Understanding Pending Payment Behavior and Identifying Customers with Failed Payments

Overview

This article explains how Ordway handles pending and failed payment states and how to identify customers who may be accessing services while their payments are still pending. It also outlines how to prevent this situation going forward.

Background

When a payment attempt is initiated, Ordway temporarily marks the related invoice as Paid while the transaction is processing. This is based on the assumption that the payment will successfully settle.

However, if the payment later fails (for example, due to insufficient funds), the invoice status will automatically revert to Posted.

This behavior may result in a temporary period where access is not restricted, even though the payment ultimately fails.

Why Did the Customer Appear to Have Free Access?

• The payment attempt was initially flagged as Pending, causing the invoice status to display as Paid.

• Once the payment failed, the status was corrected to Posted.

• During this window, the customer may not have appeared as past due.

How to Identify Other Affected Customers

To locate customers where this scenario may have occurred, you can generate a report listing:

• Invoices with Pending Payments

• Invoices with Failed Payments

Recommended Report Setup

This report will provide visibility into:

• Customers whose payments are currently pending

• Customers whose payments ultimately failed

• Any customers who may be receiving service while payment resolution is in progress

How to Prevent This Going Forward

To ensure customers do not continue receiving services while payments are pending, your team may consider: