Tired Of Stuck Up Designers: A Rant

I am so tired of these crybaby, whiney, rude designers who fill their profiles with DON'T IM ME EVER!!! JUST BUY MY STUFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE!

I can understand that they get busy. I can understand that they have their own SL to live. But would some politeness-dare I say-customer service kill them?! After all we're spending lots of our money on their products. Could you imagine how quickly a RL company would fold if it said "Don't all our hotline unless you've fully read every word of the instruction manual and can prove it and even the fuck off"?

How about hiring some customer service people then?

I've met and had actual conversations with people like Nephilaine Protagonist, Torrid Midnight, Compulsion Overdrive, and Ferran Brodsky. These are people who are just as busy and yet all of them were kind and patient and seemed genuinely happy to to just chat with me. When I spoke to Nephilaine she was actually in the middle of re-modelling Pixel Dolls but that didn't keep her from being friendly.

And I'm not even asking for friendly, just civil.

So from now on, I'm voting with my wallet. If you're a designer who doesn't want to be bothered with my questions then I'm not going to be bothered with giving you my money.

Fury Caligari-Aridian

i quite have to agree, and i think as SL goes more and more commercial, good customer service will be a survivor tool. However i will say this, i've had to IM some on items that did not work right, etc, and most have gone out of their way to help me, so even if it says dont bother me, try any way...all they can do is be rude..and if so, pass that along to anyone who will listen. Thats how the real world of commerce works

i do what i can but i am just not good at customer support, though i still do it. I just want it to be chanelled the way i ask, aka, trough my forum, this way i have a written trace in case i forget

I agree 100% with you Fury! My girlfriends and I have had similar conversations. I have chosen to 'vote with my wallet' long ago. It's a good thing you bring this up as I'm sure there are plenty of others that have been thinking the same thing.

I agree with you as well. Am so tired of these "stuck ups" and their excuses. Vote with you wallet, if you see a do not IM in their profile then dont buy from them!
Bloody Stuck ups think they are better than everone else! They make me sick!
Remember dont buy from the stuck ups! They are the trolls of the sl business world.

I can vouch for Kyrah who should have been in my first list. She has always been kind enough to listen to me.

And no, this is not a paid advertisement.

Yanno, we can't post names of people, but maybe we can post the names of their companies so other consumers can know to stay away?

Fury Caligari-Aridian

Thank you Fury for the heads up. Ranma, I'm not sure it has anything to do with being stuck up or thinking "better than anyone else". A good business person that wants to stay in business will tend to the customer's needs as well. If they don't, as all of you have recommended, stop buying from there. I would ask tho, if you find a problem or find customer service lacking with a particular business to have the decency to IM them and mention the problem. I would consider it constructive criticism and it gives the business a heads up to a potential issue that they can do something about.

I completely agree with you. Some people forget that customer service goes along with selling a product.

Hi, Ingrid. Thanks for all your help today! I didn't mention you in the OP because ours was a strictly business related conversation.

But to everyone who is listening, I have to say that I had a very pleasant experience with Ingrid while house hunting today. Case in point: I gave her the specs on the kind of house my wife and I were looking for and BAM she drops one on me and says, "If you like it, just pay me. If not, delete it."

Wow! I could have easily just kept the house and not paid her.

Now one thing about my experience with Ingrid that I think all the consumers need to keep in mind is that these are busy people. For example, Ingrid was very slow to respond in some cases, but when you are your company's only CSR, you have to field a lot of calls and try to have a life, too. So be patient. In this case my patience paid off very nicely.

Some reasonable demands from the designers.
1. Please read the instructions first.
2. Please don't IM me between the hours of X and Y
3. Please get straight to the point.

Also, I've seen where they state up front that they don't do this or that, usually custom work or refunds, etc. To the designers I ask: Please re-read what you've written. Does it sound like you're telling me to go f**k myself? Because if it does, no matter how reasonable your demands, I'm gonna walk. To my fellow consumers: Please pay attention to these simple requests or forewarnings. If the profile says no custom work, don't IM asking for it.

Fury Caligari-Aridian

I would do so unless the thing that set me off is your profile talking down to me like "How dare you bother me!?" and telling me not to IM you. In that case all I'll do is tell all my friends.

Fury Caligari-Aridian

I really am not sure who you might be discussing as I can honestly say that in all my years broswing profiles (and I am a compulsive profile reader), I have not seen any designers with words to those effects in their profiles. If they did say "DON'T IM ME EVER!!! JUST BUY MY STUFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" then I agree with you they need to re-examine their reasons for being in content creation and SL.

Now...if you refer simply to anyone that puts simple and easily answered FAQs in their profile so that customers can find the answers they need immediately without having to IM a creator who may be busy, away or offline...then I disagree with you.

