My renewal failed. I don't want to lose my subscription! What can I do?Updated a year ago
No need to panic! A failed renewal should be an easy fix!
The most common reason for a failed renewal is that your card on file has expired or your account doesn't have the funds available. Please double check your payment details and add a new credit card if needed.
Our system will attempt to charge your account 8 times between the 1st and the 18th of the month. After 8 failed attempts, your subscription will be automatically cancelled. This is not the end! If you get your payment details in order, email [email protected] and we will be happy to manually renew your subscription for the current month's box, as long as boxes are still available.
If you're an international customer, your bank may be blocking the transaction from going through. Some banks have strict policies for blocking online international transactions. Please contact your bank and let them know that you authorize charges from OwlCrate. This should allow them to remove the block and your subscription should renew without issue in the future.
Due to the limited amount of spots we have available each month, please ensure your payment details are up to date and your renewal goes through by the 3rd of the month. After the 3rd we are unable to guarantee your renewal will before the current month's box. If your renewal goes through after we have sold out, that payment will be for the next month's box. If you are unsure what box you will be receiving, please email [email protected].
Please note: If you DO NOT want your renewal to go through, please ensure you cancel your subscription, as our system will keep trying to charge the card otherwise. A failed renewal is not a cancellation. If you simply want to skip a box before your renewal goes through, just email [email protected] and we can sort that out!
Extra Information
Reasons Renewals Fail:
While an expired card and insufficient funds are the common reasons for a failed renewal, here is a more details list.
The most common is Insufficient Funds which we can all relate to. Many bills and payments come out on the first of the month for many people and sometimes a bank will block a payment due to the funds not appearing to be available, even if your statement says you have it.
Expired Credit Card. This is a double-edged sword because it works both in the customer's favour, and against them. With most credit card companies, if you receive a new card after your current one has expired, any recurring charges, like monthly subscriptions, will still be processed, even if the card on file looks expired. This is great if you forget to update your payment details when you get a new card. On the other hand, your card can be processed for months with the expired date and then suddenly not renew because it is indeed expired. This is why we always send renewal notifications a few days before renewals are processed so people can check their payment details (and shipping address) are correct and make any changes if needed.
Sometimes it is just technology in general. It could be our system communicating with your bank, or your bank misreading something. As great as automation is, there are unexpected glitches and delays. This is why our system attempted more than one charge over a course of several days.
Banks in general. Often, people reach out on the 1st that they had a failed renewal and when a support agent looks at their account, the reason the system gives is simply "Card Declined" and no other explanation. For some reason, the bank declined the charge. In most of these cases, an agent can simply click "process now" for that month's charge and it goes through just fine. Sometimes, a customer will need to contact their bank.
Banks block the charge. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a bank simply blocks a charge. In these cases, the customer needs to reach out to their bank, letting them know they authorize charges from OwlCrate. It seems this happens with international customers more than customers in the US.