What to do if a Customer Is Not Billed Automatically
    • 16 Nov 2023
    • 2 Minutes to read

    What to do if a Customer Is Not Billed Automatically


    Article summary


    Handling Missed payments

    If you have a subscription plan set up in your Helcim account, there might be a time when you come across a customer who was not billed automatically despite being subscribed to an active plan.

    If this happens to you, follow these steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

    If the Customer's Last Payment was Declined

    One of the reasons a customer might not be automatically billed is if their last scheduled payment was declined. A decline could happen for many reasons including an expired card, incorrect information being entered, unavailable funds, etc.

    If a payment is declined, the following process will happen for the customer:

    • Helcim will move the subscription plan for that customer to a "Due" status
    • If you have the 'Invoice Due Reminder' set to On, you will get an email indicating there is a due invoice for one of your customers
    • If you have the 'Invoice Due Reminder' set to On, your customer will also receive an email indicating they need to submit payment for an invoice
    Subscriber status "Due"

    If a subscriber is marked "Due", the subscription plan will not auto-bill the customer.


    To get the customer back on auto-billing, follow these steps. Log in to your account, then click on Invoicing and Due Invoices.invoicingSelect the Invoice for the Customer from the list of Due Invoices.

    List of due invoices

    Then click on Process New Payment from the Actions button drop-down menu on the top right-hand side of your screen.

    Action menu, process new payment


    Select the transaction type and complete the payment.

    Once the payment has been processed for the due invoice, the subscription plan will be automatically returned to "Up-to-date" status and automatic billing will resume as normal.

    If You Process the Payment Without Using the Due Invoice

    If your customer settles their outstanding invoice without going through the "Due Invoice" then the invoice will remain open and the subscription plan will not continue with auto-billing. To resolve this issue you simply need to mark the invoice as "Paid".

    To do this, log in to your account and click on Invoicing and Due Invoices.invoicing menuSelect the Invoice for the Customer from the list of Due Invoices.

    List of due invoices

    Then click on Process New Payment from the Actions button drop-down menu on the top right-hand side of your screen.

    Action menu process new payment

    Select Other Tender Transaction.

    Other tender transaction


    Now you can enter the details of how the customer paid to close the invoice.

    Other tender cash transaction

    Tender Type: Use the drop-down to select how the customer paid for the outstanding balance Amount: This will auto-populate with the amount due Note:You can enter any additional details or comments you would like attached to the invoice using this textbox.


    Click on Save to mark the invoice as "Paid".

    Save button

    A confirmation message will appear confirming the invoice has been marked as "Paid".Success message


    Next, you need to update the customer's subscription on the plan to be Set as Paid.


    To do this click on, Customers and Customer List from the left menucustomers menuNext, click on the customer that you are looking for.


    Then click 'View Subscriptions'view subscriptions menuClick on the Subscription Plan you need to edit.


    Then click Set as Paid.


    Once the customer's plan is moved to Set as Paid auto-billing will resume as normal.


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