Bad Customer, Bad Store Owner, or SL borked?!?

I've certainly encountered greedy, egotistical, moronic shop owners, but they are a VERY small minority of the shop owners I've dealt with.

Not long ago, I purchased some jewelry for a gift. I didn't realize it was no transfer. I should have -- it was my mistake. But I IMed the shop owner, and she immediately offered to send the items to the intended recipient.

I've encountered that kind of service in SL much more than the kind you're referring to Ricardo. You must be shopping at the wrong places.

Earlier today, I noticed that a customer purchased one of my items a second time. I IMed her to find out why, and she told me she messed the first one up. I refunded her money and offered to send a replacement if my instructions didn't help her recover the first item. I believe my actions in this case reflect what a majority of shop owners in SL would have done.

i personally don't think it does stormy. it maybe because the item is set to sell and a script is also inside it ^^ (dont quote me on that lol)

but there is a diff. b/w CARD and PAY (card comes from a giftcard systems)

hope that helps
Quatre

Ricardo, I don't know you so I hate to make an assumption but when I hear you go on and on like this I can only look at you as the likely problem.

I've had my share of shop owners in SL who were complete asses, but the vast majority have been extremely helpful and have gone out of their way to provide excellent customer service. I've found the service in SL to far exceed what I see in RL. I've never understood why but can only guess it's because most shop owners make their products and therefore there's a pride in craftsmanship. For whatever reason, the good far outweigh the bad in my experience.

I've yet to encounter a single problem where the shop owner didn't go out of their way to resolve the problem. In fact, in most instances the owner has provided an unexpected gift for my troubles when it usually was not their fault. I'm not talking a few here, I'm talking a lot. I have shopped a lot in the past year.

look up in Search under groups "Opens Source" its a very good group..the membership is free and the help is too..very nice mature people.

~Lana Tomba

As a shop owner, I'm pretty offended by this.
I get MULTIPLE rude IMs everytime I'm online. Why? Because customers IM me while I am online, but working in photoshop. Sometimes I will be on photoshop for over an hour and not look at SL. I guess it doesn't make sense for me to be in world as well, but that is my business. I'm so sick and tired of the customers that IM me rudely because I didn't respond within 5 minutes that I mostly work off of alts now. Is that fair?
How about when I log on and immediately crash, losing every IM and notecard I recieved? Is that my fault then when they IM me yelling and cursing me about not replying to them?

The short of it is, you need to realize that there are things beyond our control and that you have unrealistic views of creators. To label us all like you have is rude and ignorant.

I still don't use my alts most of the time. What does that mean? Well, it means if I'm out dancing and having fun with friends and such then I will ignore IM's for awhile. It's not my fault that SL doesn't offer some kind of stealth mode. It's very rare that this occurs, but it does happen including last weekend while I was attending a friends wedding and reception. I promptly got back to my customers question regarding doing some custom work for her after the reception but, sorry, not sooner. And no, I did not respond during the ceremony to inform her that I would get back with her later. Call me sappy, but that's not where I wanted to be focusing at the moment.

I agree with Bradley on this 100%. I have said before, in response to Ricardo complaining about business owners in SL, that my dealing with creators has been much more positive than negative. I had someone IM me once because I double paid for an item, and she gave me an immediately refund. I didn't even notice I had done it. I can't think of too many RL business owners who would do that without you first notifying them.

Ricardo, you have obviously had bad experiences with some SL store owners, but I bet it's not as many as you like to portray. In fact, I would like to know how many times the customer service has been bad as opposed to good, because I don't see you posting on here when you have a good experience, and I'm sure there have, at least, been some.

As a store owner and an avid shopper, I must say that your view of SL business owners is severely skewed. You bad mouth them at every opportunity, but I don't know too many people who experience what you must be experiencing with customer service and care issues.

Ricardo does tend towards the pessimistic type of posts.

Actually, I've played with making clothing and building, but not to the extent that a shop owner would, and I was always online while I was working, because I kept switching back and forth between Gimp and SL as I played with the textures. I know one clothing designer quite well who is the same way. When she's designing she's always online, and I stay out of her way. She's not available for conversation at those times.

I really have never had any problems in SL with shop owners at all. I've IM'ed several with questions and I have almost always received a polite, prompt and reasonable reply. I just don't know where you're coming from, Ricardo. I haven't seen anything like you describe. I'm sure those idiots are out there, but they are very rare. Maybe your approach is causing the problem.

Really? I've never noticed.

Pay attention, Bracken.

Yeah hes kinda a glass is broken and totally empty sort.

For some reason, this post cracked me up. I'm sort of warming up to Ricardo.

Well I have a good one. I had bought a hot tub and the pose balls kept disappearing back into my inventory. They werent supposed to lol. So I imd teh person and explain my situation and they came over and tried and tried to fix it but in the end he gave me my money back and a new hot tub.

Bec

I think you're the ignorant one as if you would of understood what you read you would of clearly seen I said most. Most does not mean all and this is the way you're saying I referred to them.

First, I knew I'd get responses especially from people I've never heard of in these forums.
Second, I have been here long enough to know of or been involved in incidents where the shop owners were clearly in the wrong. But of course you can't say anything about anyone in these forums as everyone in sl is a saint according to most here. it's only when someone does something to them that it's ok to bring it out. And this thing you guys put in as a token of fairness about "there are some" bad apples simply whitewashes it. It doesn't tell the true story. There are not some, there are many.

