It happens to every rental company at some point: a project wraps up, the truck comes back, and a few items don't make it off the client's site.
Take AV Nerds. After a three-day festival, they're missing two wireless receivers and a road case. The client swears they'll send them back — but for now, those items are gone. What should AV Nerds do in Rentman?
The answer depends on the situation. Rentman offers several ways to handle missing or unreturned equipment, each with different trade-offs for your workflow, administration, and client communication. This article walks through all three options so you can choose what fits best.
Options overview
Option 1 — Mark equipment as delayed
You can mark equipment as Delayed if it has not been returned yet.
See the Delayed Equipment article in our support center →
Note: The delayed status applies to the entire equipment group, not just the specific items that are missing. This can cause confusion when only part of a group has not been returned. Improvements to this feature are on our roadmap.
Option 2 — Extend the planning period via a subproject
Book the equipment onto a (sub)project and extend the planning period for the items that are still out. This keeps a clear record of what is still on the job, but adds extra administrative steps and can become cumbersome for larger quantities or frequent cases.
Option 3 — Mark equipment as lost (recommended)
A commonly used approach is the Mark as Lost function in the warehouse module.
▶ Watch the video — how to mark equipment as lost and print a summary for your client
When you mark equipment as lost:
- Lost items are immediately removed from your inventory.
- You can add costs to the project under Additional costs, which lets you invoice the lost equipment directly or issue a credit note if the item is later returned.
Many users invoice lost items straight away. If the item is later returned, they issue a credit note.
Handling found equipment
If a lost item is later recovered, you can restore it to your inventory:
- Go to Maintenance > Lost equipment.
- Select the item and choose Equipment found.
This increases your stock count again.
Note: Restoring a found item does not automatically update the financials in your project. You will need to manually correct or credit any costs that were already charged to the customer.