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Resolve a failed renewal payment
A household renewal has moved to Payment Failed — a Direct Debit collection was submitted to GoCardless and didn't go through. There's no Retry button: a failed payment is a prompt to find out why and help the member fix it, not something that clears itself. See Payments → Failed payments for how this fits with the other kinds of failed payment on the platform.
Who: Club Admin or Membership Manager. Where: admin panel. Takes: 5–10 minutes.
Before you start
Have the member's preferred contact route to hand — the next step is talking to them, not clicking a button. A payment failure is usually embarrassing for whoever it happened to, and they'll want it sorted quickly.
Steps
1. Find the failed household
Open Members → Renewals → Renewal Campaigns, pick the active campaign, open its Household Renewals tab, and filter to Payment Failed. Open the household.
2. Read why it failed
The household renewal's Status History tab lists every transition it's made, and the Reason column on the move into Payment Failed carries the actual explanation — GoCardless's own reason where one came through, or a plain description ("bank declined", "cancelled externally") where it didn't.
3. Talk to the member
Explain what failed, what they need to do, and that their membership is safe for now — grace period access continues while this is unresolved. They've already had the automatic Renewal Payment Failed email; a personal follow-up lands better than repeating it.
4. Get the payment across the line
Depending on what the member tells you:
- They need a new Direct Debit. They set one up from Profile → Payment methods in the member app. GoCardless takes a few days to verify a new mandate, so this isn't instant — see step 5.
- They'd rather pay another way. Take a bank transfer or cash payment, then use Record Payment in the household renewal's page header — enter the Amount, choose Cash or Bank Transfer, and confirm.
5. Let it complete
Once a payment against the renewal's invoice actually settles — a Direct Debit that goes through, or a payment you've recorded by hand — the household renewal moves to Renewed on its own. There's no separate "mark as renewed" step to remember.
What happens next
The household's status updates to Renewed, and every member in it who'd been marked Lapsed or Payment Failed returns to Active. The resolution is on the household renewal's activity log alongside the original failure, so the full story — what went wrong, and how it got fixed — stays together.
If it does not work
The member says they've fixed their Direct Debit, but the household still shows Payment Failed
A valid mandate doesn't collect a payment by itself. Nothing recollects automatically — either wait for the season's own renewal reminder cycle to try again, or take payment another way and use Record Payment.
GoCardless shows the payment succeeded, but the household is still Payment Failed
This usually means the update from GoCardless hasn't reached us yet. Check the payment's status directly under Finance → Payments; if it's genuinely confirmed there, use Record Payment against the renewal to bring it in line. If GoCardless already has a payment for it, Record Payment refuses until that payment collects or fails, so the member is not charged twice.
The member wants to cancel rather than resolve it
Use Exclude on the household renewal to take them out of the campaign, or End Membership on the individual member if they're leaving the club altogether — see End a member's membership. If they change their mind later, Reinstate a cancelled renewal brings them back.