Waiting For Support From SL Merchant

How long should be a reasonable wait for support from a SL Merchant when the item you purchased was not delivered??

1 day? 3 Days? 1 Week?

I am asking as I purchased a highly rated item (based on SLEX ratings/comments) inworld and did not get the actual item. All I got was a box called "Builder Buddy 1.7 Boxed 1" which when rezzed only had the Builder Buddy scripts inside it...not the $9999L item I purchased.

I have sent IM's to the merchant, dropped 2 notecards to the person as well as sent 2 messages from the SLEX Contact Merchant system. No response so far and it has now been 3 days.

So what is reasonable??

At this point, it's reasonable to think you've been scammed.

Or, hey, maybe the creator is on vacation, had a death in the family, is ill, or is just plain busy in RL!

Wait a week at least before you get too worried about it.

Not necessarily. Or at least hopefully not.

As a merchant it's good practice to put in your profile that you'll be away for a few days, but not all do. I'll admit that I recently went out of town for a week and forgot to make a note in mine.

Having to wait 3 days is typically bad business especially since merchants can have their IM's sent to their email, but I wouldn't consider it a total loss.

Look at the merchants profile and see if there's any groups they are in that you can easily join. If you join that group you can see the last time that person has logged in.

edit

what exactly did you buy?

the scripts or a building?

There's your answer then. I wouldn't expect an answer.

just to confirm i posted that but on 2nd thought, you never mentioned what you bought so edited the abouve

I looked at the merchant's profile and she does have her own group which I joined. It showed she last logged in yesterday.

The reason I purchased this item is it had lots of positive feedback, As well as the merchant spoke on SLEX about customer satisfaction and I quote her...




I am surprised to be perfectly honest that there has been no reply, nor any apparent attempt to reply to me.

The item in question I am concerned about is called CASTLE GOTHOS and can be seen on SLEX at http://uncensored.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=327197 and as I mentioned sells for $9999. I did NOT purchase on SLEX but from a vendor at the castle she had set-up for people to see...tour through. So this was purchased on her property on Bro City.

As now I DO KNOW she has been online and chooses not to respond to me, it is now time for me to act further I guess

Is the group related to her business? If that's the case it's a good sign. Not many scammers offer groups to join for their business. It may be a case of just not being a very good business person.

As for taking further action, there's not much you can do, however, we are hearing more stories lately of the Lindens assisting people who have been scammed and giving them their money back. This never use to be the case, though.

The seller might be wading through messed up transaction IM's and notecards. When transactions were messed up the other day, it took me a while to get it all straightened out.

Check your mute list.. It's possible that sometime during the transaction, you pressed the "mute" button on a landmark giver or something.. once you do that, even if the creator DOES reply, you'll never see tehir responses.

I'm not saying it HAS happened in this case.. but it MIGHT have.

Also, give her the benefit of the doubt. Toss her another IM, or a notecard.. and see if another attempt will help. SL's been really flaky lately, and I know that my IMs are regularly capped. Not everyone has "Ims to Email" turned on, and that system isn't completely reliable anyways....

And I've had more than a few "Offline Inventory Transfers" simply vanish. Crashing on login is pretty common, and if you don't click "accept" that item just gets lost in the shuffle.

Definitely don't give up.. but give "Honey" a little more time to work, before you start with the Vinegar.

I know several people who own that castle, so at least at some point, it was being sold legitimately. I would definetly make sure you haven't muted them, and try again.

Update:

I joined her group for those who buy the items from her. Today I was ejected. I have yet to receive delivery of the item, any communication from Fornicola Butuzova. She has my money, and I have nothing.

She has been online, I had sent requests for help via Notecard and IM as well as the contact vendor link in SLEX.

I DO NOT recommend anyone buying anything from this person as if there is any problem they will ignore you and possibly even mute you.

Many people MAY have bought this castle, but, this person who bought the castle, and did not receive it, is very unhappy with aftersale service and will NOT recommend anyone buying this in the future.

It all depends on the frequency that the merchant logs in. I hate to say it, but I've had two experiences where a merchant has never responded after repeated attempts to contact them. It happens, unfortunately.

All the speculation is conjecture at this point, as to why the 'ahem' creator isn't responding. As Alice put it succinctly, Tyger, you got raked over the coals. Now all is not lost here and this may seem like a feeble bandaid -- but the scripts are available for free and plenty of folks are using that package (I know it doesn't take the sting of it away) but at least you know you can accomplish your original mission.......to get a building packaging system.

Now as far as the ethics involved here --- nothing hurts a merchant more than hitting their pocketbook. But be smart about it -- understand that bitching about it will not get you far BUT the passive and more effective approach in sending a message......is to tell anyone you know about it. Be calm, succinct, state the facts -- word of mouth goes a long way in SL, good and bad. Ask them to tell their friends. Look up Baller Products sometime and you will see what I mean -- I am sure there are around 20 threads on that guy between here and slexchange. Unfortunately, someone will get hurt again but you can help mitigate that by spreading the word.

But the thing here is, I was NOT wanting to buy a builder package system, I was buying a $9999 Castle...which can be seen listed on SLX at http://uncensored.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=327197

The thing that REALLY ticked me off, is when I was ejected from the group.

All my notes etc. to Fornicola Butuzova have been polite, until today where I was much more terse, and as well I provided purchase information, transaction information from SL, etc.

I have been polite to her in my communications, but she has NOT even attempted to reply. The ONLY response what to have her "partner" eject me from the group. Very tacky and unprofessional business practices.

I thought going to her "Store" and purchasing from her own vendor after doing a walk-through of the castle, I would and should have no problems.

But this is not the case. I even did the cache clear, log out and in and nothing. Searched my inventory for all references to castle or goth. And no castle was found.

Getting the word out...well...I hope this is a start.

But what SL REALLY needs for situations like this, as I know they crop up often, is a SL version of Small Claims Court to mediate these kinds of disputes. As well, it may also eliminate some of the more common scams we all hear about.

What I found REALLY ironic was the name of a group that Fornicola Butuzova owns. "Please don't be a scammer". Ironic indeed that a person who does not want one to be a scammer, is indeed one herself.

Tygers, I know you're justifiably upset, but naming of names will get your thread locked/deleted. I suggest you edit your posts. A link to the SLechange page should suffice to warn people.

Then go back to sl exchange and leave a message telling them what you think of them

Lisa

Yes on Slex you can not only rate everything you buy but you can leave a review...I always read these because I figure if something was really good or really bad ppl will take the time to review the item so I find them helpful.
Say what happened to you, I dont think Slex can remove reviews.
Just a bit of advice, write your review and then go and have a lovely cup of tea and maybe a nice cream cake, calm down, go back to it and re-read it before posting

Just a thought... many of the groups are used just for new product updates and other news. They are not meant to be a support channel or a chat channel so many places will automatically give you the boot if you use the group IM.

Well this morning I did file a AR (Abuse Report) and while I was on the sim filing it (I had to do it from the sim where to infraction occured), standing in front of the castle, I was ejected!!!!

Yep, I was banned by the creator of this item. And all I did wrong, was attempt to purchase her item in good faith, and when it was not delivered properly, sent her a polite IM and notecard.

I never asked about this in public until 3 days later when I was not getting a response from her.

Sad. Very sad.

Unfortunately I don't think she can rate this product on SLX if she bought it at the seller's store.

can not rate it but can leave a comment in the discussion area, and comment that it was purchased in world and seller is no communicating etc

Do you have a record in your transaction history showing what was bought?

Maybe posting that and a polite description of the problem at slexchange, sluniverse, and such would get a response.