On the 6th of this month one of my wishlisted books became available.  Now, 3 days later its still "waiting on member".  When I went to look at their bookshelf it says that they are no longer an account holder and have no books listed.  My question is if they removed this book (and all of their other books) from their shelf then why am I having to wait the 5 days instead of it automatically going back to my WL?  What if another copy becomes available while I am waiting...does it go to the person who is currently #1 while I am in limbo knowing this person isn't going to respond?

I also ordered another book this morning and its currently "waiting on member".  Just out of curiosity I looked at their bookshelf and it says its on hold.  How was I able to order this book from them if their shelf is on hold? 

If you post a book while your bookshelf is on hold, that book will not hold.  The rest of the shelf will but not that one book.  As far as the first WL book ordered on the 6th, I would wait patiently and let the system sort things out.  If you jump the gun by cancelling you could lose your place in line.

My guess is (in regards to your first problem) that the book was on their shelf and you requested it prior to that person closing his/her account.  Just wait for the request to time out and it will roll over to the next person who has it on their shelf.

In regards to your second issue, my guess is that you requested it prior to that person putting his/her account on hold.  Don't worry, this is usually a temporary issue - the person is most likely on vacation or just not able to get to their account for a few days.  Again, this request could time out after 5 days and then it will roll to the next person who has that book.

Patience is the key with PBS!  You'll get your books, it just may take awhile.

Actually, now if your account is on hold and you post books, those book are also on hold and not available.  That changed a couple months ago - I know because my account is on hold but I am posting new books all the time.  From the Help Center:

Also, just because a person is on hold does not mean that they are not checking their account - I'm on here constantly and my account is on hold simply because I cannot afford to ship any more books right now.

Just let the system time out the books so you do not lose your place in line.  The person might have just put the account on hold today. 

Thanks for the clarifation about posting books while a bookshelf is on hold.  I did not remember it had changed and gave a wrong answer.....hence I am not a tour guide. 

It's no big deal - I just know because my shelf is on hold, and it didn't change very long ago.  I went to look it up just to make sure.  Being a Tour Guide is really about just being willing to help, which you obviously are.

I thought that was the case and was kinda wondering why they would take the time to put their account on hold but not cancel my request hence making me sit and wait the 5 days or if that was even the case. 

There are a couple of other possibilities --

a) the person whose account is "closed" could be suspended by R&R due to misbehavior or unanswered requests. Whatever the problem is, they may get it worked out and the member could come back and respond to your request before it times out.

b) the person on hold may have scheduled it to start on the day she left on her vacation, but you requested the book just before the hold started. This happened to me once, and it's why now I always set my hold to start on the last day I'm going to be around instead of the first day I'm not.

Another possibility:  They intend to process your request, but put their account on hold to stop any more from coming in.

I have my account on hold but I took it off hold a few days ago just long enough to post some WL books then put it right back on hold. The reason is I dont want to order any books. I even took all my WL books off if AR so that I wouldnt get orders for them if they became available. Im short on credits so its easier for me to hold my account and unhold it just to post a few then rehold it. So the person on hold may get back to your request quickly. As Lisa D said patience is a quickly learned virtue here at PBS.

I'm confused because this wasn't a WL book.  (The no longer account  holder was, though!)  This was a book that I ordered that was already on someone's bookshelf and was the next available in the system.