This is my first post on this forum. I read them all the time but have never posted, but today I had a situation occur and I want to make sure I handled it correctly.

Last week, I received a book. I always make sure the ISBN is correct before I add it to my TBR pile. Well, I triple checked and it was not the correct ISBN. I marked the book RWAP, checked the box indicating I did not want a refund.  Here is the whole transaction:

My response to sender: "The book I received is the correct title, author, and binding (paperback), but the ISBN is different. The book I received is (I listed the ISBN). I just wanted you to be aware of the error. I am not asking for a credit refund...the book is in good condition. Please respond to this e-mail in at least 7 days so I can mark the transaction resolved."

Response from sender: "The receiver did not ask for a credit refund. I had no way of knowing that it was a different ISBN number. If she wants a refund I would like the book back. What was the difference between the two books?"

My response to sender: "I do not want a refund. The book is fine, the ISBN on the book sent was not the same as the book posted. I simply wanted to let you know. According to the guidelines of PBS, the ISBN is one of four things that need to match (title, author, binding, and ISBN). I consider the matter resolved. I just wanted you to know about the situation."

I think I was very tactful and not rude at all. One time when I was new to PBS, I made an error and sent paperback book to a person who had requested it as a hardcover (I posted it wrong by not double checking the ISBN). That person very nicely  reminded me to be sure and post by the ISBN. I appreciated her being understanding.

To tell you the truth, I feel guilty that I RWAP this book. I know I shouldn't, but it will make me think twice before doing it again.

What do you think?

You did the right thing.  Books should be posted by their ISBN.  You were very nice, too.  Do not feel guilty.

I think you handled it perfectly; yup, you did exactly the right thing. Don't feel guilty - the sender needs to know and follow the rules.

Yes, I think you handled it just fine.

I think it was nice of you to let the sender know about their mistake ... because even if it didn't matter to you, for this book, that the ISBN was different, it DOES matter to some requestors, for some books. Bettere the sender learn that lesson now, from someone who is nice about it, than later from someone who will want the credit back.

You did the right thing , but I know just how you feel . I had to mark RWAP for the first time  not long ago and I felt bad about it. but everyone here said I did the right thing.

You did the right thing. I think the issue is that the sender doesn't understand that you're just looking for acknowledgement of the mistake and is thinking that you're wanting something especially by giving a response deadline.

You did the right thing, so nothing to feel guilty about.  Though, I wouldn't have bothered, as the trade wasn't really affected by it.  After reading, I would have just re-posted it under the correct ISBN number.  

And another vote for you having done the right thing.  Members should always post books to PBS by using the ISBN. 

I've even requested refunds at Amazon for people posting incorrectly, same title, wrong ISBN...I had done alot of research and ordered exactly the edition I wanted.  By posting via title instead of ISBN, all my research was in the toilet and the vender sold me a book I did not want and had no use for.

 Good Job!

-RD

I had no way of knowing that it was a different ISBN number. 

How could someone not know? Do some people enter by title rather than ISBN? That's just asking for trouble, IMO.

You did the right thing, and you should NOT feel guilty about marking as RWAP.  Received With A Problem (RWAP) is just a way of indicating that the transaction did not go perfectly, and that there was a problem with it.  Marking a transaction as RWAP is NOT punishing another member (although using the RWAP feature can have that result if the member in question has a number of RWAPs on their account, and if they do, it is THEIR OWN ACTIONS in repeatedly ignoring site rules that is causing them the punishment, and not any member's specific RWAP strike). 

No one should feel guilty marking a problem transaction as RWAP - after all, it is only a way to accurately report on the historical record what actually occurred.

Nobody's RWAP strike against a member is going to be a "punishment" against a Sender.  You cannot "get a member in trouble" by marking as RWAP.  A single RWAP strike is not going to cause any Sender a problem.  It is only if they have repeated RWAP strikes against them that the site administrators will take action and sanction the member, and if that occurs it is because that member brought it upon themself, by disregarding site rules enough that several other members had problem transactions with them.  So no need to feel guilty for someone else!  THEY should feel guilty if they are causing that many problem transactions!

I truly feel that NOT marking a problem transaction as RWAP should make members feel guilty.  The site cannot work properly without quality control and using the RWAP feature is the way that members can ensure quality control on the site.  It does NOBODY any favors to ignore a problem transaction and report it as satisfactory when it actually wasn't.  It doesn't help future transactions if a member overlooks another member's violation of the site rules (even if accidental, reporting it helps make an erring member more aware of the site's guidelines.)  IT IS NOT BEING "NICE" TO FELLOW PBS MEMBERS TO FAIL TO MARK A PROBLEM TRANSACTION AS RWAP.  If you are trying to be "nice" the BEST thing to do is mark as RWAP, to help all future members who will be having transactions with your Sender.

For instance, this transaction: the Sender should be made aware that posting a book by title not ISBN is bound to cause future transaction problems, and many future members who deal with this Sender will be VERY HAPPY that OP helped this Sender realize that ISBN match DOES actually matter in PBS swaps.

How could someone not know? Do some people enter by title rather than ISBN? That's just asking for trouble, IMO

I did this once without realizing it.  I received the book through PBS and didn't check to see if the ISBN matched what I had requested because for all practical purposes it was the book that I had requested--same title, same binding, etc.  After I read the book, I reposted it through my bookshelf, and the person I sent it to noticed that it was a different ISBN number.  I apologized and offered to refund their credit.  Now I TRY to remember to check the ISBN number on the books that I receive.

Did you try typing in the book's isbn just to make sure a different edition to the one you ordered shows up?

Sometimes books reuse isbn numbers, and maybe something like that happened?

Though by the response, it sounds like the poster posted the book by title.

You were very tactful and polite.

ETA: and you did the right thing.

How could someone not know? Do some people enter by title rather than ISBN? That's just asking for trouble, IMO

I did this once without realizing it.  I received the book through PBS and didn't check to see if the ISBN matched what I had requested because for all practical purposes it was the book that I had requested--same title, same binding, etc.   

Of course! I've done that before and forgot all about it. In fact, I no longer automatically post because of that.

I am not in love with PBS's boilerplate email that you get if something you sent out is RWAPed. It reads as very stern to me and might make some people overreact. I know I panicked the first time I got it because I thought something was really wrong. Even if your personal message is friendly sometimes the overall tone of the message is what people react to.

But yeah, the original poster did nothing wrong. In fact, it was kind of you not to ask for a point back, because strictly speaking they sent you the 'wrong' book.

Most of the time a different ISBN for the same title/type (e.g., paperback, hardback) is not a problem, but you never know--I have a friend who collects science fiction art and at one point she was trying to buy all the books that the cover art she had had been used on.  (Not here, I'll add, but on places like ABE and Alibris.)  For her, it had to be the exact edition.

This has happened to me a few times, and most of those times were with books that didn't even have an ISBN. I guess the original poster just looked up the book by its title and picked an ISBN that they thought was closest to their book and posted it under that number. Kind of annoying, when people do that. Maybe they don't want to make the effort to post a book without an ISBN, which, I must admit, is kind of a pain in the neck.

But I never thought to make a RWAP about it. I guess I should have.