Fix a customer payment problem

Diagnose unavailable invoice links, failed saved-card charges, and payment states that must be reconciled before collecting again.

Start with the invoice and identify the money flow before retrying anything. This guide covers money a customer owes you. A failed payout to your bank and a failed Cleanr subscription charge use different recovery paths.

If Cleanr says a card was charged but the invoice is still syncing, the payment needs attention, or collection is being reconciled, do not charge again, resend a pay link, or mark the invoice paid. Refresh first and contact support if the state does not settle.

Check the invoice first

Choose your platform

Open Invoices, find the exact customer and amount, and open the invoice. Use Money → Transactions to compare the related Stripe payment or activity.

Open Money → Action. A failed collection that needs reconciliation appears as Payment needs attention; tap it to open the invoice. Otherwise, find the invoice under Money → Ledger → Invoices.

Confirm all of the following before sending another request:

The invoice status is Pending, Sent, or Overdue. Paid, refunded, partially refunded, and canceled invoices are not available for payment.
The total is at least $0.50. A $0 invoice or a total from $0.01 through $0.49 cannot be collected through Stripe checkout.
Get Paid Online setup is complete. An incomplete Stripe connection cannot provide customer checkout.
The invoice is not showing a syncing, changing, or attention state.

If the customer cannot open checkout

Ask the customer to reopen the complete link from the latest invoice email or text. A shortened or incomplete /pay/… link is invalid.
If the page says too many attempts were made, wait up to five minutes after the repeated attempts, then retry once.
If secure checkout is temporarily unavailable, wait briefly and retry from a stable connection.
Confirm the invoice is still unpaid before sending a new reminder.

The verified checkout currently accepts cards only. The Bank Payments (ACH) toggle does not add ACH to checkout, so do not troubleshoot a missing bank option as if the customer should be able to see it. Use the external-payment alternative in Automatic payments and ACH.

If an automatic card charge fails

When Stripe definitively declines the saved card and Cleanr confirms that no money moved, Cleanr can reopen the invoice for online collection and fall back to a payment request. Review the result shown after Session completion:

Open the invoice and confirm it remains unpaid.
Ask the customer to use the secure invoice checkout with a working card, or get explicit authorization before updating their card on file.
Send a reminder only after the invoice is available for collection.
Update the card-on-file record for future authorized auto-charges.

A network or Stripe response can be uncertain even when the card issuer later completes the charge. Cleanr blocks a second collection in that case. A warning such as Card charged, but the invoice is still syncing is not a decline and must not be treated as one.

Use Mark as paid only after cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, or another external payment has actually been received. It records the result in Cleanr; it does not move or verify those funds.

If the customer paid but the bank payout failed, use Payouts and transactions. Do not collect the invoice again.
If Your Cleanr subscription payment needs attention appears, use Recover the Cleanr subscription. That charge pays for Cleanr and is unrelated to the customer's invoice.
If the customer payment succeeded and a refund is needed, follow Send, record, or refund a payment.

Escalate without exposing payment data

If an attention or syncing state remains after refreshing, open Help & Support. Include the invoice number, customer name, approximate time, amount, platform, and the exact on-screen message. Never include a full card number, bank-account number, security code, password, or verification code. Redact those details from screenshots.