Fixing Failed Payments on TrekMail

When a scheduled payment fails, open the Billing page and check the affected invoice. Recovery depends on the payment method, whether the account has paid successfully before, and whether the invoice is for the mail plan or an add-on.

What happens immediately after a failure

The Billing page shows the current payment state and the next available action. Typical states include past_due, incomplete, or unpaid, depending on the flow.

Keep the invoice ID. It is the safest reference when asking support for help.

Case A: A paid account has a renewal failure

If you've ever made a successful payment on this account, you get a 7-day grace window. This applies to mail-plan renewals, Drive Add-on renewals, and White Label Lite renewals alike.

What happens during those 7 days:

• Billing explains that the renewal could not be completed and asks you to update the payment method.
• Stripe can retry a failed card charge on its own schedule, but a retry is not guaranteed to succeed.
• Use Pay beside the invoice if you want to make an immediate payment attempt.

If the 7-day window expires without a successful charge, your plan downgrades to the free tier. Mailboxes go read-only (existing email stays accessible; new sending stops at plan limits). Drive over-quota cleanup runs on its standard 7-day-after schedule. White Label Lite enters its own 7-day grace window before the branded URL stops serving.

Do not wait for the grace period to end. Update the payment method and resolve the invoice while the current recovery options are visible in Billing.

Case B: The first payment after trial failed

If you've never had a successful payment on this account (you're coming off a 14-day trial), there's no paid-plan grace period. A declined card charge ends the trial immediately; a payment awaiting bank confirmation has the window described below.

When the first card charge is declined, the trial subscription is canceled and its open invoice is voided. Nothing was charged. The email confirms the trial has ended and asks you to choose a plan, rather than asking you to keep the canceled subscription active.

To recover, open Billing, choose a plan again and use a working card. The free trial has been used, so the new plan starts and is charged immediately. Existing email remains accessible; TrekMail’s managed sending stops, while sending through your own connected SMTP service remains available.

Case C: 3D Secure was not completed

When your trial ends on its own and the bank asks you to confirm the first payment, you have 24 hours from the first recorded authentication failure. We send the account owner a Confirm payment email with the deadline in UTC. Its button opens Stripe’s hosted invoice page so you can complete the bank challenge without logging in to TrekMail. If Stripe did not supply that link, the button opens Billing instead, where you will need to log in.

During this window, the subscription is not immediately canceled. A never-paid mail account has no paid-plan access: sending through TrekMail is paused, while sending through your own connected SMTP service remains available. Your domains, mailboxes and messages are safe. Completing payment activates the subscription and clears the pending-payment state. Repeated failure notifications do not extend the deadline.

If you clicked End trial now, the browser already asks you to complete the bank challenge. That flow keeps its one-hour confirmation window and does not send a separate confirmation email.

If the payment remains unconfirmed when the window expires, the scheduled billing check cancels the subscription and voids the open invoice. Nothing is charged for that uncompleted payment; the mail account remains on the Free plan, and the existing cancellation email applies. If the subscription has already been canceled, choose a plan again with a working card; the new plan is charged immediately.

White Label Lite card trials on accounts that have never paid also receive the 24-hour confirmation email when they end on their own and the bank asks for confirmation. The email names White Label Lite. Cancellation follows the existing White Label grace lifecycle and leaves the mail plan unchanged.

How to fix it step by step

You can use the confirmation email for a pending bank challenge, or open Billing:

1. Open the Billing page.
2. If your card has expired, been replaced, or is otherwise unusable, click Add payment method and add a new one. Once it's saved, click Make default on the new card.
3. If the existing card declined once, ask the bank whether it blocked the charge, then either wait for a future Stripe retry or use Pay for an immediate attempt.
4. If you want to retry immediately instead of waiting for Stripe, use Pay now in the payment-failed notice. It opens TrekMail's Stripe-powered payment form for a saved card or a new card. An unpaid row in the invoice list can also show Pay when Stripe supplied a hosted invoice link.

Use the payment action currently shown for the unresolved invoice.

What the payment actions do

Pay now opens a TrekMail dialog backed by Stripe. Choose a saved card or enter a new card and complete any bank challenge. A Pay link in the invoice history opens Stripe's hosted invoice page when that URL is available.

The methods shown are the methods Stripe currently offers for that particular payment. They can include:

• Your existing saved default method (just click Pay).
• A different saved method.
• A fresh card you enter on the spot.
• Another method displayed by Stripe for the current region, device, currency, and payment type.

After payment completes, return to Billing and confirm the invoice and subscription status. If a completed payment remains unresolved, contact support with the invoice ID.

Common failure reasons and what to do

Add-on payment failures

Add-on subscriptions, including Drive Storage and White Label Lite, bill separately from the mail plan. An add-on can therefore have a payment problem while the mail plan is paid.

If an add-on renewal fails, check its status in Billing. The current recovery options depend on the add-on and account payment history:

• Drive Storage: during its cancellation grace period, Drive may be read-only. Check the displayed grace date before changing or deleting files.
• White Label Lite: branded hosts are available only for their documented grace period. Keep a working fallback address for customers.

Where to fix it:

1. Open Billing. The failed invoice shows up under the add-on it belongs to, with an amber pending badge.
2. Update your card if it's expired, or add a new payment method.
3. Click Pay next to the failed invoice for an immediate retry, or just leave it and let Stripe's next auto-retry pick up the new card.

After payment clears, confirm the add-on's status in Billing. If it is already in grace, use the reactivation option shown there and see Canceling White Label Lite for the White Label lifecycle.

Crypto underpayments

Closing the window does not cancel an issued invoice. Return to the existing order instead of creating a second one. If you sent funds but payment is pending, incomplete or needs review, contact support with the payment and transaction IDs before paying again. Never share wallet recovery words or private keys.

The order can remain unpaid. Crypto payments do not have a saved card for automatic retries.

Open a support ticket from the Support page with the transaction ID and invoice ID. The payment must be reviewed before it can be credited or refunded; neither outcome is automatic.

What about Drive Add-on or Verifier credit charges that fail?

Verifier credits and Drive Add-on upgrades charge once, not on a renewal schedule. If the charge fails:

• Verifier credits: the purchase does not add credits until payment succeeds.
• Drive Add-on resize: the resize does not apply until payment succeeds.

These don't trigger grace windows because there's no subscription state to protect.

When to contact support

Most failed payments resolve via card updates and Stripe retries. Open a ticket from the Support page when:

• Your card was charged successfully but Billing still shows the invoice as unpaid.
• A crypto payment went through on-chain but your invoice still says "Unpaid".
• You've added multiple cards and all show declined for unclear reasons.
• You hit a 3D Secure loop where the challenge succeeds but Stripe rejects the result.

Include the invoice ID shown in Billing. For a crypto payment, also include the transaction ID. Do not include full card details, wallet seed phrases, or private keys.