Anyone else having this issue? I realize that you miss stuff sometimes when you send books out [I've done it too] but both books have been very obvious in the damage. I do give credit to the PBS member of the first book, she took care of the issue very quickly & was very kind about it. Ugh, I'm done ranting. :P

I seem to get these a lot.  I won't mark them unless the pages are loose or I can see the binding very clearly.   Essentially I have higher standards about what I'll send than take for the most part.  This thread (see the clarification Kim got from PBS at the end) convinced me that what i consider to be a cleaved spine might actually be borderline postable.  I think that I need more pictures for me to be entirely clear.

I also think this might be due to books being made more cheaply, since I've cracked the spine on brand new paperbacks, with fairly normal reading stresses.  It's frustrating how quickly I can convert them to unpostables, while some older books I have can stand up to lots of rereading without any issue

Different people have different standards on what should and should not be posted.  Click on your "Settings" tab on your account page.  Then scroll down to "Requestor Conditions."  Type in exactly what condition you want your book to be in: no cleaved spine, no worn edges, no marks or nicks, looks like brand new, etc.  When you request a book the sender must first say the book does meet those standards.  If it doesn't, the sender will have the opportunity to explain why.  You can then choose whether or not to cancel the transaction. 

I bought a brand new paperback (from a bookstore!) the other day, I opened the book to start reading and the front cover separated from the rest of the book.  I was so mad, but what can you do?  It was a $17.00 hardback, they just seem to be made so poorly.  I thought about taking it back to the store, but then the store is an hour away, and I couldn't find the reciept, so I just read the book and stuck it back on my bookshelf.  I'll probably read it again, as it is a part of a series I love.  I just wish the industry would put a bit more into their books.  I'm sure I would have been willing to pay more if the book would hold up better.  It seems that they're getting worse and worse...one reading and a book it all creased up, and I always use a bookmark and I don't bend my pages back. 

I've only recieved a couple of books with thier spine broken from PBS, both of them older book.  One refunded my credit and I didn't ask the other one to since she was a new member (I just sent a PM telling her she needed to make sure the books were nice and intact). 

Okay, enough ranting...I just had to add a bit, and this seemed like an appropriate thread to do so on.

Okay, that's just bad.  A new hardback book falls apart?  I'm used to the lowering quality of paperbacks, but I didn't expect that a HB that you pay nearly $20 for falling apart like that. That's really sad!

Ruth

I've added RC's about spine conditions because of the number of cleaved spines I've gotten lately.  And yes I've even managed to ruin the spine of a hardcover lately!  I got a WL book about a month after it was released & it went from about 1/4in of seperation to completely seperated in the week of me reading it.

OK, I seriously HATE to be an idiot here -- but I don't honestly know what a cleaved spine looks like as far as PBS regulations. I even queried google images but came up with nothing in the first dozen or so images.

Do we have a place on here where we can post pictures of things NOT to send so as to give clueless people like myself a visual? Might not be such a bad idea if we don't have one! I certainly do hope that none of my few books posted here have them (I have mostly audiobooks).

Many thanks!

Melissa

Karen posted a thread a few posts up that has photos of cleaved spines for you.

THANKS Erin -- sorry, guess I should have looked a little closer at the posting, my bad.

Sorry to hear you received a book like that .... I'm glad to know for sure what the term means, and luckily, I don't have any books like that. I've sent out 6 books in the last few weeks, all brand spanking new (because I was short on credits), and didn't receive so much as a thanks on any.  I know, that subject is under discussion often, but it sure is discouraging sometimes.

Hope you get some better books the next time around!

Melissa

I normally don't have any issues but have been having a run of them lately.

I received 3 books in the past week that were RWP. 1 was badly water damaged and wrapped really nicely to prevent what? More water damage? 1 of the others had about 100 pages fallen out of the book and the third has 3 totally loose pages, cleaved spine and is an Advanced Readers Edition. When I hear back from them, they say books were all fine when they left them.   I know this is just a bad run of books & senders and I am really not looking for new books, just postable ones. I know how you feel with the book you received but at least she gave your credit back to you! I am waiting...... 

Jeanne-- I've had a spate of bad luck as well in the past couple weeks.

I requested two books from one sender, and they were really poorly wrapped. One was a trade paperback and the other mass market sized. The sender stuck them both in some computer paper, wrapped tape on the ends, and mailed it. When I got it the package was ripped open, the books were soaked, and the PO had stuck them in a plastic bag. I marked it RWAP and contacted the sender. I waited and waited for a response, and when I got none I sent another, "Hello, still waiting, can you return my credits?" message. The sender wrote back and claimed he had no idea what I was talking about! But in the message thread you can clearly see the two previous messages I had sent him. Argh!

In the second transaction I received a completely empty envelope and PMed the sender. She says she was sure it was in the envelope when she mailed it, but she would check. A week later I heard back. She claimed she had gone to the PO where they confirmed it was indeed in the envelope. Not really sure how they would be able to confirm such a thing, but whatever. She also said they told her that it was likely the package had come open, the book fell out, and some kind clerk in the PO had sealed it back up. The thing is, the envelope was one of those that you have to zip off a strip of the envelope to open it and it didn't have any extra tape at all! She did offer to return the credit, and I accepted.

The one today was really annoying. I opened the book and the first 80 pages fell out in my hand, completely separated from the spine. There is no way that the sender didn't see this when packaging the book. I requested my credit back and will have to wait and see if she agrees.

I don't know what can be the cause of all of these problems after 100+ problem-free transactions. My only explanation is that Feb. and March both had a Friday the 13th. :) Sorry for ranting about my own situation in detail, but I had to tell someone and my husband isn't too interested in my book obsession.