Payment problems
What is locked after a failed payment, what stays, and how you resolve it.
The trigger is exactly one event: a failed payment.
Seven days in which nothing happens
The first failure opens a grace period of seven days. While it runs, nothing is locked — everything stays usable as before.
A second or third failure does not extend it. It is set on the first failure only.
The notice band says both: „Eine Zahlung ist fehlgeschlagen.“ (A payment has failed.) and „Die Frist läuft bis {Datum}.“ (The grace period runs until {date}.) Plus: „Bis zum Ablauf der Frist bleibt alles wie gewohnt nutzbar.“
What you can do: check the payment method.
The signed-in product speaks German, so its messages are quoted in German throughout, with the English rendering in italics.
After that: reading yes, creating no
Once the grace period expires, write protection applies. It affects exactly two things:
| Locked | Stays |
|---|---|
| Uploading | Viewing, verifying, downloading |
| Video renders | Image renders and signing |
Members are not locked out. Nobody loses access, nobody is removed from the workspace. Anyone who wants their data out can still get it.
The lock does not fall to the second but up to about a day after the grace period ends. That is why the text says „ab dem {Datum}“ (from {date}) rather than naming a time.
An upgrade is refused while the payment is outstanding and the lock is in force. During the grace period it still works.
What happens after that
Fourteen days after the end of the grace period — so at the earliest three weeks after the first failure — the subscription is cancelled. The date named is an earliest date. Before that step verstag asks the payment provider: only if it still reports the payment as outstanding is the subscription cancelled.
The free plan applies afterwards. Nothing is deleted on the day of the downgrade. It narrows the retention period, and a grace period of 30 days begins after which older original files are removed.
The band says so beforehand: „Bleibt die Zahlung offen, wird dieser Arbeitsbereich auf den kostenlosen Tarif zurückgestuft.“
„Zahlungseinzug pausiert“ is something else
That is not arrears. It does not arise from a failed payment and therefore cannot be resolved by paying:
Der Zahlungseinzug für diesen Arbeitsbereich ist pausiert. Schreib uns an hello@verstag.io, um ihn wieder aufzunehmen.
Collection for this workspace is paused. Write to us at hello@verstag.io to resume it.
The effect is the same as with arrears: the same two locks.
Who sees the notice
The band appears on every page of the application — but only for owners and admins. A member never sees it; they get the notice only where it concerns them — at the refusal while uploading, with a note on who can act.
An owner reads „Prüfe das Zahlungsmittel …“ (Check the payment method …), an admin „Das Zahlungsmittel kann nur die Inhaberin oder der Inhaber dieses Arbeitsbereichs ändern.“ (Only this workspace's owner can change the payment method.)