Payment Failures and Overdue Accounts

Summary

If your subscription payment fails, Torqueflow shows a red warning banner across the top of the app and starts a 14-day grace period. Your team can still complete, invoice, and take payment for existing work orders during this time, but new job creation is blocked once the grace period expires. This article covers what the warning means, what still works, and how to resolve it.

Prerequisites

• An active Torqueflow subscription.
• To update the payment method yourself you need the billing.manage capability. Only owners have this by default.

Steps

Recognise a payment failure

1. A red banner appears across the top of every page reading either:
   • “Payment failed. Update your payment method before {date} to avoid service restrictions.” (grace period is still running), or
   • “Payment failed. New job creation is restricted. Update your payment method to restore full access.” (grace period has expired or no grace window is set).
2. The banner cannot be dismissed. It stays visible until the payment is resolved.
3. If you are signed in as an owner, the banner shows an Update Payment button on the right.
4. If you are signed in as a service advisor or technician, the banner shows the text “Contact your account owner to resolve.” instead of a button. You do not have permission to open the billing portal.

Understand what still works

1. Existing work orders keep running normally. Staff can finish jobs, record parts and labour, create invoices, and take customer payments on any work order that was already open when the payment failed. This is never blocked.
2. Completing and invoicing in-progress work is never blocked even after the grace period expires. The system is designed so a payment problem never stops you from earning revenue on work you have already started.
3. New work orders are blocked only once the grace period ends. Inside the grace window, new job creation still works as normal.
4. Voice, WhatsApp, SMS, portal, scheduler, reports, and settings all continue to work regardless of payment state.

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 sends an invoice.paid webhook to Torqueflow.
6. Within a few seconds, the red banner disappears, new job creation 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. None of your day-to-day work is 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, creating new work orders from either the Work Orders page or the Scheduler will fail with the message: “Your payment is overdue and the grace period has expired. New jobs cannot be created until payment is resolved. Existing work orders 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: New work order button is disabled or shows an error about overdue payment. Cause: The 14-day grace period has expired and new job creation is now blocked. Fix: Resolve the payment via Settings > Billing > Manage Subscription. Once the invoice is paid, new job creation is restored immediately.

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 enter a separate 30-day grace period (see finance/cancellation-process). The two grace periods are different and do not stack.
• Repeated payment failures while already overdue do not shorten or reset the grace window. The countdown runs from the first failed payment.
• The warning banner has role="alert" so screen readers announce it on every page load.

Permissions

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