Yesterday, I received a hardcover book which I RWAPPed. The pages were almost stuck together and stiff as a board. You can hear crackling as I turn the pages and they split apart. The wrapping was fine so not a postal problem.

Here's my pm to the sender:  Thanks for sending this book, but unfortunately there is a problem. The text pages are stiff as a board with obvious water damage making the pages hard to turn. I cannot read this book nor can I repost it into the system. I would like a credit refund by December 15th. If you would like the book back, I will send it to you with an additional credit.

Here's the pm back from the sender:: I double checked that book before I sent it reading all your requirements and there wasn't any water damage whatsoever. There was nothing wrong with any pages and the dust cover was in good condition as is the binding and the pages. I even took care to wrap the book in plastic. I can't imagine what has happened, but I sent the book in good faith that it would arrive to you in the same condition it left. Perhaps it got wet in your mailbox? I delivered it personally to the post office.

and this pm from her right after her first pm:  PS I have had 338 satisfactory transactions and have never violated any one's request. As I stated the book was fine when it left my hands.

This book is one of the worse RWAPs I have ever received. She mentioned that she wrapped it in plastic so then water would not have entered the wrapping and I saw no outside damage. We had no rain here last week, so it wasn't my mailbox. Plus, the other books with it in there were fine.  How could she not have noticed the stiff pages all stuck together making it one solid mass of pages?  Once I started unsticking the pages, they were all wrinkly and wavy. From the sides, you can see the clumps of pages with gaps.

How do I write a pm to this response? She has been a member since 2007 and has a lot of books posted. She seems like a very nice person. I just hate RWAPPing books because of people's responses.  She obviously is upset, but so am I with this unreadable and unpostable book. I want my credit back so I can order another copy.

Please help me with how to deal with this response.

I probably wouldn't PM her back. I would just let it go. It really is a "he said, she said" situation and rather than upset myself any further, I'd put it out of my mind and move on.

ETA: But I would mark it unresolved.

Wait until the 15th, mark it unresolved, and move on *hugs*

Sorry this has happened to you.  As Susan said, it's a "he said, she said" situation; both of you sound 100% credible.  You could try sending her pictures of the damage, but from what she wrote to you, she would probably still deny that the book went out that way.  This would only add to your frustration.  I would do as Denise said -- wait till the 15th and mark it unresolved. 

Just a thought-are you sure it came from her?  Were there any requests for the book before that were accepted, printed but not marked mailed.

Good thought Mary.

If the book was actually sent from this member and if you feel the need to reply, keep in mind she is very proud of her 338 satisfactory transactions.  I might mention to her that if a credit isn't refunded, you will mark the transaction as unresolved. 

If it is marked as resolved, does that mean PBS refunds the credit back to the requester after the action date goes by?

Mindy - PBS does not refund credits for problem swaps. If the sender doesn't refund the credit, then the requestor is just out of luck.

PBS refunds a credit if the book was not received by the action date?  

If a book goes missing, the requestor will receive their credit back after 26 days. 

The risk is split evenly between the sender and the requestor.  The sender bears the risk in the case of a book going missing, and the requestor bears the risk in the case of damage.

Contrary to popular belief plastic wrap doesn't always protect the book from water damage. The worst water damaged book I have ever recieved was wrapped in plastic and I know the damage didn't happen in the senders hands because the book was still wet when I got it.

Not much you can do besides send some pictures and tell her you have no choice but to mark this unresolved.  I suspect any further communication won't result in your credit being returned anyway so I'd wait until your deadline and then mark it unresolved and move on.

I am not sure that water intrusion damages all types of packaging. I would think it might be obvious with some types of packaging. But, perhaps others would dry out without any sign of damage.

In any case, I would reamin polite and perhaps post some pictures for her to look at. That way, at least, she can see that you are not reporting a problem that does not exist.

There seems to be 2 types of senders of RWAPs ... the 'it was like that when I got it" people, and the "it was fine when I mailed it" people.

The first group are the ones who knowingly send out damaged books. The second group is harder to classify because 1. sometimes the damage really does occur during mailing (so, actually true that it was fine when mailed), or 2. it could be that she didn't check the book thoroughly enough.

Either way, she falls into the second group and is probably pretty sure that the book was OK when she mailed it. So, thus my advice for sending her some pictures. If she sees that the damage is actually real, you may be able to persuade her that she might have overlooked it or misinterpreted it.

I find it best to remain polite and give people the benefit of the doubt, when they fall into the second group. You are most likely dealing with someone who honestly believes that the book was fine, and it is up to you to sell her on the idea that the damage 1. is real, and 2. might have been overlooked by her.

I might send her a PM stating that you intend to give her until the 15th, and if the credit isn't returned by then, that it will become necessary to mark the transaction as unresolved.  Sometimes that will make the difference between getting your credit refunded as opposed to a "So what?" response.  Then you sit back and see. Good luck!

I pmed the sender and politely told her that if she didn't refund my credit by midnight that I would mark it as unresolved. She pmed me back with this message: I refunded your credit and I pmed her back with this message: Sorry, but it's not showing up in my credit registry or Club Communications that you refunded my credit, so I wonder what gives. Well, she has almost 6 hours left and I have no other choice but to mark it unresolved. Why would she pm me that she refunded my credit when she didn't?

Sounds like alot of agitation on both sides,, too bad. right before the holidays too. Don't let this upset you.

I know what you mean Fara, but if she doesn't refund my credit, then I wasted a credit on a lousy book that I'm going to trash. Then I will use another credit to order a new copy. So, I lose....

Make sure to scroll back to when the RWaP happened in your Credit Registry to make sure you don't miss it. I don't believe there is anything in your Club Communications if a member clicks the Refund button. If they just buddy it with the Give Credit button you get something that a buddy just gave you a credit, but if they did it properly through their TA, you might not know unless they told you or you see it in your Credit Registry.

Sometimes transactions just remain unresolved.

No, unfortunately no credit refund mentioned in the credit registry. I checked before from the RWAP date on up and then rechecked again and again, but no credit was refunded. Bummer, especially since she said she did.

Bummer, especially since she said she did.

Since there could be a glitch, I'd copy the PM where she said she'd refunded it, and send it to TPTB and let them know that it never arrived. Ask if they can look into it to make sure there isn't something wrong with the site.

You can get to them by the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of every page.

Cindy, I think you may be right, I just got my refund. She said she would try again, so glitches can happen.

Make sure to thank her for doing the right thing.. I think she might not have flicked through the book and just looked on the outside for damage and thus to her the book was ok when leaving.