Never got my movie - POOR customer cupport

On Jan 2 I purchased a movie, still to this date I have neither got a refund or the movie. Sending many notecards as well as IMs to the person has resulted in a NOTHING but this same person logs in every week to send updates to new movies they have now....

In almost 2 years on second life I have NEVER had someone just plain ignore my requests! I so wish I could name names here!!!!!!!

My questions and I'm sure it has been addressed many times is this.... AM I SOL or can I do something to actually get my money back???



BTW: it was a pg movie

Yes.

No.

Sorry for your loss.

Not so fast. I had a similar situation not long ago, though the user had been (or so it appeared) suspended. I purchased an item from a vendor. The vendor never spit back the product, but instead regurgitated a script error. It was a $3500 purchase. I ARd the vendor and talked to Live Help, who (of course) told me to submit a ticket. I did. The answer I got read pretty much like Lindal's post--short, succinct and to the point (which incidentally was "so sorry for your loss, but too bad, too sad". At any rate, I wrote back a scathing note after which I figured I would hear nothing, but in truth it let me vent some of my frustration. The upshot for me was that the vendor, though ARd as faulty, was left inworld even though they had supposedly suspended the owner. The very next day, the money was returned (mysteriously) to my account from LL.

Might wanna try an AR and follow up letters. Even though the circumstances are a bit different, you might see some response. :: shrug ::

At one time I would have felt completely confident in telling Tarina her funds are lost forever, however, there have been a good number of success stories like Lindals that have been posted here. I'd go ahead and submit a ticket then hope for the best but expect the worst.

Linden Lab has shutting down bootleg movie sellers in SL for about a year now. if it isn't Lightening Video or on of the other well-known reputable movie re-sellers then the person is probably shady anyway.

.

Well you could AR them for fraud but do you think this movie was legitimate?

heck, contact me with name of movie and might have a link for it, if so ill give it free

How do I know if legit? It was baby moma.... Is it legit?

Tarina, unless someone like Blockbuster arrive in SL I'd assume most movies are not legit. This doesn't mean you should have to put up with crappy service, but generally, movies here are dodgy.

if this person is stiffing people just AR them saying you think it is a shady business..or scare the person telling them if you don't get your money within two days you will AR them and have them banned just like the last one that pulled this crap on you..leave them thinking they can be banned lol

don't give a reason..just bluff or really just AR them..

Yes, definitely stick with reputable boot-leg movie vendors. There are NO legitimate movie rental outlets in SL. If you are renting commercial, Hollywood movies in-world then you are renting stolen copies of the movie.

Might want to open your mouth a bit wider so you can remove your foot from it. My understanding is Lightning Video has licensing arrangements in place for the movies it sells. The concept is hardly novel. How do you think brick and mortar stores are allowed to rent DVD's? You think they do it without licensing? When I did a google search for Lightning Video last year I even found reference to a court action regarding a dispute with one of their licensors.

I only buy from Lightning because they are the only ones I could independently verify as having and negotiating licenses to sell in SL with the DVD studios.

Here's something worth a try at any rate:

Have a friend send that person a notecard, perhaps one that is text you sent to your friend in IM about the situation and ask them to paste to a notecard and send to the person the full accounting of what happened. (Including your request for them to help you and paste and share the information).

There have been a couple of times that I discovered someone was muted in my mute list, but I'd never muted them. I found out by someone else asking me about it, since I'd not received any of the IMs, notecards or chat from that person.

Sorry, this is just not true. There is no way that someone has negotiated licensing with all of the film and tv studios to distribute videos without DRM to people in SL. If someone can provide me with solid evidence to the contrary I will happily eat both of my virtual feet.

We're supposed to believe that they are undercutting the prices at iTunes, Amazon, and others while providing unprotected video streams - something that NO legitimate video streaming service provides?

Just go to one of these stores and read their notecards and 'Terms of Service'. No copyright notices, no mention of Trademarks, no proof of any legal right to redistribute - just long winded statements about how you can get banned and justifications for lousy service.



http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/556952
If you are talking about this page, it does not involve the SL company you mention. It's also from 1989. I can't find a single web page, news site, or press release that has anything to do with movie licensing or legal distribution of movies in SL.

These sort of content thieves really get me riled up, something that's not easily done. They are just as low-down as people who steal SL content and re-sell it - but they fly under the radar and rake in money from people who think they are dealing on the up and up.

btw - here is a list of legal online movies sites from the MPAA: http://www.mpaa.org/piracy_LegalOpt.asp

well an update:

after posting in the forums and filing a support ticket! I got my movie and the person sent me a few others for my troubles...
It restores my faith in sellers even at this late date (almost a month)

Thank you for that link I will study it now.

In all likelihood it's licensed under ROMS or a similar non-U.S. based licensing authority, not the MPAA. I respect the MPAA about as much as I respect the RIAA which is to say almost not at all. These organizations are run by big corporation interests and are not driven by any concern regarding artist rights. They are all about maximizing their corporation profits and that is essentially to what all the disputes between the MPAA/RIAA and non-US based licensing organizations boil down.

DRM is garbage. All it does is piss off the consumer base and it's largely been overruled as unenforceable in US courts under the first sale doctrine. People hate DRM which is why they flock to sites licensed under ROMS and similar organizations rather than deal with the price fixing and unenforceable contract restrictions that the MPAA and RIAA have futily tried to enforce for more than a decade. Already some vendors like Itunes and Walmart have recognized that futility and are abandoning DRM.

I'd be happy if i could just get the tv to work in-world.

Does anyone know why - when properly deeded and all that - the tv won't work? I'm using royalty free movie streams btw.

But it seems to do with Quicktime. I even got Quicktime Pro the paid one. And still - in world video streams, other than SL Tv, won't work.

If anyone knows why, I'd be thrilled to know as well. Thanks.

Tv...yeah....know all about it.

Bought the youtube streaming video TV. All i had to do is paste a youtube url and voila!....done...

Except....that isn't working either, not even on my own land...

It never does.

Unfortunately for you, you found out the hard way regardless how little rl cash was involved. When you're dealing with many of sl's so called "content creators," you best believe they'll beat you in a heart beat even for one linden which doesn't add up to much in rl but for them it soothes their greed.

Petty bunch.

Wow. You just trumped Vlad for the foot in mouth award. Your is in so deep you're sucking in your butt cheek. If you'd bothered to read through the thread you would have seen the OP's response about how the vendor responded in a satisfactory matter. Maybe you were preoccupied with covering your backside over "The Program" going on at your workplace?

Speaking from experience?

Not every content creator in SL is greedy. Ok maybe the majority, but not all!