What to do when the thing you purchased isn't what you thought....an answer!

"What do I do if something I bought isn't what I expected or is incomplete?"


Recently, I recieved an IM from a customer, stating the outfit she purchased did not come with all the advertised parts! I immediatly logged in and remedied the situation.

Searching through my transaction reports, I noticed almost 10 people had purchased that outfit in the last 2 weeks, and none of them had said a word about the missing skirt they expected to see in the package.

If you buy something, from anyone, and what's on the tin isn't in the tin, please, please please contact the merchant you purchased it from, and let them know. In most cases (at least I know I will) they will fix the problem as soon as possible.

I cannot provide excellent customer service if I do not know there is a problem. Please, let me provide the items you paid for!

Thanks.

Dani

It is good you care and tried to correct it.
I have heard stories from others who bought something that wasn't what was advertised and when they contact the owner was totally ignored.
I have had few experiences where I got item, it didn't fit right, look right or work and very rarely when I contact the creator did I get helpful response.
After few experiences personally I quit contacting the creator and just didn't go back.

I assume in this case you checked the vendor and the skirt was actually missing? Every once in awhile I'll have someone contact me about a missing item, and when I check the vendor, it's perfectly fine. All I can figure is that occasionally SL messes up and doesn't send everything over when a box is unpacked?

Sometimes if you're not really use to looking for items especially shopping for items or due to some issue with inventory the inventory won't show item or will show a closed folder.
Sometimes the item won't show up at all. Several times I received folders that show nothing inside that won't open or nothing at all.

Ditto- the squeaky wheel gets the grease- happened to me with one of my fairies- no wings in the box though on the picture- I forgot! so I sent the entire group a free set of wings in case they had bought it- if not they got a freebie

What if you bought something that just doesn't look the way it looks in the picture because you have to have a certain pose to make it look right? I got everything. It just doesn't look like the picture no matter how I look at it.

I can only speak for myself here, Cynster, but as a creator, I'd like to know that. I'd be willing to invest a short amount of time trying to fix the outfit so it looks good on your AV. If you pay money for an outfit, you should get what you pay for. That is my philosophy.

Did you try talking to the designer? It seems to me if there is only ONE way it can possibly look right the person proly knew it or only has one pose in their inventory which is highly unlikely. We have other thread here talking about willful manipulation of the pix after the fact to cover up shoddy work- misrepresentation is just evil whether thru the manipulation of the shots or the choosing of certain poses. Some things we all know and accept- prim skirts with out script dont sit right, so yeah- I won't shoot a prim skirt in such a way that this SL fault is evident- then again I include glitch pants in everything- a workaround we are all aware of and is not deceptive. If, on the other hand, I cleaned up the image to make it appear that the skirt sat perfectly knowing full well I did not include an adjusting script then that wd definitely be dishonest on my part. I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt though- if I were you I wd contact the Designer- they may genuinely not know- there could be something different between ur av and theirs that the designer never considered- worth a shot anyway. If ou do not get satisfaction, mark them on your Do Not Shop Here List and move on. Plenty more where that came form

Alright I'll contact the creator. It has to do with the sleeves. I thought there was one sleeve on each arm and that sleeve is actually these many huge paper-like things like only look good from one side, from the others it looks like feathers spreading.

I've had the same experiences as FD. IM'd the designer about an incorrectly advertised or represented item, such as real item not like pic at all (I think more 3D avatar models are needed!) to show appropriate color and/or fit.

I recently bought an item and the folder came with a picture and a landmark but no item. I IM'ed the creator and got NO RESPONSE as is the usual case I've encountered.

The only IM's that have been returned by designers are the ones were I ask for a custom product to be designed. Otherwise, no response from any of the creators I IM'ed about a misrepresented item via just a photo or missing item altogether.

Do I have a right to fill out a fraud report for folders received with no item if creator will not respond?

I'd say drop a notecard as well as an IM, and if they provide an email, you can email them also. I know my IM's get capped so quickly...and I've put in my profile how to contact me, as well as 2 other contact people who can assist my customers.

