Some invoices are not just late. Something is blocking them: a missing PO, a pricing question, an approval that has not happened. Steinfin finds the blocker, gets it to the right person, tracks what happens next and follows it through until the invoice can be paid.
An invoice dispute is anything that stops a customer approving or paying an invoice as it was sent. The word sounds adversarial, but most disputes are not arguments at all. They are queries, missing information, approval problems, billing errors or simple misunderstandings.
Very often the customer is willing to pay. Somebody on their side just needs an answer before they can approve it. Until that answer arrives, the invoice sits still and keeps ageing.
A customer mentions a problem on a call. It goes into an email, the email goes to sales, sales forward it to operations, and everyone assumes someone else is dealing with it. The customer waits. The invoice keeps ageing. Weeks later someone asks why it is still unpaid.
Day counts are illustrative.
Different problems need different people. Choose a blocker to see who acts and what Steinfin does to keep it moving.
The invoice shows an old PO reference.
Your finance team corrects or re-issues the invoice.
Pin down exactly what is wrong, make sure the correction is made, then send the corrected details to the customer and confirm they can now process it.
The customer needs a signed delivery note.
Your team supplies it, or we send it if we already hold it.
Confirm which document the customer needs, get it from the right person and send it over, then check it has unblocked the approval.
The customer asks for part of the invoice to be credited.
You. Steinfin never makes the commercial call.
Bring you the customer's exact request with the history attached, then carry out and track whatever you decide.
The customer expected last year's day rate.
You, or whoever agreed the price with the customer.
Get the detail of the question, route it to the person who can answer it and follow up until there is a clear answer to pass back.
Disputes stall when nobody is sure whose move it is. We make that explicit on every query.
Every open query is recorded against the invoice with the same five things. If any of them is missing, the query is not being managed.
While a query is open, the customer is not sent routine reminders for an invoice they are waiting on you about. Once it is resolved, normal follow-up resumes.
Thanks for letting us know about the PO number on invoice 1048. We have noted it and are checking with the team. We will come back to you by Thursday.
A customer who raises a query and hears nothing back tends to stop engaging. We acknowledge it, say when they will hear from us and then keep that promise, in your name and your tone.
Professional, clear and helpful, and persistent where it needs to be.
A closed query on its own does not put cash in the bank. Once the blocker is cleared, the invoice goes straight back into active payment follow-up: any new promise is recorded, the payment is watched and the account carries on through the normal process.
Some answers can only come from you. We do not take you out of the process. We make sure you are only asked for what genuinely needs you, with everything you need to answer quickly.
Steinfin never issues, approves or waives anything on your behalf.
Which invoices are held up, what the issue is, who needs to respond, how long it has been open, and what happens next. You can see it at a glance, and anything waiting on you is kept separate.
A missing PO on a large invoice that is already overdue matters more than a small query raised yesterday. We agree the priorities with you and work the queue in that order. People make the judgement calls; our systems keep the order and the dates.
An invoice can move in and out of a query several times on its way to payment. Dispute management handles the query part, then hands straight back to follow-up.
See how the whole function is run on accounts receivable management, or the step-by-step Steinfin process. For straightforward follow-up without queries, see invoice chasing.
Also see invoice queries in professional services.
Invoices regularly get held up by queries
Disputes are scattered across inboxes
Finance spends time chasing colleagues for answers
It is unclear who owns each query
Payment still stalls after a query is answered
Customer replies are not tracked consistently
The ledger has invoices marked "query" with no next action
We begin with the queries you already have, because that is usually where the most cash is stuck.
What is held up, and why.
How queries are handled today.
Who answers what, and what comes to you.
Each one gets an owner and a next action.
In your name, to your tone.
Until each invoice can be paid.
The free AR health check looks at your overdue invoices and shows where cash is being held up, including invoices stuck on unresolved queries, unclear ownership or no next action, plus a few practical things you can act on. No cost, no obligation.
It is the work of dealing with invoices that are not being paid because something needs clarifying, correcting or approving. That means finding out exactly what the issue is, getting it to the person who can answer it, tracking what needs to happen next and following it through until the invoice can move on to payment.
Most are practical rather than adversarial: a missing or wrong purchase order, a missing delivery note or timesheet, incorrect company details or references, a question about price or quantity, an approval that has not happened yet, or a duplicate invoice concern. Some need a commercial decision from you.
We resolve the process, not the commercial question. We identify the issue, route it, chase the answers and keep everything moving, and we can clear many administrative queries with information you have already given us. Anything that needs a commercial decision, such as a price change, a credit or a contract question, comes back to you.
We bring it to you with the context attached: the invoice, what the customer has asked, what has happened so far and what we need from you. It shows as waiting on you, and we follow up internally until we have an answer, then take it back to the customer.
Yes, in your name and to the tone you have approved. We keep the customer informed while the query is being worked on, so they know it has been picked up and when to expect an update.
Yes. We work from your accounting system, through authorised access or exports, for the invoice and customer details. The query itself, who owns it, the next action and the full history are organised on our side and reported to you, so your accounting records stay clean.
We flag it and bring it to you with the reasons. Whether to issue a credit note is always your decision, and your team issues it. We then track the account until the ledger reflects the agreed outcome and any remaining balance is paid.
We get the detail of what they are questioning and pass it to you or the person who agreed the price. You decide the answer. We take it back to the customer, record the outcome and continue following up for payment.
We tell you clearly, with the full history, and you decide what happens next. Any formal or legal step is your decision and sits outside our service.
No. We manage everyday invoice queries and billing issues that are holding up payment. We do not give legal advice, act in legal disputes or settle contractual claims.
A disputed invoice will not be paid however many reminders it gets. Clearing the blocker is what lets payment continue. Once a query is resolved, the invoice goes straight back into payment follow-up, so resolution leads to cash rather than just a closed ticket.
Query and dispute follow-up is part of Steinfin's monthly service from the Growth plan upwards, priced on the size and complexity of your ledger and agreed before we start. See the pricing page for current plans in your local currency.
Start with a free AR health check. We will show you which invoices are stuck on a query, and what it would take to move them.
Get a free AR health check