Turning payments off
Both switches in the right order, what disconnecting Stripe does, and what happens to live subscriptions.
Switching payments off is not one action, and doing it in the wrong order leaves families being charged with nobody able to stop it. This article is the order.
Read How money works in Dojo Tiger first if you haven't — the three switches and their asymmetry are the whole reason order matters.
The safe order
Stop every live subscription, one at a time
Students then Enrollments → the Billing column → Stop on every row that is Active, Past due or Paused. Choose Stop at the end of the paid period so families keep the month they have paid for.
Do this first, while you still can. Every step below takes the Stop button away.
Turn automatic monthly billing off
Studio then General → Payments → untick Allow automatic monthly billing. Confirm the dialog.
Now no new monthly billing can be started. Staff can still take one-off payments.
Turn card charging off
Untick Allow charging cards at this studio on the same card. Read the confirmation and confirm.
Now nobody can charge anything: not staff, not families online, not new monthly billing.
Disconnect Stripe — only if you're really leaving
Disconnect on the status card. The studio drops back to Independent mode and every payments control disappears from the app.
Skip this step if you are only pausing. Reconnecting is easy but it is a round-trip through Stripe's onboarding, and card-charging state is worth keeping simple.
What each step does not do
| Step | What keeps happening |
|---|---|
| Turning automatic monthly billing off | Every subscription already running keeps billing. Each one can still be stopped individually. |
| Turning card charging off | Stripe keeps billing every live subscription — and staff lose the button that stops them. |
| Disconnecting Stripe | Stripe still holds and bills every subscription on your account. Dojo Tiger simply can no longer talk to it. |
If you have already turned card charging off and need to stop a subscription
You are not stuck, but there is only one way out, and it is the one the app states before you confirm:
- Turn card charging back on.
- Stop the subscriptions from the Billing column.
- Turn card charging off again.
There is no way to stop a Dojo Tiger subscription from inside the app while card charging is off, because stopping is itself a charging operation.
If you've already disconnected Stripe with subscriptions live
The subscriptions are on your own Stripe account, so you still control them — just not from here. Sign in to your Stripe dashboard and cancel them there. Then either reconnect Dojo Tiger, or leave it in Independent mode.
Dojo Tiger will not know about anything you do in the Stripe dashboard until it is reconnected, so if you cancel there and reconnect later, expect the app's view to be repaired by the nightly reconciliation rather than to be right instantly.
What survives being switched off
- Your charge history. The student-level Charge history card and Reports then Payments keep working with Stripe connected but charging off — a studio that has stopped taking money still has to answer "what did you bill me for?".
- Refunds. Still available with card charging off, for the same reason. A studio that has stopped taking money still has to be able to give some back.
- The two switches themselves. Disconnecting Stripe does not clear them. If you reconnect later, check their state rather than assuming it — card charging in particular may already be on.
- The family's read-only Monthly billing card. It is deliberately not gated on either switch. A family whose card is still being debited every month must not be left with a charge on their statement and nothing on the page that explains it.
What disappears immediately
Turning card charging off removes the controls: the Charge card panel on students, the Add a card and Pay buttons families see, and the ability to start monthly billing. Going back to Independent mode removes the Billing column on enrollments as well, and the studio looks much like one that never used payments.
Your rates, discounts, tuition report and financial reporting all keep working, because those read the numbers rather than the money.
Pausing versus leaving
| You want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Stop taking new money for a few weeks | Steps 1–3. Leave Stripe connected. |
| Move to collecting tuition outside the app | Steps 1–3, then step 4. |
| Switch a test connection for a live one | See Test mode — the sequence is different. |
| Stop billing one family | Don't touch these switches at all. Use Stop on their row: Stopping, pausing and unenrolling. |
Tell the families
Nothing about switching payments off emails anybody. A family who was on monthly billing simply stops being charged, and a family who was about to pay online finds the Pay button gone.
If they were paying you through the app, tell them how you want to be paid instead, before you flip the switches.
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