I already emailed PBS about this issue but I just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar situation happen. I had a lot of books posted to my bookshelf. I had several books that were on wishlists and that people really wanted. The problem is that I was going to mail them out and found out that they were ruined due to water damage. We recently had a plumbing problem in our house and our whole water system backed up and the room that the books were in was flooded and all of my books except one was destroyed. They are not even readable. A lot of them were brand new and never even read. I am just very upset because I had a lot of requests that I can not even send out now. I did remove all of the books from my bookshelf that were destroyed but I am not sure what to do about the books I am suppose to mail out to people that are totally ruined. I am sure the requestors would not appreciate a book that is not even readable. Any suggestions?

Wow, I don't think you have any choice but to cancel all the requests, but forewarning, this will probably trigger an automatic system response that will close your account and not allow you to log in until R&R contact you directly and hear your explanation, and then unlock it. This has been known to take several days before they get to your problem, I tend to think things come up in an order and while I'm sure there are different level of flags, your feedback about it won't trigger them to get to you before your account gets locked. Again, this is an assumption based on how I've seen things go in the past, not from having my own account down, but from talking to others that have had probs, and one real recent was a similar situation to yours, in that there was a high rate of cancellation in a short period of time, and the account got locked. So, I'm guessing that it's possible for your's to trigger something also.

Try to wait until the last hour for each to cancel each of them so that it gives R&R time to get thru the many, many feedbacks they receive in a day. I know they have some sort of assistance with that type of stuff, but I still know that it takes time for them all to get read.

Sorry to hear about your problem, but your misfortune serves as another reminder to all the rest of us as well, to always get the book off the shelf and give it that one final check before clicking the "I can mail" button.

Oh Dawn,

I am so sorry to read about your flooding.  It brings back unhappy memories about Tropical Storm Allison and losing 1,000's of books.  It's bad enough to lose books but there is just something about seeing them wet and . . . .

Send notes to the people that requested your books and I would cut and paste what you have written here and include it.

Again, I am just so sorry for your loss of your library.

Many Blessings,

Paula

I know some people can not afford to do this, but I occassionally have a book that I have posted that is clearly not acceptable to send in my eyes (where were my eyes when I posted it???). Anyway, I have PM's the person who requested it and told them the condtion and offered to send it for free. That way, I dont get a black mark on my account and the person gets the book they wanted.

HC

Wow Dawn, that is terrible.  I'm so sorry for your disappointment, loss of books, and eventual loss of credits to use for your own reading pleasure.  Big Bummer!

Dawn,
I am so sorry this happened to you and your books! As others here have said and you, yourself suspected, you cant send the water damaged books. I would PM each member, tell them what happened and offer to send it for free. If they decline your offer you can then cancel the order. 
Go and take a look at my shelf and pick 4 books, and PM me your address. At least that will give you something to start over with, and give that one lonely book some friends to lean on.
Cheryl

Can you cancel the transactions?  I think you can up to the point where you've marked it mailed.  Sorry that happened, but I'd cancel the transactions, and just send a pm saying why to the receivers. 

I would also suggest sending a PM to each reciever and let them know what happened.  But please don't wait until the last hour to cancel the transactions as was suggested.  By doing this you are making the people wait to get their book.  I would send the emails and cancel as soon as you can.

ditto to PM everyone...I was going to say have them cancel but that wouldn't work because that would take them out of the FIFO line.  maybe cancel them slowly vs all at once? 

what a bummer, I'm sorry this happened to you!  this reminds me I need to get my books off the floor (even though in boxes) because they are next to the bathroom

I ditto Heather's idea to offer them for free if they're still readable. If they agree, you can just complete the transaction, mailing the book and buddying the credit back. Or you'll need to cancel if they're not interested.