I got my first request last week for a book to be sent to an APO address overseas.  I was a little nervous about it b/c of not being able to use Quick Credit Delivery Confirmation for it plus having to fill out customs forms, but I did it and sent it on.  Yesterday I got a PM from the person saying she will be traveling for a couple of months and she will mark the book received when she arrives back home.

 I can't help but feel a little annoyed.  It will be months before I get my credit now?  Or will I get it when the transaction undoubtedly cancels since I did mail the book??    This whole thing makes me never want to ship to an APO address again, although I do support our military wholeheartedly, it's not about that at ALL.

Let me add that it was nice of her to let me know.  I just need to know what happens in this kind of case if the transaction cancels....do I get my credit after 30 days as if the book is lost?  

ok, call me stupid, but if she has access to the computer and can send you a PM that she recieved the book, WHY can't she mark it mailed now?

I am pretty sure that if the book goes lost you will NOT get a credit--her credit will go back to her and you will be out until she goes into her transaction archives and marks the lost book received.  Why don't you try to pm her now (before she leaves) and tell her to mark the book received now, even though it's still in transit--otherwise you will have to wait a couple of months for your credit and have a lost book on your account.  Hopefully she will trust that you mailed the book and mark it received for you.

She needs to go ahead and mark it received, IMO.  I would pm her and ask her to do that.  Why would someone request a book knowing they weren't even going to be home for months?  You may need to contact R&R with this one.

Leigh; yes unfortunately, Diane is correct; you will not get your credit back if a book goes lost. The requester does!  That's why DC is  so important.  (I know you couldn't use DC for overseas).   I would also try to get her to mark the book received, or it isn't fair to you. 

By the way, Leigh, I saw the "anglophile" in your signature (me too!) and looked at your bookshelf.  I found two Joanna Trollope novels I don't have yet so I just ordered them!

I can only hope that she was unaware of her travel plans when she requested the book.  You know the military, oftentimes one doesn't get to plan for these things.  If the military says go, you go.  She may feel as bad as you do, but it just may not be her top priority right at this time.

If she knew she would be gone, she should have noted that when she ordered, asking you to hold off on sending it, giving you a little more control of your credits on this end.  

Although, it may take 2 months to get to her anyway.  And then it would all be a wash.  I agree you should contact R&R and find out what they would like you to do.     

 Thanks everyone....does anyone have the link for the quickest way to reach R & R?

Leigh

Can you ask her if she has someone else she can trust to open her books and handle her account? That's what Randi and I will be doing when she goes to Greece in a couple of weeks. Her sister will be opening her mail, calling me with the titles, I will mark them received, and then she will box everything up once every few weeks and sending it on as one big package.

I just PM'ed her and asked her to mark the book received before leaving and that if she returns and the book has not arrived, I will be happy to return her credit.  I also clicked the "feedback" link and asked the PBS staff what else I can do, if anything.

I'm glad you guys validated me, I was afraid I was being a jerk for being a little annoyed about this.  :( 

Leigh

P.S. Those of you who requested books from me, THANK YOU!!!  I'll get them out probably tomorrow!!

Do you have copies of the forms you filled out to send the book?  I'm sure after the book goes lost, and you notify R&R of the situation they will return you credit. You might not have used DC, but the paperwork should work for them to prove you mailed it. I'd also enclose the PM she sent you.

I don't but I have a copy of the post office receipt, I think, from where I paid to mail the book.

I have already heard back from R&R...they said if she does not log in to her PBS account for a while, the book will be marked received by the system.  If the book is marked lost, they said, let them know and they'll help me out.  They also added that she should not have been requesting books if she knew that she was going away, and that it is in the club rules.  I think they are going to help me out if the book is marked lost.  They also said that I should have been able to use quick credit #DC for an APO address unless that APO address is unverified, so that could be a problem for her that is in my favor, as well, her using an unverified APO address.

That's great!!!  They usually mediate situations like this - but I think you've got an exception here. Glad they're going to help you out!

