I had to mark a book RWP for the first time today because of underlining. I pm'ed the sender a polite request for my credit back. Here are the replies I got:

"I paid the shipping costs, and sent the book to you as I had received it. You had no special requirements for the book, and I'm not going to lose out on the shipping costs. Sorry."

and

"You are more than welcome to mail the book back to me, and when I get it, I'd be happy to refund the credit."

How should I relply back to this person?  I can never think of what to say and the kind people on this fourm always seem to have good answers.

Thanks,

Jenn

Go the help docs: look up the posting guidelines and about not having to send a bad book back: copy/paste and pm them back the person. Let them know that just because they received the book that way doesn't mean it was postable.  Let them know that you'll mark the problem as unresolved, giving them a permanant red mark if you don't get your credit back.  Be nice and polite.  You stil may not get your credit back but maybe you'll help get them either off PBS or to make sure they're books are postable. 

I always say, per the PBS posting guidelines and then quote the help section about underlining and then I'd quote the one about her having to give you another credit for the return of the book or giving you the postage money up front if she wants it back.

She may not even realize she posted it against the PBS guidelines.  Even though it's a site for books, not everyone reads the rules.

Dear sender:

Thank you for spending the money to mail me the book though according to PBS guidelines you posted a book that did not meet posting conditions...(see below)

Overall Condition:

• No damage at all from water or other liquid
• Not soiled
• No stains (exception for cookbooks--see below)
• No mold
• no highlighting, underlining or writing on text pages (exception for textbooks --see below)

as this book you have sent to me is not a textbook underlining is not allowed and thus does not require special requestor conditions.

Regarding your offer to return my credit if I mailed the book back to you...as per the Help Center I am not obligated to do this but, may choose to do so but, you are obligated then to send me an additional credit to cover return shipping costs.

Per the Help Center: 

• A requestor does NOT have to return the item in a "problem" transaction
  • if the sender wants the item back, he or she should send postage or a credit to pay for its return.

Further information from the Help Center: 

The credit should be refunded to the requestor if the problem described is accurate.

So, in light of the above quoted guidelines I would like to again request a refund of my credit and then I can mark this problem resolved in my transaction archive, otherwise I will have to mark it Not Resolved and this will add an additional mark on your record.

Thanks

Requestor

Gosh, that sounds *exactly* like the lady who send me the badly stained book and then chastized me for asking for a credit back, claiming it had "only minute stains".

Christy gave you an excellent reply.

Thanks for the great info! I'm writing a message to the person right now, but I'm having more trouble! How do I link things from the help center?

Jennifer I don't necessary "link" things, I copy and paste as I did in the message above...or you can copy and paste from my sample message above and then edit the message to fit your needs.

I agree -- Christy has given an excellent reply for you! I would also agree that cutting and pasting the information is your best bet, that way you know the swapper has read it (instead of hoping that they follow the link.) Leave it in their court, that's what you have to do at this point. Good luck!  :)

Sounds like someone I just had a problem with too! You received lots of great information! :)

I have found that copying and pasting the relevant parts of the HC, as Christy has done, is the best way to go about these things.  The HC is an impartial listing of the rules, after all!

Copy and paste Christy's post.  It's excellent.  Also, let us know how it works out. 

The links work in forum posts, but not in PMs.. so for any linked sections.. you could go copy/paste what the link is referring to.

Thanks again for all the great advise! I sent this person another message and here is what I got back today:

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to refund you the book credit unless you mail the book back to me at your expense. You had no special requests for the book, and I mailed it to you in the same condition that it was mailed to me."

I don't have any RCs. I'm guessing that this person doesn't get (or doesn't really care) how the RCs work. I sent a reply explaining that all books that are posted need to meet PBS guidlines and RCs are for things above and beyond that.

I don't expect to get any credit back on this but maybe this person will take the time to read the rules more carefully.

Jennifer, if you marked this RWAP, then this member will then have it on their record.  I know it sucks that you didn't get your credit back, but at least you can know that if they repeat this behavior, they will have consequences.  There should be a way for you to indicate in your transaction archive that this problem was not resolved, so I would do that.  You might even PM them back one more time to let them know that.  It sounds like this is someone who does know know PBS rules.  Sorry you have to deal with this.

Whoo boy, you know sounds just like a person who sent me an ARC, wanted me to "..to mail the book back to her, and when she gets it she'd be happy to refund the credit.".  Then proceeded to ignore me when I pointed out that I wasn't required to send an unpostable back at my expense.  I marked it unresolved.

If I were you I would email TPTB of the site with a copy of the pm that says "You had no special requests for the book, and I mailed it to you in the same condition that it was mailed to me."  It was up to her to mark it RWP if that was the case and ask for her credit back not pass it on to someone else.   Expecting postable books is not a "special request" worthy of a RC, it is standard operating procedure, and if this is her MO the people running the site needs to know.