I mailed a book at the beginning of January that went lost. I PMed the user a week ago to double check that they did not receive it. They still have not responded nor (according to the PM page) have they read my PM.

I know it's possible for them to read it via e-mail, but yeah. No response.

What do I do? I think I read that I should contact TPBT.. But how do I go about doing that?

Thank you in advance!

I'm confused at why you PMed them.  If they didn't get the book what were they supposed to do?  How long ago did you PM them? 

To contact TPTB use the "contact us" at the bottom of every page and then use feedback.

There is a whole section on this in the Help Center titled:

"A book I sent is lost in the mail! "

I always send a pm a few days before the book is set to go lost, just to make sure the person didn't just forget to mark it received.  I know some people tend to ignore the system generated e-mails.  If it's been a few days and they haven't responded, I would contact TPTB.  They need to know if people aren't responding.  It might be a trend of an inactive account.

Now if they respond that they haven't received it, there's not much you can do outside of contacting the post office.

Oh, ad to answer your question you can contact TPTB by clicking the "contact us" link under the Company heading at the bottom of the page.

Yes Krista, sounds like you have followed PBS recommendations for a potential 'lost' transaction.  For these situations, TPTB highly recommend responding to pm's and could take action over ignored pm's.  So yes, consider forwarding the situation to PBS admin for review.

Be on the alert, I had 2 books almost go lost in JAN and both times the recipient PM'd me after I PM'd them to say "I forgot to mark it rec'd"!  then I got a WL book accepted and the person marked it mailed, then when it was set to go "lost", I PM'd her and she said she'd forgotten to mail it!  Are everyone's new year's resolutions so overwhelming they can't remember to mark or mail their books???

Every time I have had a book I sent almost go lost, it turns out the receiver just forgot to mark it. 

It's perfectly reasonable to PM someone when it is close to the lost date and ask them to confirm that they have not actually received the book. If a sender sent me a PM like that, I would gladly reply and let them know that I had not actually received the book. 

I was in this situation. I did not hear back in one week so I contacted TPTB. I had DC from another source that showed the book was delivered, and eventually TPTB marked the book received and I got my credit.

You've done the right thing.  You PM'd to see whether the requestor really hadn't received the book. And you waited a week.  The PBS Team actually can/will do something because the requestor hasn't responded.  (They're big on communication!) As Alison said, go down to the bottom right corner of any page, and under "company" click on "contact us" to talk to the PBS Team.  Use the Feedback option there.

After using PBS for almost two years, I have found that, with only a very few exceptions, every time I PM a recipient and ask if an overdue book was arrived, that almost always come back and say, "Oops!  Yes, it got here a while ago and I just forgot to mark it received."  To be honest, that's one of my biggest pet peeves about PBS.  In general, people are lazy about marking books as received and they're lazy about mailing requested books on time. 

There's nothing at all wrong with PMing a requestor if a book hasn't been marked as recieved within a reasonable amount of time.  I just make sure I'm very polite, and then thank them sincerely when they reply.  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  (smile)

The first thing I would do is check your transaction archive and credit registry. If the user is truly inactive--i.e., has not logged in for a given amount of time--the system automatically marks the book received so you get your credit. Especially since the person hasn't even read your PMs, that would be my first indication that they may not be active at PBS anymore--yeah, I know, they CAN read the PM from email, but if they're like me, they have "new PM" emails blocked from being sent. If there's no indication a credit was received from the transaction, then yes, contact the PBS team.

I agree that there's nothing wrong with PMing a member politely a few days before the book is due to go lost. Having had so few lost books in either direction, it's a real rarity for me these days. What I get ticked about is when people PM a few days to a couple of weeks after the book was sent, saying, "Did you get my book yet?" Grrrr...as someone who always marks books received within 24 hours of getting them, THAT is annoying!

Cheryl

I also had a book mailed at the beginning of January go lost and sent a PM a couple days prior to it being marked lost to ask if they might have received it. She replied she hadn't. We are both hoping it's just a weather related delay. She let me know she would mark it received if it arrives. This book was one of five mailed the same day. Because all of the others arrived safely within a week of being mailed it was difficult not to send a PM sooner but I forced myself to wait because I didn't want to be a pest. I felt better after her reply knowing that at least her account wasn't inactive.

You did the right thing by contacting them around the lost date. Even if you used PBS-DC and got your credit you are supposed to PM them to follow up on lost books. 

If the member is not active in their account lately and do not respond to you, the Team may marked the book received for them. It is not OK to ignore a PM about a lost book. If they are in the area with bad weather they could have had interupted mail and internet service, but I don't think anyone's has been out for the that extended of a period to not acknowledge to book or the PM. 

 In general, people are lazy about marking books as received and they're lazy about mailing requested books on time. 

Really?  Has this been your experience in your 2 years with PBS?  That's disappointing.  I've been a member for just shy of 4 years and I have not run into this problem more than 2 or 3 times.  I know I mark my books the day they arrive, right after I check to be sure that there is no problem with the book.  As for mailing, all of mine go out when I state I will mail, if not earlier.  From what I've noticed, the majority of people I've traded with have done the same.  

