"Transferred Ownership" email

[+The A-Team]

I just received a couple of emails with the following subject line:

"[GEO] Transferred Ownership of Travel Bug"

 

I almost had a heart attack when I saw that subject line, because I definitely hadn't put any of my trackables up for adoption. I then opened up the email and it contained the following message (I've removed specific identifying details):

This is an email from Geocaching.com letting you know that the travel bug [The name of the trackable] has been transferred to account "[Name of another cacher]". There is no need to respond to this email.

 

Visit this Travel Bug here

I then realized that this was actually telling me that someone else had grabbed this trackable from my possession, and it had nothing to do with a transfer of ownership.

 

Is it just me, or is this an exceedingly-poorly worded email?

 

In contrast, the way these emails used to look was the following:

Subject line: "[LOG] Holder: [Name of other cacher] grabbed [Name of trackable] from [Your name]"

Body:

This is an automated message from Geocaching.com

 

You are receiving this email because you are currently listed as the holder of this Travel Bug.

 

[Name of other cacher] grabbed [Name of trackable] from [Your name] on [Date of grabbing].

[...and then the contents of the log and links to the log and trackable]

IMO, the old format was much more clear about what's happening with the trackable.

[+NanCycle]

I just received a couple of emails with the following subject line:

"[GEO] Transferred Ownership of Travel Bug"

 

I almost had a heart attack when I saw that subject line, because I definitely hadn't put any of my trackables up for adoption. I then opened up the email and it contained the following message (I've removed specific identifying details):

This is an email from Geocaching.com letting you know that the travel bug [The name of the trackable] has been transferred to account "[Name of another cacher]". There is no need to respond to this email.

 

Visit this Travel Bug here

I then realized that this was actually telling me that someone else had grabbed this trackable from my possession, and it had nothing to do with a transfer of ownership.

 

Is it just me, or is this an exceedingly-poorly worded email?

 

In contrast, the way these emails used to look was the following:

Subject line: "[LOG] Holder: [Name of other cacher] grabbed [Name of trackable] from [Your name]"

Body:

This is an automated message from Geocaching.com

 

You are receiving this email because you are currently listed as the holder of this Travel Bug.

 

[Name of other cacher] grabbed [Name of trackable] from [Your name] on [Date of grabbing].

[...and then the contents of the log and links to the log and trackable]

IMO, the old format was much more clear about what's happening with the trackable.

 

I agree with you; it seems that it would have been difficult to come up with a more poorly worded message. I think I would have nearly had a heart attack also.

 

Please, GS, revert to the previous wording. Why is it necessary to make changes just for the sake of making changes? Sometimes there is nothing wrong with leaving something the way it was.

[+Manville Possum]

Seemed odd to me as well.

[Moun10Bike]

Changes to the back-end trackable service led to this notification being dropped. When it was added back in, the wrong template was chosen (it's currently using the adoption email template rather than "grabbed from holder" template). I've notified our engineering team.

[+The A-Team]

Changes to the back-end trackable service led to this notification being dropped. When it was added back in, the wrong template was chosen (it's currently using the adoption email template rather than "grabbed from holder" template). I've notified our engineering team.

It's good to know that this was a simple mistake and more-desirable behaviour is on its way. Thanks for the update!

[+JoergWausW]

I think I never got any email telling me that someone grabbed an item from my inventory. They're just gone when I'm about to drop them into the event I just attended. Why can that be?

 

An observation: Usually those "grabby people" don't drop them into the event where they got the item for you, so the information where it changed holdership is lost. If I still have the tracking code, I'll grab it back and drop it into the event. The current holder gets (probably) the email and can grab it again. But sometimes I don't have the code anymore.

A suggestion: Maybe futile because it is already realized (as I said I never got one of those notification mails): is the tracking code included in these grab-mails? I guess the log text of the grabber already is.

[+dprovan]

An observation: Usually those "grabby people" don't drop them into the event where they got the item for you, so the information where it changed holdership is lost. If I still have the tracking code, I'll grab it back and drop it into the event. The current holder gets (probably) the email and can grab it again. But sometimes I don't have the code anymore.

It's unfortunate that many people don't recognize the importance of having a grabbed traveler visit the cache or event where it was picked up, but it's the grabber's mistake, and your attempt to fix it by grabbing it back and putting it in the event seems like just a bigger mistake. The better reaction would be to send the grabber a message explaining what they should do if they find that they have to grab a TB because it's not yet logged in. That way, you can fix the real problem, which is that the grabber doesn't know any better, instead of just this symptom of one TB not getting to the party before getting picked up.

 

Also, if you know ahead of time which TBs you're going to drop at an event, you can avoid this by dropping the TB in the event before it starts instead of waiting until after you get home and are logging that you attended.

[+JoergWausW]

Also, if you know ahead of time which TBs you're going to drop at an event, you can avoid this by dropping the TB in the event before it starts instead of waiting until after you get home and are logging that you attended.

I know, but sometimes I don't know yet which TB I will drop in a cache the same day just before the event. Sometimes the TB has a special mission and I don't know whether I'll find someone who can help the TB. I don't like to drop stuff for the event owner to sit on afterwards...

 

But you may be right about the problem - my method of grabbing it back means more work for the grabber, because he(or she) has to retrieve it online again before it can be dropped online. If they had waited the only had to do it once. On the other hand: you don't know whether they would do it a second time. Maybe they don't care and put it in a cache/event without the proper online-log because they don't have it in their inventory anymore. But same might happen after I email them and tell them: nothing.