where somebody requests a book and then leaves to take a trip business or vacation and they are not home when book arrives in the mail. Hard to fault somebody for this but it is frustrating. I once had a book arrive and when I sent a message to ask about it they told me they were in Brazil but they would be home on such and such date. I thought maybe they should have requested the book after they got home. I guess it is just life at pbs.

I've never understood why a few people do things like this.

I feel the mailer has a right to their payment on time.... unless the change in payment date was OK'd.

I don't have a problem telling people that when they ask me in "Live Help".

I've had WLed books come up just befoe a vacation and it's been a case of if the book were mailed immediately it would have arrived before I left, but as per PBS rules, people can take up to 5 days to accept, and then another 5 days to mail and 2 days of grace period for a total of 12 days. If a book I order doesn't look like it's going to make it before I leave, I will send a PM to the sender letting them know that I'll be away and will mark the book appropriately when I return. I've never had a problem, and most people understand.  Pat

WL books can be on auto-request whilst an account is in vacation hold. I'm not trying to make excuses for people, I was recently frustrated by someone here and another on the DVD side who either had the items I posted on auto-request or simply went on holiday regardless of whether books/DVDs were on the way. I try to chalk it up as s**t happens. In the worst case scenario I always hang onto my receipts until all the items have been marked received. It's aways possible to use the 'contact us' button and have TPTB sort it out. On one occasion I offered to mail TPTB my receipt as proof although emailing the USPS tracking # took care of the problem.

I have had many folks get books while they were out of town/on vacation.  It is just one of those things, is what I think.  Usually I send a PM 5 days after it being delivered.  If no response then TPTB get an email from me.  Usually a few days or weeks later, the receiver PMs to say they were out of town.  It can be frustrating.

My WL is on auto-accept.  I can't control when someone posts a book FIFO and it goes to me.  If I'm on vacation, I'll mark it received when I get home and get the book.

I never even check DC on a book unless it's in danger of going lost.  Why worry?  I've never had something not marked received eventually.

I’m with PatO.  We were military and still know a bunch of people who travel for work regularly who aren’t gone more than a week at a time.  I do agree that We shouldn’t have to wait for 2-3 weeks after delivery for a book to be marked ‘ received’, but we should be more patient than expecting a book to be marked within 2 hours of delivery. And why do people who use PBS postage and get their credit automatically complain so much? They already got their credit!

Most of the time when I travel I put my shelf on hold, but sometimes hubby stays behind and will open arriving books and let me know so I can marked them received right away. 

I've occasionally had books posted and mailed while I was away from home, but the much more common case is the one PatO describes. That's the one where I'm excited to get the book and take it with me, but it takes 10 days for the sender to put it in the mail, so it doesn't arrive until a couple of days after I've left.

Still, if the sender writes, and I have Internet access wherever I am, I will mark the book received even though I'm not yet home and haven't seen it. People here are almost all good and trustworthy, and the percentage of lost books or problem swaps is so low that I just don't worry too much about it. 

This thread did remind me of a funny story. Once I sent a book with PBS postage. Then about 10 days later, I got a PM from the requester it saying it hadn't been scanned anywhere, so could I confirm that I'd really mailed it and if not, please do so immediately or he would complain to PBS and I could get my account suspended. From a discussion that was happening here I knew that at that time there was some problem with USPS sending the scan records to PBS, so I pasted the tracking number at USPS and saw the book had been delivered 3 days prior to the guy's PM. 

I PM him back and say USPS says it's been delivered, so could he please check around his front door and with his neighbors and see if he can find it. He responds and says "I've been out of town for two weeks, so I'll look for it when I get home on Sunday." 

So this guy ordered a book when he wasn't at home and had no intention of ever marking it received in a timely fashion, hadn't done anything to find out if he'd received it, and still had the nerve to complain about what he thought was late mailing! At least he did mark it received a few days later, but with no apology for his delay.

Cathy, that is insane LOL!!

well as the post is titled "What do you think about a situation?" I will tell you.  Just mark the book recieved.  If I'm lucky enough to go on vacation AND get a WL book in the same time, that is a life jackpot!!,  I just mark it recieved when I'm gone.  Normally when I am sitting by a pool and relaxing and thinking OH! I want so and so to get a credit for this!!  I have not recieved too many RWAP - and I have sent and recieved A LOT OF BOOKS.  I have got some that were at the end of the line,  but i have got some stellar books from this site!!  Like new hardcovers with barely a cracked spine.

I get it, not everyone is can/will.    But I think its crappy.  And I'm not talking about a week here.  I'm talking about your gone a week or 2 then you come home and your busy unpacking and then you need to slowly take a couple of weeks to open your mail, and then you have a family emergency - cause I get they happen, but some recievers have a lot.  Why does the sender have to keep waiting and waiting and missing out on poss WL books for a delay in their credit?? Because THAT IS YOUR RIGHT AS THE RECIEVER!!!  I think it gives some people so much power to hold that credit and maybe they feel powerless in the rest of  thier   lives?

Or maybe I'm reading into it too much?   LOL