Discussions of Possibly Problematic Mooches #30 (The Vent/Rant thread)

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This thread is for the discussion of what may be problems &/or challenges with mooches.
**If you have a question about a mooch and you would like an opinion on it, please post your questions here.
**Or, if you just want to vent your frustration regarding mooches, book conditions, packaging or the postal system, you may also do so.

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The exchanges mentioned here are only about 1% to 2% of ALL BookMooch exchanges!!
Most mooches go very smoothly & without problems of any kind.

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Lastly, if you are someone who never has problems with anything happening in your life & thinks that no one else should have any problems either, or that people shouldn't complain or solicit solutions for the challenges they encounter, please do not read this thread or complain about what you read here.

This thread is not for perfect people, because you don't need this thread and you will be fine without it.

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Everybody, be sure to play nice with one another, and happy mooching!

I'm sure this has been asked and answered many times, but I don't feel like searching!

This is the first time I have ever done this, so I'm not sure what is the best and fairest way to handle it. I mistakenly switched the addresses on two books so they went to the wrong places. I suggested to the two recipients that they post the books on BM (so they would get 0.1 point) and then I would mooch them (so they would get 1 point). Then when I get the books back, I will mail them without asking for any points. Does that sound fair?

The first person doesn't seem to get what I am saying, but the second person has already posted and I have requested. Should I do more?

>2 dkhiggin: It is definitely a fair way to handle it, but there're longer transit times because the book is in the mail 3 times. When I have done this I've aked them if it would be ok to give the other moocher their address, so they could mail it directly to each other, and then refunded their points to cover the postage and the inconvenience. I did it myself once on BM and once on PBS and I've also been on the receiving end of wrong book a couple of times and it's worked out each time, knock on wood. It's always a risk because it's out of your hands, but by refunding the point up front I think that would satisfy most people even if it went missing.

In this case I'd just follow through with the first person who you asked to send it back to you, and if the second person still doesn't understand, ask if it can be mailed directly. The 2nd moocher is probably confused by the talk of points.

My member page shows I have 18 books to receive. Of only 5 of them (in two packets) I have any hope that I will actually receive them.

3 of the books should come my way in a few days if Sandy doesn't blow them away, and 2 have been requested today, from a giver that hasn't been on BM for two months but otherwise looks fine.
So far the hopeful ones.

8 books were Angel mooches and my Angel has disappeared (anyone here have any idea what is the matter with infiniteletters?).
4 have been requested (from two different givers) in August, with no reaction.
1 was delayed over a year ago.

Cancelling does not seem to make sense, as I have plenty of points, and some of the books have been mooched before the international point change (yes, it's been that long).
I'm not really desperate for any of these books, but when you mooch a book you always get your hopes up a bit. And not getting any reaction for such a long time is frustrating.

Rant over now. Thanks for listening.

>4 wester: | wester -- anyone here have any idea what is the matter with infiniteletters?

As far as I know, no. She and I used to chat on Gmail several times a week, but her online activity slowed way down in autumn 2011 and the last word I've had from her was in late winter 2012.

The last I heard she was fine health-wise, just busy.

wester- I figure if someone hasn't sent after a *year*, they aren't going to send. You can cancel that one, unless you really really want to wait some more. Has the person logged in at all recently? Sent any books in the last year?

The ones from August, I would sent an email asking when they will be able to send the books. If they don't respond in a few weeks, they probably aren't going to.

Update on previous rant: The two books requested on the thirtieth have arrived today. Sandy is still between me and the other three hopeful books, but the giver is very diligent about delay notes, so I'm pretty sure this will all work out in the end. And if it doesn't, Sandy will be the one to blame.

The giver of the book from 2011 has last sent a book in May, and last logged on two months ago. And of course I have reminded her already. The book is actually called Losing Control Finding Serenity: How the Need to Control Hurts Us And How to Let It Go. Maybe if I cancel I will thereby show I didn't need it after all?

The August givers both look like runaway newbies, not been on BM since they joined. I guess I will have to give those up. Sometime.

This isn't a BookMooch problem, or a problem at all... But it seems that books I sent two weeks ago by media mail are still in transit... Has anybody else been experiencing slow us mail lately?

Could Sandy be to blame?

Yeah, I'd say anything traveling through the east coast is going to take its time. I'm receiving mail here in Brooklyn (just got two books today) but between flooded areas, drowned tunnels, and fuel shortages, getting around is still a bit of a nightmare in many places.

