🔍 What Is Happening?
Some customers with active, paid subscriptions are experiencing one or both of the following issues:
- Receiving non-payment or failed payment email notifications even though their account is up to date.
- Seeing repeated charge attempts on their bank statement, which may trigger additional bank fees.
These issues are caused by known billing system inconsistencies currently being investigated and resolved by our engineering team. You do not need to take action to fix the underlying cause — but this article explains what is happening and what you should do in the meantime.
⚙️ Why This Happens
Several related billing system issues can trigger erroneous emails and duplicate charge attempts:
- Canceled invoice charges: In some cases, the system allows a payment action to run on an already-canceled invoice, causing Stripe to attempt an additional charge.
- Retry loops: Failed payment retry logic can re-trigger even after a successful payment has been recorded, sending unnecessary notification emails.
- Duplicate proration charges: When adding a top-up or upgrading a plan, a billing conflict can result in the same charge being attempted more than once.
- Stripe account sync issues: In rare cases, your account data between our platform and Stripe becomes out of sync, leading to mismatched payment states.
Our engineering team is actively working on fixes for all of these scenarios. Several have already been resolved, and the remaining items are in active development or review.
✅ What You Should Do Right Now
- Do not attempt to pay again. If your subscription is active and your account shows no balance due, do not click any payment links in the emails you received. Doing so may trigger an additional charge attempt.
- Check your account status. Log in to Search Atlas, click your Avatar (top-right corner) → Billing (Plans & Top-ups, Services, Invoices, Activity Log). If your plan shows as active and no outstanding balance is listed, your account is in good standing.
- Review your bank statement. If you see more than one charge from Search Atlas for the same billing period, note the dates and amounts — you will need this information when contacting support.
- Contact our team immediately if you were charged more than once. We will investigate and issue a refund for any confirmed duplicate charges.
🛠️ How We Are Fixing This
Our engineering team has identified the root causes and is implementing targeted fixes, including:
- Disabling the payment action on canceled invoices to prevent Stripe from processing them again.
- Improving retry logic so that payment emails and retry attempts stop automatically once a successful payment is confirmed.
- Fixing the idempotency key issue that allowed duplicate proration charges during top-up additions.
- Resolving Stripe account sync discrepancies so that payment states are accurately reflected across both systems.
Several of these fixes are already live. The remaining items are currently in review or development and will be deployed in upcoming releases.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
- Will I be refunded for duplicate charges? Yes. If our team confirms a duplicate charge occurred on your account, a full refund for the extra amount will be issued promptly.
- Should I update my payment method? Only if your bank or card details have genuinely changed. Do not update your payment method in response to a non-payment email if your account is already active.
- Can I ignore the non-payment emails for now? If your billing page confirms your account is active and paid, yes — the emails are erroneous and no action is required on your part.
- Will this happen again? Once all engineering fixes are fully deployed, these issues will be resolved. We are prioritizing this work to prevent further occurrences.
💬 Still Experiencing Issues?
If you are still receiving non-payment emails, seeing unexpected charges, or have any billing concerns not covered here, please reach out to us directly. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.