[Koha] Lost item refund

[Martha Fuerst]

We deal with this issue a lot.

If a patron pays for a lost item, they have 90 days to return it for a refund. But that refund is handled outside of Koha, usually via our business office (unless it’s under a certain amount - I think $10 - then it comes out of the drawer and staff make a note on their tally sheets). The trick comes when the item is checked back in - because Koha doesn’t understand this, and we obviously want lost item charges to be refunded when the item hasn’t been paid for. If the item comes back 90 days after it’s been paid for, we don’t refund the charge - but again, Koha doesn’t understand this.

To that end, there is this bug: https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20262 <https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=20262>

There is less activity on this bug, which would automatically change an item’s lost status to Lost and Paid For when it has been paid: https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=22740 <https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=22740>

Any assistance (either patch writing or “yes please” noise) on either of these would be greatly appreciated!

Best,

Marti Fuerst
Systems Librarian and Manager of Technical Services
Huntsville-Madison County Public Library
915 Monroe St, Huntsville, AL 35801
http://hmcpl.org/ — mfuerst at hmcpl.org

> On Oct 4, 2019, at 2:20 AM, Andreas Hedström Mace <andreas.hedstrom.mace at su.se> wrote:
> 
> Hi Caroline!
> 
> Is there a step missing from your list? Are the fees added to the account in step 3 actually paid by the patron? Otherwise I do not understand why any money would be given back to the patron... (and the credit should apply to the fees automatically, right? unless they have already been paid for.)
> 
> Best regards,
> Andreas Mace
> Stockholm University Library
> 
> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: Koha <koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz> För Caroline Cyr-La-Rose
> Skickat: den 1 oktober 2019 18:52
> Till: Koha mailing list <koha at lists.katipo.co.nz>
> Ämne: [Koha] Lost item refund
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> My questions are for libraries who use the refund feature for returned lost items. Do you actually reimburse the money to the patron? If so, how do you enter that in Koha?
> 
> Several libraries have brought this problem to me, and I can't figure out how to make it work in Koha.
> 
> Here's what I've got right now :
> 
> 1. (A very honest) User comes to the circ desk, and says they lost an item
> 
> 2. I go to the item record and declare it lost
> 
> 3. The replacement fee and processing fee are added to the patron's account
> 
> 4. Later, the patron comes back with the item (they found it under the car seat, even though they swore they looked there before)
> 
> 5. I "check in" the item
> 
> 6. The replacement fee is credited to the user's account
> 
> 7. I take the money from the cash register and give it back to them
> 
> This is where I'm stumped. How do I tell Koha that this money is no longer in the cash register AND that this patron DOES NOT have a credit?
> 
> I tried creating a manual invoice. This puts the balance at 0, but it says the user owes money, which is not true.
> 
> Note that our libraries are still using 18.05. We haven't migrated them to 19.05 yet. I know the ability to use credits to pay for charges was added in 18.11. But I'm not even sure it answers their needs exactly...
> 
> If you could share your procedures, I would be very grateful!
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Caroline
> 
> 
> --
> Caroline Cyr La Rose, M.L.I.S.
> Librarian | Product Manager
> 
> Phone: 1-833-465-4276, ext. 221
> Caroline.Cyr-La-Rose at inLibro.com <mailto:caroline.cyr-la-rose at inLibro.com>
> 
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