Secondlifesize linden exchg = ripoff?

Has anyone used http://www.secondlifeize.com/][url=http://www.secondlifeize.com/]http://www.secondlifeize.com/[/url] ?

As a total noob I thought I could get some extra linden early by going through one of these vendors. After not receiving my linden I got online with the customer service and they are giving me the runaround. "we will have your linden in a minute" ... 15 mintues later "it will take some hours" ... 30 minutes later I ask for a refund "hang on for refund email".. then nothing for a long time so I ask what the status is "our manager is out, they need to approve"

Sounds like I got ripped off. Luckily its only about $15 via paypal, but still. I should have known better I guess.

I will request a refund via Paypal and see what happens. Perhaps I shoudl report them to linden, then again what good would that do.

<sigh>

Unfortunately, looks like you're not the only one who's had a similar experience with them:

/327/54/234251/1.html

Crap, wish I'd read here first. They are probably counting on people just shrugging it off because the amounts are small.

I'm reporting a case with Paypal, tho I doubt they can help.

I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around, so they will get theirs - if not in this life the next.

As for me... lesson learned I guess. Then again now I'm going to be double and triple wary of spending $ in SL.

When you travel abroad you can exchange your money in a bank, or you can go with the suspicious looking guy that takes you into a back alley to give you "a great deal" only to rob you blind.

All in all, you didn't even get the worst experience: if you use an untrusted exchange to buy your L$ and LL determines that the L$ you received are fraudulent they'll consider you to be an accessory and take back up to 150% and generally suspend your account.

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/01/02/use-caution-in-dealing-with-third-party-l-sites/

That's the best thing you can do. Paypal is brutal when an account is suspected of fraud. Don't count on getting your money back though. Sorry to hear this happened to you.

As Chip said, you may or may not get your money back. Paypal is touchy when it comes to digital items. If they have had several complaints on the same seller, you more then likely will get your money back.

I sold a character for a popular MMO on ebay for a fair sum. Paypal then froze my account to make sure I wasn't committing fraud. After they spoke to the buyer on the phone to confirm he got said character (they took their sweet time calling him) they did finally release the funds.

With Paypal, it's always 'Hurry up, and wait' if there is ever a problem.

Don't hold your breath re Paypal. Sorry but they are not known for being too helpful in this sort of scenario.

Please report this.

As I posted to the other thread that I wish had stayed open so more people could view it, the wording on their homepage makes it quite obvious to an SL veteran that something is very very wrong. But most newcomers would miss that fact that the site talks about things that have nothing to do with SL: farming, guides, powering up to the next level and gold.

"Farming for Second Life Linden dollars isn't easy, but you can buy cheap SL Linden, guides, accounts & items on sale. We have revolutionized the exchange of money to Second Life L$ with fast instant delivery. Purchase Second Life money online & power up your character ot the next level...Shop now and play as a VIP! Delivery will be made within 10 minutes to 24 hours after payment is confirmed! Most of the times the gold is sent really fast, but in case it takes longer than 24 hours we will send 5% more Linden Dollars as a compensation. "

I have reported this to Paypal and escalated my dispute to a claim in hopes they can at least shut down this individual's account and make it harder to scam others. The amount I lost wasn't a lot and certainly isn't worth a lot of my time, but I don't want to see others fall into the same trap. I will be keeping my eye on their site to see if they change their paypal information and will continue to report them if they continue.

I hope if anyone else lost $ this way they too will report it, even if its a small amount. If we all ignore these types of things they will just continue to take people's money.

The worst thing is that it really makes a noob to SL wary of what else is in store for them, rather than encouraging them to become an active part of the game.

Thanks for listening and understanding. I'm still optimistic that SL will be a fun place to hang out.

Worthy of a mention here also, I purchased about $50 USD worth of L$ from mygamestock.com.. result.... Account Suspended. I called LL they told me I was not the first to purchase from mygamestock.com, and definately not the first to be suspended for it, though i got back my account within hours of calling LL, I was out the L$, and mygamestock.com was very quick to sweep me under the rug, and stop answering phonecalls and emails. BEWARE, buy L$ from Lindex, or SLX or some other well known source that uses LL risk API

This is a good thing to do, but I think what Ray (and myself now) mean by reporting it, is to report it to Linden Lab.

Uses the SUPPORT link at the top of the forums (just under the banner), and then go to "Submit a Ticket". There, follow the drop menues and enter information as best you can (soem are not set well, but pick teh one closest to fraud/scam.

LL cn't get you back your money (that will depend on PP as you said, and not likely), but once LL becomes aware of this (if they aren't already), they should be able to take real world legal action. They may just need enough reports of said fraud. This is treading VERY close to trademark infringement also.

That the word "gold" was in the quote Ray posted from their sight leads me to believe that this was once also a scam in WoW or simular online game where gold was a tradable commodity. They simply found SL and continued the scam here.

~Jessy

Not sure about the legal action. The site is in China, I think. But LL may give a public warning at some point.

Some news. I filed a case with Paypal and noticed right away that the email address they had on file with Paypal was not valid. I figured I'd win my case but not get a refund.

To my surprise this morning I got my money back from the seller.

My concern is that they only did it so they can continue to scam people that are not willing to complain. My guess is most who lose like $4 won't take the time to file a case and let them keep the money.

I will still file a case with LL on it.

Hopefully I've learned my lesson.