I have a dilemma. A woman asked for a book from me (a small paperback) and I offered a freebie which she chose to take advantage of and chose a large hardback book which required a box to mail it in due to size. I placed both the hardback and the paperback in the same box and mailed them together. In fact I had several packages go out that day but that one was the last one I packaged up due to size and needing a box.

She says the hardback arrived but the paperback which she ordered that should have been in the box with it is missing.  I could go and ask each of the others that ordered from me if they received an extra book by that name but that would just be wasting my time since I know I mailed it in the box. I did glance around to see if it was possible I laid it back down and didn't put it in the box but I also redid my book boxes last night and my desk on Saturday and would have noticed it if it were still here.   Do I refund her credit just on her say so or do I ask if the post office inspected the box to see if it has been tampered with?  Do I contact PBS to let them know? 

I think the question to ask the receiver is whether the box had been opened...if yes, then it would be damaged by USPS and you don't return the credit, not your fault. If she says no, or if you have any doubts that you might have inadvertently left it out or sent it to someone else, then I would say yes, return her credit.

Well I know there is no way it was sent to anyone else since the mailers only held two books each which is what everyone else was getting except one person who ordered one book and I have sent a message to them since USPS tracking is showing they received their book.  I guess I will send a message and see if USPS opened the package and see what her response is. 

Geez...no good deed goes unpunished.

This really shouldn't be an issue of returning the credit, if she never received the book she shouldn't have marked it received and the system should have returned her credit to her. Did you use PBS postage on the package? You both would have gotten the credit back when the system marked the book lost if the transaction was handled correctly if you had. If you didn't use PBS postage, then you shouldn't have gotten the credit. I wonder why she marked a book received that she did not get?

If you did use PBS postage and she did mark the transaction received, I recommend contacting PBS and explaining to them that it appears the book is not in the packaging anymore but because of how she marked it the credit assurance cannot take care of it any more.

Thanks Melanie. No I didn't use PBS postage so I haven't yet received the credit and she has not yet marked it received. USPS tracking shows the book having been delivered today not Monday so I think maybe she has received a book from someone else and has confused it with mine. She said the book arrived in a bag and I sent mine in a box. She offered to send a picture so I am waiting for that. If the book was received in a bag then I will tell her to report it as damaged by USPS. 

If the requestor has not yet marked the book received her credit will still show as a debit, and she is asking for her credit back without marking the transaction as "Problem". She should mark the transaction as "Problem - not received" (or similar wording), and then state in the comment what she received and the type of packaging. (box or bag). I have known the Post Office to put packages that have torn open in a bag to prevent any loss, or futher loss, of the package contents. If it is Post Office bag, then the package likely tore open in transit and the small book may have been lost. If the sender did not use PBS postage then she has not yet received a credit since the book has not been marked received, so she has nothing to "return". If the receiver marks the book as RWAP with the Post Office at fault, then the system should return her credit, not the sender.

Well the problem has been solved on my end sort of. I offered her an extra book if she wanted one off my shelf...she ordered it. I canceled the order and told her that I was canceling it but she would still receive the book from me.  The book rolled over to another poster who sent her the book before mine arrived.  She posted a picture of the outer wrapper and it was not my address. So now I have to decide whether to  give her back the credit because I canceled the second book and it rolled over to someone else. 

The sender of a deal should never cancel an order for this very reason. Since you caused the problem, the right thing to do would be to give her a credit.

Yes, when you cancel a book order (that you are the sender of) it will roll over and the system will re-order it from the next person in line.

You shoudl have either told the person you were offering extea books to, to PM you with the title she wanted, or if she already ordered it, to cancel the order herself and you would just include it. Then it doesn't roll over.

It does sound loiek you caused the issue ... the other member probably didn't understand how the system works ...