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Overdue Reminders & the Extension Offer

When a rental is not returned on time, EquipDash can automatically send your customer a reminder. You can also include a one-tap link that lets them extend the rental and pay on the spot — turning a potential no-show into a simple, paid conversation.

How Overdue Reminders Work​

EquipDash monitors active rentals every few minutes. Once a booking's scheduled return time passes (plus a configurable grace period), an overdue notice goes out automatically by email and SMS.

The notice contains:

  • A reminder of the items out and the original return time
  • The View booking self-service link so the customer can see their booking details

No action is required from your staff — the reminder fires on its own as long as the notification is enabled in Settings → SMS → Notifications.

Adding a One-Tap Extension Offer​

When Offer online extension on overdue rentals is turned on, EquipDash appends a personalised extension link to every overdue notice. The link shows the customer a live cost quote ("Keep it 1 more day for $25") and lets them confirm the extension and pay in one tap — exactly the same flow as customer self-service extensions.

This requires that Allow customers to extend active rental online is turned on in Settings → Rentals first. If online extensions are off, the offer will not appear even if the toggle below is on.

Configuring the Extension Offer​

  1. Go to Settings → Notifications.
  2. Scroll to the Customer Lifecycle card.
  3. Turn on Offer online extension on overdue rentals.
  4. Set the Grace period (minutes) — how long after the scheduled return time EquipDash waits before sending the overdue notice. The default is 15 minutes. Increase this if short delays (traffic, parking) are common for your customers.
  5. Optionally, set a Skip tag — the name of a booking or customer tag (for example VIP or season-pass) that suppresses automated overdue chasers entirely. Customers tagged this way are never sent automated overdue messages; your team handles them personally.
  6. Click Save.

Skipping the Offer for Specific Customers​

The Skip tag field accepts a single tag name. Any booking — or any booking whose customer — carries that tag will not receive an automated overdue notice or extension offer.

This is useful for season-pass holders, wholesale accounts, or VIP customers where an automated chaser would be inappropriate. Add the tag to the customer record or to the booking itself; EquipDash checks both.

See Booking Tags for how to add and manage tags.

What the Customer Sees​

The overdue notice arrives by email and SMS (according to your notification settings). Inside the message, the extension offer reads something like:

Need more time? Keep your gear for another day — it's $25. Tap below to extend and pay now.

Tapping the link opens the same extension page described in Customer Self-Service. The customer sees the extended return date, the availability status, and the extra charge before confirming.

Once confirmed, the booking return date updates automatically and your team is notified — the same as any self-service change.

When the Offer Does Not Appear​

The extension link is omitted from the overdue notice when:

  • Online extensions are disabled — turn on Allow customers to extend active rental online in Settings → Rentals.
  • The offer toggle is off — turn on Offer online extension on overdue rentals in Settings → Notifications.
  • The booking or customer has the skip tag — the entire overdue notice is suppressed, not just the offer.
  • The product does not support online extend — if the individual product has online extensions disabled, the offer is not included for that booking.