This is the difference, have the cojones to say how it is instead of trying to be one of the 'nice guys' by not going at it full circle. Many of these people haven't been here that long so they don't know, yet, they're some of the first to speak out.

You're correct Bracken, you don't know me. I do know enough to know you don't get anywhere by being hostile {I'm referring to dealing with people} and as such when I need to talk to a shop owner I'm polite and I state what the problem is even going as far as doing this a few times when I receive no answer or when they try to weasel their way out of it. It's when I get the runaround or when they try to get over on me that I respond in kind. I think most people do the same thing, its just the way it is.

I do see it as half empty, Meiji. I'm a realist, I don't like sugarcoating anything. I don't have the patience for it. And I will say what's on my mind this is nothing new here. I'm nothing like many here who always say, "Oh, I'm sorry this happen to you or I'm sorry that happened," or see everything thru' rose colored glasses. My glasses broke long ago, I see everything as it really is.

There are a few extremely nice people like Julia Hathor who has dealt with me on many occasions. She knows how I am and I've never had a problem with her as well as others. It's the others whose greed or/ and sl paranoia overtakes them. They in their minds believe everyone is out to get them, that everyone wants what they have. In their delusions these indiviuals act as they do because of this. These are the ones I'm referring to and don't tell me there's only a few of them cause there are a lot more then you know.

Again for those who failed at reading comprehension at school. I said most, yes most. Most does not mean everyone, duh. Whether anyone agrees or not it's not really important as I stand behind what I said.

I have had nothing but good responses from shop owners too when I have had a problem. Bought a puppy, chocolate lab "Cocoa", and it wouldnt follow correctly. The owner of the shop actually came to my home to help me and we tp'd all over the place. Found out later it was a sim problem which I let her know. Other places have been very helpful too. I am sure there are those out there that are not quite so nice. If and when that happens to me, I do tell people to beware and simply explain happened to me

Ricardo,

I can assure you that I have never said everyone in SL is a saint. At times it seems SL is only populated with drunks and 10 year olds, but then it's always refreshing to hang out with friends of mine at places I've found that are more mature, including the Forum Hangout.

As far as paranoia goes, I will give you that one. While I still stand by everything I said about my outstanding experiences with SL shop owners, I will agree that paranoia does tend to run a bit rampant, but I think that's true in SL in general.

I believe you when you say you've had the experiences that you've had. I am just happy that we obviously don't shop at the same places.

This "You can't do anything about it" attitude is self defeating. Complain about bad service, complain loud and complain often and ignore the naysayers who say it isn't worth it.

There's a difference between being a realist and being a pessimist. The vast majority of the posts I've seen from you have been negative, negative, negative...I'm actually terribly surprised when I stumble across one that isn't. It makes me wonder why you stay in SL if you think the people, the stores, and whatever else are all so bad.



And most of the store owners I've met have bent over backward to help me when I asked. In a year and a half, I've had one, I repeat, ONE shop owner who didn't respond to a notecard I dropped her. I don't think she's horrible for that; I think she was opening a new sim at the time and I either should have waited to send it, or had more follow through. People get busy, or preoccupied, or whatever else...that doesn't mean they're ignoring you. And if you aren't giving them at least 24 hours to respond (preferably something more like 2-3 days) before getting aggravated, then you're jumping the gun.

Ricardo: You're falling back on your qualifying "most" to dismiss others' views that the dishonest vendors in SL are the exception rather than the rule. You dismiss others' protestations that the vast majority of customer service experiences are positive by saying "I said most, not all, you bunch of dumbasses." (Not a direct quote of course, but I think you'll agree it captures the spirit of your argument.)

Okay, but I still don't see any support for that "most" - and I see overwhelming support for the opposite view.

You also stated that everyone who points out good customer service is saying that "everyone in SL is a saint."

So: when you say "most," you mean most - but when we say "most," we mean everyone, is that how it works? Because I don't see anyone asserting that there are no bad vendors in SL.

When you lash out at people who disagree with you, attack their intelligence with the tired old "did you fail reading comprehension in school" chestnut, you might want to have a closer look at your own rhetoric.

Leaving that aside, I still don't agree with your assertion that "most" vendors in SL are liars, cheats, and thieves. If that's been your experience - an experience that seems so baldly contrary to the experience of others - I have to wonder if it's not something in the way you leap to anger and insults that brings out the worst in people.

On your last paragraph, you don't know this to be true. You have no idea if I wait a day or a week to make these comments.

On seeing my negative comments. I'm blushing, you've noticed. That's so sweet of you.

Forgot to add: On why I'm still in sl, you must be hanging out with Connelly.

Although to be fair, Ricardo has provided some high comedy with the emphatic use of "Bracken" and "Meiji" in his post. And here's me thinking that addressing people by surname was the exclusive preserve of minor public schools in England. Amusing.

To be fair though, I don't think that _most_ people on the forums actually pay that much attention any more.

Linden Labs doesn't do much to facilitate customer service type activities from store owners.


For example - unless they sell an item transfer you cant make a return.

This does not facilitate good customer service since many items need to by copy and thus no transfer.

It would make more sense if you could ALWAYS transfer an item to the creator even if the item is normally No-trans.