Urgent Payment Outage Crisis Communication

Subject: [URGENT] Payment System Outage - Status & Recovery

SITUATION:
Payment processing outage from 2:00pm-4:00pm today. System restored and operating normally.

IMPACT:
- Revenue lost: $12,000
- Failed transactions: 50
- Customer disruption: 2-hour window
- Status: All systems operational

CURRENT STATUS:
[checkmark] Payment processing restored (as of 4:00pm)
[checkmark] Root cause identified and fixed
[in progress] Customer notification in progress

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WHAT HAPPENED (Timeline):

2:00pm: Payment failures begin
2:15pm: Issue escalated to engineering
2:30pm: Root cause identified (Stripe webhook misconfiguration)
3:15pm: Fix deployed
4:00pm: Full payment processing restored
4:15pm: Validation complete, monitoring active

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RECOVERY PLAN:

**Immediate (by 5:00pm):**
- Notify all 50 affected customers
- Provide clear path to retry transactions
- Offer assistance for urgent payment needs

**Today (by 7:00pm):**
- Monitor system stability
- Track customer retry success rate
- Support team briefed and ready for inquiries

**This Week:**
- Root cause analysis documented
- Webhook configuration review process
- Alert system improvements to catch earlier

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ROOT CAUSE:
Stripe webhook endpoint misconfiguration prevented payment confirmations from reaching our system. Configuration error during routine update, not detected by existing monitoring.

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PREVENTION MEASURES:

1. Webhook configuration validation in deployment checklist
2. Synthetic transaction monitoring every 5 minutes
3. Alert triggers for payment failure spikes
4. Staged rollout process for payment infrastructure changes

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CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION:

Email template prepared:
- Apologize for disruption
- Explain issue resolved
- Offer direct support contact
- Waive late fees if applicable
- Provide easy retry mechanism

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DECISIONS NEEDED:

**Revenue Recovery:**
Should we offer affected customers a service credit or discount on next payment?
- Option 1: 10% credit (~$1,200 cost)
- Option 2: Apology only, no credit
- Option 3: Case-by-case based on customer value

**Recommendation:** Option 1 - shows accountability, prevents churn
**Decision needed by:** 6:00pm (before customer emails sent)

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NEXT UPDATE: 7:00pm (after customer notification complete)

Available immediately for questions.