Can I Restart a Subscription That Has Been Cancelled?

Can I Restart a Subscription That Has Been Cancelled?

Module: Sales
Topic: Subscription / Continuity
Version(s): 5.1 
Editions: All

Can I Restart a Subscription That Has Been Cancelled?

The short answer is No. 

Due to OLX providing a holistic platform we no longer allow the ability to restart a subscription/continuity once it has been cancelled.  You may recall this was allowed in past versions, however we saw a negative impact to multiple reporting features. The only way to combat all the impacts was to remove the option to restart after a cancellation. Keep in mind this does not relate to restarting after a subscription/continuity has been placed on Hold. That is a completely different scenario.

Cancelled Subscription

How does a subscription/continuity become cancelled? There are 4 ways a subscription/continuity can become cancelled:
  1. Customer contacts Customer Service requesting cancellation.
  2. If the current order is cancelled you are given the option to cancel the subscription/continuity as well.
  3. Credit Card payment declines multiple times and item ends in a Item Fatal Auth status.
  4. Item Invalid status, meaning the credit card on file has expired.
One thing to note with Item Invalid: Inventory will still be committed to the order. Item Invalid status HAS to have human intervention in order to have all loose ends tied up.
Running a Continuity Mailing List report will allow you to view orders with credit cards on file that will expire before the next ship date

Work Around

The work around for starting a subscription/continuity where a previous order left off is to create a new product offer for the starting offer and then proceed with creating a new subscription sequence. Add that to the script and create a new order for the customer.

New Product Offer

You have to create a new product offer for the starting offer of the new subscription sequence. If you try to use the already existing product offer there is a risk this could create duplicate shipments by the product offer being used in future setups.
Example:
Customer John orders a 6 month subscription/continuity for 12 oz Lobster Tail. 

John's subscription/continuity ends up cancelled on month 3 due to an expired credit card. John goes 2 months before he reaches out to customer service to see why he hasn't received his 12 oz Lobster Tail. Customer service determines the cause of the cancellation and updates payment info for John and follows the steps below to start a subscription/continuity for the remainder of the original 6 months John placed an order for. However, customer service did not create a new product offer and used the already existing product offer for month 3 as the starting offer for the new subscription/continuity.

New customer Sarah orders a 6 month subscription/continuity for 12 oz Lobster Tail. When she gets to month 3 a new subscription/continuity is kicked off along side the already 6 month subscription/continuity. Months 4, 5, and 6 Sarah receives and is charged for two 12 oz Lobster Tails when she only wanted and budgeted for one.

Had customer service created a new product offer as detailed below, Sarah would not receive nor be charged double in months 4, 5, and 6.

Create New Starting Product Offer

  1. Navigate to Company Data > Product Data > Product Offer
  2. Filter for the product offer that the customers new subscription/continuity needs to start with.
    1. For instance, if the customer was on a 6 month subscription/continuity for 12 oz Lobster Tail and the subscription/continuity cancelled on month 3, you will find the 12 oz Lobster Tail Month 3 product offer. 
  3. Create a copy of the 12 oz Lobster Tail Month 3 product offer. 
  4. Rename the product offer to have Restart in front of the name:
    1. Restart - 12 oz Lobster Tail Month 3 product offer. 

New Subscription Sequence

  1. Navigate to Company Data > Product Data > Subscription Sequences
  2. Add new Subscription Sequence
    1. Match the Client, Pay Preference, Item Type to be the same information as is set in your 6 month subscription/continuity for 12 oz Lobster Tail
    2. Starting Offer = product offer in step 4
    3. Description, notate that this is a RESTART for the original subscription/continuity
    4. Sequences add 12 oz Lobster Tail Months 4, 5, and 6.
      1. Save each line on the Sequences tab
    5. Save the newly created Subscription Sequence

Add To Script

  1. Navigate to Company Data > Advertising > Maintain Scripts
  2. Find and edit the script this new sequence needs to be added to
  3. Click on the Prod Offers tab
  4. Add the new product offer created above
  5. Click Save

New Order

  1. Navigate to the Customer Detail screen for the customer with the cancelled subscription/continuity
  2. Click on the New Order tile at the top of the screen
  3. Choose the correct information for Source, payment, and addresses
  4. Create order for the Product Offer you created above
  5. Submit order
Payment information for the customer will have to be taken again.