Pickup, return and booking statuses — and what happens when a customer is late

A booking in Rentalbuddy carries three separate statuses, and most confusion comes from mixing them up:

Which one	Where you see it	What it answers
Booking status	The Status column in Bookings	Is this booking live or cancelled?
Payment status	The Payment Status column, and the Payment section on the booking	Has the money arrived?
Pickup status	The status dropdown on the booking and in Booking Management	Where is the equipment?

The pickup status is the one you work with day to day, and the one that decides when a unit is free again.

Booking status: Reserved, OK, Canceled

Reserved — the booking exists but is not a confirmed, live booking. You will rarely see it. A checkout that is still being paid has payment status Pending and is not shown in your Bookings list until it is paid.
OK — a normal, live booking. Most of your list.
Canceled — cancelled. Cancelling moves no money; see the guide on editing, moving or cancelling a booking.

Payment status

Paid, Unpaid, Partially paid, Pending, Refunded, Expired or Failed.

Pending means a payment is under way but not finished, for example a customer who is in checkout right now. Pending bookings are left out of the Booking Management timeline, so an abandoned checkout does not clutter your day view.
A booking whose online checkout is Pending, Expired or Failed gets no codes: no unlock, no PIN codes and no heater control for the guest. If the customer cancels a Swish payment, they go back to the payment status check and from there to checkout. If Stripe has already completed the payment, the unlock page waits up to about 10 seconds for the confirmation before it shows the codes.
A booking paid with the Test payment type shows Paid with test payment in its Payment section.

Payments, refunds and the payment history are covered in the guides on changing a booking and on refunds.

Pickup status: the four states

The dropdown on the booking and on every row of the list in Booking Management has exactly four choices:

Not collected - pre-flow required The customer must complete your Before Unlock requirements (questions, photos, terms) before they see their codes. New bookings start here only when the location's before-unlock step is switched on and has at least one requirement.

Ready for pickup The normal starting state: paid, waiting, equipment not collected. On the timeline: white with a dark outline.

Picked up The rental is under way. Setting it stamps Check in with the current time. On the timeline: solid blue.

Returned The equipment is back. Setting it stamps Check out with the current time and frees the unit. On the timeline: solid green.

The booking page shows the booked Start and End next to Check in and Check out. They are not the same thing: Start and End are what was booked, Check in and Check out are when it actually happened. A dash means it has not happened.

Change the status yourself

Open the booking under Bookings and use the status dropdown under Start, End, Check in and Check out, or
Open Booking Management and use the Status dropdown on the booking's row — no need to open the booking.

The change saves at once. You need permission to manage bookings (account owners, members and Booking staff, and the partner roles that manage bookings); for viewers the dropdown is greyed out.

What each choice does to the timestamps:

Picked up stamps Check in as now and clears Check out.
Returned stamps Check out as now.
Ready for pickup clears both Check in and Check out.

You can move a booking in any direction, including out of Returned. Customers cannot undo their own return; you can.

Reopening a booking the customer returned by mistake: choose Picked up if the rental is still running, or Ready for pickup if it should not have started. Two things to know first:

The original check-in time is not kept: Picked up stamps a new Check in as now.
Answers from the older return questionnaire (a rating or questions shown under Return answers) are deleted when you move the booking out of Returned.

The unit is taken out of availability again as soon as you reopen the booking. If someone booked the freed time in the meantime, you can end up with two bookings on the same lock — check Booking Management before reopening a return on a busy day.

What marks a booking Picked up — and what it does not prove

A booking becomes Picked up in one of four ways:

The customer opens their unlock page at the right time. From 15 minutes before the booked start until 30 minutes after the booked end, opening the page is enough: a Ready for pickup booking flips to Picked up and Check in is stamped. The customer does not have to press anything.
The customer submits the before-unlock form during that window. Submitted earlier, the booking moves to Ready for pickup instead.
A connected lock system reports the pickup.
You set it.

If the customer opens the page too early, they see "You are early" and "Your booking start at …" with a Reload page button, and the status does not change.

Does the customer have to check in to get their code?

No. There is no separate check-in step in front of the codes. The codes are shown on the customer's unlock page — they open it with the Start booking button in their confirmation email — from 15 minutes before the booked start. Opening the page in that window is the check-in: it shows the codes and marks the booking Picked up at the same time. The codes are never sent in an email.

Four things can hold the codes back:

Too early — before 15 minutes ahead of the start the page says "You are early".
Before Unlock requirements — when that step is switched on, the customer submits your requirements first and then sees the codes (see "Before the customer can unlock" below).
Something left to pay — after you sent a payment link, the page shows "You have not paid your whole booking" with Pay instead of the codes until it is paid.
An unfinished checkout — while the online payment is Pending, or after it has Expired or Failed, the booking gets no codes at all.

