I did a large BOB for 6 books. This is to a place out of the U.S., but a part of the U.S. They received their box over a month ago. It's been over 7 weeks and i still have not received my box.

I messaged them frequently to keep them up to date on things. They even requested another large BOB after their received their books, but I didn't do that one.

Ok so it's been over 7 weeks, and I had sent them a total of 8 messages, between declining their box of books and letting them know their end wasn't here yet, and I get a not so nice message back from them about me sending so many messages.

Well that just flew all over me, because excuse me but why isn't she emailing or messaging ME to see if I have received her box of books ? She claims it can sometimes take a long time, but on her own page she says at the most to the East Coast it should take no longer than maybe 4 weeks.

She asked me finally what I wanted her to do, send more books ? I told her I'd give it yet another week, but her disinterest in whether or not I receive my books is bothersome to me.

My question is, how long should I wait before I say send me more books ? I had a hard time finding books on her shelves I wanted in the first place, and I sent a really nice books, two different series.

I notice she has not left me feedback yet, even though she received my box of books over a month ago, and i just know she is going to be the type to leave nasty retaliatory feedback if I leave the feedback she deserves.

When did you start messaging?  When someone outside the continental US orders books through FIFO PBS says they can frequently go lost and take longer than the standard time frame.  If you started PMing her quickly maybe she's just ticked off that you keep messaging her. Granted she should leave feedback but maybe she's waiting to leave it because she wants to leave a comment about all the messages you are sending her.  I don't knwo where these books are coming from but 7 wks might not be all that unreasonable especially considering the really bad weather many parts of the US have been having.  They could keep getting stuck in various stops in the US because of weather.  Yes yours got to her pretty quickly but that's the way it goes sometimes. 

I'm not saying this to take her side but you said you were sending frequent messages.  Which I know would really annoy me.  I would probably give it another week or two before I asked for any compensation. I would also review her feedback history.  I would have done the same thing as you and declined or at least held off on a 2nd BOB transaction until I had received the first box.

I didn't start sending messages until 3 or 4 weeks went by. I am very surprised at your response. This is just Alaska I'm talking about, not Europe.

And you know if it were reversed, I would have been the one sending HEr messages to see if she had received her books. I would have followed up , and made sure she was happy.

You know...nevermind..

I am now reminded why I havn't posted to the forums in over two years.

If I could, I'd delete the entire post.

Thanks

One of two things happened:

1. She really mailed your books. Messaging her is not going to help them arrive any faster, and there is really nothing she can do about the slowness at all. If she did not use DC, then I don't know what you want her to do about it.

2. She didn't mail your books. If she has no intention of mailing them out, then messaging will not get them to you.

If you have sent 8 messages, but waited 3 weeks to send the first one ... then you are sending her messages twice a week. That is kind of a lot of messages, to be honest. I am not sure what you are wanting her to do. If you feel that having her send more books would be an appropriate way to fix this, then ask her to do that, this time with DC.

I think 7 weeks is long enough, so if that is the resolution that you are both happy with, then I see no reason to wait any longer to do that.

If you get both boxes of books after all, you should compensate her in some way in return.

I find most PBS members are honest. Not every single member ... but overall, the odds are that you are dealing with an honest member.

I'm not sure I understand.  You asked for opinions, you got one and now you're upset.  If you didn't want an honest opinion, then why ask?

Someone's a little sensitive.

Mary was trying to help and to explain why you might not be getting the desired response from the other member. No need to freak out.

Darn, Mary, you really need to stop being so snarky and surprising when you reply.  :)

No offense, OP, but you received one helpful reply to which you don't agree with and to which you seem to be very defensive.  If that reflects the tone of your messages to the member in Alaska, no wonder she commented on them and no wonder that her response is somewhat less than what you'd like.

I've typed more and have deleted it twice as I'm not sure what you're looking for here.  Really, I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just don't know of a response that would be helpful at this point.

I didn't appreciate the PM either.  You asked for an opinion and I gave it.  2 PMs about this a week would be really annoying.  On either end.  Some members might have reported you to PBS for harassment.  I've had books take 3 wks to travel what amounted to a 5 hr drive. 

3 messages from her now.  Please stop PMing me. 

Mary, I don't see where your response to her was rude in any way, nothing that would justify 3 PMs.

OP, even the title to your post says you "need an opinion". You have received what you asked for and I don't think anyone was rude or snarky in their responses. Maybe you didn't really want an opinion, and instead wanted a pat on the back for how you were handling the situation.

Well, this is ironic. 

The only time that I ever PM'd anyone about some books that I send out was when the DC system was down here on PBS. The books were stuck at our great Bell, CA sorting facility for about two weeks. I just wanted her to know that I checked with the post office to find out where they were and they magically appeared at her house a couple of days later. In fact I just received a book yesterday that was sent out from Arkansas 3 weeks ago.

Cheryl, I've heard that it can take anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks for media mail to reach both Hawaii and Alaska and I'm sure it's the same for them sending media to the mainland. But I really think you went overboard on your PM's.

I recently sent a book to Hawaii (Media Mail) that got there in about 3 weeks.

-RD

As far as OP's response goes.....what's that line from the movie....oh yea....

"You Can't Handle The Truth!"

Jeesh...and then to send someone who commented on your inquiry 3 PMs.  Wow, must have been a really, really bad day.

Hope it gets better.

-RD

Welcome back to the forums Cheryl.  I live in Washington (the jump off point for Alaska) and my little sister lives in Hawaii.   We sometimes have PBS members from outside the Lower 48 (continuous US) post comments regarding actual Media Mail times for them...apparently 3 to 5 weeks is very average.  Could easily be more and occassionally less, but 7 weeks does fall on the long end of normal.

I'm not a boxer and can't really comment on your options in that area.