I had one customer who had tried to contact me for weeks, and I never got her IM's or notecards do to IM capping. When she finally contacted me and I responded, she was very, very frustrated. I still feel bad that she might think I was ignoring her. Truth is, the best way to contact someone is to go via email. The IMs and notecards cap, even if you have IM to email turned on. notecards don't go in your email...

Right now, with the various hunts going on and how busy RL is with the holiday stuff, I have bought quite a few things and just tossed the folders into my "to sort" folder to be dealt with after the new year -- except for the few things I specifically want to wear right now. The bad part of that plan is that if they item is suppose to have 2 different skirt lengths and it only has one, by the time I sort it, I might not remember.

So, could be that some of the folks that bought the item in the previous couple of weeks have not noticed it missing anything yet.

Also, if you have not yet done so - since you are able to easily identify those that bought the item in the previous few weeks, I would send them the missing item with a short note about what happened. That would bump you way up on my scale of Customer Service -- fix a problem before I even had a chance to notice it and tell you.

Danielle I made a freebie once that for some reason (must have been drunk lol) the jacket and shirt layer were both just white system stuff and the textured top was only on the undershirt layer. I never noticed it for a week or so...and by that time had given out literally hundreds of them. I was quite embarrassed...and surprised, I never heard a word from anyone.

Please let us know!

Indeed, I sometimes see people have made two purchases of an item that is copy/no mod and im them to ask if there was problem and they usually tell me it was a mistake. I guess some people think it was their mistake and live with it.

Sometimes people just buy the same item multiple times. If I notice it I just refund them the extra, though occasionally I get back a note that they thought I wasn't charging enough for my product and wanted to pay me more.

As a customer of different vendors on SL [I don't have one loyal company I shop with] I can say the only time I have ever had any problems with things is if the item was extremely inexpensive or free.

Anything I have paid a decent amount for like 200 lindens has been just as it was on the package.

Much better to leave you bad feedback, and rubbish you thoughout SL and the various forums. Talk to the creator indeed!

I made a swinging rope bridge that is moddable, in that you can unlink and link pieces back together to make it as long or as short as you need, but comes as a basic 5-piece bridge. It can really tricky to line up and probably beyond what most non-builders could do aesthetically. I completely offer to come out and help set up the bridge as part of the purchase price, and a couple of people have asked for help. However, many more have not, and I am always left wondering if they just stick it out unaltered and live with it, it's not as hard as I thought to adjust, or they just give up and don't ask for help. It really bugs me and I am not hard to get a hold of either. *shrugs* But I too hope that people are not holding back if they are having problems...

Due to a steady destruction of my brain cells over the last 2 decades, I often forget to place all items in the box as advertised. Luckily customers generally pick up on it and I often refund the first person to notice in full as well as replacing the item.

If I notice that a product I bought is missing something or different from the advertised product then i will allways complain. Even if a product is delivered as advertised and I think it is rubbish then i will still contact the creator to tell them it's shite. I'm nice like that.

I think that is important to have designers have at one can contact, i.e., a designer's assistant. I often wonder if I'm not getting a return IM because a few of the recent creator's I IM'd have a profile NOT in English? However, about 80% are written in English, so there is no excuse. I have seen profiles that say, send NC and I did and still got not answer. Another good idea aside from an in world avatar modeling the outfit or shoes or jewelry to see the REAL COLOR and fit (especially boots are a problem) is to have someone in store available to try on outfit or shoes and show the customer. Advertise when in world models are going to be in your store in case someone wants to come back at that time.

Another solution is an auto refund system where say item can be returned within 15 minutes and money refunded if item not up to par or misrepresented (dressing rooms with lock/unlock doors would be necessary in order to try on items before deciding to buy). Another solution to increase business is to offer demos. (I don't buy shoes now unless a demo is offered or I go to the same designer, same shoe but different color for a shoe.) Boots I give up! I've spent about $60 real life dollars on boots I can't use. I even went back to designers I often always use because their products I would rate ***** and bought boots and still the flesh of the feet shows through.

I'd say my experience with SL items is it's a 50/50 crap shot. Some items are better than the photo and are totally awesome and far better than expected, and the other 50 percent are a total misrepresentation or simply shoddy or careless work. For instance, I also have a few skirt separates with no skim pants, just panties and the prim skirt looks like it has a bunch of holes in it, so that's a waste of money too.

