WE ARE OPEN - MILITARY SERIES: INTRODUCTION - Hanns and Rudolf: The True Story of the German Jew Who Tracked Down and Caught the Kommandant of Auschwitz (SPOILER THREAD)

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Terrific Nita - glad you have the book - but I checked and you had told me before that you had the book. I sent you a thread which has all of the urls so you can start finding your way.

[Whitney]

Checking in. I also didn't receive my book yet. I did see your above mention about sending the list, so I'm still hopeful.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Yes, I was told that they were mailing out another copy to the following folks - I wrote them a note on May 16th and spoke to Simon and Schuster mid week. I am keeping my fingers crossed for all of you.

Janis in Arizona
Caolyn in New York
Sharise in New York
David Allen in Kentucky
Whitney in North Carolina

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

For all recipients of the free book offer of Hanns and Rudolf:

These are the threads that you should have posted on at least once since the discussion started as part of the t's and c's.

Week One:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...--

Week Two:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...--

Week Three: (just opened)

There will be a weekly non spoiler thread for another seven weeks. Please post at least once on these threads as part of the t's and c's.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Q&A with Thomas

Please post a question or two on this thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts:

Please post your review - no links or mention of any other review posting on goodreads or anywhere else. You can post elsewhere separately.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Check for future week threads in this folder:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Remember you are responsible for following the t's and c's and participating in the discussion.

Here is a roadmap about participation in the book discussion:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Kathryn]

Have they decided who in the UK would get a copy of the book yet?

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

I was told the four that I submitted had all been mailed. I do have extra books for the UK but I find it odd that you have not gotten yours Kathryn already.

[Kathryn]

That is strange then. I was even down at the post office depot this past weekend for another package and they didn't have it. I'll stay on the lookout. Thanks for your help.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

I have no idea - I wrote a note to the person in charge and I have not heard back a peep. When the first three folks expressed their interest - I got the addresses to the point of contact the same day and asked her to mail them out right away so that you could participate from the get go in the discussion - I got a note back right away saying that this was a good idea and that they were going to be mailed out right away. Since then I submitted another name - absolutely no response - then I wrote two additional notes - one as a PM and another to the person's regular email - again zip. So I guess we will have to wait to see if the contact ever surfaces and/or you get your book. I am very reluctant to take on any book when the publisher contact is non responsive. We are all volunteers who are delighted to bring you a free book offer and we invest a great deal of time making this happen and following up that all of the books are received. All we expect on our end is that when we write a note or a PM that they are in a reasonable amount of time responded to. And in this case, they have not been. And from what I can tell - I know that Simon and you have not received your books. When I hear back from this contact - I will reach out to you Kathryn. If you get the book in the meantime, let me know.

Update: Thank you to Thomas who saw this post and was able to get things going. Thank you to Random House in the UK for getting these books to the UK members.

[Kathryn]

Thank you Bentley. I will let you know if the book turns up. I really appreciate all the hard work your doing to coordinate these discussions.

[Kathryn]

I think this is a good lesson in patience. My book came today. I can't wait to join in the discussion!

[Angel]

I haven't received mine neither, but will shout if it shows up.

Best

AS

[Angel]

Mine arrived just Today!!!

Thanks so much!

[Shana]

Received my book today ;) (5th of June).

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Good - all of the UK books have finally been received - thank you for your patience. Simon has his as well.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Folks,

This was the list (of the six remaining folks) back on May 13th who still posted that they did not have the book. You all PM'd me and/or posted on this thread that you still did not have the book at that time.

Around mid May - I told you that the publisher had informed me that they were going to mail you out another copy and I forwarded to them your addresses. This was a very kind gesture on their part to send another book. However, we have no confirmation from any of the following folks that they indeed ever received the book at all.

Please let us know that you have your book and please begin participating if you do have the book by posting on the respective threads as you read along. We will respond to you as you get caught up and you will be following the t's and c's. Here at the HBC it is never too late to begin reading and posting about a book we are discussing.

If you have still not received the book, let us know that as well.

This is the list of folks who were still waiting to receive their books:

This is the post at that time:

These are folks who I have heard from and have told me that they have not gotten their books yet:

Jack in Hawaii
Janis in Arizona
Caolyn in New York
Sharise in New York
David Allen in Kentucky
Whitney in North Carolina

Make sure to let me know when you receive your book and if you do not - then I will contact the publisher.

===========================================

For all other recipients of the free book offer - make sure to check periodically the participation thread to make sure that you are noted, read and enjoy the book and jump into the threads and participate or initiate discussion.

To check the participation thread - here is the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Make sure to post your review on the Week Eleven thread - titled Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts.

Here is the link to that thread: (all recipients should be posting a review on this thread when they have completed the book - this is a spoiler thread):

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also, "a special thank you to Thomas Harding" who continues to answer questions on the Q&A thread. Please make sure to pop into that thread and post any questions about the book to him personally.

Here is the link to the Q&A thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

If you are still having questions about what to do next in a discussion - this is the link to the thread that was created to get you headed in the right direction. This thread's link has been posted on each and every weekly thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Also a special thank you to Simon and Schuster in the states and Windmill Books part of the Random House group in the UK for kindly providing copies of the books for the group.

