Thought I'd start a gripe thread here.  This morning I received a request for a hardcover book.  The conditions stated, "must be BRAND NEW!"  (yes, it was in caps)  This realllllly irked me and I declined it.  The funny thing is, my mom sent me a bunch of books she didn't want so I could post them here....and the book was basically new, only read once.  I'd rather lose the credit and wait for someone else to order it.  If the requestor would have said something like, "I'd really like to give this to someone as a gift and am looking for a gently read book", I'd have sent it off no problem.   Argh!!

End rant (for now!)  Carry on.

Okay, my turn...

Over the weekend I got a book which I requested, but it wasn't the exact book I asked for.  Wrong ISBN - the author/title matched, but it was a differnet publisher.  What irked me most is that I was given the choice between two publishers (and different ISBNs) so I ordered the one that matched the rest of the books in the series; a trade paperback.  I get the MMPB instead and lo and behold - it's the wrong ISBN.

Granted it's the same book, just a different look.  I was more disappointed than pertrubed - esp. when I made the choice to choose the specific edition/publisher and get one that should have been listed under the edition I didn't choose.  Why can't people read that popup that asks if the ISBN matches (amongst the other criteria)?    It's on my shelf and off I go in search of the trade paperback edition which I want instead.

My turn next...

Today I received a WL book that would have been beyond PBS guidleines on its best day. It is severely water damaged and reeks of mildew. I had to immediately throw it away. I am really upset because this was a book I really, REALLY wanted, as did my husband. (Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman).  It went straight into the trash. :-(

I PM'd the sender and with any hope she will return my credit but how do I get back to the top of the FIFO? Grrrrrrrr.

Edited to say: All turned out okay and the sender is BEYOND nice and another historical fiction fan. Woo-hoo.

Marci,

Write to R&R and tell them the book you received was unreadable and ask to be placed back in line. Give them the book details. I've had to do that before and they placed me right back at first place within a day.

I hope the next copy is much, much better!

Do you have Falls the Shadow?   I have a HC copy that I need to list. It will smell like smoke, but it won't be moldy. ;-)

No I don't have that one Valli. I wanted to read the first in the series to see if I liked her style. Did you like the series?

PS: I don't mind smoke. I can always vent out smoke. Can't vent out mold....

On the plus side, the sender is new and she returned my PM saying she would buddy the credit back. She was very nice. We were all new sometime and I guess it's true that you learn by experience.

Will write to R&R now to get back on the FIFO. Cheers. - MG

WoW Marci Yuck.I am glad you got your credit back:)

Anne, not only that, but R&R put me back to the front of the queue on the WL AND the sender has turned out to be really nice and a big historical fiction fan. All has turned out well!

And it's not like I don't have a mountain of books on my TBR until the next one comes available!

PS: I actually had a really good PBS day. Another WL book came available and I have 10 credits about to come due but ran out of available ones for the first time. 2 of my buddies helped me out so I could get the WL book and not have to relinquish my spot ahead of 84 other hopefuls!!!

Thanks Felicia and Tammy who both answered my credit plea at the same time. Credits will be returned as soon as my DC's clear! You guys are all the absolute BEST. I am so lucky to have found PBS and made such great book loving friends!

Marci: I am glad everything work out for you.

Here be Dragons is great!  I think I've read the whole series, although it's been a long time.  Sharon Penman also writes a relatively new mystery series, takes place in the 12th century.  I've only read the first one of these.

I've learned not to send books to people who have posted  lots of restrictions. All my books are in very good condition, and I've been burned 3 times by picky people. These books are FREE, and some don't seem to appreciate that. I have several members on my personal Do Not Trade list.

I'm not picky at all. As long as I can read it, I'm happy. I don't think it's asking too much that books actually meet the criteria of the PBS guidelines. A moldy or water damaged book that needs to be tossed and thus can't be read does not meet those guidelines. Whether you have conditions posted or not, you still shouldn't have to eat a credit if you receive a bad book. Anyone who won't give back a credit/or attempt to make it right after posting a clearly unacceptable book goes on MY do not trade list.

I've had 4 bad trades since joining PBS. I got back 2 of the credits from honest PBS members, including this one. If I hadn't gotten any back, I'd be out almost $14 -- which I could have used to buy a NEW book.

That said, people who have a litany of conditions put me off too, unless they are about allergies, etc. If I have any doubts about the condition of a book, it either goes into my freebies with order queue or if it's borderline and I would accept it,  I will PM the receiver before sending it to make sure they are cool with it too.

It boils down to courtesy.

My mom emailed me tonight.  I had ordered her a book and had it sent it to her.  She said she just finished it and would send it back but had to use packing tape to fix it because it arrived in such bad shape.  I told her I wished she would have told me that when she got it so I could have marked that it wasn't even in postable condition.  Grrrrrr.....guess she can just toss it now...

