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Lost Travel Bug


Slapheadyeti

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Hi. I just got an email from a Cacher who collected my 9 yr old sons travel bug for its first time from a cache i placed it in. He has said he has lost it in a hotel he was staying in. Do i just ask for the money for a new one, or is there a way i can get him to pay for a replacement? Thanks.

You can ask... but he is under no obligation to pay up. Personally, I would simply thank him/her for letting me know.

 

Perhaps he could tell you the hotel he stayed in, you contact the hotel and see if the cleaning staff has it, etc.

 

When you send a Travel Bug out into the world, you takes your chances on what is gonna happen.

 

Sorry for your son's loss. :(

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But is it possible to get a replacement with the same number on it??

 

not sure what is going on this days, seems that "copy" tags are not produced anymore

 

if you did get a second tag with your purchase that says "copy" on it, you can send that one out

 

as for making the person that lost it pay for it that is quite impossible to enforce, personally i would be happy that they were honest and had the courage to admit they lost it

 

trackables sometimes can have a very short life and you should bare that in mind when you release one, it can disappear without a trace or sometimes show up after years of being thought missing

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But is it possible to get a replacement with the same number on it??

 

from the Travel Bug FAQ page:

Why are there two tags?

There is one tag that says "COPY" on it. This tag you hold on to to keep as a memento and a quick way to check up on your bugs. It also works as a good backup if your original Travel Bug comes up missing.

 

Looks to me as though you should already have a COPY tag.

 

EDIT to add: Even if you don't have the copy tag -- you bought the number, it is yours to use. If necessary you can create your own tag.

Edited by Gitchee-Gummee
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No, tell me the current costs and if you get a copy tag. Do I need to make purchase to give advice?

I bought a few, about a month ago (not from GS's store), and they were just over $4 each for a set of 8. They each come with a copy tag, but it has the text "Keep me!" on the first line of text. The Travel Bug tag has a little info on how to track it (and the text "Do not keep me!"). The copy tag only has "trackable at geocaching.com" below the bug bar code, no other info on tracking. The copy tag is not very well-suited as a dogtag replacement. If I were to release one, I'd have to obliterate "Keep me", and inscribe maybe "Don't keep me" or some other info by hand in the space below the tracking number, using an engraving pen. The OP may consider something like that.

Edited by kunarion
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But is it possible to get a replacement with the same number on it??

 

not sure what is going on this days, seems that "copy" tags are not produced anymore

 

if you did get a second tag with your purchase that says "copy" on it, you can send that one out

 

as for making the person that lost it pay for it that is quite impossible to enforce, personally i would be happy that they were honest and had the courage to admit they lost it

 

trackables sometimes can have a very short life and you should bare that in mind when you release one, it can disappear without a trace or sometimes show up after years of being thought missing

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Ok (Scenario) so.. I bought the number on a tag, attached it to some trinket and somebody losses my #$%^& TB.

 

Now what me do?

 

Do I just make up another one (duplicate, triplicate, quad, whatever) and drop in in the nearest cache?

That means I have 2 (or more) TBs out there with the same number assuming the one one shows up...

Or is there some place on the GC website to log "original gone missing - start over"? <_<

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Ok (Scenario) so.. I bought the number on a tag, attached it to some trinket and somebody losses my #$%^& TB.

 

Now what me do?

 

Do I just make up another one (duplicate, triplicate, quad, whatever) and drop in in the nearest cache?

That means I have 2 (or more) TBs out there with the same number assuming the one one shows up...

Or is there some place on the GC website to log "original gone missing - start over"? <_<

 

Someone's lost it?

 

How badly lost?

 

Lost as in "I know I had it last week but now I just can't find it and I don't know where it can be..."

 

or lost as in "I took it to Marakesh and accidentally left it there in a taxi..."

 

or lost as in "It was in my house which burnt down to a crisp last weekend..."?

 

If you're 100% sure it's 100% gone/destroyed/left the planet then mark it as Missing (if you haven't already done so). Then feel free to create a new tag using the same tracking number to attach to some new item and send it off on its travels again.

