Gocardless and domain name renewals

[Si]

Just wondered how other people are handling this because its creating a real problem

GC module is working fine - BUT, for example

I have a customer with 3 domain names due for renewal yesterday - they appear on one invoice.  This customer has his mandate up and running for more than 6 weeks now, so he is not waiting on a mandate being setup.  The due date for the invoice is 20th March - which is the renewal date of the 3 .com domains.  The invoice is now showing a status of 'payment pending' with GC.  

However, the registrar just sent me notification this morning that the 3 domains have expired.  (Currently they are still working, but they are now showing as expired in a whois search).  The invoice states that the payment via GC is due to clear on the 26th March.  So, can I really wait another 5 days in the hoe that the payment clears running the risk that the clients websites/email will all go offline?

If I renew the domain manually now, when the payment does come through from GC, the domain will be renewed again for a further year.

Have I missed something or is this how this is supposed to work?

[brian!]

7 hours ago, Si said:

If I renew the domain manually now, when the payment does come through from GC, the domain will be renewed again for a further year.

then the short-term fix would be to disable the "Auto Renew on Payment" option in general settings -> domains; optionally renew the domain directly at the registrar and with payment renewal disabled, WHMCS will just create a to-do item and not try to renew again... that said, having their domains expire and their sites go down can often be a remarkable encouragement for clients to pay their invoices earlier in the future!

7 hours ago, Si said:

Have I missed something or is this how this is supposed to work?

I suspect it's how it's supposed to work... your problem is that direct debits aren't instant, and WHMCS will attempt the charge on the invoice due date... therefore, you may have to adjust how WHMCS handles domains, and possibly hosting, renewals to account for the delay in receiving payment.

so one option might be to manually change the due dates forward of these domains that use the GC module...

I know that the Nifty GoCardless module gives you the option of charging x days before the due date, but i'm not sure if the WHMCS GoCardless module can do the same.

Quote

* Easy to setup and no need to visit GoCardless again
* View and select default mandate from multiple mandates on behalf of your customer from Admin Area
* New tab in Admin area Invoice details page to view detailed payment status, time line and failure reasons
* Manage clients with multiple direct debit mandates from Admin Area
* Customers can add or modify multiple bank accounts from Client Area
* Admins can add or modify multiple bank accounts from Admin Area
* Allow / disallow clients to add / cancel direct debit from Client Area
* Map existing GoCardless direct debit mandates automatically
* Provision to handle existing GoCardless subscriptions
* Setup number of days before the due payment date you want to attempt to capture the payment
* Select custom or template emails to send to clients during payment status change
* Mark invoices as paid regardless of the GoCardless status
* Detailed logs to troubleshoot customer specific problems

[steven99]

57 minutes ago, brian! said:

so one option might be to manually change the due dates forward of these domains that use the GC module...

Would the setting WHMCS admin -> Setup menu -> Automation settings -> Credit Card Charging Settings -> Process Days Before Due work for GC mandates? 

[Si]

5 hours ago, steven99 said:

Would the setting WHMCS admin -> Setup menu -> Automation settings -> Credit Card Charging Settings -> Process Days Before Due work for GC mandates? 

Not sure, but I don't really want to have to upset other customers on other payment methods.  

Thanks for the heads up on I'm looking at the nifty GoCardless module  brian!
https://marketplace.whmcs.com/product/3531

......which after clarifying with their support, does indeed have a function to collect payments on certain number of days before the due dates but I'm loathe to start using a third party module because of bad experiences in the past when WHMCS is updated and modules are not kept up to date.

Also, I've tried using the automation setting in the domain sync script within WHMCS to set domain due dates 7 days before the domain expiry date (as this would solve the problem also), but the domain sync script is not doing what it should.  ie setting the due date to 7 days before the expiry date - so the problem remains.

[steven99]

One option would be a invoicecreated hook that pulls up the invoice and checks if the payment gateway is GC and if it is a domain renewal and if so set the due date accordingly .  If you set WHMCS admin -> Setup menu -> Automation Settings -> Invoice Generation -> Advanced -> Domain settings to say 15, then when the hook fires it can adjust the due date accordingly.   Of course that would require a PHP developer to handle creating the hook . 

