Investigating an orphan Stripe payment without a NetSuite invoice

Stripe

Open the flagged payment intent and copy the customer email, amount and metadata fields.

Look at the metadata pane carefully. If there is an `invoice_id` field but the ID does not exist in NetSuite, the invoice was likely voided. If the metadata is empty, the payment was raised from a manual Checkout link rather than the customer portal.

Expected: The payment intent screen is open with email, amount and metadata visible.

NetSuite

Search the global customer list using the email exactly as it appears in Stripe.

Use the global search bar, not the dropdown filter on the customer list page. The dropdown only searches active customers but most orphans match against an inactive or lead-stage record.

Expected: Either an exact-match customer record is found or the search returns no results.

NetSuite

If no exact match, search for typo variants of the email by changing common endings.

Try .co versus .com, .uk versus .co.uk, mac versus mc and single versus double letters in the user part. Around three in five orphans turn out to be a one-character email typo, so try the four most likely variants before giving up on the email path.

Expected: A customer record matches one of the variants or all four variants return nothing.

Stripe

If no email match, check the events tab for a `checkout.session` reference indicating a manual Checkout link.

Manual Checkout links from customer support do not create a NetSuite invoice. A `checkout.session.<id>` reference in the events tab confirms the payment is legitimate and needs an invoice raised post-hoc rather than refunded as fraud.

Expected: Either a checkout session reference is found or the events tab shows only the standard payment lifecycle.

NetSuite

If a manual Checkout, raise a back-dated invoice using the date of the Stripe payment, mark it as paid against that payment and paste the Stripe payment intent ID into the memo.

Use the Stripe payment date, not today, otherwise the invoice will land in the wrong period and skew month-end revenue. Set the payment method to Stripe and paste the payment intent ID into the memo so the auditor can trace it to the bank statement.

Expected: A back-dated invoice exists, fully paid and linked to the Stripe payment intent.

NetSuite

If still no cause is found, search recent invoices for an amount match within seven days for the same customer.

Sometimes a customer has paid the wrong copy of a duplicate invoice. Two invoices for the same amount within seven days pointing at the same customer means a duplicate. The orphan investigation hands off to the void duplicate workflow at this point.

Expected: Either a matching duplicate invoice is found or no match exists at all.

Stripe

If no cause is found within ten minutes of investigation, send a brief email to the cardholder asking what the payment was intended for and log the orphan as held in the close checklist.

Ten minutes is the cap on solo investigation. Beyond that the cost of further searching exceeds the value of the payment. Email the cardholder politely, log the orphan as held with the payment intent ID and revisit when the customer responds.

Expected: The cardholder receives a short email and the orphan is logged as held in the close checklist.