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K
KatnissBookkeeper
May 22, 2025
Question

Recurring Sales Receipt Payments Failing Without Reason - STILL.

  • May 22, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 33 views

Dear QBO team,

We need to talk. Again.

 

My client uses recurring sales receipts with cards on file—something your system is supposed to handle reliably. The card is entered. It's verified. The sales receipt is scheduled. The green light is on. Everything looks perfect. And yet… sometimes the payment just doesn’t run. No error. No flag. No explanation. Just silence.

And this isn’t new—I’ve reported this multiple times over the past year. I’ve spent hours on the phone going through the usual script (“Yes, I know how to use a mouse.” “Yes, the green light is on.”), only for your reps to eventually admit that yes, the transaction should have processed… but didn’t. And no, they can't tell me why.

Here’s what this bug means in the real world:

1) I have to manually click into every single recurring sales receipt—even though it was “set and forget”—to verify that the card actually processed. If the card last 4 and account funds deposited to isn't there, I know it failed to process.

2) Today, yet again, I found a scheduled payment that just… didn’t happen. No notification. No reason. Just sitting there like it’s waiting for divine intervention.

This is not a small glitch. This is a core function—collecting money—failing randomly. When payments don’t run, we risk delayed income, missed deliverables, and in some cases, damage to client trust.

I’m no longer asking whether this is a known issue. It clearly is. I’m asking:

1) What exactly is being done to identify the root cause?

2) What systematic checks or alerts can we implement so we’re not left guessing? or worse, thinking our customers have paid and delivering goods?

3) Why does QBO continue to treat this like an isolated issue when multiple users have reported it?

Frankly, if QBO can’t be trusted to process a scheduled card payment, it’s not bookkeeping software—it’s a liability. And while I’m still doing your QA job for you, I’d appreciate an answer that doesn’t start with a script.

 

Please escalate this. This is unacceptable.

    4 replies

    J
    JeveeAdvin_laQuickBooks Team
    QuickBooks Team
    May 22, 2025

    Let me direct you to the appropriate support for help to ensure you can successfully process your payments, PlumBookkeeperCO.

     

    Since you've already reached out in the past, I recommend contacting our Live Support team again. With the right tools and expertise, they can determine the root cause of this issue and identify the most relevant fix.

     

    1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account.
    2. Go to Help and choose the Search tab.
    3. In the search field, type in contact support.
    4. Click the Contact Us button.
    5. Click the Have us call you button in the Callback section.
    6. Follow the on-screen steps.

     

    Also, please refer to this article to check their support hours: Get help with QuickBooks products and services.

     

    Feel free to return to the Community if you have other questions about processing your payments in QuickBooks. We're here to offer assistance.

    K
    KatnissBookkeeperAuthor
    May 22, 2025

    @JeveeAdvin__la 
    Thank you for the response, but respectfully—this IS the escalation.

    I’ve already contacted Live Support multiple times over this issue. Each time, they walk through the same script, verify the card should have run, acknowledge that it didn’t, and then offer no explanation or resolution.

    Telling me to go back to the same channel that’s already failed to resolve the issue is not support—it’s deflection.

    This is not a training issue. It’s not a configuration issue. I've set up dozens of recurring sales receipts, the vast majority of which process fine on the date they are supposed to.  Then randomly, they don't.  It’s a core reliability failure in how QBO handles recurring card-on-file payments. Silent failures with no alert or flag are unacceptable in a system designed to automate billing. This is a product design flaw, not a user error.

     

    So unless you can offer:

    • Insight into what causes these failures
    • Confirmation that it's being investigated as a pattern
    • Or a roadmap toward resolving it

    …then this is no longer a support conversation. It’s a product accountability issue. Please escalate accordingly.

      K
      KatnissBookkeeperAuthor
      May 22, 2025
      This post has been deleted.

      @BigRedConsulting 

      Right?!?   I've been complaining about this for 12mths at least but see here on the community several posts going back YEARS that describe the same issue.

      100% unacceptable and clearly not an important issue for Intuit.

