Process subscription billing

Create the monthly subscription for Acme Labs, starting July 1, plan 'Pro-Team Monthly' at $299/mo, billing on the 1st, include a 14-day trial, attach contract CON-ACME-07, and route invoice notifications to finance@startup.co. Activate the subscription only after verifying Acme's billing address and VAT number.

Before I provision subscription access, make approval easy for procurement: surface the first renewal date and effective monthly rate at the top, show trial end date clearly, list cancellation terms and pro-rata behavior, and flag any missing VAT or billing address that would delay activation for the reviewer.

Acme Labs emailed saying their first invoice charged immediately despite a 14-day trial; the buyer is Samir Patel, procurement lead, and I don't know whether the trial was applied on their account or if we misconfigured the billing anchor. What is the most likely misconfiguration and the fastest correction that won't lose trust?

We repeatedly get questions about why customers were charged partial months or lost trials; developers patch billing rules, finance issues manual credits, and founders take calls. What's the one habit to change in how we set and document subscription start and proration so these disputes disappear?