Kiosk tips, testing and troubleshooting: common questions

Short answers for testing the kiosk and fixing the problems shops hit most. Each answer links to the full article.

Testing with practice customers

How do I test the kiosk without real money?

Use Try kiosk with one of your three practice customers (Practice Customer 1, 2 and 3). Payments and tips run in Stripe's test mode with the test card 4242 4242 4242 4242, so no real money moves. See Testing the kiosk with practice customers.

How do I test a pick-up?

At Bookings → New booking, book a practice customer with a pickup time today. In Try kiosk, open Here to pick up and tap the booking under Try as a practice customer. On a real tablet, type "Customer 1" as the last name and the practice customer's phone number instead; the kiosk matches the end of the full name. If the customer record has no phone, add one with Edit on the Customers page first.

How do I test a return?

The booking must be Active, so either finish a self-serve pick-up on the kiosk or press Start on the booking. Then open Start return in Try kiosk and pick the booking.

Why does Try kiosk say "Create a practice booking for today first."?

No practice booking is available for that screen. On the Return screen it adds "Then check it out so it's ready to return." The New booking link closes the preview and opens the new-booking form.

Why can't I test Reserve now or a real door code?

Reserve now runs your real checkout and charges real cards, so it is switched off in Try kiosk. Use Try checkout with a practice customer instead. A practice booking never gets a real door code because it would open a real lock; a self-serve pick-up ends at "Your gear is ready — see the counter."

Does testing change my real data?

It changes the practice booking for real: a self-serve pick-up can make it Active and an automatic return can complete it, so you may need a new practice booking for each run. Practice bookings are left out of revenue reports, and staff alerts about them start with "Practice:". Owners and managers can delete them all with Clear practice bookings on the Bookings page.

Tips

How do tips work, and who pays the fee?

The customer picks a percentage, types an amount, or presses No tip. The tip is a separate card charge with Renta's booking fee added on top, so the fee does not come out of the tip. For example, at a 2.5% rate a $10 tip charges the card $10.25, your business receives the $10.00 (before Stripe's normal card processing fee), and Renta receives $0.25. See Tips at the kiosk.

What are the smallest and largest tips?

The smallest is $1, and a preset that works out to less than $1 is left off, so a very small rental may show only Custom amount and No tip. The largest is the rental total or $500, whichever is higher; above that the kiosk says "The largest tip we can take here is [amount]. Please ask a member of staff."

Why was the customer not offered a tip?

Tips are only offered on a rental that has started (Active or Completed); otherwise the customer sees "Tips can be left once your rental has started." The step is also skipped if Tip is unticked under Return in your kiosk settings. If you switch it off while a customer is already on the tip screen, they see "This shop isn't taking tips at the kiosk."

Where do I see a tip on the booking?

On the booking's Payments & Documents tab, below Payment history, a line such as "Tip (kiosk): $10.00 — succeeded" appears. A fully refunded tip changes to "refunded", and a tip that was started but never paid is not shown. A tip never changes the booking's total, balance owed or payment history.

What happens if a customer's bank disputes a tip?

Your owners get a notification, "A kiosk tip was disputed", and decide whether to respond in the Stripe dashboard. Disputes on tips are kept apart from disputes on the rental.

Returns that go to staff

Why did a return go to staff instead of finishing automatically?

Automatic finish only completes a clean return. Staff see the reason in the notification "[Customer name] returned gear — needs review", after "Needs staff:". Common reasons are "Damage reported", "Return checklist not finished", "Balance owed", "Cash deposit to hand back", "Deposit to decide" (your Finish flow has the Deposit step off), "Unsettled dropoff charges" and "Booking changed during check-in". The customer sees "Thanks, [name]! A team member will check your gear shortly." See When automatic finish hands a return to staff.

Will the kiosk ever keep part of a deposit?

No. Automatic finish only releases a deposit in full. Capturing money for damage is always a staff decision.

Why did a late return not finish by itself?

If a late fee is set up and the return is late, finishing adds the fee as a draft charge under Additional Charges and stops. Staff review the fee and finish the rental themselves.

Troubleshooting

The tablet shows the sign-in page instead of the kiosk.

A tablet stays locked for 30 days, and the lock lives in that tablet's browser. After 30 days, or if someone exited with the PIN or cleared the browser's data, lock it again from Kiosk → Lock this device.

The kiosk went back to the start while a customer was using it.

After 80 seconds without a touch it shows "Still there?" with "Starting over in 10 seconds", and starts over if nobody touches it. Touching the screen or I'm still here cancels it. Touches inside the booking page or payment page count as activity. Refreshing a customer's page also returns to the start. In Try kiosk the reset waits 10 minutes.

A customer says their booking cannot be found.

Check that the pickup is today (Pick up only finds bookings with a pickup today, status Pending, Pending payment, Confirmed or Active), that Return only finds Active bookings, and that the last name matches the end of the name on the booking and the phone matches its last 10 digits. If the customer record has no phone, add it on the Customers page. See How customers find their booking at the kiosk.

The customer saw "Almost there" and no door code.

Something needs staff, most often a missing deposit hold, so the kiosk did not check them out. Staff can place the hold on the booking and hand over the gear. If you do not want the kiosk to check deposits, untick Deposit hold under Pick up in the kiosk settings. See Pick up at the kiosk.

The customer got a door code on screen but also asks where the email is.

The kiosk always emails the code to the address on the customer's record. If that record has no email, nothing is sent and the code only shows on the kiosk screen. The Unlock your gear button can be pressed once per screen.

There is no Reserve now button.

It is switched off under Options customers see, or your business has no online storefront.

The PIN does not work.

It must be 6 to 12 digits. "Incorrect PIN" means the wrong PIN. After 10 attempts in 5 minutes across all your kiosks, it says "Too many requests. Please try again later." If it is forgotten, an owner or manager sets a new one at Kiosk → Staff PIN. See Setting or changing your kiosk password (staff PIN).

My settings changes are not showing on the tablet.

Press Save kiosk settings, then refresh the tablet. A tablet already sitting on its home screen does not update by itself.

How do I exit the kiosk?

Tap Staff at the top right, type the PIN and press Unlock device. Then sign in as usual.