Overcharged Tier? Explain why LL is correct

Some of us take our downtime seriously. It's downtime from unpleasantries. It's sometimes worth skipping a meal. Sometimes stress is more unhealthy than missed supplements. Sometimes being happy in one's achievements is the greatest medicine. It is a personal decision and no one can judge another's degree of solace or priorities in obtaining it.

Unfortunately some people take other people's downtime and trod on it. Case in point FD Spark's dilemma with the furry combatists from hell selfishly crowding him on land he has considered a refuge for many years.

I can see why LL dont like to take on inworld disputes - going after those bad people means they cant cash in on extra tier while your paradise is ruined and you need to rebuild it - and your state of mind - elsewhere. They must be very happy inwardly when a bully starts up.

I've only been here a little over half a year, and TWICE I was the victim of this subversive tactic by people who wanted my land and to hell with whatever I had planned.

The thing is, each time it costs more tier to relocate while selling the old land. The first time it happened I paid more for one month and that was that. I knew all about readjusting the account etc etc from reading this forum. My tier date is the 2nd and it was pretty easy to anticipate. It went by the book.

The second time was in late September, when I was practically thrown a piece of land I had my eye on so someone else would avoid tier themselves. Moving and selling occurred within days (after all, those evil people wanted my land). About three days into my tier month I had all the old land sold, so it was a given I would be all together before the November bill or even the one month anniversary of getting the new land; everything was in place for the lower tier cost.

Except Linden threw me for the higher amount? This comes out to not eating for three days, a pittance for people who think nothing of my tier range, but everyone has their story and their levels. With the correct (IMHO) amount anticipated I had just enough money to live off and to cover another, more serious monthly bill to hit just before payday (and we wont go into the assessment adjustment I'm putting up with for fuel costs in the rent, which will have to be paid with almost all of that paycheck).

Their live chat was useless. They told me this second month of higher tier was correct but were incapable of explaining why. In fact it looked as though they cut me off. At some point there was nothing more from them. I swear if that happened with the company I work for, that person would so be out of a job...

So tell me - is there some technicality like being over in late sept and during october that they're leeching me additional tier money? They didnt seem to bill retrograde the first time. If the up tier I paid in early Oct covered those two days before billing and I was liable for an additional full month, then this chat drone I spoke with certainly did not explain that.

There's no way for us to tell if your tier was correct if we don't know what your land circumstances were.

However, remember that you're billed based on peak usage. The fact that you sold the land 3 days into the tier month is irrelevant - the moment even one second has ticked by in the new tier month, your land holdings at that time are recorded as your potential peak for the month.

Yeah, I'm guessing you overlapped billing cycles, so you had 2 tier responsibilities. Unfortunately, a helper drone not knowing policy isn't surprising when it seems many Lindens themselves can't be consistent.

I know SL is more important to some more than others, but going without food for 3 days? No. Never.

What Yumi said. Make sure you tier down to the level you need to hold your land, else you will be charged for tier you are not using. It's more than a bit of a "gotcha."

Actually, you shouldn't be, and if you are, you should submit a ticket. The tier setting on the website represents only the highest tier that you will be able to buy up to without getting a warning to tier up. Your billing should be based on the peak amount of land owned, regardless of your setting on the website. My own account has surplus tier on the website, and I don't have to pay for it, so I know it works.

The big gotcha is that any tier you contribute to a group is always considered used, even if the group isn't actually using it to own land. This is to avoid problems with the system having to decide whose contribution is being used to support the land the group does own.

I realize this is LL we're talking about, but it's not supposed to work that way...you should only be charged for the land you actually own, plus any tier donations you've made to groups, regardless of what your tier level is set at.


http://www.secondlife.com/account/landfees.php?lang=en

The drone should have said that - it sounds like I just got caught at an unlucky time.

Except this is not what happened the first time? It was mid-month then, and for about two weeks I was over by 512. They immediately charged me the balance amount for the next tier - as they should - when buying the new land, but "tiering down" aka adjusting the amt on the site worked when I was able to and by the next actual tier date of july 2nd, I paid the smaller tier.

Yes, I am set for the lower tier in December. It just didn't make any sense to me to pay for this for a second month. I had another $10 left on account from the sale last month against tier, but it still hurts. It wasnt planned since I thought I'd done the right thing.

My bad, yes, I was misremembering, an it was a tier donation issue. Unused tier that was donated well above the land amount owned. My bad.

You did the land purchase in late September, which you knew would bring up the tier for October. But the stickler is the phrase, "About three days into my tier month, I had all the old land sold," which I assume means that the sale of the old land didn't take place until around October 5th. This means that you still had the increased tier after the October billing cycle had started... so, November would be up due to that.

No, they don't have a grace period, because you could have sold the land on midnight PST the day before the new billing cycle starts and it'd still carry over. Or if they do, it's not a long one.

There is no window or "grace period" for tier.

The instant you buy land, your tier max usage for the current billing period is set to that amount. It tells you that in the "Buying Land" window that pops up. "buying this parcel will...." "increase your tier charge to $xxx/mo" or "will keep your tier charge at $xxx/mo".

When moving / changing land, you have to sell your existing parcel(s) first, then buy the new parcel(s), to avoid being charged tier for both.

Land thing is very confusing.
I didn't know for longest time when you decrease tier you need
to go manual to land use fee section and manually decreasing your tier.
When I lost my first few hundred on land,etc when I was new I thought
if I sold the land to one of Anshe agents for much lower, I would be
able to not have to pay the additional teir charges and thus would be
saving money.
Boy did I learn the hard way, still took me several mistakes and losses
to figure it out.
Unfortunately if it in certain period after or before tier is due your stuck with higher
amount of tier. Plus you need to manually go to account page to land use section and
decrease.
Which makes it confusing when they periodically change how this should be done or
where to find it.
There is also the rare times where they do double bill and totally have
the payment thing totally out of whack at no fault of the resident on their
end.
This has happen to others.
I thought about going up to higher tier level personally but I could just
imagine LL messing up and double billing and being stuck with NSF charges
and not having enough money set a side to pay the tier in credit.
Any way speaking of stress there is just way too much stress is happening in my Second Life that is beginning to effect
my First life right now.
I put up my land for sale for 100,000L$ because it original cost way over that,
not counting all the other expenses involved.
I doubt I get it but I figure if my neighborhood Vampires or Furry folk want it
they pay or worse comes to worse I have to lower it or abandon it let Govenor
Linden deal with it.
But I am not happy about letting my home go but I am growing fed up.
I know it sucks but if you making as little as I am don't be spending more then
you can afford. Creating and having virtual life is great and all but if you're
living on very tight budget or low income it just not practical to spending so much
you can't afford to buy groceries, I have been there and I am speaking from experience.
If you're in tight situation I strongly advise don't go up in tier unless you can afford to
double billed and not have it major impact on your budget because LL's billing
system sometimes goes buggy.
Also these means also with group tiers unless you know and trust the people involved
donating the tier because there can be major issues if things go awry.
They credit you eventually in few weeks but if it made you go in whole with additional
charges you didn't budget they won't reimburse that you're on your own sadly

If it comes up again for anyone, I believe renting some tier before buying additional land during your billing period would help.

That is providing you can afford it and find someone who provide it...
It still going to cost money unless you have generous friend to help
for X amount of time.
But if you're budget is so tight that additional 25 to 300 in usd charges if
you're double charged is going to effect your grocery budget it's best
not to go there.