That was what I was thinking too. I was just wondering if anybody else was experiencing problems :)

Just cancelled a bunch of requests from lat summer that were never sent. Several were from a user that I have had awful trouble in the past with sending books postage due (and I would always forget to not mooch from that person!) but after reporting them multiple times to abuse, the last shipment arrived properly posted and in great condition. So I mooched some more... and no response. Checked out her profile, looks like she spent all her points and abandoned the site after many years on it. So now with me canceling, she's at a negative point balance. Oh well...

Mooched a bunch last summer from a fairly new user. After two months they marked them sent... and they still have not arrived (now 6 weeks later). Sent them a note asking if they actually sent the books, or sent them late or...?? Looked at their profile: 17 books successfully sent, 3 rejections, and 7 "lost", not including mine (7 more). I will give them a few days to respond, then probably report to abuse. Either they are not actually sending books, or doing a ridiculously horrible job of packaging their books.

Small rant: WHY don't people read status messages?! It's RIGHT THERE in red when you mooch!

Someone mooched a book from me for a charity, but put a message saying that the charity has to have the book by mid-December. In my status, I clearly state that I can't ship again until early-to-mid December. .... Hello??

This is what I wrote in my rejection:
I'm sorry, but as I state in my status message, I can't send out until early-to-mid December. Since you say you need the book *by* mid-December, I'll have to reject your mooch. Even if I were to send early December, media mail usually takes 2-4 weeks, so you still wouldn't get it in time. In the future, please be sure to read status messages, many people put their shipping status there.

Re rant #4.
I cancelled all books that were mooched in August. Three of them immediately showed up again. I asked for them again. I got a "go ahead". Jay! Someone actually is there! A reaction! I requested them. Twelve days ago. No reaction since. No acceptance, no rejection, no delay.
Why do people do that? If she doesn't want to be on BookMooch, this would have been an excellent time to quit. If she doesn't want to send them to me, she could have told me. And if she does want to become an active BookMooch member, this is not going to make her history look good at all.
Rant over. So far.

I feel your pain, wester.

Does it feel like more moochers are feeling less willing to get books in the mail? Like it's optional? I'm now surprised when a book is sent out within a week of my mooching it.

In regards to my possibly lost books above... sender says he mailed them, but has not responded to a question asking when they were mailed. He is now at 8 books sent marked lost, and 15 (including my 7) marked sent over a month ago that have not yet been marked receive. This is someone who has successfully sent 17 books.

I contacted abuse to give them a heads up. He needs to be contacted to find out what is going on. I'm not marking my books lost yet in case they were just sent really late, but I'm not holding my breath. I don't care, I have plenty of points to go around, but I don't want to see someone abusing the system.

Whoever is handling abuse complaints for Bookmooch now is doing a great job. I know that a lot of you have had trouble with them in the past, but I got a prompt, detailed response to my report and they promised to look into it.

>17 rainbowgirl28: I've had some quick responses as well when I found and reported a couple of people who were using the site to advertise. Not so fast when trying to get help for another member who is having trouble getting their membership to be activated.

>17 rainbowgirl28: ..lucky you . I still have problems being suggested books from someone I reported months ago and have had no reply from Abuse. Lol, I am beginning to wonder if this person is actually a member of the abuse-team.

Ugh. I just tried to mooch a book which has been on my wishlist forever. I was so happy -- not only is a copy finally available, but it's from someone in the same country. Yay! And then, instead of letting me mooch, I got a message telling me that my account needs to be verified first. Huh? I'm not a new member. My email account is valid and is getting all the BM messages it should. I'd hate to lose this book!

Do you want me to mooch it for you? I still have room in the giant box I am sending for BFK, I could put it at the top of the box for you.

They actually cleared it up in a few hours, of course the book I wanted was long gone, but I do still have a few books on my TBR! It's just annoying that they can't audit accounts or whatever it is without shutting the account down.

And, coincidentally, I have a box for you too. Which should go out this week if I can get myself a little more organized.

More of an annoyance than an actual rant - but - I mooched a book recently and when it arrived, it turned out to be the first 2 chapters and an author interview, a total of 28 pages. When I clicked on the book link, it showed a book of 272 pages which is what I thought I was getting. I gave the person a -1 with an explanation, and the answer that came back was, "I entered it by ISBN". And obviously didn't check to make sure it really was the same book.

That has happened to me with a children's book. Some people aren't very observant.

