Recurring transactions going wonky

Boydston
Boydston Member ✭✭
edited December 2023 in Report a Bug
I got Simplifi to save me time--not have to spend time always fixing it and dealing with support. SO FRUSTRATING. One of the latest issues is a recurring transfer that goes wonky and never clears. In the screenshot, you can see the downloaded transactions that are mostly correct except the categories aren't quite right. For the pending transactions, I don't know how to explain what it happening, but notice there is three, all for the checking account and the +/- is all messed up. 


Here is the recurring transaction:


And don't tell me to contact support. I keep doing that and all they want to do is tell me I have entered the recurring transaction incorrect and then they just want to fix a single specific instance of the problem so the balance is correct. They don't want to do anything about the how this problem keeps happening.

Numerous times, I have deleted all the recurring transactions and made new ones. I have changed the amounts to be very unique numbers in hopes that Simplifi wont confuse the recurring transaction with transactions with the same amount.
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  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    Hello @Boydston,

    Thank you for posting to the Community regarding this issue, although I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this behavior in Simplifi. 

    When viewing your screenshots, it looks like you have duplicate transactions, and potentially downloaded pending transactions that did not properly link to the cleared version of the transaction when it downloaded. If the transactions were downloaded from the bank, this would be more of an online banking issue and would not have anything to do with your Recurring Series'.

    With that said, however, I do see that the transactions in question are linked to a Recurring Series -- have you opened the Transaction Detail window for each of the transactions to determine what Series they were linked to? You can also navigate to Settings>Recurring, open the Recurring Series in question, and view the history of the transactions that have been linked to it. 

    To troubleshoot the duplicate transactions, you'll want to follow the steps outlined in this Support Article. You'll want to take a look at the "Appears on your statement as..." info for each of the transactions to determine how they were entered in Simplifi. You may need to merge the pending transaction with the cleared transaction or delete one of the duplicates, which is all outlined in the Article. 

    When it comes to the duplicate transactions being linked to a Recurring Series, as mentioned above, you'll want to take a closer look at these to determine the Series that it was linked to, etc. If you need to unlink one of the transactions from a Recurring Series, you'll find the steps to do so here

    The more information you can identify and provide regarding the issue will help us get a clearer idea of what's going on. Please let us know how it goes!

    -Coach Natalie 
  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭
    I have also noticed this recent change in how Simplifi handles transactions that I link to a recurring transfer. For a couple of (glorious) months, recurring transfers seemed to work as intended, but it is all screwed up again.

    Simplifi downloads the transaction from my bank but doesn't seem to recognize it as part of my existing recurring transfer series (annoying, but ok). The problem is when I manually link it to a recurring transfer series, Simplifi (1) miscategorizes the transfer, and (2) creates a new pending transfer for the other end of the transaction. See screenshot:



    The cleared transfer in the lower red box is from my checking to a specific Vanguard account I have linked in Simplifi. According to my recurring transfer series, the category should reflect the name of the Vanguard account, not Checking. I also don't know why Simplifi creates a pending transaction in the Vanguard account (which is an investment account).

    This is frustrating. This seemed to work with the recent updates, including the investment roll out. What changed?
  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭
    I should add that the unnecessary pending transaction also throws off the spending plan by counting it as income, for some reason, even though it is just a transfer.


  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    Hello @bcrossman,

    Thank you for posting and providing some clarification on the issue, although I'm sorry to hear that you're also experiencing this behavior in Simplifi. 

    To get a clearer picture of what's going on, please provide the following information using your above example:
    1. The Transaction Detail window for each of the highlighted transactions that show the "Appears on your statement as..." info, as well as the 'Recurring' info. 
    2. A screenshot of the "Edit series" window for the Recurring Series that shows the Name, Recurring Amount, Account, and Category. 
    Also, when viewing your screenshots, it looks like the item in the Spending Plan has not been linked to a transaction (it shows 'Today' instead of 'Received'), however, the transactions themselves show the recurring icon, indicating that they have been linked to the Reminder. Would you mind taking a look at this, please?

