Payment Failures and Overdue Accounts

Summary

If a monthly or annual payment on an active subscription fails, Torqueflow shows a red warning banner across the top of the app and starts a 14-day grace period. Everything keeps working during the grace period. Once it runs out, new jobs, online booking, AI replies and automated reminders pause until the payment goes through. Your team can always complete, invoice and take payment for existing work. The same happens if the first payment at the end of your free trial fails. This article covers both cases, what still works, and how to resolve them.

Prerequisites

• A Torqueflow subscription, or a free trial with a card saved.
• To update the payment method yourself you need the billing.manage capability. Only owners have this by default.

Steps

If the first payment at the end of your trial fails

1. When your trial ends, Stripe tries to take your first monthly payment from the card you saved. This usually happens about an hour after the trial end time. If the card is declined, has expired or needs a security check, the payment fails.
2. Your account moves to a payment failed state, not Active. The same red banner as an overdue account appears across the top of every page, and the same 14-day grace period starts.
3. Go to Settings > Billing. A red warning reads “Payment failed. Your previous payment didn’t go through. Please try again or use a different payment method.”
4. Under Retry Payment, the page shows your subscription price and “This is your current subscription. Update your payment method to settle it - you do not need to buy a new plan.”
5. Click Update Payment Method. The Stripe billing portal opens. Add a new card or update the existing one.
6. Stripe also retries the payment automatically over the following days.
7. When a payment succeeds, the banner clears, your subscription changes to Active and your monthly credit allowance is added straight away.
8. If the grace period runs out first, new work pauses until the payment goes through, exactly as for an overdue account.

Recognise a failed payment on an active subscription

1. While the grace period is running, a red banner across the top of every page reads “Payment failed. Update your payment method before {date} to avoid service restrictions.”
2. If you are signed in as an owner, the banner shows an Update Payment button on the right. Other roles see “Contact your account owner to resolve.” instead of a button.
3. When the grace period runs out, a different banner replaces it. Staff with billing access read “A subscription payment is overdue, so new jobs, online booking and AI replies are paused. Existing jobs can still be finished, invoiced and paid.” with an Update payment button that opens Settings > Billing.
4. Staff without billing access who create jobs or bookings see one line instead: “New jobs are paused on this account. Your account owner can restore it from Billing.” It never mentions the payment. Staff who do not create jobs see no banner.
5. Neither banner can be dismissed. Each stays visible until the payment is resolved. On a phone, the second one shortens to “New jobs paused”.

Understand what still works

1. Inside the grace period, everything works as normal. That includes new jobs, online booking and the AI.
2. Existing work orders keep running normally, always. Staff can finish jobs, record parts and labour, create invoices and take customer payments on any work order already open. This is never blocked, even after the grace period ends.
3. Once the grace period ends, these pause:
   • Creating new jobs and appointments, including converting a quote into a job. The buttons stay visible and show a short explainer headed New jobs are paused when tapped.
   • Online and portal booking. Customers see “Online booking isn’t available right now” with a button to call you.
   • AI replies to texts, WhatsApp and portal messages. Customers get a holding reply saying the team will get back to them.
   • AI booking on calls. Callers reach a message-taker instead of the AI receptionist.
   • Automated MOT and service reminders. They are held and sent when the payment goes through, if they are still relevant.
4. These keep working after the grace period: messaging your customers yourself, customer payments and quote acceptance, the scheduler for existing jobs, reports, settings, the time clock and every data export.

Resolve the payment (owner)

1. Click Update Payment on the red banner, or go to Settings > Billing and click Manage Subscription.
2. You are redirected to the Stripe Customer Portal in a new tab.
3. In the portal, select Payment methods and add a new card or update the existing one.
4. Return to the pending invoice and click Retry payment. Stripe also retries automatically over the next few days.
5. When the payment succeeds, Stripe confirms it to Torqueflow.
6. Within a few seconds, the banner disappears, everything that was paused is restored, and the subscription status returns to active.

Resolve the payment (non-owner)

1. You cannot update the payment method yourself. The billing portal is gated by the billing.manage capability.
2. Contact your account owner and ask them to open Settings > Billing to resolve it.
3. Carry on with your existing work orders in the meantime. Work already in progress is never blocked.

Check how long you have left

1. Go to Settings > Billing.
2. The billing status card shows the current subscription state (Overdue) and the date the grace period ends.
3. After that date, the billing page shows a panel headed New work is paused until the payment is sorted, listing what is paused, what still works and what your customers see.
4. Trying to create a new job reads “New jobs are paused while a subscription payment is overdue. Existing jobs can still be completed, invoiced and paid.”

Expected Outcome

• You understand the red banner and who is allowed to resolve it.
• You can complete and invoice existing work without interruption during the grace period.
• Once the card is updated and the invoice is paid, the banner disappears and new job creation is restored automatically.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Banner is still showing after I updated the card. Cause: Stripe has not yet retried the failed invoice, or the webhook is still in flight. Fix: Open the Stripe Customer Portal from Manage Subscription, find the open invoice, and click Retry payment. Wait up to a minute for the banner to clear. Refresh the page if needed.

Problem: The New work order button shows a New jobs are paused explainer. Cause: The 14-day grace period has expired, so new work is paused. Fix: Resolve the payment via Settings > Billing. Once the invoice is paid, everything is restored straight away.

Problem: Customers say our online booking page tells them to call us, or they get a holding reply to texts. Cause: Online booking and AI replies pause once the grace period expires. Fix: Resolve the payment. Online booking and AI replies come back as soon as it goes through. Reply to waiting messages yourself in the meantime.

Problem: Technicians report they cannot add parts to an existing job. Cause: This should not be caused by a payment failure. Editing, completing, and invoicing existing work orders is never blocked by the overdue state. Fix: Check the technician’s role and permissions. If you believe the block is related to billing state, contact Torqueflow support.

Problem: “Update Payment” button does nothing or says I don’t have permission. Cause: Your role does not have the billing.manage capability. Fix: Sign in as the account owner, or ask the owner to resolve it. Only owners have billing management by default.

Problem: Banner reappeared after Stripe retried and charged me. Cause: A second payment attempt has failed (for example the replacement card was declined). Fix: Open Manage Subscription again, verify the card on file, and try a different payment method if necessary. Each new failure does not reset the grace period - the original end date is preserved.

Notes

• The default grace period is 14 days. Torqueflow Support can extend this per organisation for customers who need more time.
• If you cancel your subscription instead of letting it go overdue, you keep access until the end of the month you have paid for (see How to cancel your Torqueflow subscription). That is separate from the payment grace period.
• Repeated payment failures while already overdue do not shorten or reset the grace window. The countdown runs from the first failed payment.
• Once your account is overdue, only a successful payment ends it. A change to your subscription on its own does not clear the banner.
• A declined automatic credit top-up does not affect your subscription. It does not mark the account overdue, show this banner or start a grace period.
• If you pay for a plan from Choose Your Plan during your trial and that payment fails, you stay on your trial. No banner appears and you can try again.
• The grace-period warning banner has role="alert", so screen readers announce it on every page load. The banner shown after the grace period is announced politely, so it does not interrupt on every page.

Permissions

• billing.manage - required to open the Stripe Customer Portal and update the payment method. Assigned to owners by default.
• billing.view and billing.manage together - required to see the Update payment button on the banner shown after the grace period.
• All other roles can continue their normal work during the grace period. No special permission is needed.