I have never had this happen before. I sent out this book to a  member on October 23,2012.  It was marked on their end as received On November 18,2012. They have not requested a credit back or anything as of yet. But what should I do? here is the pm and my reply.

Their

Hi, I've been away from this website for a long time and just saw this message! We never received the book, btw.

My Reply

Hi Member,

According to my records and the transaction archive. I mailed this book October 23,2012 3 days after you requested it. according to the PBS archive you marked this book received on November 18,2012. I'm sorry if you have not received this book but if you didn't why would you mark it received?  you may want to check with your local post office. because it was marked as having been received. might be a mistake made at the post office. please let me know what you find out. thanks.

I am confused I mean this member sends me a pm almost a year after this book was mailed and marked received. what would you do?

 

PBS will mark books as received if the member has not logged on.

I've also heard of members who suddenly find their Transaction Archive and mark cancelled duplicate books as received, not realizing that they lose a credit.  I always warn folks to double check before marking anything received in the TA.

What message is the sender refering to?  Did the book go out with DC? If they requested the book and then didn't come back to the site for an extended period of time; And you sent the book out with delivery confirmation it is entirely possible the system recorded it as delivered when the post office recorded it as delivered. It is possible that it was delivered to the wrong address. Of course it is also possible that they recieved it and have since forgotten about it. Quite a bit of time has passed.

Without knowing if you used DC I can't tell you what I'd do

I'll tell you what I'd do:  Exactly what you've already done, but a bit less wordy.  "The book was marked received nearly a year ago.  I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you at this point.  Take care."

I don't use DC. but i usually monitor my book's trip through the PID # on my post office receipt which tracks the progress of the book's journey and gives a scheduled delivery date. I keep the receipts until the books are marked received by the other member but then I throw them out or shred them.

I agree with Mick--at this point, there is really nothing you should feel obligated to do about the transaction.  Almost a year has passed, the book was originally marked received which would logicially lead you to believe that there were no problems with the transaction.  To me, it seems just as likely that the receiver actually received the book but maybe misplaced it and doesn't remember.
 

I wouldn't go out of my way over this either.  The time for them to take this up with you was a year ago when it happened.  Either they abandoned their account and PBS ended up marking it received, possibly with other books from other senders and then put their account on hold. Or they marked it received and have misplaced the book. Either way, the issue is on their end.  If they had kept up with their account and the book really did go lost, they would have gotten their credit back.  If they kept up with their account then they shouldn't have marked it received when they really didn't get it.

I think that book was marked received automatically by the system, 26 days after you marked it mailed. You can verify that by looking at the time when it was marked received. Was it just after 3:00 AM? If so, the system marked it received for you because the other member appeared to have abandoned her account.

Before the book was marked received, the other person got several emails asking if she'd received it and telling her she needed to login. If she hadn't ignored all those messages, and she had logged in, then the book would have been declared lost instead.

I'd tell them that there's nothing you can do at this late date.  DC numbers do go out of the PO system after a time.  11 months after mailing something, I doubt the PO would do anything about a lost mail claim.

What they said, there's really nothing you can do for them at this late date.  Sounds like they actually marked the book received vs. the system marking it lost?  Unfortunately, there's very little information to research as USPS purges DC numbers from their system after a couple months.  She can try PBS admin, but again...it's as likely she forgot the book was received (or marked the wrong one) and no way to check or verify this long after the transaction. 

So just be polite and let her know you mailed the book and from your end it shows received a few days later.  As the sender, there's nothing else you can do for her.

I don't use DC. but i usually monitor my book's trip through the PID # on my post office receipt which tracks the progress of the book's journey and gives a scheduled delivery date.

Huh?  Wait!  There's a free way to do that?  wait, how???  My post office uses hand written receipts...

ETA:  a year? really?  I don't even remember what I got in the mail a month ago!  How can they say they did not get something a year ago?  Not you problem.  But you did put it rather politely!

This is filed under "Not your problem."  :)  You need do nothing. 

just got a pm from the member who sent me the pm about the book she received that I susposedly never sent. Here's the pm

Ok, thanks for checking into it. I'll have to see if I can track it down at the post office. Thanks again!

I wished the member luck. but I don't expect the post office will be able to help them.

she waited a year to get back to the site and a year to let me know that the DC book sent to her marked received wasn't received. And then was so interested in getting the book that she didn't even answer the pm she sent a year later for another month.  doesn't seem like a very active member. we'll see what happens lol.

Wow! Unbelieveable, in fact. But still no longer YOUR problem!

Pam

I know I just thought  I would give an update on the situation.

Sorry, I didn't mean that the way you possibly interpreted it. I meant that regardless if she wants to waste her time tracking down a year old mailed and received book, she shouldn't expect you to do anything. Especially given the time frame. Heck, I can't remember a book I mailed last week, much less a year ago.

Pam

Maybe she had been out of town, country etc for the year or sometime during the year and just realized she had her mail held during that time at the post office and never picked it up.  I've seen people collect 6 months or more mail at my post office.  You may have already done her a big service so I wouldn't worry about it.