diff --git a/app/Jobs/SyncBankingConnectionJob.php b/app/Jobs/SyncBankingConnectionJob.php
index 34e1be98..f06f1bac 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/SyncBankingConnectionJob.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/SyncBankingConnectionJob.php
@@ -188,8 +188,23 @@ class SyncBankingConnectionJob implements ShouldBeUnique, ShouldQueue
 
         $connection->update([
             'status' => BankingConnectionStatus::Error,
-            'error_message' => $e ? $this->friendlyErrorMessage($e) : __('An unexpected error occurred during sync. Please try again later.'),
+            // Every message written here describes an out-of-band death, so the
+            // generic "an unexpected error occurred, please try again" was pushing
+            // our own infrastructure onto the user. The next scheduled cycle picks
+            // the connection back up on its own.
+            'error_message' => __('The sync did not finish. We will try again later.'),
         ]);
+
+        // handle() owns every other logSyncAttempt call, and it is precisely what
+        // an out-of-band death skips - leaving the connection's own history with no
+        // trace of the most common way this job dies.
+        $this->logSyncAttempt(
+            $connection,
+            BankingSyncLogStatus::Failed,
+            startTime: null,
+            error: $e,
+            metadata: ['reason' => 'job_died_outside_handle'],
+        );
     }
 
     /**
@@ -302,22 +317,27 @@ class SyncBankingConnectionJob implements ShouldBeUnique, ShouldQueue
         });
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param  float|null  $startTime  Null when the caller never got to start a
+     *                                 timer, so the duration is genuinely unknown
+     *                                 rather than zero.
+     */
     private function logSyncAttempt(
         BankingConnection $connection,
         BankingSyncLogStatus $status,
-        float $startTime,
+        ?float $startTime,
         ?\Throwable $error = null,
         ?array $metadata = null,
     ): void {
-        $durationMs = (int) round((microtime(true) - $startTime) * 1000);
-
         BankingSyncLog::create([
             'banking_connection_id' => $connection->id,
             'status' => $status,
             'attempt' => $this->attempts(),
             'error_message' => $error?->getMessage(),
             'error_class' => $error ? get_class($error) : null,
-            'duration_ms' => $durationMs,
+            'duration_ms' => $startTime === null
+                ? null
+                : (int) round((microtime(true) - $startTime) * 1000),
             'metadata' => $metadata,
             'created_at' => now(),
         ]);
diff --git a/lang/es.json b/lang/es.json
index 65ba4436..ee3c8729 100644
--- a/lang/es.json
+++ b/lang/es.json
@@ -332,6 +332,7 @@
     "Amount is required": "Se requiere un valor",
     "An unexpected error occurred during sync.": "Se produjo un error inesperado durante la sincronización.",
     "An unexpected error occurred during sync. Please try again later.": "Ocurrió un error inesperado durante la sincronización. Inténtalo de nuevo más tarde.",
+    "The sync did not finish. We will try again later.": "La sincronización no se completó. Volveremos a intentarlo más tarde.",
     "Annual": "Anual",
     "Annual Interest Rate": "Tasa de Interés Anual",
     "Annual Interest Rate (%)": "Tasa de Interés Anual (%)",
diff --git a/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncBankingConnectionJobTest.php b/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncBankingConnectionJobTest.php
index 466178c5..3b4aee2b 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncBankingConnectionJobTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncBankingConnectionJobTest.php
@@ -1642,7 +1642,7 @@ test('failed sync job marks active connection as error so onboarding can continu
     $connection->refresh();
     expect($connection->status)->toBe(BankingConnectionStatus::Error);
     expect($connection->last_synced_at)->toBeNull();
-    expect($connection->error_message)->toBe('An unexpected error occurred during sync. Please try again later.');
+    expect($connection->error_message)->toBe('The sync did not finish. We will try again later.');
     // A job killed from the outside says nothing about the connection, so it no
     // longer spends a scheduled retry.
     expect($connection->consecutive_sync_failures)->toBe(0);
diff --git a/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncRetryAndLoggingTest.php b/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncRetryAndLoggingTest.php
index e84e3bb5..55914c5c 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncRetryAndLoggingTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/OpenBanking/SyncRetryAndLoggingTest.php
@@ -945,3 +945,19 @@ test('a second out-of-band death on an already errored connection changes nothin
     expect($connection->consecutive_sync_failures)->toBe(2);
     expect($connection->error_message)->toBe('Earlier failure kept.');
 });
+
+test('an out-of-band job death is recorded in the connection history', function () {
+    $user = User::factory()->onboarded()->create();
+    $connection = BankingConnection::factory()->create(['user_id' => $user->id]);
+
+    (new SyncBankingConnectionJob($connection))->failed(
+        new TimeoutExceededException('App\Jobs\SyncBankingConnectionJob has timed out.')
+    );
+
+    $log = BankingSyncLog::where('banking_connection_id', $connection->id)->sole();
+    expect($log->status)->toBe(BankingSyncLogStatus::Failed);
+    expect($log->error_class)->toBe(TimeoutExceededException::class);
+    expect($log->metadata['reason'])->toBe('job_died_outside_handle');
+    // Unknown rather than zero: nobody timed this attempt.
+    expect($log->duration_ms)->toBeNull();
+});