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Payment failures are part of the revenue lifecycle on watt.ma. A declined card, insufficient balance, or network error should not block your understanding of your financial situation. watt.ma keeps every attempt in the history, gives you action levers by role, and automatically notifies the customer to facilitate settlement.

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Possible Causes of Failure

Card declined

The issuing bank refuses the debit without detailed reason. Common on first transactions with a new card.

Card expired

The saved payment method has passed its expiration date. Recurring debit fails systematically.

Insufficient balance

The customer’s account does not have the necessary amount at the time of debit.

Provider error

Temporary outage of the CMI network or Stripe API. The payment can be retried once the service is restored.

Payment method revoked

The customer blocked their card or closed their account between invoice creation and debit attempt.

Authentication failure

The 3D Secure or bank authentication was not completed by the customer within the allotted time.

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Failure Lifecycle and Resolution

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Administrator Actions

Depending on your role, you have different actions to handle a failure.
Definitive write-off of an invoice is an irreversible accounting action. Always document the reason in the payment notes for traceability. Only administrators can write off.

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Attempt History

Every payment attempt remains in the watt.ma history. A failed payment is never overwritten with a success. When a retry succeeds, a new record is created with its own payment ID. This preservation guarantees a complete audit trail. You can export the failure history from Reports > Collections in CSV format.

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Automatic Customer Notifications

watt.ma automatically sends the following notifications in case of failure:
  • Email: sent immediately after the Failed status, with the failure reason and a link to update the payment method.
  • SMS: reminder sent at D+1 and D+7 if the payment remains unpaid. The SMS contains a link to the settlement portal.
  • WhatsApp: if the WhatsApp receipt option is enabled, a message is sent at D+3 for recurring invoices.
Sign in to web.watt.ma and go to Settings > Notifications to customize the tone and content of reminder messages. You can add a custom signature or a grace period.

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Permissions

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Concrete Example

The monthly invoice for Residence Al Andalous for unit 5B amounts to 412.00 MAD. The CMI debit fails on the 5th of the month with the reason Card expired.
1

Failure detection

The payment status changes to Failed. The customer receives an email with the reason and a link to update their card.
2

Automatic reminder

At D+3, no update has been made. The customer receives an SMS reminder. At D+7, the status remains unpaid.
3

Administrator intervention

The site operator calls the resident by phone. The resident updates their card from the received link.
4

Manual retry and success

The operator clicks Retry from the invoice detail. The new attempt WAT-000184-PAY-02 changes to Successful status. The receipt is generated.
For recurring residence invoices, watt.ma automatically attempts a new debit at D+3 and D+7 before marking the invoice as definitively unpaid. You can disable this option in the billing cycle configuration.

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See Also

Payment Lifecycle

Understand every status of a payment attempt from creation to settlement.

Bank Reconciliation

Record transfers and reconcile collections with your bank account.

RFID Badges

Manage named badges and suspend access in case of payment default.

Resident Invoices

Issue and track monthly resident invoices with automatic reminders.