So, on Dec. 28 I receieved a request and sent the book out the following day.  On Jan 21 I sent a message to the person asking if they'd received the book because I had a bad feeling about it , it had less than 100 miles to travel.  I got no response.  On Jan 24 PBS said the book was lost in the mail.  I read the help section and sent the person another PM as they suggested:

Hi XXX
PBS has now declared this book lost. Please let me know if this is the case so I can start filling out the USPS lost package form.
thank you

I went to USPS and the receiver has to fill out the form.  So much for that.  But the kicker is -she hasn't read the PM's.  (yes, she could have read them in email they are both short) So is it really lost in the mail?  And if I do send a message to PBS (after a week with no response)  what do I say?  It's not their fault I didn't use DC and am out a credit.   I guess my question is:  What is the purpose of sending PBS a message?  I'm ready just to write this one off.  Her bookshelf & profile are private so no information to be gathered there...

PBS takes answering PM's about transactions especially troubled ones very seriously.  She really does need to respond even though it's usually the requester that initiates the PM's in a situation like this.  PM-ing PBS about it keeps them informed because otherwise they wouldn't know and errant members wouldn't be caught.

Ruth

Don't forget, the requestor could be out of town. If that is the case, they can mark it received when they return. Is their account on hold? That might give you a hint if they are indeed away.

If the account is not on vacation and she's not responding to your PMS-then contact PBS.  They may mark the book received for you if the account looks inactive.  If she's not using the account than the credit they refunded to her should still be there. Assuming she didn't have an autorequested WL book get offered and sent to her. 

 When I click on her name I get:  We are sorry but this member has chosen to not show their bookshelf to others.  Does it say if they are on hold if their bookshelf is private?  Is it Murphy's Law that it was a brand new book of a well requested series?  So I really do need to contact PBS if she doesn't respond within a week.   What do I say?  Just tell them I'm notifying them of the lost book situation?  Do I ask them to look into it?  I didn't use DC so Iike I said before it's not their responsibility to deal with the lost credit.  I guess I just can't figure out what the message should include.

Tell them that you contacted her on X date (at least 1 week gone by) about a book that went lost in the system and she are not responding to you. They won't do anything about your credit (unless she is inactive, then the system should have marked the book received on the lost date instead of marking it lost), but they will contact her and let her know that correspondence is required.

Thanks Everyone-

At the end of the week I'll just write a note to PBS telling them about the lost book and no response to the 2 messages sent to receiver.   They can choose to look into it or not.

Like Melaie said, the situation of interest to PBS admin. is the non-response to your pm's (as regards to a problem transaction).  Good plan Ann :-)