Staff can also read a booking's Igloo code on the booking page, in the Pin Code column of the Order lines, and give it to the customer.

Picked up only means the customer opened their code page in time — not that the lock opened. For code locks, Rentalbuddy never learns whether the code was typed in. So a booking can show Picked up although nobody at your station has seen the customer, and a customer can have their code without having collected anything. If a customer says the code does not work, see the PIN code troubleshooting guide.

Where check-in and check-out are recorded

Every real change of pickup status becomes a row in the booking's Change log, with who did it and where:

"Booking checked in by", "Booking checked out by"
"Pick-up status set to … by" — for example when a before-unlock form moves a booking to Ready for pickup
"Check-in cleared by", "Check-out cleared by", "Check-in and check-out cleared by" — when you move a booking back

After the name comes the place: via Unlock page, via Return page, via Before-unlock form or via Hardware. Changes you or a colleague make show your name without a place. A note in brackets flags anything unusual: early, late, cancelled or not paid, or "was …" when the booking came from an unexpected state — for example "Booking checked in by: Anna (was Returned)" after a reopened return.

The unlock page re-checks the booking every minute, but only actual changes are logged, so the log stays short. Who-is-who in the change log is explained in the guide on changing a booking.

How the customer returns

Everything below happens on the customer's unlock page — the page they reach from the link in their confirmation email.

The customer presses Confirm return on the unlock page.
The return page opens, titled Confirm return (or your own heading). If you set up Return requirements, the customer fills them in here.
The customer presses Complete rental.
While their codes are still on screen, they are asked "Have you locked up and returned everything?" — "Your lock codes won't be shown after this step. Make sure everything is back in place and locked before you continue." — with Yes, I've locked up and Not yet. If your return page hides the codes, this question comes already when they press Confirm return.
The booking becomes Returned and the customer sees "Thank you, your booking is fulfilled!", followed by your return confirmation message and, if connected, your Google reviews.

Good to know:

Requirement answers are saved first; only then is the booking marked returned.
On a phone, while the customer works through a return checklist, their code stays pinned at the top of the screen so they can still lock up.
An End booking button in an email opens the return page directly, and that also works after the booked end.
The return page does not open until 15 minutes before the booked start.
Once a booking is Returned — by the customer or by you — the customer's unlock page shows only the thank-you, not the codes. Do not mark a booking Returned while the customer still needs to open a lock.
If you use a connected sauna heater, marking the booking Returned also switches the heater off.

Whether customers see Confirm return at all is the Show Confirm Button setting on the Customer flow tab (under Settings, or on the location if it has Location-specific switched on), step Unlock (PIN + Pickup instructions). It is on unless you switch it off. Return requirements are set up in step Return (Close-out + Checklist), under Return requirements — see the customer flow guide for both.

Where the answers end up: open the booking and look for Return answers. Answers to the before-unlock step are under Before unlock answers, answers given at checkout under Customer answers. Each section only appears when there is something in it. Each answer keeps the question as it was when the customer answered, even if you later change or delete the question. Photos are also collected in the booking's image gallery.

Many customers never press Confirm return. That is normal, and it costs nothing — not returning never charges the customer anything extra. It is why the manual Returned status exists.

Marking a booking Returned frees the unit immediately

When a booking is set to Returned, from that moment its units no longer block anything. The equipment is bookable again straight away — even if the booked end time has not passed. A customer who booked until 18:00 and is back at 14:00 gives you four more hours to rent out, but only once somebody marks the booking Returned.

So when a customer comes back early: do not cancel the booking and do not change its end time. Set Returned.

Returned moves no money, sends no refund and sends no email of its own. Once a booking is over — marked Returned, or ended more than 30 minutes ago — its lock can no longer be changed, neither with Edit Lock nor by dragging it in Booking Management: it keeps the lock (and lock number) the customer used. The timeline guide explains the drag rules.

Before the customer can unlock

The mirror image of the return step is the Before Unlock (Optional) step of Customer flow. When it is switched on with at least one requirement, new bookings for that location start as Not collected - pre-flow required. The customer sees your requirements instead of their PIN codes and gets the codes once they submit. Use it for waivers, safety videos, ID photos or a condition check before the equipment leaves. Setting it up is covered in the customer flow guide.

When a customer is late or never returns

Short answer: nothing happens automatically. There is no "overdue" status, no alert, no automatic return and no automatic late fee. The booking simply stays Picked up until the customer or you marks it Returned.