I have between 10-15 Ims flashing in my window all day...every day. I do my best to answer them all and I am always friendly and polite to anyone that is friendly and polite with me. I go out of my way to help my customers and make them happy. HOWEVER...if I get asked 5 times every day if I do custom work...wouldn't it be simplier to simply say in my profile: "I am sorry, but I do not do custom work of any kind." Which is exactly what I would tell them if they IMed. But this way they don't have to wait 10 minutes for me to see their IM among the rest and eventually get to answering it, or wait for me to come online and answer. The info is right in my profile.

This is something EVERY RL business does. Signs, information, and phone systems attempt to give customers as much commonly asked info as they can without the need of a live human answering a simple question that is eaily and more quickly answered by posting a sign that says "No Refunds". This is not rude, it's efficient and wise. If the sign said "Fuck off - No Refunds"...THAT would be rude. But a simple profile statement, "Due to my items being No Transfer, Refunds can not be given." is NOT rude. Its basic information that is asked by people who don't read the instore signs every single day.

I am in my store most of the day every day...and I take great pleasure in chatting with and socializing with my customers or with anyone who visits, as anyone who has been in my store can say. I am rude only to those who grief my customers or who are rude to my customers. Otherwise I am by nature a very polite and overly people-pleasing person.

So...if I like chatting with my customers so much, why do I put information in my profile to discourage them IMing me to ask about a simple thing like custom work and refunds? It's a matter of sheer volume. Unlike a RL business, I am the only employee here in SL. I don't have dozens of customer service reps on various shifts to answer customer questions, small or large. There is just me. Also...unlike RL businesses, there are no "Business Hours" in SL. I get Imed about the store and my products 24 hours a day, every day. This would be like being on call for your business 24/7 and there are few people who do that RL. I can honestly say there is rarely a minute in SL that my IMs are not filled and flashing. I love dealing with friends and customers...but when you have to try to jugle 10 conversations in IMs and 5 people standing with you in store...it gets a bit too much for me. I am sorry. If I can cut down on some of the easily answered questions that have set answers by putting that information in my profile...I most definately will. Because that then frees me up to answer more in depth and detailed questions, socialize with customers, deal with bugs and issues that REQUIRE a live person, and...*gasp*...make stuff.

If you really have found one or two content creators in SL that have such stupid things in their profile as "DON'T IM ME EVER!!! JUST BUY MY STUFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"...then I agree completely they likely don't deserve your money. But if you are ranting at any content creator who simply includes basic business information in their profile to help cut down on the most frequently asked, repeated and easily answered questions (or in some cases the questions people simply refuse *rudely* to take no for an answer to) then I utterly disagree with you.

I spend the vast majority of my day and time dealing with, and socializing with customers. I go above and beyond to help my customers. But, when 10 people every day IM me asking for custom work, yes...I am gonna try to cut down on those IMs by putting "I do not do custom work" in my profile. I would be stupid not to. I am just one person after all. I do my best.

Also...the assumption that someone who doesn't want to talk to people is "stuck up" is a huge leap, and in most cases, likely a flase one. I am in fact the exact opposite of stuck up. I have spent my entire life a shy, self-hating wallflower who has severe social anxiety. Talking to people is bloody hard for me...but I do my damnest to. It comes with running a business. But if I am standing around in my store chatting with you and things get quiet because I don't know what to say next...it's not because I am "stuck up"...it's because I am socially inept and so shy I likely want to hide under a rock at the time.

And all that is not to even mention that my IMs are capped very fast when offline. Meaning...I don't even get many of them at all. I try to keep Zoe online even when sleeping so that doesn't happen, but we have unreliable power in our area and I get kicked a lot too and end up not getting some Ims still. Gotta love the customer that assumes you are ignoring them when you never got the IM at all and they start the next converstaion with "How dare you not answr me.."

Designers out there with that type of info in your profile, I hope that you are listening!

Hello,
As a designer I know exactly what you are talking about, I have friends (fellow designers) that are very rude (sorry but true) and have little or no customer service, and I sit back and think how the fk they stay in business? But at the same time I know that I stay in business because I mind my OWN business and take care of mine...
I am really sorry you have had bad experiences with some designers, the best thing to do is IM them tell them you are unhappy with thier service and let them know that you will never shop from them again, then maybe... just MAYBE after they get a few IMs like that, they will change thier attitude...

I will admit that in the case of offline IMs, my customers have occasionally had to wait an entire day before I come back online again to contact them back. But they've been very very patient about that and I try to reward their patience by doing as much for them as I can.

I think you're absolutely right to vote with your wallet, its perfectly fair. If someone can't take a moment to provide decent customer service then they don't deserve your business, they clearly dont want it bad enough to be willing to work for it.