    If you prefer to share any of this information privately, please feel free to DM it to me here in the Community or I can email you a link to our Secure File Exchange. We will need to see the details of the transactions and the Recurring Series without redactions. :smile:

    -Coach Natalie
  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭
    Please email me a link for the secure file exchange. I assume you have my email from my profile, but if not, I can DM it to you.

  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭
    Also, when viewing your screenshots, it looks like the item in the Spending Plan has not been linked to a transaction (it shows 'Today' instead of 'Received'), however, the transactions themselves show the recurring icon, indicating that they have been linked to the Reminder. Would you mind taking a look at this, please?
    I'm not sure what to look at regarding this issue. I know that I can link an item in the Spending Plan to a transaction, but this is a transfer from my checking to my investment account. It shouldn't show up as income in my spending plan and didn't use to appear as such when recurring transfers were operating correctly. Let me know if I'm misunderstanding your instructions.
  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    Hello @bcrossman,

    I have emailed the link to our Secure File Exchange -- please let me know once the screenshots are uploaded and I'll take a look at them. 

    For the item in the Spending Plan, since it's a Recurring Transfer, I'd say that it definitely shouldn't be there. I just noticed from the screenshots that it wasn't marked as 'Received', even though the transaction has been linked to the Recurring Series, so it definitely seems like there's something extra funky going on. Maybe just click the three dots at the end of the line, select "Edit reminder", and then grab a screenshot of the window that pops up so we can see the details of the Reminder, and include it in the screenshots you upload. 

    Please also submit your logs via the 'Send Feedback' option so we have them available for an escalation: 
    1. Log into the Simplifi Web App.
    2. Select Profile from the left-hand navigation bar.
    3. With the Profile menu open, hold down the Option key for Mac or the Alt key for Windows, and then click Send Feedback
    4. Leave all boxes checked, add a brief description of the issue, and then click Send
    Thank you!

    -Coach Natalie
  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭
    I appreciate the link and instructions. All screenshots have been uploaded. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing them or need anything further from me.

  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    edited August 2023

    Hello @bcrossman,

    Thank you for providing all of the requested information!

    I have gone ahead and gotten this escalated and will be sure to post back as soon as an update is received. 

    -Coach Natalie

    SIMPL-14852/QCS-15312

  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭
    Hello @Boydston,

    Thank you for posting to the Community regarding this issue, although I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this behavior in Simplifi. 

    When viewing your screenshots, it looks like you have duplicate transactions, and potentially downloaded pending transactions that did not properly link to the cleared version of the transaction when it downloaded. If the transactions were downloaded from the bank, this would be more of an online banking issue and would not have anything to do with your Recurring Series'.

    With that said, however, I do see that the transactions in question are linked to a Recurring Series -- have you opened the Transaction Detail window for each of the transactions to determine what Series they were linked to? You can also navigate to Settings>Recurring, open the Recurring Series in question, and view the history of the transactions that have been linked to it. 

    To troubleshoot the duplicate transactions, you'll want to follow the steps outlined in this Support Article. You'll want to take a look at the "Appears on your statement as..." info for each of the transactions to determine how they were entered in Simplifi. You may need to merge the pending transaction with the cleared transaction or delete one of the duplicates, which is all outlined in the Article. 

    When it comes to the duplicate transactions being linked to a Recurring Series, as mentioned above, you'll want to take a closer look at these to determine the Series that it was linked to, etc. If you need to unlink one of the transactions from a Recurring Series, you'll find the steps to do so here

    The more information you can identify and provide regarding the issue will help us get a clearer idea of what's going on. Please let us know how it goes!

    -Coach Natalie 
    Natalie, I appreciate your suggestions. However, they exemplify the underlying problem: I did not get Simplifi because I want to spend time trouble shooting.

