Ok, I finally messed up and I sent the wrong books to the wrong parties.  Both agreed to send the book to each other and I sent them both a credit to send the book to the other person.  Now, it seems to me that when they get the correct book, they should mark the original as received so I can get my credit.  Otherwise they get a free book out of the deal. 

Well, it turns out one of the two had marked the book as received and then somehow went back after the fact and marked it "wrong book sent", so she got her original credit back plus a credit from me to send the book to the other party. 

First, I would like to know how she was able to go back after marking the book received and then marking it "wrong book sent" to get her credit back.  And second, should the recipient in a situation like this end up with a free book out of the deal?   I know if I received the wrong book I would be happy to send it off to the right person for one credit and would then mark the book as received so the sender could get their credit.  I wouldn't feel it was necessary for me to get the book for free along with a credit to send it.

Hi Kate -- she only gets one shot at marking the book received.  As you said, she should have waited until she received the correct book and then marked it received, but it's understandable that she jumped the gun, and marked it "received with a problem --> wrong book."  At that point you got your credit.  (When we mark a book "received with a problem", the sender does get the credit.)  You can check your credit registry, on the horizontal yellow bar on your My Account page, to verify this.

So you got your credit a bit earlier than you should have.  When she received the book, she can go into her transactions archive and mark the transaction "resolved by sender."

Well, it turns out one of the two had marked the book as received and then somehow went back after the fact and marked it "wrong book sent", so she got her original credit back plus a credit from me to send the book to the other party. 

As Patty said, there is only one shot at marking a book received, she cannot change it after the fact. When she marked it RWAP-wrong book, she did not get her credit back. You as the sender get the credit whenever a book is marked received in any fashion, and it is always up to the sender to return it.

And second, should the recipient in a situation like this end up with a free book out of the deal? 

They could. The Help Center does say a recipient is under no obligation to send back a book sent in error. Most members are like you say and really want to make it right because they wouldn't want someone to keep the book if they were in the same situation.

Well, somethings really weird here then because she market it received an I got my credit.  Then later on in the evening there posted a "Request Refind" and they took my credit back.  Here's what my transaction archive shows.

My other question is, do people expect to get a free book when they receive the wrong book and agree to send it off to the other person when they get a credit for the shipping?

Would you expect to get the book for free?

If you did not go into your Transaction Archive and click on the Give Refund button, I would send it Feedback and ask what that line means. Did you by chance give her the credit for the postage to send it on via the Give Refund button on the transaction instead of the Give Credits button on her profile?

What someone expects and what is required doesn't always mess. Yes, there are people that think they should get the book, the credit for postage, and their credit back for the hassle. Doesn't make them right and most people are willing to help set things straight because they wouldn't want to lose 4 credits just for making a mistake.

I did this once. Luckily I sent the credits for postage and every body wound up with the book they were supposed to get. No books should be marked received until all books are where they are supposed to be. All parties involved were gracious and just glad I let them know what I did. I think most people here would be willing to help set things straight. I hope everything works out for you. You shouldn't beat yourself up over this, it's an honest mistake and can and does happen to alot of people. Good Luck!!!

Christa

"do people expect to get a free book when they receive the wrong book and agree to send it off to the other person when they get a credit for the shipping?"

Oh, boy, I felt so bad the first (and hopefully last) time I accidentally mixed up mailing labels on two packages that I made both of them an offer too good to refuse. Thank goodness it only cost me more free books! I was also fortunate that one of the recipients contacted me beforehand to inform me of my faux pas. btw, I will no longer begin packaging a request until I have completed the previous one... no chance of mixing up orders that way! LOL

If you did not go into your Transaction Archive and click on the Give Refund button, I would send it Feedback and ask what that line means. Did you by chance give her the credit for the postage to send it on via the Give Refund button on the transaction instead of the Give Credits button on her profile?

Nope, I definitely sent her the credit via her account and did not "give a refund".  I'll contact PBS to see how that happened.  I'm doing it out of curoisity, not because I want the credit back.

I have requested two books from a member and received one (different) book instead. The transaction form inside the book had the two correct books listed. I messaged the sender to find out where this book needed to be sent and she denies ever hearing of or sending me this book. She states that she did send the correct two books to me and somewhere within USPS the books were stolen and this one placed into her envelope....

How do I handle this situation? Should one book be marked as Wrong Book Recieved and the other marked as not received?

How do I handle this situation? Should one book be marked as Wrong Book Recieved and the other marked as not received?

Do not mark either book as received. You have not received the book you ordered. ("Wrong Book" is for when you get a book that should have been the correct book, but is wrong for some reason (like it is a hardcover and you ordered a paperback). Or you ordered Large Print and the book is not LP.)

When you get a completely different book altogether, you don't mark it anything ... it will get marked lost in the mail by PBS and you will get both of your credits back. You did the right thing by letting the sender know, and if she was cooperative, she would ask PBS to cancel the order so that you get your credits back sooner ... but it sounds like she does not think she made a mistake.

Just as an interesting point ... I did hear once of someone posting in the forums that they had either mailed or received a box that had a t-shirt in it instead of the books ... and the sender had sent books obviously and had never heard of the t-shirt. I think it is very very very rare .... but not impossible that the contents of two inspected packages could have been switched. But that would never be my first guess at what went wrong when you get the wrong book.

Thank you so much for the quick reply! I had no idea the best way to handle this. That will work perfectly =)

I think good questions have been raised about credits/refunds, I wanted to share my own experience.

A couple of years ago, I mailed the wrong books to two recipients. I found out when one let me know, I responded with an apology right away, then I PM'd the other recipient to let her know and to apologize. I immediately buddied each of them two credits, one to cover the postage they were incurring to mail the books to each other, and one for their trouble. I suppose that each eventually marked the books received, so I eventually recouped a credit, but honestly, I didn't care.

While it was an honest mistake on my part, it was my responsibility to put it right. Did they get "a free book" because of my mistake? Maybe, but I was happy to offer them credits to make up for my small blunder.

I did this also, Elizabeth, and yes, the receivers do sort of get a free book because we blundered and made them wait twice as long for their book. In a way it seems unfair to us for having to spend the extra credits, but yet, we are the ones that made them wait so long for their book, it wasn't them that messed up the wrappers. It only felt right to make it right with both of them to give them each a credit to cover the cost of returning the books. And when you look at it that way, no, they really don't get a free book, because you are asking them to mail the correct books to the other requestors. Is that fair to them? Not really, like I said, it wasn't them that messed up the wrappers, so why should they have to fix the situation. They shouldn't we, the sender should give them a credit to cover the mailing cost of exchanging the books with each other. It's unfortunate that we are out two extra credits, but better us than them having to cover the cost, IMO

Thanks Sherry, we agree. I guess I wasn't concerned with how I might be at a disadvantage in the trade....I just wanted to make up for my mistake.

I totally understand, that was my feelings too. We made the mistake, so we sent them credits to make it right. (Actually, hubby made the mistake, but it didn't really matter which of us did it, the mistake was made here, and like our money, we treat our credits the same. What's mine is his and what's his is mine :)