I received a book with excessive underlining and writing in the margins.  The sender did not PM me before to state the condition of this book.  I marked RWAP, and asked for the credit back.  The sender sent me a PM telling me to send the book back.  I said I would return the book after my credit was returned and I received a credit for mailing the book back.  I have yet to hear back.  3 days later, I sent another email asking how the sender wanted to resolve this issue.  Nothing still.

My question...how long do I wait...and really, what happens next?  If the sender doesn't return the credit...am I just out of luck???

This is the first time I"ve run into this problem.

The system says to wait 5 days, I always wait a week...if you have not heard anything, then mark the transaction "Unresolved" (look for it in your Transaction Archive). You, unfortunately, might be out of luck on the credit, but the member will have a double black mark against their account for sending an unpostable book and then not resolving the problem.

You contact PBS if you don't get another PM from her/him after a week.   You can mark the transaction as "Unresolved by Sender" so it's recorded but no, the sender does not have to return your credit.

Thank you for your responses.  I was looking for a time frame, and just wasn't able to find anything.  I'll hang on a bit longer!

I'd send one more PM and tell them you'll have to mark it unresolved if they don't decide what they would like to do. Quote the help docs about it being a double black mark on their account. I did this on my last RWAP and she refunded my credit right away after being MIA for 5 days! So yeah, they just don't want to refund and then get upset when they realize they have to send an extra credit for you to send it back. They think they can just ignore it, but hopefully your sender will do like mine did and just make it right.

Here's the Help Center's answer to Follow up on Problem swaps.

If you as the requestor marked a book received with a problem, you can now provide follow-up on the situation from your Transaction Archive.   

• This will allow us to screen more effectively for those accounts that are sending problem books and NOT resolving the problems, and also allow us to avoid excessively penalizing senders who might make a mistake, but who do resolve the problem.

• Senders who send problem books and do not resolve the problem will have their accounts double-marked "behind the scenes"; if a pattern of this emerges on a sender's account, it will jeopardize membership .

Before submitting follow-up on a problem swap:

• You must have sent a PM to the sender, clearly asking for a response (and a credit refund if that is desired)
  • You can send the PM during the process of marking the book received, OR using the PM button on the swap in your transaction archive as described in How do I contact another member?.
• You should allow the sender a week at least to respond to your PM and resolve the swap.
• You should check the member's bookshelf (by clicking his or her highlighted name on the swap, which will take you to his or her bookshelf or profile, where you can click the Books button) to see if his or her account is on vacation.  If the account continues to be on vacation for more than a week, you can contact us to find out when you might expect a response from the requestor.

To give follow-up on a Problem Swap:

• Find the problem transaction in your Transaction Archive (linked from the top of your My Account main page)

• Click
  • this button appears only on the requestor's account
• Choose one of the options given in the menu next to Update Status
  • Sender resolved the problem
  • Sender did NOT resolve the problem
  • Sender did not respond to PM asking to discuss the problem
  • Marked problem swap in error
• Click Submit to submit the follow-up information

What the options mean

• Sender resolved the problem means the swap does not need to be resolved further
  • the resolution could have been that the sender refunded the credit
  • the resolution could have been that the sender sent another book as replacement
  • the resolution could have been that the sender offered resolution, but you declined

• Sender did NOT resolve the problem means that the sender responded to your PM, but did not settle this swap to your satisfaction, and there is no further negotiation happening
  • this could be because you disagreed about a book's condition
  • this could be because you did not like the resolution that she or he offered
  • this could be because the sender refused to refund credit or replace the book (or promised to replace the book or refund the credit, but book/refund was not received)

• Sender did not respond to PM means that your PM asked for a response, but the sender did not respond
  • You should not choose this option if the sender responded (even if you don't agree with what the sender said)
  • You should not choose this option if your PM did not ask for a response
  • You should not choose this option if you never sent the sender a PM at all

• Marked as problem swap in error means that you made a mistake when you marked it as a problem swap
  • Choose this option if there was actually no problem with the transaction

What happens when you submit follow-up

• Sender resolved the problem
  • this removes the "Was Problem Resolved?" button from the transaction
  • this does NOT change the problem icon in the Transaction Archive
  • Adds the notation that the problem was resolved to the Transaction Archive
    • this text appears on both sender 's and requestor's transaction archives
      
  • Changes the swap status "behind-the-scenes" so that this problem swap does not count as heavily against the sender as an unresolved problem

• Sender did NOT resolve the problem
  • this removes the "Was Problem Resolved?" button from the transaction
  • does NOT change the problem icon in the Transaction Archive
  • Adds the notation that the problem was NOT resolved to the Transaction Archive
    • this text appears on both sender 's and requestor's transaction archives
  • Adds a "double mark" against the sender in his or her account record "behind the scenes"

• Sender did not respond to PM
  • this sends an email to the sender, notifying him or her that his or her account has been marked as nonresponsive in a problem swap
  • the email refers the member to the Help Center information about problem swaps, and tells the sender that he or she needs to resolve this problem
  • this does NOT change the problem icon in the Transaction Archive
  • this does NOT remove the "Was Problem Resolved?" button from the Transaction Archive (so that further follow-up can be given when/if the sender responds about this swap)

Also, be sure and check your credit registry, I've had folks that just refund the credit and don't say  anything so, make sure she hasn't done that before you contact TPTB.

Like Christy, I've had members refund a credit without pm'ing.  Do check before closing this transaction as 'unresolved'. 

It also helps to let the person know you expect a reply by a certain date so you aren't just waiting and wondering.