I had a book on my wish list for some time. It finally came in and the sender sent me a PM saying the book had slight water damage and a weird curve to the spine. I PM'd back and asked that they please cancel the transaction since I could not accept this type of book. They PM'd and said no problem, then 5 minutes later PM's me again and said they were sorry, but they'd already mailed the book. I asked that they please still cancel this transaction since it is an unpostable book according to PBS guidelines. What should I do it they won't cancel it?

I would send the PM interaction in to the Team and ask that they cancel the transaction now so that you don't have to wait 26 days to get your place back in the Wish List line. Normally I would not recommend contacting them prior to the date on the transaction, but this person clearly does not care to follow the rules and the Team should be aware of it to try to stop them from getting a lot of transactions out there like this.

If the Team can't do anything prior to the time you get the book, mark it RWAP - damaged by sender and ask for your credit returned. If they do not do that within 5 days, mark that they have not resolved it in the follow-up. This will send them a notice that they need to deal with it and notify the site that they are not taking care of the problem. If, after 2 more days, they still do not make it right, send the PMs to the Team showing they knowingly send a damaged book. Again, they usually do not get involved in individual disputes, but when the sender clearly states they sent an unpostable the Team will get involved.

Yes, if they've already marked it mailed, they can't cancel it.  And the team will only cancel it if the sender requests that the transaction be canceled.  I'd suggest that you mark it "received with a problem" when it arrives (after confirming that there is liquid damage) and ask for your credit back.  At that point, check to be sure you are back to your previous spot on the WL.  (If not, ask the team to put you back there.)  There shouldn't be a problem getting your credit back from the sender.  If there is, the team would back you up, since you have the PM exchange about the liquid damage.

I dont know if you can d anything about it now , but marked it received with a problem when you get it.  But I would contact PBS about what happened.

That was wrong of them to do that in the first place...

What Melanie said.  PM TPTB and include copies of the messages (with date & time stamps).

The other member admits up front the book is unpostable, it should not have been listed FIFO (much less actually mailed). 

Update---I emailed PBS like you all said with a copy of the correspondence. They canceled the transaction for me and said they would speak with the other party. Thanks!

That's what I would have done. Normally you don't contact PBS directly about bad books like that. But I think in this circumstance when they told you outright that they were sending you a bad book-it was the correct thing to do.  You shouldn't have to mark it RWP and hope you get your credit back and you shouldn't have to wait nearly a month to go back on the WL.

Glad they helped out :)

I usually never encourage people to get the Team involved, but that is one situation where the sender was completely wrong and you were having to pay the price by getting taken out of the Wish List line until the problem gets resolved. Not fair and that sender needed to be curtailed of that behavior quickly. I had seen them do this in the past, just didn't want to make any promises since they really don't want to get involved with transactions and do so on a case-by-case basis.

Good work TPBST!

Excellent!

"...I usually never encourage people to get the Team involved, but that is one situation where the sender was completely wrong and you were having to pay the price by getting taken out of the Wish List line until the problem gets resolved...."   +1

"...I usually never encourage people to get the Team involved, but that is one situation where the sender was completely wrong and you were having to pay the price by getting taken out of the Wish List line until the problem gets resolved...."   +2