When an autopay charge doesn't go through

Most autopay charges just go through. When one doesn't, LessonPaid handles it for you:

• Declined (not enough money, say): it's tried again 3 days after the due date, then 7 days after. Each time, the family gets an "Autopay didn't go through" email with the invoice link, where they can update their card or pay now. If your late fee is added before the next try, the email says so, and what the next try will charge. While it's waiting to try again, the overdue follow-ups wait too, so the family isn't sent two kinds of email.
• Declined 3 times: autopay stops for that invoice and the usual overdue follow-ups take over (see "Overdue payment follow-ups"). Autopay stays on for the family's next invoices.
• A card that can never work (expired, reported lost or stolen, closed): it isn't charged again. If the family saves a new card with "Update card", the next try uses the new one.
• The bank wants the family to confirm the payment (3-D Secure): autopay doesn't try again. The family gets a "Please confirm your payment" email with the invoice link, where they pay it by card (the "Pay $160.00 by card" button) and confirm it with their bank. Autopay stays on for their next invoices.
• The family (or you) turns off autopay: nothing more is charged, and any invoice it was trying again goes back to the usual follow-ups.
• Card payments switched off, or Stripe disconnected: autopay pauses and nothing is charged. A card saved on an old Stripe account is never charged from a new one: families set up autopay again.
• Stripe disconnected while a charge was going through, so LessonPaid never heard back: you're emailed to look the payment up in your Stripe dashboard. Its reminders and late fee wait. If it went through, mark the invoice paid; if not, click "Not received" to turn reminders back on.
• A family disputes an autopay charge with their bank: autopay is turned off for them straight away, so their card is never charged again, and you're emailed. Answer the dispute in your Stripe dashboard.

Where to look: the Invoices page shows each invoice's autopay status ("Autopay: declined (not enough money available), retrying Thu, Nov 4. Family asked to update their card") and lists the ones it couldn't charge. The student's page shows the family's latest charges.

Refunds are done in your Stripe dashboard. After refunding an autopay charge, click "Mark unpaid" on the invoice so your reports stay right; autopay never charges that invoice again (see "Recording payments and part payments"). During the free trial, autopay sends families at most 25 of these emails a day; any more go out the next day.