Got ripped off for first time in SL yesterday

Has anyone purchased clothing in store before only to discover the goods were nowhere to be found in their inventory? Happened to me yesterday and even though I lost just L$199 which is less than $1 US in RL, it was still annoying.
Shortly after finding out, I returned to the store and there was a lady near the door who must be working there I guess as had been greeting customers and myself earlier on. When I tried explaining what had happened, she just ignored me in both local chat and IM - maybe she was away from the computer in RL but still was not a good look if working in that store.
Apart from putting it down to experience, is there anything else I can do? Can I give out the stores name here?
Thanks

Don't give the name here.

The greeter might have been a bot, so don't take it personally. Instead find the creator and check their profile for the best way to make contact for customer service.

Are you sure it is not in your objects folder? Lots of items are "boxed" and you need to unpack them. Search your inventory for some part of the name of the item you bought. It might be in the Objects folder.

She probaly was a greeter bot so couldnt have answered you anyways.Some times I dont see the item as a object but a folder all ready unzipped. I have also had items show up much later in the day or even the very next day.

No problem thanks so even a bot can have a profile when I right click on it?

I went through it several times and searched by the most likely names. There was nothing in the most recent items and sorting by date with the newest items at the top turned up nothing even close to it.

I thought it happened to me once. I contacted the owner and they told me the folder to look for. Low and behold there it was. It didn't show in the recent items folder so I was thrown for a loop. Do what Argus suggested and you might find it.

Alana, no you cannot post the stores name here, or the avatar name.

What has most likely happened is beyond the store-owner's control, and you need to let them know what has happened, as most people will help you and make it right if an item was purchased and not delivered.

To help the business owner help you, this is what you can do-

Go to your account on the website, look in your transactions history, and find the list of transactions for that day. Check to see if the money came out of your account, and record the transaction number and the date. Put these on a notecard, with a clear explanation to the business owner, explaining that the item was not delvered. This is the most likely explanation, and is not the owners fault.

To find who to send the card to, take the name from the transaction history, or, go to the shop, right click on a vendor, and take the name of the owner of that object. The person you saw in the shop may not have access to the information needed to help you, and may in fact only have been a store model..ie, nobody at the keyboard on the other side.

I'm sure most business owners would appreciate being told about the problem, but they need this information to verify that you have actually made the purchase, which is only fair..Good luck

edited to add that everyone here is a really fast typer

The word "bot" gets used in two ways.

Some bots are scripted objects that greet people, say stuff, and so on. I don't think they're as popular as they used to be. This sort of bot won't have a profile.

Other bots are actual avatars, but instead of having a RL person running the SL client, there's an automated program at the other end with a limited ability to respond. This sort of bot would have a profile. It could even be an avatar that sometimes has a real person driving and sometimes has the bot program driving.

Yes, a bot is can be a normal avatar with nobody paying attention to it on the keyboard end (poor thing).

However, you should not contact the bot, you should contact the shop owner (the creator of the item you were trying to buy), by clicking on the vendor box in the shop and finding the creator profile there. Many creators state in their profile the best way to contact them.

Delivery failure is very common in SL, just part of a buggy, laggy virtual world, so when you contact the creator, BE POLITE. Don't yell at them and tell them they ripped you off, because unless they own LL, it's probably not their fault.

Tell them politely and clearly that the item delivery failed, and be sure to provide the transaction information from your account transaction history as proof that you paid for the item.

ETA: Oops, I'm slow at composing... they beat me to it.

Thanks everyone, I've contacted the owner and will see what happens (yelling and being a nasty customer isn't my style - lol) Just as in RL, I do realize that shit beyond peoples control does happen. Must admit I was very fooled by the very real looking bot - she is still standing there right now

Edited: I wish I had known about those before as could have saved me a lot of trouble and embarrassment with this

Just quoted because this is the most complete and best answer. This happens from time to time and almost everyone experiences it. Don't panic. Just like RL, you take your reciept to the store and work it out. For SL, the receipt is in your transaction history.

One additional note - due to SL lag and just plain strangeness, clear your cache, relog, and then do the search for the name again.

Sometimes items will show up after a clear cache.
.

Use your inventory filters to search for newly added stuff - sometimes the name is too wild to be guessed.