Stripe handles all membership billing automatically, including retries when a payment fails. Most failed payments resolve themselves without you or your patient needing to do anything. Here is what happens at each stage and what to do if it does not self-resolve.
Automatic retry logic
When Stripe cannot collect a membership payment, it does not give up immediately. Stripe retries the charge automatically, on its own schedule, before giving up on that renewal.
Common reasons a payment fails:
- Insufficient funds at the time of billing
- Card expired
- Card reported lost or stolen
- Bank declined the transaction (temporary block)
For most patients with a temporary funds issue, the retry will succeed on a later attempt without any action needed.
What the patient sees
As soon as the first payment attempt fails, Stripe automatically sends the patient an email. The email:
- Explains that their payment could not be processed
- Includes a secure link for the patient to update their card details
- Is sent from Stripe on behalf of your clinic (using your clinic name from the Stripe settings)
The patient's membership stays active during the retry window. They keep access to all their benefits while Stripe is still attempting to collect. This avoids a poor experience for patients who are simply between paydays.
If retries keep failing
There is no "paused" state. While Stripe keeps retrying, the member shows a plain-English payment-issue flag on their profile in your dashboard (Client Profiles), but keeps their member perks the whole time — nothing is switched off while a retry might still succeed.
- Their points balance and membership history are unaffected
- The app shows them a message prompting them to update their payment method
The membership only actually ends when it is genuinely cancelled — either by you or the patient in the dashboard/app, or by Stripe's own final dunning action once it has exhausted every retry.
Manually retrying or contacting the patient
You can take action from your Stripe dashboard if you do not want to wait for automatic retries:
- Manual retry: In Stripe, go to Billing > Subscriptions, find the patient's subscription, and click Retry payment. Only do this if you believe the issue has been resolved (e.g. the patient told you they have updated their card).
- Contact the patient: If the patient has not responded to Stripe's email, you can reach out directly via your usual clinic contact method (phone, SMS, email) and let them know their membership payment has failed and they need to update their card in the app.
How the patient updates their card
Patients can update their card in two ways:
- In the app: Membership > Manage > Update payment method
- Via the Stripe link: The link in the payment failure email takes them directly to a secure Stripe-hosted page to enter new card details
Once a valid card is saved and a payment goes through, the payment-issue flag clears automatically.
If a patient contacts your clinic about a payment issue
Keep it simple. Tell them:
- Check for an email from Stripe with a link to update their card
- Or open the app, tap Membership, and update their payment method there
- Their points and membership history are safe
If the patient has updated their card but is still having trouble, message the Clinic App WhatsApp group and we will investigate from our end.