How one plumbing company recovered $48,000 in 11 days

Mira Plumbing is a four-person residential plumbing company in Austin, Texas. In early March 2026, the owner, Marcus, had 23 invoices over 30 days past due, totalling $48,000.

Marcus had been sending reminder emails every two weeks. Response rate: about 20%. He'd called a few customers personally but found it uncomfortable and time-consuming. The $48,000 had been sitting there for an average of 41 days.

He connected QuickBooks to Syntharra on a Wednesday afternoon. It took about 8 minutes: OAuth with QuickBooks, OAuth with Stripe Connect, done. That evening, the system began queuing calls for the overdue invoices.

By Monday (day 5): 11 invoices paid, $23,400 recovered. By day 11: 19 invoices paid, $41,400 recovered. Four remaining invoices were flagged: two genuine disputes the customer wanted to discuss with Marcus directly, one bankruptcy filing, one unreachable debtor.

The disputed invoices got handled by Marcus in person — real issues that needed a human conversation. One resolved in his favour; the other resulted in a $600 credit. The bankruptcy was a write-off.

Net recovery in 11 days: $41,400 on a $48,000 portfolio, less Syntharra's 10% fee = $37,260 into Marcus's account.

Marcus's take: "I thought people were ignoring me. Most of them just needed someone to ask."