paid, the designated team members receive the customer name, billing contact, amount paid, payment date, and links to the Stripe-hosted invoice/PDF.

6. Handle card expiry or a payment problem

If an Auto-pay customer’s card is expiring or a payment fails:

1. Contact the billing contact.
2. Have them provide or update the payment method.
3. Set the new card as the default payment method.
4. Confirm the subscription remains active or returns to good standing.
5. Confirm the subsequent Stripe invoice/payment outcome in invoice history.

Do not create a replacement subscription merely because the card changed.

7. Cancel service correctly

To stop service:

1. Open Billing Setup.
2. Select Cancel Subscription.
3. Confirm the scheduled end-of-period date.
4. Keep the customer active through the already-paid billing period.
5. Confirm final invoice status and cancellation after the end date.

This schedules cancellation at the end of the billing period, rather than shutting the customer off immediately.

8. Change Auto-pay to Pay by Invoice, or the reverse

Do not simply change the arrangement while the current Stripe subscription is active.

1. Schedule cancellation of the current subscription.
2. Wait until the existing billing period ends and the subscription is no longer active.
3. Change the billing arrangement.
4. Complete the required payment or invoice-contact setup.
5. Start exactly one new subscription.
6. Confirm the new arrangement and subscription status.

The new safeguard deliberately blocks arrangement changes during an active subscription to prevent double billing or mismatched Stripe configuration.