What Counts as a Bug

A bug is something that's broken, behaving in a way it clearly shouldn't, or returning an error that prevents you from completing a normal task. Examples include:

  • A page that throws an error or won't load
  • A button or action that does nothing when clicked
  • Alert data that appears incorrect or contradicts what you expected based on your debtor's settings
  • A feature that worked previously and has stopped working
  • Account actions (adding a debtor, triggering a sweep, updating settings) that fail silently or return an error

If something feels wrong but you're not sure whether it's a bug or expected behavior, go ahead and report it anyway — we'd rather investigate and explain than have you stuck without an answer.

Before You Report: Quick Checks

These steps resolve a surprising number of issues before a report is even needed:

  • Hard refresh the page. Press Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows/Linux or Cmd+Shift+R on Mac. This clears your browser's cached version of the page and loads fresh assets.
  • Try a different browser. If you're on Chrome, try Firefox or Safari (or vice versa). Browser-specific quirks account for more bugs than you'd expect.
  • Log out and back in. Some session-related issues clear themselves on a fresh login.
  • Check your internet connection. A flaky connection can cause timeouts that look like product errors.

If the issue persists through all of the above, it's almost certainly worth reporting.

How to Report

Email Support@TrackMyDebtor.com with the subject line:

Bug Report: [brief description]

For example: "Bug Report: Manual sweep button does nothing on Safari" or "Bug Report: Alert page returns 500 error for debtor ID 12345."

What to Include in an Effective Bug Report

The more detail you provide, the faster we can reproduce the problem and push a fix. Include as many of the following as you can:

1
Your account email address
The email you used to sign up. This lets us pull up your account and review related logs immediately.
2
What you were trying to do
Describe the task or action you were in the middle of. "I was trying to trigger a manual sweep for a debtor named John Smith" gives us a starting point.
3
What happened instead
Describe the actual result — an error message, a blank screen, an unexpected outcome. The more specific, the better.
4
Steps to reproduce
Walk us through the exact steps you took, in order. "1. Opened debtor page. 2. Clicked Run Manual Sweep. 3. Saw a spinning indicator for 30 seconds then nothing." Reproducible bugs get fixed faster.
5
Browser and operating system
For example: "Chrome 124 on Windows 11" or "Safari on iPhone iOS 17." This helps us narrow down whether it's environment-specific.
6
Screenshots or a screen recording
If you can capture what you're seeing, attach it. A screenshot of an error message is worth a paragraph of description. Most phones and computers have a built-in screen recorder if you want to capture the sequence of events.
7
Approximate time it occurred
Include the date and approximate time (with your timezone if possible). This helps us search server logs for the relevant window.
Tip

Copy the exact text of any error message you see on screen. Even a cryptic error code like "500 Internal Server Error" or "ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED" tells us a lot about where the failure occurred.

Common Issues That Aren't Bugs

Some things that look like bugs have known explanations in the help center:

  • Sweep returned no results — this is usually a name, state, or data-availability issue, not a bug. See Why Didn't My Sweep Find Anything?
  • Debtor not found — often a name spelling or state selection issue. Check that the full legal name is entered correctly.
  • Alert seems unexpected — review the alert type articles in the help center for context on how specific alert categories work.
  • Slow page load — may be your connection or a temporary load spike. If it persists, report it — but a one-time slow load is usually transient.

What Happens After You Report

Once we receive your bug report:

  • A team member investigates and tries to reproduce the issue.
  • We may follow up by email to ask for additional detail — especially if we can't reproduce it with the information provided.
  • When the fix is deployed, it goes live automatically. You don't need to do anything — just reload the page.
  • We don't always send a "fixed" notification for every bug, but if yours was significant or you asked to be kept in the loop, we'll let you know.
Related articles

What to expect after sending a support email: Response Time Expectations · Sweep returned no results: Why Didn't My Sweep Find Anything?

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