I sent a book nearly a month ago, along with some other books to other users.  Those all were received within a week, but this one wasn't.  I waited and waited and finally after it being close to when the system does osme action I pm'd the user to see if it had been received.  The user has not replied to me at all.  What do I do?  What does the system do after the 1 month mark?  Because the user hasn't replied to my pm I'm suspicious that something strange is going on.  I'm fairly certain it arrived since everything else arrived and I've never had a problem with anything I've mailed.  I don't want to not receive my credit, since I DID mail it and it SHOULD have been received by now.  Advice??

From the Help Center:

If a book you sent is declared Lost in the Mail at PBS:

• First, contact the requestor (using the PM button on the "lost" transaction in your Transaction Archive) to confirm that the book was not received.

  • Sometimes the requestor just forgot to mark it received
  • Sometimes the requestor was away from home when the book arrived
  • If you don't hear back from the requestor within a week of sending a PM asking about the book, you should contact us to look into the situation.
  • You can contact the requestor using the PM button on the "lost" transaction in your transaction archive.

I was recently in this situation Stephanie, although I had used PBS e-DC.  The PBS system will eventually mark the book lost, and the requester will receive a credit return and the book will be placed on their wishlist/reminder list. I've used e-DC so long, I can't remember if you loose a credit in this situation.   Without DC tho, there's really no way of knowing whether the book was received or not.  But, TPTB highly encourage members reply to pm's regarding (legit) potential problem transactions.  When I inquired, I was advised to wait until the system marks the book lost, then pm the other member (see Sally's post above).  If they do not reply within the alloted time, you can then refer the matter to PBS admin.  They will probably check whether or not the account seems abandoned, and maybe pm the requestor ... but not sure how far they can or will pursue a transaction without DC.

It's also possible that the book really is lost in the mail, it does happen.  Many PBS members ignore inquiry pm's prior to the lost date as being reduntant b/c the system also sends automatic reminders.

As Sally said, if it's been a  week since you PMd, and you haven't heard back, let the PBS Team know by going to the bottom right corner of any page, and under "company" click "contact us" and use the Feedback option there.  They'll step in if a member isn't communicating.

If you didn't use any form of DC there really is no way to be certain it arrived. The USPS loses and misdelivers stuff all the time. The receiver may not have answered you because they may not have anything else to some - some people believe that not marking a book received is telling you that they haven't received it and find PMs prior to the lost date in the system accusatory and rude and they won't respond (not saying that is my opinion, but it is one I have seen expressed frequently).

Once the PBS system marks the book as lost, send another PM inquiring as to whether book had been received. If they do not respond to that PM, after a week use the Contact Us link in the lower right under Company and send in Feedback letting the PBS Team know that the member is not responding to you on an inquiry on a lost book. They will check to see if the member is inactive and prompt the member to respond to you. If they deem the member inactive they may mark the book received.

If the member is not inactive and says they did not receive the book, if you did not use any of the Credit Assurance options using PBS-DC, you will not get a credit for the book if it is not marked received.

I'm waiting now as well...sent one first class, and have had no response to my pm...in fact, it hadn't been read the last time I checked. I will fill out the lost/stolen form on first class mail, and I will contact admin if I don't get a response.