Auto-Renewal Failure

[Wilma]

Hi there

My SMARTY plan has been on auto-renewal since I opened my account and has renewed every month accordingly, for well over a year.

Today it failed to renew.

I have tried twice to renew it manually this morning and each time I get an on-screen 'success' message, but never a confirmation email and the Dashboard continues to say my plan needs renewing.

I bank with Barclays, there are funds available in the account and the payment card has not expired.

My partner's account, which was originally set up a the same time & was also set to auto-renew today, has renewed just fine, but he banks elsewhere.

It feels like there maybe a problem between SMARTY & Barclays this morning?

[MSF]

Presumably your phone is still working though?

I think it would be a good idea to have a web chat with Support Team as soon as possible. They can access your account and see what's going on.

[Chalkychap]

Have you checked that Barclays don't have an issue with online payments at the moment @Wilma? 
Their service status is online at https://status.uk.barclays/.

Currently, for CARDS, Barclays are saying:

We’re sorry, some customers are having trouble using Contactless Mobile to make payments at the moment – we’re working to fix this.

[Wilma]

Thank you @MSF and @Chalkychap for your replies & suggestions.

The phone was still working the entire time - I think I read somewhere (in FAQs?) there is a 12-hour grace period...

Payment was attempted using a stored payment card via my account, on a laptop, for all 3 attempts (not Contactless Mobile).

The plan did renew eventually at the 3rd time of asking and a renewal/payment email confirmation was received this time.

SMARTY may have had a 'date issue' of some sort. My plan generally auto-renews on either 30th or 31st of the month, but obviously they were was no 30th or 31st last month. After the 3rd attempt at a manual renewal today was successful, my Dashboard originally said renewal was due again tomorrow, but it is now says renewal is due 1st April.

I will check Auto-Renew has been set to on & see what happens next month, but all good for now. 👍

[MSF]

There do seem to have been a few 'blips' generally today from things posted on the forum.

Glad it is now sorted. All very frustrating when tech doesn't work smoothly. Just shows how dependent upon it we have become 😱

[Chalkychap]

Were you using a SMARTY plan in Feb 2022 @Wilma?
If so, did your plan auto-renew okay in Feb 2022 (i.e. 28-Feb-2022)? 

[Wilma]

Hi @Chalkychap, yes I was using a SMARTY plan in Feb 2022 and last year it auto-renewed okay on the 2nd or 3rd of March without a problem.

However, that's not to say a more recent software release couldn't have introduced a 'bug' such as this, which has just sat there silently until the conditions arise (e.g. a 28-day month) for code to fail.

Something definitely went awry early on Wednesday morning, as not only did payment initially not go through, but I have since had to reset my account back to Auto-Renew.

[Chalkychap]

Yes indeed - perhaps combination of the Barclays card payments problems, and a SMARTY blip with their customer accounts systems resulted in the failure.

I guess you'll find out next month, or next February (leap year).
🍀🤞

[Gasgas2_1119700]

Had auto renew for 2 years, today SMS say payment problem (service terminated despite having credit) Auto renew now OFF, tried renewing, failed, tried different payment method - failed, all Smarty is saying is its my banks fault and i should ring them but i cannot as i have no phone, no explanation as to why a different bank fails too.  IF this ever get solves, i'll be leaving....  awful service.

[MSF]

@Gasgas2_1119700 As you seem to have some internet access (otherwise you wouldn't be able to post here), can you contact your bank via email or web chat?

[Gasgas2_1119700]

After some 80mins on chat to Smarty, blaming me for changing auto renew (i didn't) & telling me to contact 2 different banks, turns out Smarty had disabled my email address, once enabled, i could renew plan. If an account has credit, why is service terminated????

No apology for wasting my time - if it wasn't for wifi calling, i'd never use Smarty.

[Vip3r09]

I'm always using PayPal to make payments on SMARTY, GiffGaff or VOXI. Highly recommend trying PayPal. 👍

[Gabriel_2315997]

I have had the same, or a similar problem.  I set up auto-renew some weeks ago when I changed my payment card.  In the last 4 or 5 days, I have had repeated text messages from Smarty saying my plan is due to end and that I must set up auto-renew.  Each time, I have logged on to my Smarty account, set up auto-renew and received an on-screen message from Smarty to say that I have auto-renewed.  Not much later, I've received another text message to say my plan has expired.  It's deeply frustrating and not really acceptable.  I have emailed Smarty for customer support and await with anxiety.  

[MSF]

@Gabriel_2315997 Possibly just as well that you have written to Smarty. I'm wondering whether they need to 're-set' your account in some way.

Having been with them some time now, this has never happened to us. Interestingly, I thought that accounts defaulted to the auto-renew turned on.