For the first time ever, I forgot to mark a book mailed.  Unfortunately, it was also the first time that I mailed multiple books (4).  I contacted the requestor and told her the problem and she seemed very helpful.  I contacted her again to make sure that she had gotten the books.  She replied that she had.  I then posted her back in a very polite way asking if she could go to her transactions archive and mark the books received so I could receive credit for them.  I even offered to take one book off that I thought was in poor shape.  I haven't heard from her since.  Is there any way to receive credit or am I just out of luck?

Thanks.

You need to copy your correspondence in a message to the site owners using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the screen. I'd recommend one more PM to the user with a deadline to respond first, though. The site recommends 7 days before reporting a non-response to a message.

Hope this helps!

Thanks.  I wrote her just before I posted this (still very politely) to tell her that I hope to hear from her soon and to let her know that I have our correspondence saved where she told me she had received the books.  I hope it doesn't come to that, but I guess that is a good reason to save that stuff.

You are correct on all points except for this one " If she was able to cancel any new transactions in time, then she should give you your credits (but from PBS's standpoint that might just be should, not must.) " The only exception to the golden rule of marking book received is if the member receives two because the sender failed to mark them mailed and the system ordered additional copies. If she did not receive other copies of the books she must mark them as received.

well, in our correspondence, she says that she cancelled the books from the next sender that I sent.  I'll give her a chance to respond, then go from there, I guess.

This would fall under "I received a book from a canceled transaction" in the Help Center, since the transaction was canceled by the system when the mail-by date was exceeded.  The first two paragraphs of that document from the HC states:

This usually happens when the member that sent this book did not complete the sending process by marking the book mailed, but sent the book anyway.  In these situations, there is a possibility that the requestor will end up with 2 copies of the book.

If you received (or will receive) two copies of the book, you are not obligated to give a credit to the sender whose transaction was canceled.  If you got (and will get) only one copy, you should mark the book received so that the sender gets credit.

The last sentence is key to the current debate.  If the member to whom Jeff sent his book only received his copy of the book and no others, then the member should mark the book received to give Jeff his credit.  They can either buddy the credit or, preferably, find the title in their Transaction Archive and click the problem resolution button ("has this book been received", I believe).

edited for formatting and emphasis

I even copied and pasted the whole "how to do that" section.  The thing that bothers me is her lack of even acknowledging my last few pms.  I have a feeling that she may be trying to get some free books out of the deal.  I'll let you guys know how it works out.  I accept part of the blame for being dumb enough to forget to mark them mailed.

The thing that bothers me is her lack of even acknowledging my last few pms.  I have a feeling that she may be trying to get some free books out of the deal. 

Don't forget -- bad weather is hitting again.  Our power was out for hours the other night.  You might want to take a peek at where she is and what the weather's been like.  There have been ice storms and snow storms affecting a lot of people lately. 

Our power was out for days when the hurricanes hit Texas, but because we weren't in the "hot zone" we didn't make the news. 

She could also be away for the Holidays.  You can see if her account is on Vacation Hold by accessing her bookshelf.  If she has a profile just hit the PM button and then click on the profile button Then go to her shelf.  It'll say if the shelf is on hold.

I know it's not quite Christmas yet but we'll be leaving on Fri for our Holiday trip. 

Am I wrong here, or did  you mail her 4 books? Were they wishlisted books or books that were existing in the system already? Because I'm guessing probably what happened when you didn't mark the books mailed was that when the system cancelled the order, it also sent requests for those books out to the next people in the FIFO line for *each* book--so it would most likely be sending second orders to FOUR people, not just one. So she would have to cancel all those orders, or else she'd be getting duplicates of four books...which would be 8 credits she's out if she did give you credit for those books AND also gave credit to the second people who sent them--which, IMO, isn't really fair.

If those orders that went to the second set of folks with those books had been placed and she hadn't had a chance to cancel the orders, technically she doesn't have to give you credits for those books you forgot to mark mailed...she's not trying to get "free books" she's following the PBS guidelines.

I guess I tend to look at this from a recipient's point of view because this just happened to me--someone went out of town over Thanksgiving and forgot to mark a book as mailed. The order canceled, and because there were other copies available, it went to the next person on FIFO during the night and was accepted and mailed, and THEN I got a PM from the original person saying, "Hey, don't order another copy, I really did send it!" Well....uh....the other book was already on the way. I must've been feeling magnanimous because I went ahead and marked her book received and gave her credit anyway, though I didn't have to. It's not a highly sought after book, so likely that second copy will sit on my shelf for quite awhile before I recoup my credit. But if it had been a four-book order and other books did get ordered, I sure wouldn't have!

I should add too, that there isn't really a need to "Save" PM's--the PBS powers that be can look at your correspondence any time they want to. All you'd have to do is mention the other person's name/nickname and they could look it up.

Cheryl

Cheryl - Jeff does say during this thread that the requester said she was able to cancel the new orders for the books. 

Jeff - its a good sign that she said that she cancelled the other orders, give her a little time to respond since it sounds like she is working with you. I can attest to bad weather problems right now, we got trapped out of town this weekend because of it. Don't PM her constantly as that may just tick her off. If you don't get a response after one week, contact TPTB and ask them to get a response out of her.

I certainly would give her some TIME to respond.  Sounds to me as if you made a mistake and both of you are trying to make it right.  Some people are not on the computer 24/7.   Since it was orginally your mistake I think I'd give her the benefit of the doubt here.   If you haven't heard from her in a week or so, then I'd contact her again.  

I am ashamed.  She recently sent me the 3 credits.  She also said that she read the instructions that I sent 4 times and still couldn't get it to happen, so she just gave me the credits.  All is well.  And I publicly apologize to Jean B.

I hate being that "glass half empty" guy. 

Don't you just love PBS? 

Thanks for letting us know the happy ending Jeff!