I requested a book and within a few weeks someone replied. I was happy until I got the book. I asked for a hardcover and it said so on the request but this was a soft cover that had previously been a library book. I want to ask for my credit back since they are precious to me but I am unsure to do it. I do not want to insult the person who sent it to me since I know that when someone is on a very tight budget even $2.00 is a lot yet I do not want the book since paperbacks seem to disintegrate at my house. Could someone please tell me how I would go about asking for my credit back? Any help would be appreciated.   Thanks.

If you ordered a hardcover and the book comes up as a hardcover than the proper thing to do is to mark the book Received with a Problem.  The problem is the binding doesn't match.  Then politely PM the sender and let them know you would like your credit back as they did not send you the book you ordered.  Explain, politely again, that the ISBN, Author, Title and Binding have to match.  If the ISBN brought up a hardcover than the book should have been posted w/o the ISBN.  You do not have to send the book back unless they give you 2 credits-one to reorder the book and one to cover postage to send it back.  Don't feel bad about asking for the credit back. You didn't make the mistake.  It says clearly in the rules and when you post a book that the binding has to match. 

Mary is right.  The person may have made a mistake, but the PBS rules say that the person was wrong in sending you the incorrect binding and that they should refund your credit.  Hopefully they will.

I agree with Mary.  You should mark the book RWAP and ask for your credit back.  This happened to my husband (who, like you, prefers hardbacks) the very first time he ordered a book.  He didn't ask for his credit back, but I thought he should have.  I think that most people who send a paperback rather than a hardback probably do it by mistake.  They probably just entered the ISBN and then rushed through the process, clicking that the book description matched the book they entered.  I doubt it was done maliciously and the senders would likely be good about giving a credit back when they realize they made a mistake on their end.  Sorry your first book received was not what you were wanting!  Hang in there, this is a really great site!

I had an experience where the person thought they'd requested a hardcover but found they'd really ordered the paperback version by checking the ISBN when they received the book. I would double check that first--to see if the ISBN brings up a paperback or hardback version--it's possible it's a glitch in the system. I'm not saying the sender didn't make a mistake but it's also possible that all the information was correct on the sender's end.

In my case, I gave the person a credit anyway--she didn't ask for one, but I felt bad that she didn't get what she thought she had ordered. I knew I didn' t have to give her one as it seemed to be more a mistake in the system or it might have been that it was a wishlist book she had in alternate formats (I can't remember if it was or not). But I felt it was a minor thing to do on my part--it's not as if I wouldn't get another credit from sending out another book.

Yes, you can click the transaction on your "books enroute to me" tab just to make sure you did order the right edition, and if it does indeed say Hardcover, then the sender is in the wrong.

I know it sounds mean to make them give up the credit that they paid postage to receive, but if you don't make them follow this rule, how many more times will they not pay attention (since it did tell them when they posted it,and when the order came that it was supposed to be a hardcover), then when will they start paying attention, and how many other posting guidelines will they not pay attention to?

You are actually supposed to mark the book as Received Wrong Book.  It's a wrong book because it does not match the binding of the book listed (the one you requested).  I had a similar situation a while back and this is what R&R told me to do.

You are correct, Ange! Thanks for pointing that out! It says in the Help Center to do that, and I just didn't think of it.

that had previously been a library book.

While I completely agree with everything that has been said regarding the binding needing to match, I just wanted to comment on the "library book" part of the o.p.'s post.

Former library books are allowed.  It specifically states in the rules that ex-library books may be posted.  If you don't want former library books, you should have a requester condition stating "Please do not send me ex-library books" or words to that effect.