Sandy - Sadly, yes.  It's very disappointing.  I stopped keeping track of the number of times people have "forgotten" to mark books as received, and the number of times people have marked books as "mailed" only to have them arrive a month or so later, postemarked only a few days before they arrived.  I deal with the post office on a daily basis through my business and I know that they just aren't that sloppy and unprofessional, so blaming the post office doen't fly with me.  I wish I had kept a record of the various excuses I've heard for laziness... some of them have been really humorous!  But I'm not a grudge-holder and I fully understand that this is a voluntary used-book swapping service and NOT Amazon or Barnes & Noble, so I choose to look at the bright side and think about how much money I've saved over two years.  :o)  And it's A LOT!!!!  (big smile)

But, yes, I'd say a large percentage of the several-hundred swaps I've done have involved the other party blowing off their end of the deal.  Books that should never have been posted; shipping books really late after marking them shipped; forgetting to mark them when they arrive.... (sigh)  Life goes on, though, and in the big scheme of things, it's not a deal-breaker for PBS and me.  LOL

True Diane, doesn't it work nice when the sender and receiver are following guidelines, communicating, and all on the same page?!?

When I had a sent book appearing lost in the mail, I also sent the pm and the transaction went much smoother when the receiver & I were communicating.  And yes, we were able to get the book back on track and to it's final destination *whew*

Yes Sandy, in my own 4 years of PBS experience there are definate waves of 'forgetful' members.  December was like that for me, an unusually high number of books I requested were either were never marked mailed and timed-out or were marked mailed and never arrived in my mailbox.  Still waiting for one more, I'm trying to be patient b/c of the possibility of weather related problems...but have an ice-cream bet with myself it was never mailed in the first place (will check wrapper if it ever arrives).  A surprising number of members mail late and purchase counter postage *hello, can we say incriminating evidence*.

Wow, that's a shame.  My mind works in weird ways, so now it's got me wondering if this laziness/late mailing thing is somehow tied in to the genre of books read.  I tend toward horror, some true crime, biographies/memoirs/autobiographies, with some general literature thrown in for good measure.  Are readers of romance more likely than readers of horror to mail late, for example?  Just pondering.  I do hope this improves for you both. 

Sandy - I do not read romance books.  I read mostly non-fiction (biographies, memoirs, politics and current events), classic literature, science fiction, historical fiction, some horror, along with some forensic science or detective (police-procedural) mysteries, etc. 

But no romance, no do-it-yourself (gardening, home improvement) books, no self-help, no new-age, no religious fiction or non-fiction, no arts and crafts, no young adult, no vampire fiction and no chick-lit.

Well I read mostly pararnormals, urbran fantasy, romance and mysteries.  I've only had a couple of books time out with no activity or without beign marked mailed.  I've only had 1 book that I've sent go lost and none that I've had to PM people to remind them. Although I pay very little attention to that stuff.  But really I've never had a problem with people sending me books really late or not marking the ones I've sent as received.  Then again, I don't pay attention to postage dates. I've had 4 books go lost enroute to me and none of those every showed up.  1 of those was scanned as delivered. I don't knwo where it went but it never made it to my house.  The other 3 didn't use DC so I don't know if they were mailed or not.  I just got the book from someone else at some point.

Have only had a few books in several years not marked received on time or lost.  For this, I use the PBS postage and tracking.  I get my credit as soon as I mark the book mailed.  Had one case where I mailed the book to the address in the system, with tracking, and it was marked lost. 

Come to find out the member had moved from the west coast many states east and didn't receive the book (I assume) before leaving.  However, I was able to use the tracking number and prove to TPTB the book was sent to the address provided in the request and it was validated by the post office in the city I mailed it to as having been delivered.  The end result was I got to keep my credit AND the member was charged their credit because they failed to change their address when they moved.  Something to think about if you change addresses, though. 

I have had some who didn't mail when they claimed and some who had books marked lost to find out another family member received and took the book without letting someone know it had arrived.  But most are generally good about marking them mailed and mailing in a timely fashion.

I've had more than 800 books both mailed out and ordered .... I don't have many problems at all with other members.

Of the more than 800 books mailed to me, I can think of maybe 5 or 6 packages mailed to me that were mailed significantly later than the PBS mail date. (I don't care if it is within a day or two, so I don't even make a mental note of that).

There are also a handful (3 or 4)  that have gone lost before I received them ... of those, I believe that only 1 of them was actually never mailed.

I do think that certain genres or member-types are more likely to have problems .... members with mostly children's books, for example .... when I order kid's books the orders seem a LOT more likely to roll over and over before they get accepted.

I believe it is the difference between members who are maintaining shelves for themselves VS. members who are maintaining a shelf mainly for someone else (for their kids, for example).

Thank you for your responses/advice everyone~

I contacted TPTB and am just waiting for a response.  I'm not sure if the user has been on or not.. Not really sure how to figure that out. ^^;

Thanks again!