      Meantime folks are looking at their bank accounts and looking at QBO's reports and they're unable to explain the discrepancy and their customers are skipping with joy over receiving products/services for free.


        BigRedConsulting
        BigRedConsulting
        Level 15
        May 22, 2025

        @KatnissBookkeeper 

        RE: Then randomly, they don't. It’s a core reliability failure in how QBO handles recurring card-on-file payments. Silent failures with no alert or flag are unacceptable in a system designed to automate billing. This is a product design flaw, not a user error.

         

        This generally describes QuickBooks Online quite well. It is chock full of things like this: Bad design and bad implementation. Features that don't get the most basic things right, while Intuit continues to put new colors of lipstick on the pig, which often make things worse.

         

        RE: I've been complaining about this for 12mths at least but see here on the community several posts going back YEARS that describe the same issue.

         

        This is business as usual for QuickBooks Online. At the same time Intuit's marketing team now pretends QuickBooks Online is a reasonable replacement for Desktop. They used to excuse QuickBooks Online's vast shortcomings by saying it was only appropriate for the smallest of businesses with minimal needs. Then, without actually fixing it - perhaps by adding all of the missing features and the reliability of QuickBooks Desktop - they stopped saying that and started pretending none of that matters. They are either too stupid to know any better or they know and they're flat out lying. Not sure which.

         

         

          cody_a
          cody_aCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          May 22, 2025

          @KatnissBookkeeper We understand how frustrating it must be to deal with recurring sales receipt payments failing for over a year without explanation, and the need to manually verify each one. We want to assure you that we're here to help get to the bottom of this. We've escalated your issue to our Next Level Help team, who will review your Community comments and support history, including your questions about the root cause. You can expect to hear from one of our experts soon with the next steps.

            K
            KatnissBookkeeperAuthor
            May 22, 2025

            Thank you

            N
            neversettle
            May 6, 2026

            Re-requesting this be escalated immediately.  outlines the same circles we're all put through with no resolution. 

            I'm not here to complain about designs, poor ui/ux, etc., but a critical bug that is actually putting our business and every other business at risk of fraudulent reporting for something we cannot control, and is the CORE purpose of QBO and QB Payments - to accurately account money. 

            By the sales receipts falsely reporting as being ran:
            1. They falsely add revenue to our PL that then we pay taxes for not actual owed 
            2. Falsely send a paid reciept to our customers for something they never paid, which they likely are also falsely reporting on their PL as an expense
            3. We as the vendor never recieve money for services we rendered 
            4. There are no error messages or standard reports to even track this so it's almost impossible to even find

            These are core functional errors that have major legal ramifications. QBO stop sending us in circles and provide a real answer and immediate relief and recompensation for the losses of our businesses. 

            Processors make it difficult to transition, but if QBO is not able to respond immediately, I will and recommend every person to transition off. The ramifications financially and legally are significantly more than the cost to transfer. 

              cody_a
              cody_aCommunity Manager
              Community Manager
              May 6, 2026

              @neversettle It’s vital that your books accurately reflect your actual business activity, and I want to make sure we get to the bottom of this for you. 

               

              I’m passing along what you've shared to our Next Level Help team. They’ll start by reviewing your recent Community comments and support history so they have a complete picture of the situation before reaching out. You can expect one of our experts to contact you with the next steps soon.

              N
              neversettle
              May 7, 2026

              Thanks , and I’m still very concerned and confused why this issue has been reported hundreds of times over years (after doing a bit of research) yet it's never been taken care of? 

              When we contact support as clearly outlined by  we get blown off with a canned response, and yet in many cases you could call this fraud, falsifying information, and a MAJOR system error.  If QBO cannot accurately track cash in and cash out every system, tax dependancy, and business function will fail.  

              This is not a minor thing, yet QBO / Intuit continues to take no actual action. 

              Why does every thread that has this same problem get the same response, "well respond" yet if you follow up with thie individuals, the only thing mentioned is QBO has acknowledged this is an error, and there is no solution.??? 

              That is extremely alarming and concerning for all businesses using QBO. 

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