Every rental business owner knows that having to throw away or repair products that are returned damaged is almost inevitable.
Booqable has worked to make this unfortunate and hopefully uncommon event as streamlined a process as possible.
How it works
When an item is returned damaged, you will either wish to.
Remove it from your inventory altogether.
Remove it from your inventory, and schedule the arrival of replacement stock in your inventory.
Place it as temporarily unavailable while it is being repaired.
You can achieve all of these scenarios in Booqable, with a combination of different steps to make sure these damages are accounted for, and your stock levels are adjusted accordingly to prevent any incorrect reservations in the future.
In all scenarios, it all starts from the individual reservations page in Booqable.
1. Place an item on repair mode
For products that are damaged, but will return to your inventory after repairs have been conducted, you can follow the following method to place the item in repair mode within your product availability.
1. Click on the order in question from the reservations page of your Booqable main menu.
2. Move the order status from picked up to returned to finalize the booking.
3. Select all check buttons (as displayed in the image below).
4. (Optional) In case you want to keep the security deposit, you add the amount that will be held, as well as the reason for not returning the deposit, and the amount will be deducted from the security deposit.
5. Click the green Return 2/2 items.
5. (Optional) If you decide to keep the security deposit, you need to When items are returned damaged, you can take them out of the inventory or make them temporarily unavailable for repair.
In both scenarios, you’d need to mark an item as 'Returned' that is lost or damaged to finalize the booking.
This is done by selecting all check buttons (as displayed in the image below) and clicking ‘Return 2/2 items’.
In case you want to keep the security deposit, you add the amount that will be held + the reason for not returning the deposit.
The amount will be deducted from the security deposit.
If you decide to keep the security deposit, you need to add a custom line on the order (charging the exact deposit amount that you are withholding from the customer and a description), or else the payment status will change to ‘Overpaid’.
This option is also very helpful if you need to charge the customer even extra for these damages.
Once created the extra charge the payment status will be updated.
6. In the customers section of your Booqable main menu, click Add customer and name it something like 'Repair mode'.
7. Set the discount percentage field at 100%, so a repair order does not register unpaid expenses in your account.
8. Open up a new reservation, and choose the rental duration to match how long the item will be in repair mode.
9. Add the items you have in repair to the order and move the order status to reserved.
10. When the repair is complete, you can return the stock by marking the order as returned.
2. Removing damaged items from inventory
1. To delete the product from your inventory, you must first hover your mouse over the damaged product, and click the blue View in inventory link.
2. On the correct stock item, click the trash bin icon on the right-hand side to permanently delete this item.
3. Otherwise, to delete a bulk product, adjust the number by clicking on the minus symbol.
4. You also have the option of leaving a note in the product section and in the order section that the item was lost, and the date this occurred.
💡Note: Deleting products from the inventory will not make you lose any data, this will remain registered in the reports section (reports > product performance) which provides a perfect overview of deleted items.
5. If you want to have the replacement value registered. This can be done within the inventory panel of this product by manually adding a column (see below) and naming it something like replacement value, or replacement cost, and adding the amount:
3. Scheduling replacement stock
If you know you will order more stock to replace this damaged item, Booqable has worked to automate that event as much as possible with advanced stock settings.
1. In the inventory panel of this product, click the blue Add stock items button.
2. In the pop-up box, click the arrow button next to Advanced settings.
3. In the Available from field, enter in the date you will receive the new stock in your store. You can also fill in the Available till field if this is only temporary stock (used by seasonal businesses or those subletting items). Click the Add stock item button.
4. Conducting routine maintenance on a product
For items that need regular or routine maintenance on a product, you can repeat the above process of assigning your items to a 'fake customer' called 'Maintenance', through a 'fake order' in order to schedule the item in and out of availability.
Damages can be a routine part of running a rental business, but at least with Booqable, using the above workflows can make this process as stress-free as possible.
You're all set!
You have now successfully learned how to handle product damages, repairs, and maintenance in Booqable.