[WHMCS ChrisD]

@Si another option could be setting the "Next Due Date" back a few days for the next renewal so It doesn't cause an issue in the future, because the module deducts on the due date and the domains renew when the payment is received what you are experiencing would be considered the expected behavior when using GoCardless, I can see that for a domain this might need to be treated differently let me flag this with the team and see if they have any ideas.

[Si]

3 hours ago, WHMCS ChrisD said:

@Si another option could be setting the "Next Due Date" back a few days for the next renewal so It doesn't cause an issue in the future, because the module deducts on the due date and the domains renew when the payment is received what you are experiencing would be considered the expected behavior when using GoCardless, I can see that for a domain this might need to be treated differently let me flag this with the team and see if they have any ideas.

Thanks - would really appreciate that.  However....

surely the simplest/quickest solution I can see is that the WHMCS Automation Settings > Domain Sync Settings > Sync Next Due Date (set to 7+ days) would negate the issue completely.  Problem is, the domain sync doesn't actually change the due date from anything different than the domain expiry date.

[brian!]

12 hours ago, Si said:

......which after clarifying with their support, does indeed have a function to collect payments on certain number of days before the due dates but I'm loathe to start using a third party module because of bad experiences in the past when WHMCS is updated and modules are not kept up to date.

I appreciate that - i'm loathed to use any module, whether written by WHMCS or a third-party unless absolutely necessary.

the reason I mentioned that addon was because it has been praised by a few users whose opinion I respect.. e.g

now of course, evidence of good support today doesn't mean they will do the same tomorrow - but there are risks with relying on WHMCS too!

18 hours ago, steven99 said:

Would the setting WHMCS admin -> Setup menu -> Automation settings -> Credit Card Charging Settings -> Process Days Before Due work for GC mandates? 

implied from John's reply in the above thread, I would take the answer to be yes.

On 29/01/2019 at 16:18, WHMCS John said:

The charge is initiated in accordance with the Setup > Automation Settings > Credit Card Charging settings.

if you syncing, then modifying the due dates manually is sadly not really an option.

2 hours ago, Si said:

surely the simplest/quickest solution I can see is that the WHMCS Automation Settings > Domain Sync Settings > Sync Next Due Date (set to 7+ days) would negate the issue completely.  Problem is, the domain sync doesn't actually change the due date from anything different than the domain expiry date.

if it did, it wouldn't be syncing, just adjusting! 🙂

shall I post an obligatory 5-year old feature request (are there any other types!) - it might be worth a read as there a few applicable hooks posted in the thread that you might be able to modify for your purpose... though it comes to something when users realise that it's quicker/better to post solutions themselves rather than wait for WHMCS to complete the request! 🙄

with the best will in the world, and even with Chris passing it up the food chain, I can't see them hotfixing this imminently and I suspect it's going to be a couple of months before the next release - so nothing will change before then... and possibly not even then.

[Si]

Just thought I'd update this thread as everyone has been helpful and others I'm sure will come across this.  I solved the problem(s) by purchasing the nifty GoCardless module.  https://in2computing.com/nifty-products/direct-debit-gocardless

It took a bit of setting up but if you take your time and follow the instructions (especially if you have already started using another GC module) it is well worth it.  Their support was great too. 

It just works.  The functionality is great and it solves all of the issues I had with the WHMCS module.  Best advice I would give would be to start with the nifty module if you are only starting with GC.  If you've already started using another module, I would still not hesitate in recommending it.  Always a risk using a third party for mods, but in this instance I really had no option and I couldn't wait on WHMCS to resolve the issues  (we all know what thats like).  Cheers everyone.

[Vox]

Hi @WHMCS ChrisD,

On 3/22/2019 at 6:02 AM, WHMCS ChrisD said:

@Si another option could be setting the "Next Due Date" back a few days for the next renewal so It doesn't cause an issue in the future, because the module deducts on the due date and the domains renew when the payment is received what you are experiencing would be considered the expected behavior when using GoCardless, I can see that for a domain this might need to be treated differently let me flag this with the team and see if they have any ideas.

Has there been any progress on this yet?