We have now passed the half way point in our discussion.

[Whitney]

Still no book here. I will let you know if it comes, and try to get caught up.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Thanks Whitney - that is what I was afraid of. I did verify your address with the publisher when you posted last and posted/verified it in an email that I sent them which I followed through with a personal call.

@Sharise - thank you for your PM that I just received. You were on the list with Whitney, your mailing address was verified and the publisher was notified via email and via a personal call. Let us know when you receive the book (if you do). And thank you for keeping me informed periodically.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

@Jack in Hawaii - it usually takes you awhile to get the books but certainly by now - I would have hoped you had the book - I am concerned because you were on the list as not receiving the book as yet. We did just send another followup PM to you - I have heard from Sharise, Whitneyand Janis and they are much closer and have still not received theirs.

Update - Jack had informed me yesterday that he also did not receive the book. We had waited a bit longer to see if it would just take longer for him to receive the book because he was in Hawaii - but after waiting an inordinate amount of time - still no book and still no replacement copy! Thank you jack for your PM!

Any book sightings yet (smile)?

@Janis - any sightings of the book yet?
Update: - Just heard from Janis via PM (6/18/14) and she too did not receive any replacement copy. I suspect at this point that though the publisher indicated that they were sending out replacement copies - that they actually never did it. I was obviously given erroneous information. It would be hard to believe that Sharise, Whitney and Janis all never received a second replacement copy. I do not believe that they followed through or sent them. I hope to also hear back from Jack, Carolyn and David Allen once again.

@Carolyn - - any sightings of the book yet?

@David Allen in Kentucky - any sightings of the book yet?

Update: David Allen at Fort Knox, Kentucky never received the book at any time. Received update via PM on June 20th - He was on the list to receive the book - but did not. The publisher was sent a list of the names and addresses of the five folks that we had heard from who did not receive the book in the first batch and I followed through with a personal phone call and spoke to one of the folks at the publisher who stated that another copy of the books would be sent and it is obvious to me that this never happened.

Just as an FYI all of the six folks above have been in contact with me so we have been following up with them and the publisher was contacted about getting them a back up book. However, we have received no confirmation that it was sent or received. We do know that Sharise, Whitney and Janis have still not received their books.

The following folks we have not heard from at all - ineligible for future offers

Huelhowser (nothing) and Zohar - although Zohar has not followed the t's and c's - he has posted a sentence or two - here and there - so we assume he has the book.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Well I have some news. As the members are aware - 6 folks did not receive their books for whatever reason - we are unsure why this happened. That is why on each and every offer - we always ask and follow through trying to ascertain if you have indeed received your book - We always track all of them and if you are responsive to us - we always follow through and see if we can get you a replacement copy. In the past this has happened very infrequently - one or two books here and there and normally the publisher sends them right out. In every instance - the folks who have notified me have finally received their books. We cannot vouch for the non responsive folks But for everybody else we are out there trying to make things right because we want you to be able to participate and we know how disappointed you are when you did not get your book. In some instances we are giving folks an opportunity to read a book that they may not have been able to afford and we are happy to be able to help those folks too.

So...

I was told that replacement copies had been sent weeks ago. I passed on that information to the six folks who have not received their books. I had in fact both emailed the publisher (twice) and had called them twice. I thought I was given accurate information.

However, I have heard from all of you over the past few weeks - in fact seven to be exact that you did not receive even the replacement.

I found it odd that not even one of you would have received your replacement copy - if I had been told accurate information.

So I contacted the author and asked him if he could find out what had transpired and he was not able to help - so I was told by the author to contact the publisher again.

So I did - this time I was told that the replacements had not been sent.
And the good news is that they will be going out tomorrow - these are the exact words conveyed -

These have been processed and will pack and ship tomorrow. The local ones should arrive by week’s end and the rest will likely be sometime next week. I’m unsure how long it will take to HI but I hope the delay is not too severe.

So Sharise, Whitney, Janis, Carolyn (not heard from), David (not yet), and Jack (not yet) in Hawaii - the books will be on their way tomorrow.

I am thrilled for you and I don't want you to feel that you are behind - you are never behind here - just read and post on the appropriate week's post for each assignment and you can get caught up in no time - it is never too late to get started and this is a very good book and discussion. We at the History Book Club are so appreciative of Simon and Schuster's efforts to make things right for our readers.

Thank you Simon and Schuster and folks let me know when you have the book.

A happy ending.

[Whitney]

Thank you for continuing to try to get us our books, and keeping us informed. I am excited to be able to participate, and will let you know as soon as I get it!

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Thank you Whitney - I know you were disappointed and I was disappointed for you - but I believe they will go out tomorrow. And thank you- let us hope that things go right this time.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

All, Sharise has received her replacement book today - just to let you guys know. We are down to 5 now.

[Whitney]

I received my book today. I'm excited to get started reading!

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

All, Whitney has FINALLY received the replacement book today - just to let you guys know. We are down to 4 now.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

All, Janis has FINALLY received the replacement book today - just to let you guys know. We are down to 3 now. Two of the three have not received the book yet and one we have not heard from recently.