12. Phone charging

If you have a generator and you charge your customers’ phones, Phone charging is the section for it. This is not a repair: the phone comes in, it charges, it goes back, sometimes on the same day.

The problem it solves is not electricity, it is knowing whose phone is whose. Half a dozen black phones sitting switched off on a shelf are identical, and the argument when you hand them back is always the same one: that one is mine. That is why every charge is recorded with a ticket number, the colour in plain sight, and up to two photos.

12.1 Taking a phone in

From Phone charging tap New charge and fill in the phone’s details.

What you must have:

1. Client: search by name. If they are new, you can create them right there without leaving the form.
2. Brand and model: these can also be created on the spot.
3. Status: starts on the first open status (Pending, for example), so you do not have to pick one for every phone in a queue.

What is optional but worth filling in:

• Colour: picked from a row of colours. With the screen off, this is the fastest way to tell one phone from another.
• Location: where you put it (a shelf, a drawer, a box).
• Battery on arrival: the percentage it came in with. If the phone is dead you will not be able to read it, and leaving it blank is fine: that is the normal case here.
• Contact phone: a number other than the phone itself. You cannot ring the handset sitting on your counter, so ask for another number if the customer has one. It is optional because not everyone does.
• Received by: who physically took it in. That is the person to ask when the customer comes back with a question.
• Photos: up to two. They are the fastest proof when someone argues about whose phone it is.

12.2 The ticket number

When you save, the system gives the charge its own ticket number (C-0001, C-0002, and so on). That is the number the customer takes away and the one you will use to find the phone later.

Numbering is per organization: two different shops can each have their own C-0001 without clashing.

When you search the list, type the ticket number. The search is exact: typing 1 finds C-0001 and nothing else, not every ticket with a 1 in it. You can type it any of these ways: 1, 0001 or C-0001.

12.3 When they can come and collect it

You can record a pickup date and, if you agreed one, a time as well.

• The date cannot be in the past: the calendar will not let you pick a day that has already gone.
• The time is optional. "Come back tomorrow" is a valid promise; if you also agreed "tomorrow at 18:00", record the time.
• A time on its own cannot be saved. Pick the day first.

The time is your shop’s clock, exactly as you agreed it. It reads the same in the list, in the detail view and on the claim slip the customer takes away.

12.4 What you charge

On the same screen you record what the service costs:

• Price and currency.
• Surcharge: if something needs adding.
• Deposit: what the customer has already left you.
• Discount: either a fixed amount or a percentage. The percentage applies to price plus surcharge. You have to switch the discount on for the box to appear.
• Payment method: cash, transfer, card, store credit or other.

The total works itself out: price plus surcharge, minus discount and minus deposit. You see it in the list and in the detail view, and hovering over it opens the breakdown of each part.

If the payment method is store credit, handing the phone back creates the customer’s debt on its own (see Part 6).

12.5 The list and its filters

The list shows the phones you are holding and what state each one is in. A circle in the phone’s colour sits in front of the brand.

You can filter by:

• View: everything, only the ones still on the premises, or only the ones nobody came back for.
• Status, client and brand.

You can also change a phone’s status straight from the list without opening it. Tapping the ticket number opens the details in a window, without losing your place in the list.

12.6 Handing the phone back

When the customer comes to collect the phone, you move the charge to the Delivered status.

Before closing it, the system asks for the battery percentage it is leaving with. This is the last moment with the phone in hand. If you cannot read it or you would rather not record it, there is an option to hand it back without recording it.

To hand a phone back you need the price, the currency and the payment method filled in. If any of them is missing the system tells you and will not let you continue: handing the phone back closes the job, and it cannot close without knowing what was charged and how.

Once delivered, the charge is closed and cannot be edited any more. It is history. That is why it is worth checking the details before you confirm.

12.7 The claim slip

For every charge you can print a claim slip with the ticket number, the phone’s details, the pickup date and time and the amount. That is what the customer takes away to claim it later.

The slip can be reprinted even after the phone has been handed back: if a customer comes back disputing something you need the record, and reprinting it changes nothing.

12.8 If your business only charges phones

When you create the organization you choose what it does. If you choose phone charging only, the system sets up the statuses you will need and skips the repair ones (Diagnosis, Quote, In repair), which would be no use to you.

The statuses you get are: Pending, Charging, Finished, Delivered, Cancelled and Warranty.

You can rename any status whenever you like from Statuses (see Part 8). The system does not go by the name but by an internal marker, so you can rename Delivered without breaking anything.