Strange.

I've several books that are on requested status, and virtually all the book owners have been on BM very recently. What's up with that? This ain't PBS after all. It's easy to just click "Accept" and then mail the book at some later date, whenever.

Strange.

This one is starting to worry me.

I mooched three books from the same giver last year. They were marked sent on November 25. I received two of them on December 7. I marked them received and sent an e-mail inquiring about what might have happened to the third one. No reply. I sent another e-mail on January 4. No reply. I received a reminder from him on January 25. I replied to that one, but I haven't received any reply to that either.

I would like to know if he actually sent the book. I would understand if he hadn't - just before sending he got evacuated due to Sandy, so things must have been chaotic.

But what worries me most is that he might force the book received before I get the chance to mark it lost. It's an international mooch, so I can't mark it lost until 4 months have gone by after the "sent" date. The reminder was sent after two months, and he can force received 6 weeks after that. I thought there was a way to stop this "forced received" becoming possible, but it seems just replying to the reminder is not, as on his pending page there still shows "you reminded them X time ago".

Oh, and to further complicate things, this guy is an admin.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to handle this?

I think you'll end up with a forced receive. You can then leave feedback explaining things and asking for your points back, but since this is an admin, it's not like you can complain. It's not fair. You could try explaining things in an abuse report?

re 26: I just got an e-mail from this giver. He had been out of town, he says. Things are looking better :-)

I didn't realize I was supposed to *read* all of my books before posting them. I just got a nasty email because a book I mailed had binding errors. It's not a usual problem for me, so I didn't even think of checking it. I'm refunding the point and I have tons of points, so it's not a big deal, but a little tact would be nice.

You're joking. Binding errors? What are we talking, exactly, that they send a nasty email?

Maybe I'm being naive, but did this person elaborate at all? What kind of "binding errors"? A loose page, a cover that isn't properly glued, something more serious... that term could mean anything. And yeah, I'd expect to know if, for instance, a book I was mooching had loose pages. But some binding errors might be nitpicky, or whatever...

If you'd care to take a lesson from this experience, it's that you should *always* flip through the book before posting it. Whether you've read it or not doesn't matter, but taking one minute to do a thorough flip-through, which will uncover any loose pages or cover/spine issues, can make a big difference.

I once mooched a book that was missing 30 pages inside. It was produced that way, so there was no damage to the book. The person I mooched it from happened to know about it and told me, but if they had not actually read the book, they wouldn't have noticed, and I wouldn't expect them to.

I once BOUGHT a hardcover book where the text block was sewn into the cover upside down. I didn't notice until I took the dust jacket off to take the book with me on the way to work. Drove me BONKERS while I was reading it because I kept picking it up the wrong way, but I was the one who bought it and I didn't notice.

32: Daaaang. I know books aren't always inspected before they are sent out into the public (I'm finding multiple spelling errors in my current read), but daaaang!

(Just fyi: I was bored last night, and procrastinating. So I ended up reading the past 4 or 5 incarnations of this thread, just... because. Wow, memories. lol)

At one point I bought a new paperback of a book I really wanted to read. Got half-way through and - a chapter went half-way, then the second half was a duplicate of the first. After 20-30 pages of duplicates, it went back to normal - which means those 20-30 pages were missing. I took it back to the store and had them replace it with another copy - which I checked before I took it home! Same thing - if I hadn't actually read it, there's no way I could have told.

No, it wasn't loose pages and yes, *I always flip through the books before I post them*. I look for stains, loose pages, writing/highlighting, etc. I didn't even think to look to see if the pages in the book were bound in the right order, which they apparently weren't and a large section of the book was repeated and another part left out. I've only seen one book like that in my entire life (it was a library book), so it's not something I even thought about looking for and I take it for granted that a book is going to have all of its pages in order. The moocher's implication was that I should have read the book ("Did you even read this book?"). Not only did I not notice this, but the used bookstore I bought it from didn't either (I know them well and trust them not to *deliberately* sell books that are unreadable due to misbound pages), whether the person who sold the book to the used bookstore knew or not, we'll never know. I know when books are first published if there's an error like this, a bookstore or I think even the publisher, will replace the book with a correct copy. Apparently, the first owner didn't do that in this case, or maybe they never read the book or read it years after purchase.

>34 jjmcgaffey: That's almost the exact plot of Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler.

