It's very difficult to get members to respond to my requests within the time limit.  If there are other copies of the book, I may go through 2 or 3 members before someone accepts my request (and this has nothing to do with my book restrictions).  I thought the whole idea was for people to swap their books!  Is there some mechanism that tracks members that aren't really swapping books?  It's frustrating.  I have so many credits, and I just can't use them because people don't participate.

The club does monitor members who do not respond to requests, do not mail books, etc. How many requests a member has to miss to have their account put on hold is a secret, but it does happen.

I agree, it is incredibly frustrating when you request a book and it rolls over and rolls over -- I requested one book that rolled over for 3 weeks before it was accepted -- by that point I almost did not want the book anymore!

The idea of having members have to sign on every 30 or 60 or 90 days or else your account is put on hold has been discussed here on the forums for years, which I think would be a great idea. But the best idea is to let TPTB know how frustrating you are finding your PBS experience. If enough of us raise our voices, perhaps they would put something more pro-active than the current plan to deal with non-responsive members/abandoned accounts into effect.

Yes PBS keeps track of non-responses.  They have not given the magic # that it takes to get an account closed. But a non-response put a red-flag on the account and they'll look at it.

Yes, Kathy, I have been having that happen too.

I wish I had your problem of not being able to spend my credits, Kathy.

If it helps, you are helping the community at large when you endure the wait for these non-responsive members; those who don't respond to requests do have their accounts put on hold, as Mary and Sally said, so other members won't have to endure the same problem. 

I think this happens most often when you order books with lots and lots of copies in the system I (try to) limit myself to WL books (I fail), so it doesn't happen to me THAT often.

It is very frustrating, though!  I've messaged TPTB about the required sign in (whether it be every 30-60-90 days).  I think that's a great idea and not too much trouble for anyone who would like to participate in trades.