You can manage all product returns right within Firmhouse. From the moment a customer requests a return to the product being back in your inventory: The return orders feature allows you to initiate returns and keep track of them at all times.
What you'll learn in this article:
How the return order feature works
Setting up product returns
Creating returns and keeping track of them
How the return order feature works
The most important things to understand about this feature:
Return orders can be created for any product(s) a customer is being billed for
Once created, the billing continues for all products within that return order
Changes can be made to a return order at any time (sending return labels, adjusting products, editing the return reason)
Return orders can be marked as completed at any time. Once completed the billing will stop for all products that were part of that return and the customer gets informed about it via email.
Setting up product returns
There is no setup required for product returns to work. However you might want to adjust the emails that are being sent to the customers as part of a product return. There are two important emails:
Return order completed: The email that gets sent once you mark an order as completed
Return label: The email that gets sent along with the return label
You can find both of these emails by going to Settings > Email configuration and scroll down to Returns.
Creating returns and keeping track of them
Creating a new return order
Create a new return order by locating the customer and then scrolling down to "Return orders". Here you can create a new return order.
Select one or several products to return
The desired return is an optional choice for customers that want to schedule their returns in advance
At this point the products that are part of the return continue to be billed as usual. There is no email being sent to the customer about this return (yet).
Managing A return order
You will find all return orders in the "Returns" menu. There are several actions you can take on a return order:
Sending a return label: Upload a return label as a PDF and the system will automatically send an email to the customer with the return label attached
Make modification to the return order (adjust products that are part of the return, change desired return date, edit return reason)
Mark a return as complete
Cancel a return
Marking a return as complete
It's up to you when you mark a return as complete. Important to know is that once you mark it as complete, billing stops for all products that were part of the return.
At this point an email is also sent to the customer, informing them about the successful return of their products.
In case that the returned product were the last ones on a subscription, there will be an option to also cancel the subscription.
Handling partial returns
If you receive incomplete return orders (products missing) we recommend to do the following:
Edit the return order to only include the items that have been returned
Mark the return order as completed
Manually email the customer about the missing / wrongly returned items
Create a new return order for the outstanding items
Return orders in combination with assets
If you are using the asset feature don't forget to unlink the asset from the subscriber once you marked a product as returned:
Mark the return order as completed
Click on the customers name in the return order
Scroll down to "Assets"
Unlink the desired assets