Every repair, service and inspection is a ticket with its own number (MT-90). This page explains how a unit gets onto a ticket, the board, the ticket page, the statuses and what a ticket does to your stock.
Needs service at check-in #
When a unit comes back damaged, dirty or not working, you send it to maintenance in the same step as the return. There is no second screen: the unit comes back In maintenance, never Available first, so nobody can rent it out in between.
- Go to Rentals > Send and Return > Return Rentals.
- On the row of the booking that is coming back, pick the serial numbers (or the quantity) that are returning, as usual.
- Click Needs service on that row. A box opens.
- Tick the units that need service. Units you leave unticked are returned as usual. Without serial numbers, enter how many units are damaged.
- Pick the Problem from your problem list and add a Note if it helps the technician (for example “cracked lance”).
- Click Add photo to attach photos of the damage. They go on the ticket as check-in photos.
- Leave Keep out of stock until fixed on (the default comes from the settings), and tick Customer may be charged if the customer caused the damage.
- Click Needs service in the box. The row now shows a summary, for example “Damaged · EB-02 · kept out of stock”.
- Select the row and use the Return action, as usual.
If you change the serial numbers of the row after filling the box, the row asks you to set Needs service again.
The return opens a ticket at once, with a High priority, linked to the booking and its order. The return tells you the ticket number, and the managers get the email “New ticket from a check-in” (you can switch it off in the settings).
If a unit is already on an open ticket, no second ticket is opened: the check-in is added to that ticket’s timeline.
Nothing changes for the customer at check-in. If you ticked Customer may be charged, you decide on the ticket later whether to charge them: see Damage charges. While that is undecided, the automatic release of a held security deposit waits.
Other ways in #
- Scan Returns. On Rentals > Send and Return > Scan Returns, switch on Needs service before you scan a unit. The switch has the same questions and applies to the next unit scanned.
- Send to maintenance on a serial. On a serial’s page in Rentals > Serials, Send to maintenance opens a new ticket for that unit (or shows the ticket it is already on).
- By hand. New ticket on the board, for a unit at your shop or a service you plan.
- A customer report from My Account: see Customer problem reports.
- A failed checklist at check-out or check-in: see Checklists and photos.
- A service that is due: see Service schedules and the check-out guard.
- The API: see Maintenance Tickets in GraphQL.
The board #
Go to Rentals > Maintenance Work > Tickets. At the top, cards sum up the day: Units down now (units out of stock for maintenance), Back today (expected back today), Overdue (open past the expected date), Waiting (for parts), At vendor, Services due, Downtime this month and Maintenance cost this month.
The tabs are All open, Mine (tickets assigned to you), Overdue, Waiting, Done, All and Services due. The grid has the usual Magento search, filters and column picker. Each row shows the ticket number, the unit, the product, the problem, the status, the priority, the technician and Back by; you can add the kind, source, location and the dates. Export CSV downloads the tickets in the list, one row per unit.
Opening a ticket by hand #
Click New ticket on the board.
- Search for the Product by name or SKU, then tick the units that need service (or enter How many units, for a product without serial numbers). The screen checks the stock as you go and lists the open tickets the product already has.
- Enter the Problem and a Note. A Title is optional: without one, the problem is used. Pick the Priority (Low, Normal, High, Urgent) and the Kind (Repair, Service or Inspection).
- Under While it is in maintenance, choose Keep out of stock until fixed or Don’t block (log only).
- Optional: Expected back. Empty means blocked until the ticket is done. A date means back by the end of that day.
- Pick a Technician, then click Open ticket.
If the units you take out leave future bookings short, the screen lists those bookings before you save. A ticket never cancels a booking. Swap the unit on those bookings, change the expected date, or keep the block and contact the customers.
The ticket page #
Click a ticket on the board to open it.
- Stock says what the ticket does: “Blocking 1 of 6 units from … until …”, “Blocking 1 unit from … until fixed”, “Not blocking stock now”, or, when the returned booking still holds the units, “In maintenance until …”. It lists the bookings the block leaves short.
- Details holds the problem, priority, kind, expected back, Blocking from, the blocking choice and the description. Click Edit details, change them and click Save.
- Timeline records everything that happened to the ticket: the check-in, status changes, comments, photos, costs and charges. Add a comment or a photo at the bottom.
- Technician shows who works on it. Pick someone and click Assign, or click Assign to me. The technician gets the email “Ticket assigned to you” (not when they assign it to themselves).
- Customer appears on a ticket from a rental: the customer and the rental, and the damage charge if there is one.
- Units lists the units on the ticket.
- Photos, Checklist, Costs and Vendor are described in their own pages.
The big button at the top is the next step, named after it: Confirm report (a customer report), Start work, Ready to rent, Resume (after waiting for parts) or Back from vendor. More actions holds the others: Wait for parts, Send to vendor, Cancel ticket, Reopen (on a closed ticket) and Write off.
Statuses #
| Status | Category | Keeps stock out |
|---|---|---|
| Reported | Open | No, until someone confirms it |
| New | Open | Yes |
| In progress | Open | Yes |
| Waiting for parts | Waiting | Yes |
| At vendor | Waiting | Yes |
| Ready to rent | Closed | No: the units are rentable again |
| Written off | Closed | No: the unit is retired |
| Cancelled | Closed | No |
You can rename the statuses, change their colours and order, choose which ones keep stock out and add your own under Rentals > Maintenance Setup > Statuses. Built-in statuses keep their category and cannot be deleted; a closed status never keeps stock out.
When a ticket reaches Ready to rent, its units go back to Available, a running labour timer is stopped and, for a service ticket, the service is recorded so the counters start again.
Expected back and overdue tickets #
Expected back ends the block at the end of that day. Usual repair time (days) in the settings pre-fills it on new tickets. If the ticket is still open after its expected date, it keeps blocking and shows Overdue until it is closed. The managers and the technician get one “Ticket overdue” email. If you prefer the stock to come back at the expected date anyway, set Release stock at the expected date to Yes in the settings.
Day and night rentals hold whole days, from the start of the first day to the end of the last. Hourly rentals hold to the minute.
Writing a unit off #
When a unit cannot be repaired, open More actions > Write off on the ticket. Choose the Reason (Damaged beyond repair, Lost, Stolen, Sold or End of life), enter the Write-off value and a Note, and leave Reduce stock by 1 ticked to lower the product’s stock. The unit is retired: it stays in history and reports and is never offered again. This closes the ticket.
Export #
Export CSV on the board downloads the tickets in the list, one row per unit.
