Lost keys & recovery...

[ColinD]

Bit of a survey / question as it's something I'm possibly working on...

 

So this is all to do with your keys, house or car, or both. I have a little fob,  which is a lost/found key, nothing personal or location identifying on it. In theory, when I loose my keys, anyone finding them can see the fob and call the number. From there keys are returned via the fob co to protect each party I guess.

 

I'm interested if you have, don't have, would or would not carry such a thing with your keys.

 

Do you have any form of identity tag on your keys?

 

If you do, why, if you don't, same question why not?

 

Would you pay for such a thing, if so, how much; it depends is a valid answer, less than a tenner, more than a tenner, one off, versus annual.

 

Not on poll, but would some form of lost key insurance be worthwhile, so to cover locksmith, reprogramming. This isn't in my scope, but I thought I'd ask.

 

If this progresses to production, would you be interested in free beta/test access?

 

Anything else you feel maybe of interest, please add.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Colin.

 

 

[Aspman]

I used to have one back in the days when I actually paid for CPP. Part of the deal were key fobs with a  code that could be dropped into a post box and they'd get returned to me.

 

£10 a year I think I'd be happy to pay for something like that (I've never actually lost my keys outside the house) as long as it was small like a dog/cat chip.

 

If you are looking at a business/kickstarter idea you might want to consider how to sell it to the trade in some sort of bulk form.

Edited 28 November, 2014 by Aspman

[ColinD]

Thanks. 

 

Reading under the lines, this is a possible pivot from another similar concept. Trade is a definite route, retail and whitelabel.

 

Is return a key factor... would you trust them? 

 

Would you prefer to pay less upfront, but a '1x off' for return? I'm thinking how the RM like to bump prices now and again, keys would not fit the 5mm letter + delivery insurance, so small pkt, £4.00 min in post/pack/time alone.

 

I don't do kickstarter, I; foolishly, bootstrap these ideas myself, makes me far more cautious though.

[Ootohere]

I have the 'Reward Tag'  provided by Adrian Flux  with the Insurance Policy, 'Keycare UK' on my keys.

[BJM]

There are already a number of such operations around the UK - one of the best known is Boomerang-Tag, which is provided free of charge by a number of (Home I think, not Car) Insurance companies.

[ColinD]

I have that very tag the impaling key tangling boomerang. It's paid out of your premium somewhere, or charged on top; I paid once, so it could be 'free'. A concern then is, if perception is 'free' & insured it transforms the challenge ( for me ) around insurance and not the asset of the asset<->person.

 

It's also only one. I have 4 sets of keys, or one bunch that I cannot fit in my pocket. But I am aware of it/them.

 

Should also say keys is one segment, it happens to be the most relevant here as we all have a car key. So replace key with anything that moves, walks, squarks, pings, bongs or otherwise generally can be lost. 

 

I'm also looking at immediate/active/passive or quicker feedback loops. Leveraging technology in pockets and software skills we have today. But only if that marries up to a validated need, which of course it does as this

exists in my head, but so do unicorns and dragons

 

Off now to an investors meeting for steam powered cast-iron spaceships. 

 

If you found a bunch of keys with a 08## and a £10 reward, would you call it from your mobile?

 

Without giving too much away and taking feedback, "this" does not need to call   :think:

[kit]

I did use the CPP for a while as it came free with a credit card I had, I have a home made one now with my solicitors address on it. Thought techy folk were now using the "Tile" GPS tags? think they are about £20 each.

 

K:)

[FUBAR]

The time it would take to get keys returned via a third party processed by them and sent on to me would take much longer than me being say 10 minutes away in town and someone stood there with them depriving me of my car (unable to continue paying for pay&display etc) and or access to house. If unable to get the keys back in a narrow time frame they could quickly become totally redundant as I would have all locks concerned changed within 6 hours. Beyond that time, I would not be hopeful of a good Samaritan and am insured as such.  I would just buy a dog tag for sub £3 delivered off ebay and have my mobile number on it and £10 reward then go to the person. Should I see 5 of them waiting for me in an arranged place, I being anonymous would walk on by. Another way is you could ask or have message asking they be handed into the police who could then contact you. For a similar purpose made more attractive keyring I would pay personally £9.99 delivered max. Having a design though that stands out to say 'this isn't a normal generic keyring, READ ME' would be more difficult. A normal dog tag or US military style one would be more unique looking and automatically interoperated as a means of identification and likely to be examined by someone. 

