Troubleshoot billing and subscription issues

If a CrashPlan subscription payment is declined, you do not recognize a charge, your bill shows extra devices, billing emails do not arrive, or you have a problem starting a free trial, find the symptom here. These entries apply to subscriptions purchased online.

Payments

A renewal payment failed or was declined

Cause: The bank or payment provider declined the CrashPlan renewal charge, most often because the card expired, the billing details do not match, or the transaction was blocked.

Resolution:

1. In the payment portal, update the payment method to retry the payment immediately, using either the same payment method or a new one.
2. If the payment is declined again, contact your bank, card issuer, or payment provider (e.g., PayPal) to resolve the decline.
3. Update the payment method again, with the same payment method or a new one, to retry the payment.

Paddle may also retry the payment automatically during the 30 days after it first fails. If the payment is still not collected after those 30 days, the subscription ends and backups stop. You can then resubscribe to restart it.

A charge from Paddle on your statement that you do not recognize

Cause: Paddle processes payments for many software companies, including CrashPlan, so a charge with a descriptor that names Paddle, such as PADDLE.NET, can be for any of their products. Some descriptors also name the product, such as PADDLE.NET CRASHPLAN.

Resolution: To find out which product a Paddle charge is for, go to https://paddle.net and, under I'm not sure why Paddle has charged me, click Get help. If the charge is for your organization's CrashPlan subscription, you can view its invoice in the payment portal.

If you have a question about a CrashPlan charge, contact CrashPlan technical support.

Charges and license counts

Your bill shows more devices than you use

Cause: On a device-based CrashPlan plan, each active device uses a license. Extra active devices usually come from:

• An unfinished device replacement: Replacing a device creates a temporary device record, which stays active alongside the original until the replacement is completed.
• A reinstalled CrashPlan app that registered as a new device: A reinstalled app normally resumes as the same device. If the identity information it keeps on the computer is lost, for example when a cleanup tool removes it or the installation type changes, the app registers as a new device, and the original device record stays active.
• A different user signed in to the CrashPlan app: Signing out of the app and signing in as a different user creates a device record under the new user. The device record under the previous user stays active until it is deactivated.
• A temporary computer: A computer used briefly, for example to restore files, stays active until it is deactivated.

Resolution:

1. Note the quantity on your latest CrashPlan invoice.
2. Sign in to the CrashPlan console and select Administration > Environment > Devices.
3. For a device that appears twice because of an unfinished replacement or a reinstalled app, complete the replacement, so that one device record remains.
4. For any other device you no longer need, including a device record left under a previous user, deactivate it.

The active device count in the console updates immediately, and the next charge counts it 48 hours before the billing date. On CrashPlan for MSPs, a deactivated device continues to use a license while its archive is in cold storage. On a yearly or two-year term, licenses already paid for remain available for other devices for the rest of the term and are not refunded.

The License Plan page shows more licenses in use than you have active users

Cause: On a user-based CrashPlan plan, a deactivated user whose archives are in cold storage continues to use a license, and so does an active user whose device has not yet backed up.

Resolution: The license is released when the archives expire at the end of the cold storage retention period, or within 24 hours of purging them. Purging permanently deletes the archives.

The License Plan page shows the same number of licenses after you deactivate devices

Cause: On a device-based CrashPlan plan, the number of licenses on the License Plan page is recounted from active devices on a schedule: 48 hours before each billing date on a monthly term, and 48 hours before renewal on a yearly or two-year term. Until then, the page shows the number from the last count.

Resolution: No action is needed. The number updates automatically at the next count. On CrashPlan for Small Business, a deactivated device stops using a license as soon as it is deactivated. On CrashPlan for MSPs, it continues to use a license while its archive is in cold storage. On a yearly or two-year term, licenses already paid for remain available for other devices for the rest of the term and are not refunded.

Billing and backup status emails

You are not receiving CrashPlan billing emails

Cause: CrashPlan billing emails are sent only to the billing contact, so other administrators do not receive them. They are sent from help@paddle.com, an address that a mail filter may block or move to a spam folder.

Resolution: Confirm that you are the billing contact, and add help@paddle.com to your allowed senders. If someone else should receive them, change the billing contact.

Backup status emails continue after you cancel

Cause: CrashPlan backup status reports continue until console access ends, about 45 days after the subscription ends.

Resolution: Stop the emails in either of these ways:

• Turn off the reports: Clear Send backup report on the Reporting tab of the organization, and of any device with its own report settings, as described in Backup status report emails reference.
• Deactivate users and devices: Deactivate the users and devices you no longer need, which stops their backup status emails. Deactivating also stops their backups and schedules their archives for deletion.

Free trials

"This email address is already in use" when starting a free trial

Cause: The email address already belongs to a CrashPlan account, which may be one you can no longer sign in to. A deactivated or blocked user keeps its email address, and so does an account whose subscription has ended, until the account is deleted.

Resolution:

• The existing account is yours and you can sign in: Sign in to it instead. If you do not know its password, reset it.
• The existing account's subscription has ended: Resubscribe instead of starting a new trial.
• Your user was deactivated or blocked: Ask an administrator of your CrashPlan organization to reactivate or unblock it.
• You need a separate account: Start the trial with a different email address or an email alias.

If none of these situations applies, contact CrashPlan technical support with the email address you are trying to use.

You do not receive the registration email after starting a free trial

Cause: The CrashPlan registration email is sent to the email address entered at checkout. It does not arrive if the address was mistyped, or if a mail filter holds it. A trial started with a mistyped address still converts to a paid subscription when it ends, unless it is canceled, and its sign-in and billing emails go to the same mistyped address.

Resolution:

1. Check your spam or junk folder and mail filters, as described in Problems receiving CrashPlan emails.
2. If you suspect the email address was mistyped, contact CrashPlan technical support before the trial ends, with:
   • The email address you meant to use, and any misspellings of it you think are likely
   • The date you started the free trial
   • If you have already been charged, the dates and amounts of the charges

Contact support before starting another free trial with the correct email address. A second trial creates a second CrashPlan subscription, which is charged separately when it converts.