I had a comment left to me saying a book was received and it has water damage. The person is requesting thier credit back.  Now if  you look at my feedback I have had very few problems and every time I have offered to solved them. Now I have been doing this a while and never have I had this problem. And I can bet on the fact the book was not water damanged when it left. It was a new book someone gave me that they got in the mail  from the author. So the question is. How do you handle s situation like this? Should I ask for pics of the book. Ask the book to be returned? Or what? Any suggestions? Thanks everyone.

Just ask for a photo of the damage.

You can ask for pictures but if the person has no means of taking one then it won't help much.  If you ask for the book to be returned then according to PBS rules you must refund the credit as well as offering a credit to cover the postage of the book.  It's possible that water damage happened in transit, which means the book should have been marked Damaged by USPS, though I'd still suggest the refund of the credit.  If the book is uniformly wavy, as opposed to warped or stained, it could be humidity as opposed to water damage which is actually allowable under the rules.

edit: here's the link to the relevant Help Center page A requestor says there is a problem with a book I sent!

If you are absolutely sure there was no water damage, then you are under no obligation to return the credit.  If they can send you a pic showing what they are calling water damage that would help. Some people see wavy pages and assume water damage. Did you read the book? If not, it is possible that there could be damage inside the book on a few pages that you just didn't catch? Be polite with the receiver, but if you truely do not agree you can leave the transaction unresolved and not return the credit.

If she is new, she may also be mistaking the waviness that many of the newer books are coming with. Ask her if it is consistent on the whole book. That would indicate that it is the paper, which you wouldn't notice when reading, only when scrutinizing upon receiving. Do explain that if it is consistent with the whole book, that this could be a paper or humidity thing, not a water issue, and while it is a debatable issue to some, most agree that it is not water damage.

I had this happen to me.  I wrote her a PM and told her my opinion of her complaint.  Then, I sent back the credit just to shut her up.

I have enough credits to do that.

If you are convinced your book was fine, you are under no obligation to return the credit.

Dear swapper:

I am sorry that the book I sent has not met your expectations. However, I received it new, and it was in no contact with any liquid whatsoever up until the time the package was mailed; as it was in perfectly good shape at that time, I am not returning the credit.

Teresa

But if you were to follow Teresa's response (which sounds good, to the point, etc), the receiver will be like, "Well, eff that, I'm getting my credit back." In fact, a response like that sounds like it would rile up the person even more, because it's basically saying, "N'yah n'yah, you got screwed, too bad for you." Obviously, the receiver is taking the initiative to complain since he/she commented about it. For some reason, this strikes me as something that would only escalate it further.

Did you wrap the book in plastic when you sent it? I would ask if it appears to have been damaged during sending, i.e. if the packaging was wet, because then they marked it incorrectly. I would also ask for a picture. I have gotten several water damaged books and would have been happy to send a picture noting the damage had one been asked for. I think that just flat out refusing to send the credit will reflect badly on you. You are under no obligation to return it of course, but I personally would not want something like that on my record.

I agree with Heather...I have a friend here at PBS who received a book last week where the pages were loose from the spine.  The sender refused to concede that this was in any way her fault and also refused to look at the pictures my friend took to prove the damage.  This was infuriating to my friend, as you can imagine.  Try to resolve this amicably.  Ask her for pictures and then see what you think.

I have received two badly water damaged books in the past two weeks from here, and in both initial pms I offer to take and send pictures. One person refunded without that being necessary, the other will not respond at all.

I think that it is more than fair to ask her for pictures. If she can't provide those, for whatever reason, then go from there. But, my point is, if it were me (the receiver) I would be more than happy to provide pictures to show what I perceived as water damage. Maybe she will, too?