Prepaid Accounts Billing

AST's CaptionSync is an automated system and as such all the billing is completed in an automated fashion to help keep our costs to you to an absolute minimum. In this article we answer some of the most common questions about Billing for Prepaid accounts.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
How does the Credits system work?
How do I know what my Prepaid balance is?
How do I add credits to my Prepaid Balance?
How can I pay my invoice with a credit card?
Can I pay for a pre-purchase via ACH or check (cheque)?
How long is my Prepaid balance good for?
Can I get a refund of my unused Prepaid balance?
Can I get notified if my Prepaid balance reaches a low amount?
Can I cancel an Invoice?

Prepaid Accounts Questions:

How does the Credits system work?

Instead of purchasing minutes for specific services, like Captioning or Transcription, you buy credits that can be used to request any of the services we provide. So there is one pool of credits available for all services. When you click the Prepaid Credits link, in the upper-right corner, you can see how many credits each service requires, or what services your current balance will get.

If you have enough credits for your needs, you can make the request(s) right away. If you need to add credits to the balance, you can then either purchase credits for a specific service or services; or purchase credits for additional services for existing submissions; or just purchase a certain amount of credits. If you purchase credits for services, you can then select the priority required, and/or add-on services. Finally, you just need to generate the invoice and pay it. The credits will then be added to the credit balance once it is paid. See a complete description of how to add credits to the balance below.

Note 1: there is a transaction minimum; but for one week following a transaction, you can add more funds in any amount.
Note 2: any remaining unused credits must be used in the following 4 years (credits purchased prior to April 1, 2019 are valid for 5 years).

How do I know what my Prepaid balance is?

To view how many credits each service requires, click the link showing your current balance amount in the upper-right hand corner. Clicking on the this link will pull up the balance detail for your account.

How do I add credits to my Prepaid Balance?

Click Buy more, upon login (upper-right corner); or open the Billing tab. Then follow these steps:

• You'll need to purchase credits that correspond to the length of the media file(s) and the services required. For example, if your media file is 1 hour, 39 minutes and 12 seconds, and you require Captioning and Transcription, you'll need to purchase credits that correspond to 100 minutes of Captioning, and 100 minutes of Transcription. So, select Captioning and Transcription, and click Next:

• Then choose the priority for the transcription, and enter the number of minutes required (in this case, that would be 100). Click Next:

• Finally, click Generate Invoice:

• On the Invoice page, you'll find a link to pay it via Credit Card: Pay Now via Credit Card. Once the invoice is paid, the credits will be added to the balance and you can place your request.

How can I pay my invoice with a credit card?

Any user with See/Pay Invoices privileges can simply click the Pay Now link beside the invoice you are looking to pay. Invoices are listed on the Invoicing Summary page via Billing -> Invoices.
Please note that there is an upper limit to the size of invoice you can pay by credit card, and if the invoice exceeds that limit, then no Pay Now link will appear beside the invoice. You can see what the limit is on any Invoice page.

Can I pay for a pre-purchase via ACH or check (cheque)?

Yes. about ACH setup.

Your account will be credited with the time when your funds clear.

How long is my Prepaid balance good for?

Prepaid balances are retained for 4 years from the date of purchase (credits purchased prior to April 1, 2019 are valid for 5 years). Thereafter they will be expired on a first-purchased, first-used basis.

Can I get a refund of my unused Prepaid balance?

No. Prepaid accounts are not refundable, but any remaining balance that you have will remain available for your use on your future projects for up to 4 years (credits purchased prior to April 1, 2019 are valid for 5 years).

Can I get notified if my Prepaid balance reaches a low amount?

Yes. Any user with Manage Organization privileges can enable Low Prepaid Balance Alerts for the account when you're submitting many minutes/hours of content in a short period of time and want to ensure you don't run out of credits in the middle of the request. You can choose the credit amount that will trigger the alert. You can select this alert in the Manage Organization page, under the Settings tab, in your CaptionSync account:

Can I cancel an Invoice?

Yes. Go to Billing -> Invoices and open the Details page of the invoice you wish to cancel. Click the Cancel link available in the page.