 

If there's a chance that it may re-appear somewhere then it's generally recommended that you should wait at least a year before re-using the tracking number on another TB.

 

Sometimes TBs reappear mysteriously after months, or years, and nobody ever finds out what happened to them in that strange limbo land.

 

MrsB

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Ok (Scenario) so.. I bought the number on a tag, attached it to some trinket and somebody losses my #$%^& TB.

 

Now what me do?

 

Do I just make up another one (duplicate, triplicate, quad, whatever) and drop in in the nearest cache?

That means I have 2 (or more) TBs out there with the same number assuming the one one shows up...

Or is there some place on the GC website to log "original gone missing - start over"? <_<

 

Someone's lost it?

 

How badly lost?

 

Lost as in "I know I had it last week but now I just can't find it and I don't know where it can be..."

 

or lost as in "I took it to Marakesh and accidentally left it there in a taxi..."

 

or lost as in "It was in my house which burnt down to a crisp last weekend..."?

 

If you're 100% sure it's 100% gone/destroyed/left the planet then mark it as Missing (if you haven't already done so). Then feel free to create a new tag using the same tracking number to attach to some new item and send it off on its travels again.

 

If there's a chance that it may re-appear somewhere then it's generally recommended that you should wait at least a year before re-using the tracking number on another TB.

 

Sometimes TBs reappear mysteriously after months, or years, and nobody ever finds out what happened to them in that strange limbo land.

 

MrsB

 

Ok So let me make sure I understand this...

So my TB goes missing for [say] 2 years, and by "missing" I mean that it was logged into a cache somewhere never to be seen again

in the two intervening years as noted by several caches visiting the cache saying "your TB is not in that cache".

 

So ok.. Now I:

1. Log the TB as missing on the webpage.

2. Attached the copy tag to a similar trinket.

3. Drop the copy in a nearby cache and log it into that cache.

4. Watch the copy go on its merry way.

 

So now (scenerio) some time after I send out the copy the original shows up again and

it gets logged into some cache somewhere else and I have to TBs with one tracking number on the loose.

 

How do (or can I?) prevent this from happening?

 

Bushman002

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Nothing you can do to ensure 100% that it wont happen if you release one using the same TB number.

 

My TB went missing ages ago, an I marked it as missing a while back, But when I release another I'll just be buying another dog tag and using a different TB number.

 

My other is still marked as missing, and I suppose it's always got an outside chance of resurfacing at some point.

 

Sure I'd like to know what happened to it, but I don't have high hopes, I got no messages saying, "I lost ur TB" or "My cache containing your TB was muggled" so it's probably always going to be a mystery to me.

 

I'll just release a new TB with a new Tracking code and start a new journey :)

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If you end up in the situation of having two trackables being active at the same time with the same number, you just call one of them home. You can ask one of the holders to mail it to you at your cost or have them destroy it. Whatever works for you so that you only have one moving at a time.

 

In reality, nothing usually happens if you have both moving around but Groundspeak can lock the trackable if a cacher complains about it to them. It does make for some interesting and confusing situations for the finders since the trackable can only be in one cache or in one person's hand at a time.

 

"I found this in California but it is listed as being in Germany"

"I had to grab this from a German cacher"

"Someone in California grabbed this from me so I had to grab it back to place it in a cache in Germany"

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So ok.. Now I:

1. Log the TB as missing on the webpage.

2. Attached the copy tag to a similar trinket.

3. Drop the copy in a nearby cache and log it into that cache.

4. Watch the copy go on its merry way.

 

So now (scenerio) some time after I send out the copy the original shows up again and

it gets logged into some cache somewhere else and I have to TBs with one tracking number on the loose.

 

How do (or can I?) prevent this from happening?

Between steps 2 & 3, post a photo of the revived TB with its new tag (but no tracking number in view, of course), and mention "It was once a rubber frog, and now it's a plastic lion" or whatever, in the TB description. Make it as clear as possible, so when a log occurs and it seems like the original TB is back, you can easily find out which "copy" they're logging about.

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