What does change with time:

The customer's unlock page. From the booked end, the countdown (if you show it) reads "Your booking has already ended.", but codes are still shown. From 30 minutes after the booked end, the page shows "Your booking is no longer valid." instead of codes.
The code in the lock can outlive the page. An Igloo code works in the lock for its own time window, which ends at the full hour after the booked end (one hour later if the booking started after :45), and it cannot be withdrawn remotely. The exact code timing is in the PIN code troubleshooting guide.
The unit becomes bookable again on schedule, not on return. Once the booked end plus your Blocking time after booking has passed, the unit can be booked by someone else, even though the booking still says Picked up. If the kayak is really still out, the next customer can book a unit that is not there. This is the mirror image of the early return above, and the reason to look at Booking Management at closing time.

Late fees are not supported, by design. Rentalbuddy does not charge anyone automatically for returning late. If you charge for late returns, put the rule in your terms and charge it afterwards yourself (for example with a payment link on the booking — see the guide on changing a booking).

What you can set up instead:

A "please return" email. In Settings → Emails, create a custom email that is sent After booking end (under When should the email be sent?) with Booking status set to Picked up only. It then reaches exactly the customers who picked up and never completed a return, and leaves those who never collected alone. A reminder Before booking end with an Extend booking button works as a nudge before it is too late. How to build these is in the email guide. Reminders are sent by email only; SMS is not offered.
Paid overtime. With Show extend booking button switched on, customers can pay to keep the unit longer, as long as it is free — see the guide on changing a booking. You can also extend the booking for them with Edit → Extend, up to 12 hours after the booked end.
A buffer. Blocking time after booking in the location's open dates keeps the unit unbookable for that long after each booking. It gives the customer no extra time; it protects the next booking. With Igloo code locks, a blocking time of at least an hour also keeps the previous customer's code from still working during the next rental in most cases. See the opening hours guide.

The previous customer hasn't returned and the next one is waiting

Open Booking Management and find the lock. The late booking is still blue (Picked up); the next customer's booking follows it.
Contact the late customer — their phone and email are on the booking.
If another unit of the same product is free, move the waiting customer's booking to it: drag it to another lock row, or use Edit Lock on the booking. They get the code for the new lock (see the timeline guide).
When the late equipment is back, set the late booking to Returned.

Quick reference

Situation	What to do
Customer is back early and you want to re-rent the unit	Set Returned
Customer never pressed return	Set Returned yourself
Customer pressed return by mistake	Set Picked up again — the check-in time is rewritten
Equipment handed over at the desk	Set Picked up, or let the customer's unlock page do it
Customer is late	Nothing automatic; contact them, extend if they want more time
Next customer is waiting for an unreturned unit	Move the waiting booking to a free lock
Nudge customers to return	Custom email After booking end, Booking status Picked up
Photos or a checklist on return	Customer flow → Return (Close-out + Checklist)
Booking should not happen at all	Cancel — see the guide on changing a booking

Common questions

What happens if a customer does not return on time? Nothing automatic: the booking stays Picked up, no fee is charged and nobody is alerted. The unit becomes bookable again after the booked end plus your blocking time, so contact the customer and check Booking Management.

Can Rentalbuddy charge a late fee automatically? No, not by design. Put your late-return rule in your terms and charge it yourself afterwards; offer the extend button so customers can pay for extra time instead.

Customers never press "Confirm return" — is that a problem? No. Nothing extra is charged and the unit is freed at the booked end plus blocking time anyway. Set Returned yourself if you want the unit back sooner.

A customer pressed return by mistake — how do I reopen the booking? Set the status back to Picked up on the booking or in Booking Management. The check-in time is stamped again as now.

Can customers get their PIN code without checking in? Yes. There is no separate check-in: the code is on the unlock page from 15 minutes before the start, and opening that page is what marks the booking Picked up. Only Before Unlock requirements or an unpaid payment link come first.

The booking says Picked up — did the customer actually open the lock? Not necessarily. Picked up means they opened their unlock page in the booking window (or you set it); code locks never report whether the code was typed.

The customer is back early — can I rent the kayak out again? Yes: set the booking to Returned and the unit is bookable straight away. Don't cancel the booking or change its end time.

Why does check-out say 17:32 when the booking ended at 17:59? Check out is when the return was completed — by the customer pressing Complete rental or by someone setting Returned — not the booked end.

The next customer found the locker empty — what now? The previous booking was never returned, but its time had ended, so the unit was booked again. Move the waiting customer's booking to a free lock with the same product, and contact the late customer.

Can Booking staff check customers in and out? Yes. Booking staff can change the status on the booking and in Booking Management, just like owners and members. Viewers can't.

The customer's card payment failed. Can they still get their code? No. A booking whose online checkout is Pending, Expired or Failed gets no codes, no unlock and no PIN codes, whether it is still in progress or has run out.