What happens if a payment fails

A card expires. This is exactly what happens next, in order, so none of it is a surprise.

The ladder

First failure. A retry is scheduled and you are notified. Nothing is restricted.

Second failure. A second retry, a second notice. Still nothing restricted.

Third failure. A grace period opens and the principals on your account are notified by name rather than by a generic address. Still nothing restricted.

Grace expires. Write access closes. You can still read everything and you can still export everything. What you cannot do is create new work.

Restriction expires. Access closes.

The two rules that do not move

Your export never closes. At every step, including the last one. If access has closed and you need your data, the export still runs. Holding data hostage over an invoice is a debt collection tactic, not a product feature.

Your data is not deleted. Suspension closes access. It does not remove anything. Pay the invoice and it is all there.

What proves it worked

Request an export at any point in this ladder, including after suspension. It completes, with your records and your documents, and the manifest to check them against.

Why the notices go to named people

A billing notice sent to a generic address is a billing notice nobody reads until access closes. From the third failure the notices go to the principals on the account, by name, because at that point the message is no longer administrative.

Getting out of it

Update the payment method. The account returns to current and any restriction lifts. Nothing needs to be re-enabled by us and there is no reinstatement conversation.

If the failure is not yours

If a payment failed because of something at our end, that is our problem to fix, and it does not start this ladder. Raise a ticket and quote the invoice reference.