Link membership renewal invoice with new membership invoice

[Houston Miata Club]

We have a club where a yearly membership is purchased using a Store Product that was configured long ago. The system is configured to send renewal invoice emails a couple of weeks before their membership lapses and we also have a grace period configured before their membership reverts.

What some members do when they get the renewal invoice email is they just log in and create a new purchase for another year membership and don't use the renewal link in their email.

What then appears to happen is the system does not link this new purchase invoice # with the renewal invoice # so when the original renewal invoice expiration date comes around they get a subscription expiring warning email with the renewal invoice number. After the grace period they then get an expired email for the renewal invoice. At some point they will email the admin to complain that they paid their dues but the system is still reminding them their membership is expiring. The admin then has to go and cancel the renewal invoice.

My question is do we have the system configured properly or should our Store Product (yearly membership) really be configured as a Subscription Plan?

I see that there is an option to convert the Store Product to a Subscription Plan and if that is what we should do I need to know all the pros and cons before going down that path. I was wanting to get feedback here before opening a ticket in case their is a bug with the system or we are using the wrong options.

Mark

[opentype]

By the way: You can set the store product so it can only be purchased once. That prevents these kind of purchases. 

Unfortunately, it creates new problems. If someone lets the invoice expire without paying, they can never buy the product again. IPS never solved this issue.