Quaisior it definitely sounds like an overreaction on their part. I haven't read a lot of the books I sent either. If I received a book like that, I would be disappointed, but I wouldn't blame the person who sent it, I would give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they didn't know.

I can totally understand someone being disappointed when they get a book that they can't read because of something like this, but to take it out on the person who mailed the book and expect them to read every single book they've ever posted is a bit much. Even in her response email, which was a bit more polite, she was still complaining a bit.

I once bought a book at a thrift store and never realized until I read it that it was missing the last few pages. I had to read it for a college class and I was *in the hospital* at the time I read it, so I couldn't run out and either buy a new copy or go to the library, so I had to send my then-boyfriend, now husband on a wild goose chase to try to find the book for me. It's been a long time now, but I think he found a replacement copy from the same thrift store I bought the book from. If he hadn't, I probably could have had him or my mom go to the library with my library card to get the book. My long-winded point here is that both the book I mailed and the book I had to read for college are popular semi-classics that can probably be found at any used bookstore, thrift store, or library. I know she's upset that the copy I sent her wasn't bound correctly, but if she wants to keep reading it, she can always wait a day or two and get a corrected copy from her library. It's not a difficult book to find and she will get to finish reading it. It's not like it's an obscure and out of print book she might never get her hands on again.

Several months ago, I angel mooched a book. They never responded and I eventually cancelled. A few months later, the person was active again and I was asked to try again, so I did. I got an acceptance email, but they said something crazy like their house burned down or whatever and they were rebuilding their inventory. I politely asked them to reject my request if they no longer had the book, but they did not.

Sometime around this time, they mooched 4 books from me. I checked out their profile, and they had not successfully sent a book in some time. I decided to wait a bit, and sure enough their point balance quickly went negative. I hit "delay" on the books and said I would gladly send them once they successfully sent a book. No response and they have since gone MIA from the site. They still have not rejected my mooch either, and I haven't gotten around to canceling it yet, even though I am pretty sure they don't have the book.

So today I rejected their mooches from me, with a note that if they successfully sent a book, they were welcome to re-mooch these from me.

Slightly off topic. If anyone knows how to restore the wiki to an earlier version it would be helpful. It's been hacked again. http://wiki.bookmooch.com/index.php/Main_Page

ETA: It's been fixed. Thanks to http://bookmooch.com/bookarts One of the things I love about Bookmooch is the people.

More of a question than a rant or a vent ( at least not yet). Is there a way I can go back and see if there were any comments before I receive a book? The ISBN and publisher are obviously different, but I want to make sure there was no comment about it being a Readers Digest book, before I leave my comments.

>41 dudes22:

If you haven't marked it received yet, the condition notes should be visible on your pending page: title, author, then conditions. If the field is not there then it didn't have notes.

If you have marked it received, but want to review the details, from the books mooched link in your bio you can click details and again, the condition notes, if any, will be listed after the book author.

Thanks Mac - I thought that was the case, but wanted to check before I claimed that she misrepresented the book I actually received.

Once you mark a book received, you can also go back and double check the condition notes by going back into the transaction history details page. I've pointed that out to a few newbies and resolved potential brouhahas.

I just went and checked my pending page and I do have one with condition notes, so I know this other book didn't have them. I usually hesitate about giving a -1, but this time I surely am. I ended up with a Reader's Digets Select Edition of 4/5 books (obviously condensed) which is no where close to the book I thought I was mooching.

This isn't so much a rant/vent as it is a dilemma of the literary kind. I recently went through and purged a ton of books. I am taking the majority of them to half price books to sell since they are hardbacks and I don't want/need more BM points nor do I really want to ship all of them out. My problem is this. I currently have close to 50 ARCs of recent books that I know would go like crazy on BM and I cannot sell because they are Advanced reader copies. What to do with them?

Send them to me!

Just kidding. Does your local library have a booksale to raise funds? I know that mine does and there are often ARCs in with the other books.

I contacted the library and they said that they do not sell ARCs at the annual library book sale. I guess I could take them to a local thrift store, maybe?

That's strange that they wouldn't sell ARCs. I never even thought to ask. I just took a few boxes of books to the local library a couple of weeks ago and all they did was count them up and give me a form with how many HC and PB that I had donated for my taxes. And I see them at library sales all the time.

Are you a member of PBS? They permit ARCs under as long at they are made available in a certain way, and they maintain a monthly thread for trading them.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/List-ARCs-Here-MAY-2013/topic/139322/

The few ARCs I've posted there have all be snapped up quickly and all for PBS points.

