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 Billing questions.
AST has two different types of accounts:
- Bill-in-Arrears Account:
If AST has extended credit terms to you, then you will have a Bill-in-Arrears Account (invoiced periodically). Detailed information about this type of account can be found in our Bill-in-Arrears Accounts Billing article.
- Prepaid Account:
If you do not have credit terms with AST, or if you are taking advantage of our bulk purchase program, you will have a Prepaid Account. Detailed information about this type of account can be found in our Prepaid Accounts Billing article.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Where can I see pricing?
Can I get an updated price sheet?
Why can't I pay my invoice online via credit card?
I used to have a "Bill in Arrears" account, why is it now showing as a "Prepaid Account"?
Where do I find detail on which of my submissions were billable and their cost?
General Questions:
Where can I see pricing?
To check pricing for the services you want to request, or requested already, open the help page, in your CaptionSync account. In the Main price sheet you'll find pricing for the main services (Captioning, Transcription and Production Transcript). In the Supplementary services price sheet you'll find pricing for supplementary services, like Result Review, Video Encoding, Translation or Cinema Certified Result Review.
Can I get an updated price sheet?
The price sheets available under the help page, in your CaptionSync account, are up to date.
Why can't I pay my invoice online via credit card?
Do you see Invoices under the Billing tab?
NO: You are neither the primary user nor are you set up with See/Pay Invoices privileges. Any user with Manage Users privileges can control which users can view invoices via Settings -> Manage Users.
YES: But there is no Pay Now link beside the invoice you are looking to pay (and the invoice email does not contain the Purchase or credit card payments can only be made online paragraph). In this case, the invoice amount is beyond the credit card transaction limit and we do not accept credit card payment for this invoice, so you will need pay via ACH or check (cheque). about ACH setup.
I used to have a "Bill in Arrears" account, why is it now showing as a "Prepaid Account"?
Bill in Arrears accounts that go more than 30 days past due automatically convert to Prepaid Accounts.
Where do I find detail on which of my submissions were billable and their cost?
Go to Billing -> Billable Submissions. A table with all the billable submissions made within the Last 30 Days is displayed.
You can change the value for Date to view older submissions, and you can use multiple other filters, by expanding More options. Then click Submit Query:
Mouseover the billing codes, or click the blue question mark icon to see what they mean.
Costs for each submission can also be found on the Status of Submissions page under the Caption/Transcribe tab, or on the Status of Translations page under the Translate tab, by opening the individual Details pages.
If you have more than one login using the same billing entity, you will only see billable submissions associated with the current login. But the Primary user and any user with See All Submissions privileges may also see billable submissions for all users via the Billable Submissions for All Users page.
Note on Government accounts:
AST provides its services to government buyers under a GSA Schedule 70 contract (contract number GS-35F-0220X). Only the following services are available under our GSA contract: Captioning, 2 Business Day Transcription, and 1 Business Day Transcription. All other services are available to government buyers, but they are off-schedule purchases.
Comments
6 comments
Is there a way to see my charges before the monthly billing invoice?
On the “Billable Submissions” page on your account (Billing tab), you can see the billable submissions that were made on a specific time period (by default the last 30 days are shown, but there's also an option to show the last month). The Billable Submissions page only lists the duration in minutes for each submission, but you can know the charged value if you multiply the current rates applied to your account by the number of billable minutes. At the end of the month you’ll be able to see the complete list of billable submissions and the corresponding value, on the monthly invoice.
How long does it take for a pre-purchase to be processed?
Pre-purchased orders are processed immediately upon payment. If the payment is made by credit card, purchased time is added to your account immediately after the card transaction is processed. When payments are made by check (or ACH, or wire), the time is added to your account as soon as we receive and process the payment. Usually payments are processed the same day they are received.
For Transcriptions, do you charge based on the length of the file or how it takes to transcribe?
The media file's length is what determines the final price of most of the services we provide, like Transcription. So, if you submit a media file of 15 minutes and 23 seconds, you'll be charged for 16 minutes of services.
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