Actually,  I don't consider the books that we get through PBS to be free.   They cost the price of a credit.   In order to get those credits you either have to buy them, or you have pay postage to send out books that you originally paid for yourself.  So definitely NOT free. 

To address Michelle's vent about the requestor who wanted Brand New books.  There is no way I would send a book to that person, even if I purchased it new myself.  This is a used book site and I would be afraid the requestor would want her credit back if the book wasn't perfect.  Plus it just kind of sticks in my craw when members want all their books to be like new.

Brand new books is waaaaaay over the line. Sometimes you buy a brand new book in the store and it's imperfect. Yeesh.

Had my first lost book.  Although I've wondered from the beginning if it was even sent.  At least it wasn't a wl and someone I wasn't absolutely dying to read.

Argh...do you guys get lots of books that "time out"?  I had ordered Fatal Majesty and at the absolute last minute the person accepted and now I've been sitting here waiting for a "will mail by" or even "printed" thing to show up.  Nada.   Same thing with an Edith Pargeter book I ordered....the person didn't even accept and now it's moved onto the next person and I'm waiting...this is 9 days after I had initially ordered.  Do you guys cancel much?  I have a few times due to this...does it drive anyone else crazy besides me?

Yep, if it's a book I especially want, it drives me batty!

I'm having a problem with a book that was returned to me because the person no longer lives at the address. I sent a pm to the person, no response and their shelf is on hold, so I just re-listed it. One problem - It's wishlisted and on auto-request by the same person! So, I just cancelled it. I feel bad that someone else may list this book and then have their copy returned too. I guess I need to send feedback to R&R about this. Anybody have Dreams of Tresppass: Tales of A Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi on their wishlist? I'd be happy to post this copy to anyone's wishlist.

Grrrrr.....I am apparently not receiving Marriage of Meggotta by Edith Pargeter.  I initially ordered it on Aug 1st...the first person let it time out and never responded.  The second person finally "accepted" now all of a sudden it cannot be mailed and there are no other books in the system.  This scenario has happened 3 or 4 times and it chaps my butt everytime!

Michelle, I PMd you about The Marriage of Meggotta.

Finally got my hardcover of Fatal Majesty and the cover is just barely attatched to the rest of the book. :(

I got a request the other day for a book that did not have any pages turned down. And that didn't smell like smoke. And didn't have any stains...and...you get my drift.

I declined to send it, mostly because of the page thing. One or two of the pages had folds. I thought that was a little extreme - these books are used, after all, and a fold can be expected. I know some people mark their books that way (HORRORS!!!) but then again sometimes the edges just get folded due to handling and misplacement.

Also, it was a book I picked up at a yardsale and I didn't know if the previous owners smoked or not. I couldn't smell anything, but I don't have the most sensitive sniffer.

I went with the "better safe than sorry" path.

I like using PBS DC to get quick credit....then I don't have to wait days for my credits to show up. And, it keeps my WL books covered when they pop up as available.

But, the books I've mailed for the last month have gone out without DC. For most of the month, our printer was down....so I had to hand address all the books I sent out. Then I had to wait until they were received to get credits. And of course, the minute I get down to 0 credits available, that's when WL books start popping up. ha ha.

Then, hubby buys a new printer. I package up books with DC and am happy that I can finally get quick credits again. Well, hubby took them to the PO and got a new postal clerk who made several mistakes.....needles to say the PBS barcode will not be scanned on any of the books I just sent out.

And as usual, the second my account goes to 0 credits available, WL books start popping up. So, I just bought a few credits to tide me over until the books I sent are marked as received.

On the good side of things, I can say that none of the books I sent without using DC were lost in the mail!

I have sent out 580+ plus books and only had two go missing, so I really can't justify the cost of DC.....

I don't mind conditions, but if someone wants a book that's BRAND NEW, all I can say is fat luck to them! ;P

I've sent out quite a few books (too lazy to look at the numbers, but I think it's over 1000 or close to it) and I've had less than 1% go missing.   Until I got a stamps.com account in May 2007, I never used DC.    If I didn't have the discounted DC via my stamps.com account, I wouldn't use it. 

I love PBS and most of us are really kind and caring people that go out of our way to be helpful. I have had a couple of bad experiences here but I did't let them get me down. The thing that makes me furious is for someone who marks a books sent and then don't mail it for a week or two. I got one today that was mailed nine days after it was marked sent. It had the postage sticker from the post office with the date on it. I will wait on a book if the person takes the time to ask me to, if someone pm's me and says they can't mail it for a certain amount of time for any reason I always say OK that is fine you can mark it sent so it doesn't expire and I will know it will be delayed. The only really BAD book I have received is one that had every color highlighter available used in it. Basically the whole book was highlighted. When I PMed the sender they told me it was a textbook because they used it for a college class. The book was historical fiction and no a textbook. I never got my point back. Thanks for listening! LYN