customer-billing-ops

Duplicate subscription handling starts by confirming the customer identity and listing all active subscriptions. Cancel the extra subscription, consider refunding only the duplicate charge, keep the remaining active subscription, and document the reason before sending a follow-up.

Refund investigation begins with classifying the issue before acting: accidental duplicate purchase, broken product value, failed checkout, or missing self-serve controls. Refund only the affected charge after classification, never blindly, and record the revenue impact.

Hosted billing portals are preferred over custom account-management code when the platform already provides the needed controls. A billing portal restores self-serve management for cancellations, invoices, and payment method updates without new product work.

Billing lookup works from the strongest available identifier: customer email, Stripe customer ID, subscription ID, or invoice ID. Support emails or GitHub usernames can serve as supporting evidence when they map back to billing records.

Refunds are not appropriate when the case is a deliberate multi-seat or team purchase, or when the real fix is restoring self-serve controls like a billing portal or cancellation path. Classify the issue first and prefer reversible actions before refunding.