Three weeks after the drop, the invoice is queried
A contractor's accounts team rejects an invoice for twelve packs of blocks. Their site manager says only ten arrived. Your credit controller asks the branch for the delivery ticket. The branch asks the driver. The driver thinks it was signed by someone in a hi-vis vest. The ticket turns up a week later in a folder, with a scrawl on it and no printed name. It proves a delivery happened. It does not prove twelve packs came off the lorry.
Meanwhile the whole invoice is on hold, not just the two packs in question, and the account's next order hits the credit limit.
Why paper tickets do not settle anything
Most disputes are not about fraud. They are about a busy site where materials were dropped at the gate with nobody there, a labourer who signed without counting, or goods moved by another trade after the drop. A paper ticket cannot answer the questions that decide these cases.
- Where exactly were the goods left, and was that where the customer asked?
- Who accepted them, and was that person authorised to?
- Was anything short or damaged on arrival, and was that noted at the time?
- What time did the lorry arrive, and was the site open?
Paper also travels slowly. By the time the ticket is scanned and matched to the invoice, the dispute has already become a payment delay.
What the disputes cost
Every disputed invoice is money you have earned and can't collect yet. It is credit controller time spent chasing paper, branch time spent searching, and sometimes a credit note raised just to get the rest paid. It also shapes behaviour: customers who learn that querying a delivery delays payment will keep doing it.
Digital proof of delivery, tied to the invoice
What we build is a driver app linked to your delivery notes, with the evidence flowing to the invoice automatically.
- The driver's run comes from your merchant system, so each drop's delivery note is on the phone with the lines and quantities.
- At the drop the driver takes photos of the goods where they were left, and the app records GPS position and time.
- The person accepting prints their name and signs on screen. If nobody is there, the driver marks it as an unattended drop under your rules and photographs the location.
- Shortages, damage and refusals are recorded line by line, with a photo, before the driver leaves.
- The POD pack is stored against the delivery note and the invoice, and a link goes to the customer's site contact and accounts email.
- When an invoice is queried, the credit controller opens it and the evidence is already there.
| Question in a dispute | Paper ticket | Digital POD |
|---|---|---|
| Did it arrive? | Signature, if found | Time, location and photo |
| Where was it left? | Not recorded | Photo and GPS position |
| Who accepted it? | Unreadable scrawl | Printed name and signature |
| Was anything short? | Rarely noted | Line by line at the drop |
| How fast can we show it? | Days | Link on the invoice |
What changes for credit control
Queries still arrive, but most end with a link and a photo rather than a week of searching. Genuine shortages are known on the day, so a credit is raised before the invoice is disputed. Drivers stop carrying clipboards of tickets back to the branch, and the branch stops keeping boxes of them.
Is this your situation?
- Signed tickets come back to the branch in a bundle at the end of the day.
- Finding a POD for a query takes days rather than minutes.
- Whole invoices are held over a dispute about one line.
- Unattended drops are common and poorly recorded.
- You raise credit notes because you can't prove what was delivered.