getting a receiver to mark a book received?     I rec'd a request, mailed the book same day.   I did not use PBS label, etc. -- I used PO Delivery Confirmation.   Book was mailed on 02/03 and DC indicates book was delivered on 02/07 @2:16pm.     Receiver has had the book for eight (8) days now and even after I have sent two very polite pm's the book  has still not been mark as "received."     Needless to say, I haven't received credit for this transaction -- am needing the credit to order a book I've been looking for (it may not still be available if I ever do receive the credit).     Help, please.

Books can be "delivered" to the wrong location, the receiver may be on a business trip or on vacation, etc.

Do you know if they read the PMs? (Go to Personal Messages, click on "From Me" and then check the box that says "read" or "unread".)

You should probably buy or borrow a credit to get your book, and then you will have a little time to resolve this one.

Anyway, here is the PBS rule:

If you sent the book with DC purchased elsewhere and it has been recorded as delivered by USPS but hasn't been marked received yet:

• First, contact the requestor from the active transaction (in the Books I've Mailed tab in My Account), or from the "lost" transaction in your Transaction Archive if the book has been declared Lost in the Mail by PBS.
• If the requestor does not respond to your PM within a few days, contact us and we will look into it.
• We cannot grant credit for DC purchased outside PBS, but we can check if this requestor has become inactive.
• If this requestor is inactive, your book should be marked received by the system.

If your book does not arrive by the 26th day (the 35th day if the sender or requestor is outside the contiguous US) after you marked it mailed, it will be declared Lost in the Mail at PBS.  This does not mean that the book is actually lost; it may simply be delayed en route.  You can read more about Lost books in A book I sent is lost in the mail!.

The other member is supposed to answer your PM's; but if they are not at home they may not be logging in to get them. You must have mailed the book first class for it to arrive so quickly.  And it is always possible for a book to have been mis-delivered. You may have to be a little more patient and believe me when I say you will be able to get the book you are waiting for---sometime...,welcome to the waiting game.

Ditto what Sara said.  Delivered could mean anything or anywhere.  If it was a PO Box it could still be sitting there if they are out of town or haven't checked their mail.  2 messages in one week is a bit over the top and really unnecessary.  If you needed the credit right away you should have at least used the site DC to guarantee it.  Credits are for sale in the bazaar or through the kiosk as well.

I'd suggest waiting 5 days from the time you sent the PM.  If you get no response, contact the PBS Team, as described in the help doc Sara posted up above. 

And DC from anywhere but PBS is a waste of money (unless you are using paypal postage for the convenience).  It costs more through the PO and there's no credit guarantee.  If you use it on every book then you spend $8.00 for every 10 books just on DC fees.  You could buy a new paperback for that or 3 credits from someone in the book bazaar.

I can personally attest to the fact that a delivered scan doesn't mean the book made it to the right place.  One of the books that went lost enroute to me had a delivered scan. Don't know where it went but it wastn't to me.

I use a PO Box as my address and although the Post Office isn't supposed to scan as delievered until I pick it up from my box, they often mark things as delievered anyway.  Around Christmas they lost 20+ of my pacakges, 8 of which had DC and had been marked delievered. 

oh, good grief -- if that's the case, that book may never be seen or heard from again  ----------   but, I still find it very strange that the receiver has never responded to my two pm's -- if they really don't have it,  you'd think they'd let me know that in a return pm

The best way to ensure your credit, if that's something you worry about, is to use the PBS DC or printable postage. That way, even if it's never heard from again, once it's scanned, that credit is yours. (In the case of PBS postage, as soon as you mark it mailed you get the credit.)

DC isn't proof that the book was put into the right hands--just that it was delivered 'somewhere' so if your PM was implying that they HAD the book and needed to mark it received, I can see where it might have upset them, especially if you sent the first PM just a day or two after the delivery scan. (I have had many, many books in both directions scanned delivered but not actually received until several days later.) If you waited a week or so after the delivery scan, that would be more appropriate timing. 

If they have not logged in to PBS for a long time, as the help docs stated, the book gets marked received by the system when it goes lost and you will get your credit.

Cheryl

oh, good grief -- if that's the case, that book may never be seen or heard from again  ----------   but, I still find it very strange that the receiver has never responded to my two pm's -- if they really don't have it,  you'd think they'd let me know that in a return pm

When I'm out of town, I don't check my email & usually don't log into PBS.  My PO usually scans packages as they drop them into my bin. 

Sometimes there are reasons for the situation being what it is that are other than someone not doing what they're supposed to.

I really appreciate all the responses to this post --- and I've learned two lessons so far.     #1 - I will use PBS labels, postage in the future  --- and #2 - you guys are right, I've been too impatient (one of my failings, I'm sorry to say).  I will definitely work on that.

The first thing I learned about PBS was patience.  There's a lot of good ways to put it in practice.  :)  I have a hard time with it sometimes (since I do tend to be impatient) so I always try my hardest to sit back and let the site do it's thing.  PBS has a great system in place, and it's hard to wait, but there's always a good reason for doing so. 

I would just give it time. Who knows if the person is sick with this nasty flu bug that's been hitting everyone and hasn't been online.