Glossary · Invoices and billing
Invoice dispute
An invoice dispute is a customer’s challenge to all or part of an invoice. Until it is resolved, the disputed amount is unlikely to be paid.
Disputes cover anything the customer says is wrong: price, quantity, scope, quality, a missing PO, the wrong entity, or a deliverable they say wasn’t accepted. Some are raised explicitly; many surface only as silence or a short payment.
Run a dispute as a separate track from chasing. Log it against the invoice, pause reminders for the disputed amount, ask for the specifics in writing and set a date to resolve it. Keep chasing any undisputed part — customers sometimes dispute a small line to delay the whole payment.
Disputes end in one of three ways: the customer pays, you issue a credit note, or you agree a split. Record which, because recurring reasons are usually fixable upstream in contracts or invoicing.
Example
A client disputes 6 of 40 billed hours on a €6,000 invoice. The supplier keeps chasing the undisputed €5,100 while it reviews the timesheets behind the remaining €900.