....my credits were refunded...no big deal

I am confused. Lemme see I I have the chain of events correct.

You got your credit refunded because you reported it lost.

Then it turns up in the mail but it's so damaged that if it had arrived on time you would have had to report it RWAP.

But it didn't arrive on time and you reported it as lost so that should be the end of it.

You could go through the hassle of reporting it found after all,but why?  You'll  just have to report it as RWP and revive a "closed case"

Why do that when the problem is already solved when you reported it lost. Throw the thing away.

Or did I miss something.  Probably the ethical part or something...

Per Help Center: "Lost books must be marked received when/if they arrive, to keep your account in good standing. " And since the OP has stated publicly that she received it, not marking it received could really put her account in jeopardy, I'd imagine (if TPTB were to look into it, of course). The only way to not give credit to the sender is if it was mailed late and the another copy was already received from a diffeerent member.

Last Edited on: 6/19/09 9:57 PM ET - Total times edited: 3

Unfortunately, as Janelle has pointed out, you are required to mark a book Received even if it has been declared lost by PBS (as long as you haven't ordered or received another copy in the meantime).   You can go into your Transaction Archive to find the book and mark it Received from there.   At that point the two credits will be deducted from your account again.

Now ... onto the issue of the RWAP.    Was the audiobook damaged by the USPS and do you think that is what caused the scratched CD's?  If so, you mark it Damaged by the USPS and, unfortunately, you don't get your credits back.  If, on the other hand, you think that (1) poor packaging caused the CD's to be damaged enroute, or (2)  the CD's were already badly scratched and damaged before they were sent to you - then you should mark it Damaged by Sender and politely request the return of your two credits from the sender.  You may not get them, but you should ask.   

Also, just for clarification purposes....if the Postmark is one of those stamp things that is no always accurate...the only accurate is a computer generated postage that imprints from the computer the date.

Pat, Even if you don't think that she will return your credits, I would still send a PM to the Sender.  Tell her the condition of the audiobook and that they it is unreadable.   I'm not sure what the postability requirements are for audiobooks, but this sounds unpostable to me.   I would politely but firmly ask for the return of my credits.    Tell her that you have marked this transaction RWAP, but will happily mark it Resolved once she refunds your credits.

Given the history that you've had with the sender, I'm sensing that you will likely get a snarky reply.  But so what?   Let it roll off of your back.   If you've never marked a book RWAP before, then PBS knows very well that you don't do this all the time.  And heck, maybe I'm wrong, and the sender will be gracious!  You really never know.

There may not be consequences if this is the only problem swap (except maybe bad book karma). If and when a pattern of problem swaps emerges, there will be consequences. But one bad swap wouldnt be enough to have the Team step in.

One thing I do want to mention to you Pat, is that the PBS Team does not look kindly on members who ignore other member's PMs. If you havent mentioned in your PM to the member a date that you would like this resolved by, if the member doesnt respond at all to your PM, I would give it about a week, ask for a reply within, say 72 hours or so. If they ignore that one too, then I would send in Feedback to the Team advising them that you are trying to communicate with the other  member about a problem swap and they are ingoring your PMs.

The Team wont step in to mediate swap disputes between members, they expect members to work it out with each other, but they will step in when one of the members ignores the other member's attempt at communication.