✨ Please note: The Membership feature is only available on the Standard Plan and for those using Stripe as their integrated payment provider.
Failed recurring payments can lead to involuntary membership cancellations, known as "delinquent churn". Understanding and managing these issues helps you maintain memberships and reduce the risk of unintentional cancellations.
💡 Failed payments don’t automatically cancel membership tickets or stop members from booking. However, once the membership is cancelled, any tickets booked beyond the membership period are automatically cancelled.
This article explains the implications of failed membership payments and how to manage them effectively.
Reporting on Membership payment failures
You can filter the Customer list to show memberships that are at risk due to payment failure.
To do this:
Select Customers from the left-hand menu on your account.
Select the Filter by drop-down menu:
Select Memberships status, and Add:
Untick the Active, Cancelled, and Due to cancel checkboxes, then select Search to generate the results:
Any membership payment failures will show in the list (the list will be blank if you don't have any).
What happens when a customer has a failed payment?
If a payment fails, the membership enters an 'Active-Unpaid' state, and we begin an automated payment recovery process. This includes four attempts on days 1, 3, 5, and 7:
Attempt 1: Payment is attempted on day 1, and the customer is notified via email.
Attempt 2: Payment is attempted again on day 3.
Attempt 3: Payment is attempted on day 5, with another system email sent to the customer.
Attempt 4: The final payment attempt occurs on day 7. If unsuccessful, the membership is cancelled by default.
During the payment recovery process, access to membership benefits is restricted until the payment is successfully processed. Once payment is resolved, the membership status returns to 'Active,' and the customer regains access to their benefits.
💡 To note
The retry schedule described above applies when Stripe is using Custom retries. You can change these intervals in your Stripe account.
Stripe may also use Smart Retries, which automatically selects retry dates based on the payment and can vary from one failed payment to another.
To check which retry settings apply to your account, review your automated payment retry settings in Stripe. You can also open a failed membership payment in Stripe to check the next scheduled retry date.
Recovering failed membership payments
Common reasons for declined payments
Insufficient funds: The account linked to the payment method may not have enough funds to cover the payment. Check the available balance before trying again.
Frozen or inactive card: The payment may be declined if the card is frozen or inactive. Unfreeze or activate the card before trying again.
If automated payment attempts fail, what happens next depends on your Stripe settings:
Memberships are cancelled: Bookwhen stops further payment attempts and cancels the membership.
Memberships continue after failed payments: Stripe manages payment recovery. You may need to retry the payment manually and follow up with the customer.
To retry a payment manually:
Open the unpaid invoice in Stripe and select Charge Customer.
Ask the customer to update their billing details through the Bookwhen Memberships page so Stripe can attempt the payment again.
Before retrying, make sure the customer has resolved any payment issues, such as a frozen card or insufficient funds.