Failed payments

When an autopay charge is declined, FrontRow tells the family, tries the card again on a schedule, and lists the family on Failed payments until it's sorted. Most failures fix themselves once the parent updates their card.

Open failed payments#

1. Open Billing in the menu.
2. Choose Failed payments.

Use the filter at the top:

• All: every family with a failed payment.
• Retrying: FrontRow will try again. The status shows the next retry date.
• Needs a person: the retries are used up, so someone at the studio should follow up.

Each row shows the family, how much is Owed, the reason from the bank (like "Declined" or "Insufficient funds"), how many times it has failed, and the status.

What you can do#

• Retry now: charges the card on file straight away. Useful once a parent tells you they've fixed things. You'll see which card is being charged before you confirm with Charge. If it's declined again, you'll see why.
• Contact: sends the family a message by Text message, Email or Parent portal, with a ready-made note you can edit. Select Send and open conversation to send it and continue the chat in your inbox.
• Record payment: if they pay you by cash or check instead. See Record a payment.
• Mark resolved: stops the retries and takes the family off the list, with a reason like "Paying by check on Friday". Their balance stays on their account until you record a payment or issue a credit.

Owners, admins and front desk staff can retry, contact and record payments. Only owners and admins can mark a failed payment resolved.

What the family sees#

If you've turned it on, the family gets an email with a link to update their card. In the parent portal, their Billing page says their payment didn't go through and shows a Fix payment button. Once they pay or add a working card, they drop off the list.

Set your retry schedule#

Owners and admins choose how retries work in Studio settings, on the Payments tab, under Failed payments:

• Retry on these days after a failure: for example 1, 3, 7 means one day, three days and seven days after the first failure.
• Stop after this many attempts: from 1 to 10. After that, the family moves to Needs a person.
• When a payment fails: choose whether to email the family a link to update their card, and whether to email owners and admins.

Stop failures before they happen#

The Payment methods page in Billing has a Cards to update before they decline list. It shows saved cards that expire by the end of next month, so you can ask for a new card first. See Track collection.