Follow-ups are not sending

Automated steps live under Workflows. Nothing sends as PayBlah. Messages leave from your business identity, and only after the send gates pass. Work this list top-down. Held rows stay in Activity with a reason rather than vanishing.

Before you start

• You remain the creditor. PayBlah is reminder automation, not a collection agency.
• Firm and Final steps always wait for a person. That is not optional and is not a plan upsell.
• A customer reply holds further automated sends until someone triages the inbound message. That is a send hold — it does not flip the invoice to Paused.

Check these in order

1. Kill switch — Settings → Reminder defaults → Stop all automated sending. If the foot says Halted since, an Admin types a reason in Why resume? and presses Resume sending. Standard members can only read status.
2. Business mailbox — there is no PayBlah shared-domain sender. Open Settings → Email sending → Manage in Connections → Email card → Manage mailbox →. The page title is Mailbox & Chase Email. Until Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or tested tenant SMTP is ready, the page says Reminder email is held until a mailbox is ready. Activity may show a held reason such as Held — mailer:customer_provider_required.
3. First-run review — new accounts hold everything until an Admin finishes setup and presses Start following up on the wizard. Settings shows a locked first-run control; you cannot switch it from Settings.
4. Safe demo vs live book — Explore the safe demo (/app/demo) never sends. The banner reads Nothing here can be sent. Signup Demo book is different: it seeds real invoices. After Start following up, those rows can queue real mail if a mailbox is connected.
5. Trial ended — heading Your 30-day trial has ended / Everything is saved. Paying for a plan does not restart sending. An Admin reviews Here’s exactly what will resume and presses Resume following up. Held reason: Held — review and confirm the post-trial resume preview or Held — trial has ended; upgrade to send.
6. Approvals — Firm and Final (and wording that names court or enforcement) sit in Activity until a human presses Approve & send or Don't send. Settings → Reminder defaults → Hold new Friendly and Standard steps for approval is a separate toggle. Approving queues the row; delivery still re-checks the hold stack.
7. Waiting to Start — if active-invoice spaces are full (Starter 25 · Growth 100 · Pro 250 · Business 500), extra eligible invoices wait and use no space. Paused, promised, disputed, and part-paid invoices still occupy a space. Waiting invoices do not send until a space frees or you raise capacity.
8. Chasing mode — Settings → Reminder defaults → How do new overdue invoices start chasing? Automatic enrols eligible invoices. Manual approval leaves new overdue invoices recorded only (open / Not chasing). Settings help still says press Start chasing; the live invoice header only shows Pause chasing / Resume chasing on chasing, paused, or part-paid invoices. Do not look for a Start chasing button that is not on the page.
9. Quiet hours, contact days, timezone — due work waits for the next allowed window in Settings → Localisation. That parks the send; it is not a kill switch.
10. Minimum chase amount and caps — balances under the floor never enrol. Per-customer daily and account hourly caps hold the message with a reason in Activity.
11. Correctly stopped — open the Customer or invoice. Never chase (Admin) / Never contact, an open dispute, an active promise, paid / settled / part-paid, or a manual Pause chasing all stop automation. A portal Ask them to stop chasing request does not mute until you Accept or Decline in Activity.
12. Untriaged reply — an inbound email or SMS from a matched contact holds further automated sends so a person can continue the thread. It does not set the invoice to Paused. Open Activity, handle the reply, then chasing can continue if the invoice is still chaseable.
13. Text channel — composer Text can appear; live SMS is gated (estate, plan, territory, and tenant switch). Held codes look like Held — SMS-OFF:…. That is not a broken email path. Do not follow a send-SMS how-to from this article.

Expected result

Activity’s sent log shows delivered or held rows with an English reason when one exists. After you clear the blocking gate, the next allowed Workflow step can queue. Nothing is back-sent for the period it was held.

If something still looks wrong

• Mailbox shows a leftover method named shared after you disconnect OAuth — that is a hold, not a shared-domain send path.
• You are in the isolated demo — leave with Connect my business and work the live book.
• You paid after trial and expected mail to resume — open /trial and confirm the resume preview as Admin.
• Then contact Support with subject Sending, texts & deliverability.