OOO you can trade them on PBS??? I am forever wanting PBS points. Thanks Em!

>51 Belladonna1975: I managed to find myself with a sizeable surplus of PBS points, so do pimp your inventory so I can spend them :)

>51 Belladonna1975:

Huzzah and you're welcome. Have fun!

You cannot post them via the regular PBS system, but you can post them on the message board in exchange for points. Just in case that wasn't clear earlier.

This isn't a rant; 'just an observation.

I have a ridiculously target-rich source for dirt-cheap books (a Goodwill Outlet). I often grab books that I think BM'ers will want.

I posted a copy of Eclipse, which is on hundreds of wishlists. No takers.

I'm a bit creeped out having it on my bookshelf. :)

>55 Sandydog1: I think that is because many users have abandoned their accounts, but they live on in the BookMooch system, wishlists intact. Like zombies.

Or perhaps they've all grown up?

(yikes, snarky talk like this will never get that book, mooched!)

The wishlists on BM are a problem. When an account is inactive, one of the fearless volunteers will eventually put it on vacation, removing the inventory, but the wish list remains active forever.

I just got word that a package I sent out last week has arrived empty. In spite of all the packing tape. Darn it. That's only the second time that has happened in my over 2000 books sent. But, such a disappointment.

Cancelled a mooch today that I made back in February. The owner's status message said they weren't sending overseas, but their actual status was at 'ask me first', so I thought 'It's worth trying' and asked. I got the go-ahead to mooch, and.........nothing since. No acceptance. I sent an email a couple of weeks back asking if/when they planned on sending it, no response to that either.

The kicker for me is, the owner isn't inactive or anything. I looked at their pending page and history today, and they've been accepting and sending mooches to other users, no problem.

I don't mind waiting for mooches, especially with postage costs being what they are, and if the owner had accepted and said there would be a delay, I would've understood. But to have waited 5 months with no communication while accepting and sending other mooches was a big let down. Looking at their feedback, there appear to be other moochers who have had the same problem with this user- they mooched books and then waited ages without any communication before cancelling.

This is probably the first really problematic transaction I've had in two years, so I guess I should count myself lucky for that. And I've managed to get an angel to mooch another edition of the book for me, so I should get my hands on the book sooner or later. Still very frustrating, though. :/

Ugh. So I've moved to another country. I mooched a few books (yay!) but then I got a message that my account is on hold for 24 hours until my email is verified and I'll get an email message within those 24 hours. That was a week ago. No messages (i've been checking my spam folder as well) and no ability to use my account.

I did sent an email after the first few days, but no response there, either.

They have a loose definition of 24 hours.

I've been around for years, so I'll wait and see, but why would a new or newish member want to continue using a site so lackadaisical about user accounts?

Sympathies! Let us know if you spot any books you aren't presently able to mooch -- I should be able to help you with at least the USA requests.

I would think that after seven days of no further word you'd be justified in sending a second email to the admins.

Ah drats, the 851st book that was mooched from me turned out to smell of smoke, and so I've now blemished a perfect seven-year run. Now I'd better check the rest of the box.

My account is now sorted. It took a while, but now I can mooch. Thanks, MyriadBooks, for the kind offer. I'm going to not mooch anything I can't get easily as I do have a healthy stack of unread books!

I feel that having too many books to read is perhaps the most wonderful problem of all!

I agree with you completely!

So we can't list ARCs anymore? When did that happen? Ah well, reading this thread explained why an ARC I keep sticking in my inventory is forever (sort of) disappearing.

#67: I think you misunderstood (if you are talking about #46 and further).
ARCs are fine on BookMooch (as long as you mention that they are ARCs), but the poster has plenty of points already so she doesn't want to list them, and bookshops don't want them.

Not a rant about a BookMooch transaction, as this is the sort of thing that can easily be overlooked by persons posting books they haven't themselves read, but definitely a rant about people who write in books. I just snagged one where some previous pedantic corrected the typos by overwriting on top of the printed text in bold pen. So pissed. I find this sort of thing so very much more distracting than the original typo, and now I'm back to looking for a clean copy of this book.

>69 MyriadBooks: ugh. that is annoying.

I got one once where someone wrote ridiculous comments in pink sparkly pen in the margins. Fortunately she must have gotten bored with the book halfway through because after one page entirely drawn with hearts, there were no more marks.