    Here's the bottom line: I have a recurring transfer transaction that matches the bank recurring transfer. When the bank transactions are downloaded, I expect Simplifi to correctly match the transactions (or do nothing). Please clarify: should I not expect Simplifi to function like this?
  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    edited January 2023
    Hello @Boydston,

    Thanks for posting back!

    Although I understand where you're coming from, we, unfortunately, cannot look further into or report issues without specific details and prior to troubleshooting. With that said, however, since it sounds like @bcrossman is experiencing the same behavior, and has provided all of the requested information, the issue has been escalated. 

    At this point, if you believe @bcrossman is experiencing the same thing, you can keep an eye on this thread for a resolution and hope it resolves what you're experiencing as well. However, the more reporting users we can add to a ticket, the better. If you'd like to be added to the ticket, you'll want to provide the same information that was requested above. 
    1. A screenshot of the Transaction Detail window for each of the highlighted transactions that show the "Appears on your statement as..." info, as well as the 'Recurring' info. 
    2. A screenshot of the "Edit series" window for the Recurring Series that shows the Name, Recurring Amount, Account, and Category. 
    You'll also want to submit your logs via the 'Send Feedback' option: 
    1. Log into the Simplifi Web App.
    2. Select Profile from the left-hand navigation bar.
    3. With the Profile menu open, hold down the Option key for Mac or the Alt key for Windows, and then click Send Feedback
    4. Leave all boxes checked, add a brief description of the issue, and then click Send
    -Coach Natalie
  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭
    Hello @Boydston,

    Thanks for posting back!

    Although I understand where you're coming from, we, unfortunately, cannot look further into or report issues without specific details and prior to troubleshooting. 
    @Coach Natalie
    My question was not specific to my issue--though related, it is a general question about how Simplifi is expected to work. When I enter a manual transaction, should I expect Simplifi to 'smartly' match it with the bank downloaded transaction?
  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    Hello @Boydston,

    My apologies for missing your question!

    If the transaction is manually entered, then no, Simplifi will not automatically link it to a Reminder. Simplifi's automatic linking takes place for downloaded transactions only. However, you can now also link manual transactions to Reminders (this was not always the case), it just has to be done from the transaction directly. More details and the steps to do so can be found in our Support Article here under the section "You can also link a transaction to a Reminder from the transaction directly". 

    I hope this helps!

    -Coach Natalie
  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭
    If the transaction is manually entered, then no, Simplifi will not automatically link it to a Reminder. Simplifi's automatic linking takes place for downloaded transactions only.
    Ok, thanks. I am confused though, if Simplifi does not link downloaded transactions to manually entered transactions--what else is there for Simplifi to automatically link to?

    Also, if Simplifi is not supposed to automatically link to matching manually entered reminders, why is it constantly linking them (and often mistakenly)? Thanks for clarifying!
  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭
    When viewing your screenshots, it looks like you have duplicate transactions, and potentially downloaded pending transactions that did not properly link to the cleared version of the transaction when it downloaded. If the transactions were downloaded from the bank, this would be more of an online banking issue and would not have anything to do with your Recurring Series'. 
    Yes, this is the problem: Simplifi is creating these duplicate transactions and not properly linking to the cleared version. This is what I need to work. I have recurring reminders which are transfers. When each downloaded transaction occurs for each account, my expectation is that Simplifi will link the transactions to the reminder.
  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    edited January 2023
    Hello @Boydston,

    My apologies -- I misunderstood your question and thought you were referring to a Recurring Reminder being automatically linked to a manually entered transaction. So sorry!

    When it comes to manually entering transactions in a connected account, the bank downloaded version of the transaction should automatically be matched to the manual transaction as long as the information is the same. If the bank downloaded transaction was matched to the wrong manual transaction, you can unlink it by opening the Transaction Detail window and selecting "Unmerge". You would then be able to proceed with merging it with the correct manual transaction. 