Well, I'm sorry, but I don't think it's fair to say that someone overseas in the military, or married to someone in the military, shouldn't order books if they think there MAY be a chance they will be away.  In the military one may have absolutely no control over that.  Just because one thinks they're staying put doesn't mean they are.  If the military says go, you go, whether you've ordered books or not.  I hope she is getting the benefit of the doubt, just in case she's fighting for our freedom and someone is upset at her over a book.  Or perhaps her leave was denied, and then it came thru, so she's taking a much deserved break.  If you don't get this worked out and you lose a credit, let me know, I'll buddy you one.  It's the least I can do to say thank you to someone protecting my freedom.

And how many many posts are there about the PO messing up?  Just because you were told you couldn't use DC, do you know for sure it was a bad address, or is it just a case of the PO not having their ducks in a row?

I've no idea about the P.O., Julie, all I know is that  I could not print delivery confirmation and the staff said it was b/c it was an unverified APO address and I should have been able to do it, otherwise.

I have edited my above post to say what the staff says that the RULES say, not what I was told (or gathered and shouldn't have posted what I had just "gathered" from the staff reply, sorry about that.).

I'm with you totally on supporting the troops and I do agree, too, that it's possible she had NO idea she would be "traveling", which was how she put it.  But the staff said that it is in the rules/help notes that you should not request books if you KNOW you'll be away.  If she had no idea, that's not her fault, and she DID let me know.  But if she DID know in advance, then that wasn't fair of her to ask me to ship the book and THEN tell me, once I had shipped the book, that she was leaving for a couple months.

I won't take one of your credits, but thanks for offering.  If I lose out this time, I lose out.  But I will be leery of APO addresses from now on, if I lose my credit AND my book, unless I can print delivery confirmation and receive quick credit.  It may not be fair to those people, but it's not fair to me or to others to pay to ship a book and then possibly not receive credit for it.

Leigh; go to Contact Us on the bottom of each page.  On the very first section in blue, click "feedback". That will take  you to R&R.

Yes, I did say in my first post, that if she knew, she should have been forward with that info, but it just seemed as tho conclusions were being jumped to and it didn't seem fair. 

Perhaps in the future, a situation like this can be used as a random act of kindness.  THAT would  be supporting the troops.

Did the PO tell you that you couldn't use delivery confirmation? APO/AFO are actually US addresses, so there shouldn't be any problem using DC. I mailed out a PBS book a few weeks ago to an APO address using DC and it was no problem whatsoever. All the info scanned and I got my quick credit as usual.

Edited to clarify: The actual DELIVERY never scanned, but the acceptance and a couple of en-route scans took place, so my quick credit went through.

I mailed a book to an APO address a few weeks ago and had no problems using DC.  The book was a bit slow getting to its destination, but quicker than most of the books I've sent to Hawaii. 

The requestor mentioned that she has had books go lost in the past and requested that I use the customs form (even if the PO didn't require it), because that seemed to help.  She also recommended using DC, just in case.  Both were in her conditions and very politely phrased, so I had no issues with sending the book. 

I also had the thought that it was worth the risk to help give military families access to books.   :)

From my experience having been in the military and having friends who still are, she may well have found out that she had orders to go TDY (temporary duty assignment) and that might have happened after you had printed the PBS wrapper.  (Someone correct me if I am wrong, you can't cancel a book request after the sender has pritned the wrapper.)

I would imagine that every single overseas military address is unverified.  They don't use a street address like we do.  They send mail to a specific person using their work address (Squadron name / number, etc.). 

She would definitely NOT be able to have someone else pick up her mail.  If she's somewhere that allows spouses and she's not deployed for Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere supporting those places, she probably wouldn't have her spouse or family along (the only other people who MIGHT have the ability to pick up her mail). 

The military is fanatical about giving the base post office forwarding addresses and temporary holds. 

Personally, I would just be happy to know that she let me in on her plans so I wouldn't be worried about my credit not showing up right away.  If she is deployed someplace temporarily, she would likely not have access to the Internet at all while she is gone and she is going to be much more concerned about her safety and her mission than her PBS account.  She can always go into her Transaction Archive and mark the book as received, no matter how late she is in responding.  (I had an extended hospital stay and put a Vacation Hold on my account but books still fell through the cracks.)