So, this probably doesn't belong here.  BUT  you guys are my pals here in the Chick Lit forum, so I thought I would give it a shot.  I received an ARC yesterday, but I ordered it as a real book.  The woman who sent this to me stated that "it's the same book." Even after I told her that ARC's according to PBS are unpostable, unless of course you get it in a deal or whatever.  Sometimes people will agree otherwise that they are offering an ARC for either one credit or free with an order from their shelf.  It's in good condition, don't get me wrong...it just kinda irked me a little to get an ARC instead of a real book I could post after I'm done.  She offered me my credit back, but still reiterated that " it's the same book." 

What would you do?

I would accept the offer of a credit back. Why should you have to eat it because she posted an unpostable book due to ignorance of the rules? I'd also send a quick PM along the lines of:

Dear Sender,

Thank you for your willingness to resolve this situation. I would appreciate the return of my credit, as mentioned previously, since it is not what I ordered and I cannnot repost it for credit. According to PBS rules, Advanced Reader Copies are prohibited from being posted to a bookshelf because they "cannot be depended upon to contain the same story/text as the published book."  This information is in the "What is an ARC?" section of the Help Documents.  I look forward to hearing from you by July XX.

Sincerely,

XX

I agree with redwingsgal... the best possible outcome has happened (I mean, as long as she makes good on her offer of the credit). Keep the book, read it, then offer it as a freebie to someone else. (Or if you don't want to read the ARC/want the real thing, PBS should put you back in line for it if it was a WL book.) You can educate people till you're blue in the face (hands?) but there are always some who will say "I got it that way" or "It's a free book" or "It's the same thing, stop fussing." You are in the RIGHT here, but since you've gotten your credit back (hopefully), there's nothing really else to do here except mark the transaction resolved and move on. You'll only get yourself all faffed up if you try to make the person see the light. I think you're just lucky the person offered you your credit back, I got a book reeking of smoke last weekend (I have an RC for that) and the person refused to return my credit.

I agree too. Rules are rules. Everyone has to follow them.

Whenever I have a RWAP, I always mention something about marking the problem as resolved. Either "Thank you for resolving this problem. I will/have marked the problem as resolved." or "As the book is unpostable, I would appreciate the return of my credit (per PBS guidelines). I am eager to resolve this problem and will mark the problem as resolved once my credit has been returned."

I agree with what everyone has said above.  I got a book once, read the whole thing and then just happened to be looking at the back cover and noticed it was an ARC.  It explained a lot since there were a couple things in the book that were never "resolved" so to speak.  I was annoyed but I had let the book sit for a while before I read it and then noticed that it was an ARC so I had to "eat it" since I didn't notice that when I said that I had received it.