Understand Dunning and Failed Payments
Learn how to understand Dunning and Failed Payments in Topo, including stripe Smart Retries.
When to use this
Use this article when you need to understand Dunning and Failed Payments in Topo. The main staff surface is member profile, Reports > Failed Payments. It is written for Managers, Accountants, Front Desk.
What this covers
Stripe Smart Retries
Past_due and payment_failed
Access freeze or blocker behavior
Staff follow-up checklist
Member payment method update
Before you start
Use a staff role that can view and edit membership products.
Create needed locations, categories, tax rates, and payment setup before publishing a sellable plan.
Decide whether this workflow affects member signup, POS, staff-only sales, existing members, or billing rules.
Review the plan summary and test with a realistic member before making the product broadly available.
When changing sold terms, use the guided version, migration, switch, freeze, cancel, or refund workflow instead of assuming old access records update automatically.
Steps
Open the failed payments report or the affected member profile.
Read whether the access is past due, payment failed, frozen, or otherwise blocked.
Ask the member to update their payment method when the saved card is invalid.
Use Stripe retry status and Topo tasks/reporting to plan follow-up.
After payment recovery, verify access and check-in status before clearing the conversation.
What happens after saving or completing this
The change is reflected in the relevant staff screen and activity history.
If the workflow affects members, payments, access, inventory, or email, review that downstream area before moving on.
Common issues and fixes
A visible plan does not appear to a member: review active status, signup visibility, age rules, dependent suitability, and location scope.
Editing a sold plan opens a guided change flow: existing members keep their current terms unless you migrate or switch them.
Stripe sync fails: save did not fully complete for billing checkout. Retry after payment setup is ready or ask an owner to review Stripe readiness.
Related articles
Plan and Access Model Overview
Sell Access from POS
Understand Customer Access