    As for the issue at hand, it sounds like you're experiencing the same issue as @bcrossman. To be sure, and to add your information to the existing ticket for the issue, please provide us with:
    1. A screenshot of the Transaction Detail window for each of the duplicate transactions that shows the "Appears on your statement as..." info, as well as the 'Recurring' info. 
    2. A screenshot of the "Edit series" window for the Recurring Series that the transactions are linked to that shows the Name, Recurring Amount, Account, and Category.
    Once I review the provided information, I'll let you know if it's the same issue and what further data we may need from you. :smile:

    -Coach Natalie
  • Chrobrego
    Chrobrego Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2023
    Natalie, don't you have the ability to look into individual accounts and identify the problems? I was with a competitor for a while and whenever I had a problem, they could look into my file and make suggestions or correct the errors. No offense, but it gets annoying to have a problem, then ask for help, and be told that we have to jump through more hoops.  
  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭
    Any update on this? Recurring transfers are still not syncing correctly and creating pending transactions treated as income in the spending plan. It's very frustrating.
  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    No update yet, @bcrossman

    This is a really weird issue (wonky, as the title says :smile:), so it may take some time and some debugging. It is actively being worked on, though, and I'm keeping a close eye. 

    We appreciate your patience!

    -Coach Natalie
  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭
    edited May 2023

    Similarly, I am getting pending transactions in the account for which it is supposed to be crebit. Super frustrating. I feel like a beta user.

  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭

    Oh, and one of the cleared, bank downloaded transactions has for its other side the next, future, recurring transaction. Basically, simplifi has taken my recurring transfer transaction, which is a credit to Account B, and added it to account B as a pending debit transaction. Then, for the bank downloaded credit transaction in account B, it linked it to other side of the transfer (account A) on a future instance of the recurring transaction.

  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin

    Hello @bcrossman,

    With the recent upgrades made to Simplifi, is this issue still occurring for you? And what about for you, @Boydston?

    Thanks!

    -Coach Natalie

  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin

    Hello again @bcrossman & @Boydston,

    Have you taken a look at this, by chance? Please let us know, thank you!

    -Coach Natalie

  • bhharrison
    bhharrison Member

    @Coach Natalie - Still happening to me.

  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin

    Hello @bhharrison,

    Thanks for posting to the Community, although I'm sorry to hear that you're also experiencing this behavior in Simplifi.

    I don't see that you've participated in this discussion prior, and you haven't been added to the associated bug ticket. Would you mind providing exactly what you're experiencing in a step-by-step numbered format so we can get a clear picture of what's going on?

    Thanks!

    -Coach Natalie

  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin

    Hello again @bcrossman & @Boydston,

    I wanted to reach out one last time before closing out the escalation. Please be sure to let us know if this issue is still occurring for either one of you.

    -Coach Natalie

  • bcrossman
    bcrossman Member ✭✭✭✭

    Hi @Coach Natalie,

    Thanks for reaching out again. Simplifi seems to recognize my recurring transfers more consistently, avoiding the need to manually link them and the problems that arise from manually linking recurring transfers (as described above). So that is a big improvement! I did just try unlinking and re-linking a recurring transfer to see if it would still generate a duplicate pending transaction, and unfortunately it still did. It's the same problem I described in this thread.

    As long as Simplifi continues to automatically recognize and link recurring transfers, I don't see a big issue as there will be no need to manually link a transfer, but should the need arise, there still seem to be some wrinkles to iron out.

  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin

    Thanks for confirming, @bcrossman!

    I'm glad to hear that things have improved for you! Since the issue is still occurring when manually linking, I'll leave the ticket open and allow them to continue working on it. I'll let you know once I receive an update. 🙂

    -Coach Natalie

  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭

    Yes, I am still getting wonky results. I am going to abandon trying to have a recurring transfer. I am going to setup two separate recurring transactions for each account that represent. I expect that will work better.

  • Boydston
    Boydston Member ✭✭

    Here's a transaction. I click the 3 dots

    and it opens. then I click go to other side.

    and the other side opens. then I click go to other side again.

    …and the other other side opens!

    This gets sooooo confusing trying to fix. :(

This discussion has been closed.