I've worked in the customer service industry in RL too and there is one very simple rule, treat the customer as if they are royalty and they'll keep coming back. It doesn't matter what else is going on in your life, the customer is not someone you take out frustration on, they are not someone you argue with, the customer is the one doing YOU a favor by buying your product, not the other way around.

On a side note, a couple of times someone has even IMed me to tell me that I forgot to mark a display for sale or that there is something wrong with one of my vendors. They are going out of their way to take a moment to help me fix something that has no impact on them, its just a kindness. I love that.

You are now officially both a liar AND a hypocrite. You had no problems stuffing your swollen nose and ego into the business of others, and you still do. I can and will personally attest to your bad attitude and rotten demeanor. Now on top of that I can add your ability to lie straight through your teeth.

Maybe you need to practice what you preach, hypocrite.


- Newfie

Stop trying to beat my bingtris score

I really wish people would bother me about my stuff, means they are buying it If you give crappy customer service, no one is going to want to buy from you more than once.

Umm I called you out for selling and profitting off of someone elses work , and the person you stole from is a very good friend of mine, that was very well my business thank you very much.

What you 'called out' on was none of your business, and was being dealt with between myself and the object creator. As for his being a 'good friend of yours', that does not make it your business in any way. You were/are just a self-centered child that throws a tantrum when you dont get your way.

Well guess what - your 'minding your business' turned what would've ended as a sedate and polite arrangement into a major clusterfuck. That wasn't my doing, or even the creator's doing. That was you - an unrelated third party - that caused it to turn into a major mess.

Perhaps if you learned a few lessons from your own two-sided mouth, you'd learn that unless you want others to poke into your own business, then you act like a professional and keep your nose out of the business of others. However, instead you got both your nose tweaked and you got dumped by your 'good friend.'

Congrats, you're *really* managing 'your business' very well.


- Newfie

Wow!! I thought I was the only one that thought of this. I have seen that in profiles and I think, how can they still be in business?

There are many designers that are very popular and busy and they always take a moment to answer, but others are impossible.

I love when my customers IM me and if I need to help them I do my best. Even at times I remember they haven't receive an item or something and I always explain with them and time how to check their inventory, and if not, I give them another. Some designers, they wont even do that. They think even another item even if they see in their account history that the customer bought it, they wont pass another.

I dont know why feeling so important and not helping their customers is such a pain. I dont give my money either to arrogant designers or even send people to them. I am someone in SL that love to promote designers and if I see someone arrogant that thinks is better than anyone else I tell them or never send them business. Sorry, but how can someone like that be in business?

I already have a list of designers in my inventory that are this way.. and I wont go back to them.........

Shame on them!!!!!!!

First off, you stole from someone, you are a thief and you want to play a victim? OK!
I got dumped? Thats funny... you have no clue what you are talking about... now stop trolling and admit your a thief and move on.

why dont you just grief them fury, like you usually do! or have you changed your ways?.

Awww poor thing, you have to fall back to that 'you're a thief! you're a thief!' tantrum every time you're pointed out to be a liar, hypocrite and stuff your nose into others' business. You already know the basics of what happened, and even the creator of the object does not make the claim of theft - only *you* do.

So hrmmm why is that - because perhaps it is true that you stuck your nose into the business of others that had nothing to do with you (and you got slapped down because of it), and now all you can do is proverbially throw a tantrum and yell like a little child? That's all you know how to do, when you can't get people to do what you want you start throwing public fits and making loose accusations in and attempt to get attention. Well guess what, tantrums dont work with me, and you can hold your breath and turn blue in the face for all I care.

Ohhh and by the way...do you know that the creator contacted me about a month after the original incident (the clusterfuck that you instigated) and asked to buy a copy of the script I made for the fish...even offered his full support on the resuming of sales of them? I told him he'd get a full-rights copy only if I got an apology from both you and him for your actions. He apologized for his part, but he said the odds of getting an apology from you would like akin to 'a snowball's chance in hell'.

Now - would you like to continue this foolish debate, or do I need to continue adding more details to this ridiculous farce that you keep pushing?


- Newfie

I actually do customer service for Anisa Naumova of Outland Tech and Curious Relics. She has a group of about a dozen people who handle her support requests, so that most problems can be solved far sooner than they would if she had to do them. Especially since she's not online a terribly large amount.

Example: Someone joins the group, asks if the items are transfer, so they can send the items to their alt. This could take several days to a week for Anisa to answer. Whereas the customer service group is generally there and capable of answering within minutes.

In this case, it's far better to have a dozen people to field most of the questions, and pass along the really difficult/technically detailed ones to the creator. The customers are able to be taken care of in a much more rapid fashion, and everyone is happy.

So please, don't say that everyone with "don't IM me" in their profile, who is a content creator, is evil.

Due to a pending DMCA case, I am hereby putting this thread under resis review.

Any additional posts would be scrutinized.