FlyerTalk Forums - Second US passport either lost in mail or by passport center

Hello,

I applied for a second extra 4 year passport, and received it. However it has become apparent that the original 10 year, still valid, passport has been lost in the mail or was never mailed in the first place. They return them with regular mail with no tracking as if it were an expired passport. Really annoying.

Does anyone know if it's approrpriate to file form DS-86 (STATEMENT OF NON-RECEIPT OF A U.S. PASSPORT) - https://eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds86.pdf in this case? I am getting very conflicting answers from the passport center call center. I've been told to report it lost with form DS-64, and that I need to replace it at my own expense, and been told to use this DS-86 form instead and that they will pay for the replacement, however the fine print seems to contradict that:

Quote:

You have 90 days from the date that your passport document(s) was issued to report that you have not yet received it in the mail. If you do not report the non-receipt of your U.S. passport document(s) within 90 days of the issue date, you will be required to reapply and submit the full passport fee(s).

However this is the original 10 year passport that was issued a few years ago. So that makes me question if DS-86 is appropriate at all. But then again what is the difference - newly issued passport, or old, this is non-receipt after it was in possession of the passport center.

Any thoughts on how to proceed? I applied for a second passport because I need to acquire various visas soon, and now that my first passport is gone, I have even more to get replaced with a limited timeframe - so I don't want to begin the wrong process w/ the passport center....

Thanks!