What happens if a payment fails

Cards expire. Banks decline things for no reason. It happens, and it is not a crisis. Here is exactly what we do, so there are no surprises.

What we do, in order

1. The payment fails. We email you straight away, to the address on the account.
2. We keep emailing. Not once and then silence. We tell you clearly what has happened, what to do about it, and the exact date your sites will go offline if it is not resolved.
3. We retry the card.
4. On day 8 past due, the account is suspended. Your sites go offline. Your email stops.

So you have a full week from the failed payment, with repeated warnings that name the date, before anything is switched off. We do not surprise anyone.

Fixing it

1. Go to Billing in your panel. You can still sign in.
2. Update your card, or add a new one.
3. Pay the outstanding invoice.

Everything comes back within minutes. Your sites, your apps, your email. Nothing is lost and nothing needs rebuilding.

Common causes of a decline

• The card expired
• The bank blocked it as an unrecognised online payment. Ring them, approve it, and try again
• Insufficient funds at the moment we tried
• The billing address on the card does not match

Your data during suspension

A suspended account is offline, not deleted. Your data is kept for 30 days from the date of suspension, and then it is permanently and irreversibly deleted. Pay within that window and everything is restored. See How long we keep your data.

Keep the billing email address current

If the address on the account is one nobody reads, our warnings go nowhere and the first you will know is a dark website. Make sure it is an address a person actually checks, and add a second contact if you can.

If you have a problem paying

Email [email protected] and tell us. We would far rather talk to you than switch you off.