 

Something like this for £4 delivered would give you 2 tags for 2 sets of keys which is very cost effective and would stand out over a normal nice keyring which may be ignored, not knowing there may be information on it Columbo style. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MILITARY-PERSONALISED-DOG-TAGS-EMBOSSED-FOR-FREE-/221267126258?pt=Adult_Fancy_Dress_UK&var=&hash=item33848c67f2

 

 

As for me and what I have on mine, I do not and never have had any such thing on my keys and that is only because I have never thought of it before. I am sure in the past I have had some crapy one from an insurance company which was a plastic tab like a tesco club card keyring, and I dislike carrying anything more than I have to on my keys so didn't. But I think I should! 

[ColinD]

There are a few 'techy' type things like tile, gps, and minature bluetooth blocks. I think, you need a specific app to make use of them. They are very good for you finding your own keys I think, e.g. under a jumper on the sofa. Also I believe, not gotten one yet, the battery lasts for a year or 18months. Arguably that 'tile' usecase is going to be used a lot more!

 

So this is aimed at joPublic finding, reading and getting in contact, securly & anonmously. As you say, returning directly to you asap is the key.  If I lost ina cafe, I'd kind of think the next person would find them, or the waitress. A quick and easy, free/low cost 'found' initiator with a rapid chance of return is for me the key. A tag with your mobile# on works, if you're happy to share that, inadvertantly through loss. So I'm between simple and active bluetooth tech. Probabbly a lot closer to simple than I like

 

There maybe an app, to do push notices, but SMS is cheap and works on brick phones too

 

Biggest challenge, if you're not a techy or over 40, wtf do we do... I'm going for an old school wrapping, this needs to work in the middle of nowhere, almost as well as it does in cafe in a metropolitan centre

[ColinD]

As for me and what I have on mine, I do not and never have had any such thing on my keys and that is only because I have never thought of it before. I am sure in the past I have had some crapy one from an insurance company which was a plastic tab like a tesco club card keyring, and I dislike carrying anything more than I have to on my keys so didn't. But I think I should! 

 

Superb point. I'm trailing a plastic ones, holding up ok. But it's not a thin as possible one. A good 3-4mm on it. Another option is an anodised allumimum one, probabbly laser etched. Somerthing with a modicum of style

[Aspman]

I think I'd want my keys back. But how do you let me know they're ok before I've gone to the expense of recovering the car? that's only going to be a matter of hours.

 

What about a QR code on the tag or a NFC tag? Takes finder to a website to register the recovery, sends sms etc to owner to say they are safe + maybe some sort of system for meeting and rewarding the recoverer.

 

Always going to be a risk of abuse where any sort of reward is possible.

[Sammycarp]

Mine is a 50 x 20 x 4mm metal ingot with the details etched into it - a freephone number and a serial number, supplied by my car lease company.   I can email a pic if you want Colin?

In the past I've had the plastic (Tesco Clubcard stylee) ones, with a card theft policy, but they broke up very quickly in use.   

 

 

I think they're useful, but as I haven't lost my keys outside the house, I've never tested the efficacy of the system.   I'd consider something similar if I didn't already have it bundled from elsewhere, but wouldn't pay much for the service - maybe £20 one off, or £3 a year?

[actionman39]

i usually do a couple of insurance "lost key" jobs most months. Usually the car owner contacts me, i go do the job, they pay me, i give them an invoice then they claim it back from insurance company

[Dark_Hero]

I added key cover to my car insurance policy.

It has a number to call with a reference number and offers a £10 reward to the finder.

The reference number is linked to my policy, so the key cover/ insurance company can contact me

[gadgetman]

Years ago some insurers bundled it in the deal, and usually they had something about a reward for safe return and a freepost address to send them to.

 

I think to get people to return them you'd have to offer a reasonable reward and make it easy to do via a freepost or police route, and ensure checks in case a thief tries to claim a reward for keys they stole.

[Welsh_kai_boy]

I have such protection with my bank (plus other paid for benefits) silver metal tag with return details and unique identifier. I did have brass plates which are on other family members keys.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I've never bothered with this kind of service, though at the right price I'd possibly be interested. I realise this is tempting fate, but I don't think I've ever lost a set of keys (and definitely haven't done so since I've been driving) so I see this as a very low risk and that limits the amount I'd be likely to pay.

What *would* tempt me is a nice low cost tag with a finders fee payable if the keys are lost and then found. I wouldn't pay £10 a year (for example) for the service, but if I *did* lose my keys then I'd happily pay someone £20 to get them back
 

Edited 30 November, 2014 by Dr Zoidberg

[seboni121]

As Fubs said ! Just get a dog tag and get the dremel out , that's what I've done just put " reward if found please contact" my mobile simples

[ColinD]

Thanks for the comments. 

 

I have hidden a few as they were contravening our trading rules. Will be in touch in the week to discuss.