Models, models, models please! Demos, demos, demos please! Return IM, refund money please! Hello? echo, echo, echo..........

I don't understand why you are having so much trouble with shoes/boots. $60 rl money is a LOT of shoes and boots...and none of them fit? Are you sure you are wearing the shoe part that comes with them?

Out of all the shoes and boots I have had, from freebies to $$$, I have had ONE pair that didn't fit. (they were waaay too big)

I've unpacked boxes, had the error that there were too many things and preview is disabled... yet, the box didn't fully unpack. Upon checking the box again, I've been lucky enough the missing items just hadn't unpacked. When the grid lurches, all sorts of oops happens.

On the two times I have had stuff missing in clothes packs the creators got back to me soon as and just gave me the missing pieces. They not give me any grief over it like I have heard about from other people with other creators sometimes. The people I buy from just gave me, and also say to IM them straight back if I got any more problems with their stuff. So that was really good of them.

Another time I buy a parcel radio tuner that hook into shoutcast thru the creators server. He send update pack later on and I couldnt get it to work. While I was fluffing around with it, the creator IM me inworld and say he can see from his end that Im having trouble and to send radio back to him and he will do for me. I chat him and say that I know Im doing something wrong but I dont know what and can I try to do myself. So he take the time and step me thru it. So that was really good of him.

Because he went to the trouble of teaching me, now when I get updates from other creators for their stuff I know how to do myself. So whenever anyone asks me what radio tuner to get I just say to buy off my guy.

And when I buy my first 512m I buy a little skyhouse. I read instructions and it say to put box on ground then to sit on it. Then to Touch box and choose height from menu. So I do. And a big fat nothing. So standup sit click nothing and nothing and nothing again. arg! I IM creator and he go hmm! and can I TP him to my place. So I do. And he say can you show me. And I do. And he grins and says I have to unpack the box first. Shame! lol So I unpack and is another box in the box I buy. It works and up I go and I got my own house for the very first time. woohoo! =) Creator came up to make sure everything else was working and that I was happy. So that was good as well.

We have chat about the box in a box and I say that maybe he should put in his instructions that people have to unpack his box first, and he say ya but english not his first language so is maybe why is not as clear as it could be. So because he came to help me when I shout out, I spend 5 minutes and edit his instructions notecard for him and he put in his product. So next new person not have the same problem as me.

Was quite funny altogether really but in the end was also mutually rewarding. I have moved lots of time around the mainland since, Im a bit restless like that and not stay long in any one place, but I still have that house in my Inventory. I got some others as well now but that one will always be my fav. And I get it out now and again and sit on it =D =)

Every creator I have contacted about stuff I have had trouble with has been very responsive to my shoutout for help and Im very grateful for that. Maybe I just been lucky but I still grateful to those creators because they just knew what service means and I didnt have to beg them to help me or anything like that. So ya kool and all good really =)

Not only should the brown foot shaper be worn, but also the avatar's feet should be set to size zero for womens' shoes and boots.

The only time I have ever seen a female avatar with the flesh of her feet poking through her shoes is in newbie places where the avatars don't yet know to always wear the shoe shaper that comes with virtually all shoes and boots in SL, but also to try editing appearance and changing their foot size to zero. Size zero feet is the standard to which all SL's shoe and bootmakers work for their womens' items.

With regard to the OP, count me in as another content creator who would rather be contacted about a potential problem like the one outlined.

A few weeks ago, a customer contacted me inworld about an XstreetSL purchase where the box had been empty when she received it. I immediately sent her a replacement of the item that should have been inside it, then went back to XStreetSL to test delivery, since I'd had several customers buying that item before but nobody else had mentioned to me the box was empty.

The test delivery came through just fine (item was in the box), so it was clearly SL borkiness, but had there been a problem, I would have contacted the previous customers to check they had received their items without any problem. In fact, if I notice from my recent transactions list that someone has bought multiple copies (my rule of thumb is 'more than four') of something in a very short timeframe, I will usually contact them inworld to ensure there wasn't a problem with the vendor, and that they weren't being repeatedly charged for something they weren't receiving.

I would far rather have to give out an extra copy of a potentially missing item here and there than have my customers think I'm a lousy merchant they would never do business with again.