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Problem in free period for resubscribing a plan

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Justin O'Heir

07 Nov, 2016 11:23 AM

Dear Meghan,

In our SANDBOX environment, we have created a monthly plan with 7 days free trial. Now today we observed that, if new a user subscribed that plan today that is 27/10/2016 then he/she will get free trial for 7 days and invoice will be generated on 03/11/2016, but if user cancelled his/her subscription in between the free period then no amount will be charged and invoice not generated. Now if user again resubscribe after the free period, suppose he/she resubscribe on 07/11/2016 then again he get the 7 days free trial, that is a critical issue. Because user suppose to get free trial first time only, not in case of resubscribe.

I will attached the screen shot for your reference, where you can see the url which is update type not create type and next invoice generation date and these two things are marked as a red circle in the attached image.

Thanks & Regards
Swapan Mishra

• resubscribe.png 39.3 KB

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Meghan Turner on 08 Nov, 2016 11:22 PM

   

   Hi Swapan,

   CG handles cancellations and reactivations with a free trial a few different ways depending on the situation. In the case of the customer in the screenshot you provided, they canceled their subscription on the same day they signed-up (10/27/16) and didn't really receive their free trial. Since they didn't receive the free trial, CG will assume that they should receive the free trial again if they reactivate their subscription after their initial bill date. There is a way to override this behavior by passing in the parameter changeBillDate=now on reactivation, but you'd need to be using the API instead of hosted pages to do that. In the case that the customer cancels and reactivates before the initial bill date, the trial will continue and the initial bill date will not be changed.

   If you'd like more information about about how CG handles cancellations and reactivations in different situations, you can check out our 'What happens when a canceled customer is reactivated' Knowledge Base article.

   Meghan

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2. 2 Posted by Justin O'H... on 09 Nov, 2016 06:41 AM

   

   Hi Meghan,

   Thanks a lot to share that information. I read that article "What happens when a canceled customer is reactivated Knowledge Base article". In that article point no 2.3 "Example C Short Cancel Before Free Trial Ends" it is stated that if a customer cancel subscription within the free trial period and again reactivated within that billing cycle(Short Cancel) then he/she get free trial again from that re-subscription date.
   In web we are using hosted page of CG, and in the hosted page the parameter "changeBillDate=now" is not working.
   So, please guided us how we will handled that situation in hosted page and please find a solution for hosted page so that if we pass any parameter "changeBillDate=now" like API call that will change the trial period.

   Thanks & Regards
   Swapan Mishra

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Meghan Turner on 09 Nov, 2016 10:28 PM

   

   Hi Swapan,

   Long term, we recommend that you eventually start using the API, which will give you increased flexibility in how you handle subscriptions and access to more of CG's billing features (like tracked items), but, in the short term while you're using hosted payment pages, you can manually change the the bill date in the customer record via the user interface, if needed. To be notified when a customer reactivates their subscription, you could use Zapier to send some kind of communication to yourself when a subscription reactivation event occurs in CG (more about setting up webhooks and Zapier can be found in Webhooks Knowledge Base article).

   Meghan

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4. 4 Posted by Justin O'H... on 10 Nov, 2016 07:23 AM

   

   Hi Meghan,

   At the time of reactivation using hosted payment pages, user will redirect to the hosted page provided by CG, we are passing some parameter with that hosted page url. If we manually change the the bill date of the customer record using our user interface that does not full fill our purpose, because actual payment initiated at hosted page of CG and maintained by CG. Suppose we change the free trial date in our end, but in your end when user resubscribe he/she will get again free trial period and in CG that new trial date maintained and bill is not initiated from CG, no transaction will done in CG. So change bill date time in our end does not make any seance.
   So, this is my request to provide any option in hosted page so that we can pass any parameter (like API) in hosted page url that will indicate CG for initiation of billing data time.

   Thanks & Regards
   Swapan Mishra

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5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Meghan Turner on 10 Nov, 2016 03:39 PM

   

   Hi Swapan,

   When I mentioned changing the billing date time in the user interface, I was referring to the CheddarGetter user interface. For example, if you wanted to change the bill date of this customer, you can visit the customer's CheddarGetter account page, click on 'Edit Subscription' from the menu on the left, and change the bill date time manually on that page. If the customer reactivates, you can change the Bill Date to 'now' on the Edit Subscription page, which will effectively cancel their free trial and bill them for the subscription immediately.

   Meghan

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6. 6 Posted by Justin O'H... on 11 Nov, 2016 06:39 AM

   

   Hi Meghan,

   Is that feasible for us to change that billing data time manually from CG one by one for the affected users. Suppose there are 100000 users, first we have to identify who are the users those are effected with that case, then login into CG and change that billing time manually for those users.

   This is my suggestion to provide any option in hosted page so that we can pass any parameter (like API) in hosted page url that will indicate CG for initiation of billing data time. You can discuss with your technical team regarding that suggestion to solve that minor issue.

   Thanks & Regards
   Swapan Mishra

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7. 7 Posted by Justin O'H... on 18 Nov, 2016 07:15 AM

   

   Hi Meghan,

   Any update regarding my last comment ? I'm very much thankful to you if consider my last suggestion.

   Thanks & Regards
   Swapan Mishra

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8. Support Staff 8 Posted by Meghan Turner on 18 Nov, 2016 03:17 PM

   

   Hi Swapan,

   Thanks for the suggestion. I've discussed it with our engineers and adding that feature to the hosted page is something that we can't implement at this time. The hosted payment pages themselves are meant to be a short term solution to help startups or small companies that have limited access to developers to start billing their customers quicker. We encourage all of our CG users, especially those who grow beyond a few hundred customers, to plan on eventually using their own payment pages with our API for increased flexibility in the automation of their billing processes.

   Meghan

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9. Marcela Poffald closed this discussion on 11 Apr, 2018 04:02 PM.