Using Dunning with Chargebee and GoCardless

When using both Chargebee and GoCardless for payment processing and retries, it's important to understand how their dunning mechanisms interact—especially when GoCardless' Success+ feature is enabled.

This article explains whether you can use retry logic from both systems simultaneously and offers guidance on the recommended configuration to avoid duplicate retries or customer confusion.

Can I use dunning from both Chargebee and GoCardless at the same time?

No, we do not recommend enabling both Chargebee's dunning system and GoCardless' standard retry mechanisms in parallel. Doing so can create:

• Conflicting or duplicated retry attempts
• Multiple customer notifications for the same payment failure
• Difficulty tracking payment recovery and reporting on failed payments These issues can negatively affect customer experience and make it harder to monitor collections accurately.

Exception: GoCardless Success+

GoCardless offers an advanced retry feature called Success+, which differs from traditional dunning. It uses machine learning to intelligently retry failed Direct Debit payments—without sending notifications to your customers.

When Success+ is used in conjunction with Chargebee:

• Chargebee continues to handle all customer communication and retry notifications
• Success+ runs silently in the background, optimizing retry timing for better recovery rates
• Chargebee receives payment status updates after each retry attempt made by Success+ This setup avoids the issues caused by overlapping retry systems while improving recovery from failed direct debit transactions.

Recommended configuration

To ensure a smooth and non-conflicting dunning experience across both systems, follow the setup below:

1. Enable dunning in Chargebee Chargebee should manage all customer-facing retry logic, email notifications, and billing communication for all payment methods.

2. Enable GoCardless Success+ (Direct Debit only) Use Success+ to enhance recovery for Direct Debit payments. It works silently in the background and does not interfere with Chargebee's workflows.

3. Do not enable standard GoCardless dunning Avoid turning on GoCardless' default retry/dunning system alongside Chargebee, as this can cause duplicate retries and communications.

If you have questions or need help configuring this setup, reach out to Chargebee Support or your GoCardless account manager.