Why is Lee Linden refusing to help customers?

I am sure this thread will be closed, but I'm going to speak out about this anyway. Fresh off of this wonderful thread:

/108/73/96060/1.html

...where the ever helpful Lee Linden told a customer that he could not be helped because it had been more that 48 hour hours (while the customer tried all weekend to receive help), only to have the Lindens fall all over themselves to help the customer after there was negative attention, comes another situation of Lee telling a customer they can't be helped, only to be helped by someone else.

A friend of mine asked me to post this for her. She was originally a beta user, and had recently returned to SL and wanted to see if it was possible to get her name back, which had a January 2003 birthdate on it. She was told by a Linden to contact support and they would be able to help her, so she did. She called LL and Lee answered the phone. She explained the situation to him - that she was able to sign into the account on the web site and update all of her information, but the status was listed as defunct. She wasn't concerned about getting anything back but the name, and wanted to know what she needed to do.

She was on the phone with Lee for less than a minute and a half. He immediately told her it was not possible to get the account back under any circumstances - that if she had not renewed after beta, the accounts were purged and could never be recovered. When she said that another (specific) Linden had told her they could be, he told her that Linden was just an artist and did not know what he was talking about. That was it, case closed.

She gave up on it , until she told someone else about her experience and they suggested that she again contact LL because what Lee said was not true - others had gotten their accounts restored. She called back support, explained the situation to Liana (sp?) Linden, and in under 5 minutes, she had her account back.

Why do we as customers have to jump through hoops and hope we get someone in support who will actually help us in some sort of fucked up Russian Roulette game of maybe or maybe not getting help? My experiences have been equally poor. When I contacted technical support after my house (which was set to group) started returning to me after a griefer dumped hundreds of prims on my land, I received a lecture from Lee on how group land works and was told I could not be helped. When an update to the grid destroyed a waterfall that had been there for more than a year, I was told nothing could be done and the grid could not be rolled back, even though I own all the land in the sim. I know all kinds of people who have had similar experiences.

I know Linden Lab is experiencing explosive growth, but there is zero excuse for such poor customer service. If Lee does not want to help customers, he should not be in support, period. How many complaints about one person does it take to recognize there is a problem?

I have heard innumerable stories about just this sort of jackassery at the hands of a particular LL representative.

Linden Lab is pretty good at the vision thing, but they've been sucking at the essentials for awhile. This is just another example.

From what I understand, the person that had this experience was very discouraged by it and was actually AFRAID to call in again for fear that Lee would tell others not to give it back to her. That is not the proper way to treat customers. Also, why would he insult one of his own teammates?

cris, the link doesnt seem to be working. its sending me back to the main page of general. am i broken, or is it?

I fixed it, sorry about that lol.

Coz he's a prick?

Oh sorry that was a rhetoric question wasn't it

While I may known the person in question and may have been the person suggesting to "ask another Linden", in the interest of a more well-rounded criticism, my dealing with him on the phone went prettywell.

I was fuming mad about the land scanner situation about a year ago, Lee was calm and was able to articulate *why* things were the way they were, not simply "no".

Yeah, but if he's just snapping "no, it can't be done, bye", but if five minutes later you call back and get a different Linden, and not only is it possible, but it's done in five more minutes.... he's not doing his job. At all.

If he's snapping that bad at customers over things that very obviously are possible (and have been done), maybe you guys should move him elsewhere.

In more general terms, I would say that the support is patchy to say the least. The biggest difficulty I think is where the customer is dependent on technical information or action from LL.

My SL partner reported a problem with using radios and with me changing the Music URL on his land in November 2005. Richard Linden came to see - I even have a dated picture of him with a radio on his head. The initial investigation didn't track the problem down.

I chased the problem up a few weeks later, having heard nothing, and was told they were still working on it.

My SL partner had requested Numbakulla to be transferred to him, and nothing happened about that, so we contacted support to find out what was going on. We were told that there were no outstanding jobs, and that therefore we couldn't have confirmed in a timely manner that the transfer was to go ahead. But...but...no one had contacted us for confirmation...so...?

In an IM to the concierge staff, I chased up both the transfer and the Radio issue, only to be told that my SL partner must confirm all the details in an email to LL. The transfer of Numba then happened very quickly, but no one has (thus far) come back on the radio thing, which still seems to be borked.

My problems with support are three fold:
*It is very confusing to know when it is appropriate to IM a Linden, when it is appropriate to ask Live Help, when it is appropriate to email concierge staff, and when they will only act on the landowner's email, not an email from the group. Some clarity about what sort of problem should be directed where would be good...I get the feeling that the only safe way is to email, and email from the landowner.

*Reporting a problem once should be enough, the problem should be actioned and a response given. It should not be necessary to chase and chase and chase for an answer, and then to report it all over again. If getting a bunch of Lindens investigating a problem on your land does not qualify as "reporting" then say so - though I feel it should....

*Feedback is critical to making the resident feel that someone is taking their problem seriously. The problem may be insoluble...then say so. The problem may be in among the bugs and problems waiting for a Linden to deal with them...then give a rough timescale, and follow up. When Numbakulla was experiencing constant crashes, I resorted to posting on the answers forum because I just didn't know what else to do. If someone had told me what I was told in a thread recently, that it was probably a combination of build and bug, rather than blaming it on the build, then I'd have understood better, but I felt like I was excavating my way to the answers and the right person by chipping away a mountain with a teaspoon.

I like the idea that Lindens are not clones and have their own interests and are allowed to pursue them. Customer information, help with practical things, friendly and polite Lindens in world - they're all generally good.

But customer support when there is a technical issue which requires help from LL to solve it is poor.
Cali

Lee isn't exactly a great customer service kinda guy. I had a few dealings with him about private sim issues and he was short and a bit cranky. And, as was shown on a previous thread about private sim performance, he wasn't axactly on the mark or overly truthful.

I think he juggles alot of stuff, but he should remember that it is all about customer service. Without customers, you aren't gonna go very far.

Now I know this is not true! LLabs can bring the account back to life. I have a friend had had here beta avie names reborn. This is just another fact its whos ass you kiss that gets you the levels or favors needed by LLabs.I hope your friend gets her account back!
Gesh chirst!!!!!! why is there so much of this ass kissing going on in LLabs these days!

'Cause they got 11mil investment and don't need happy customers for another year or two

Lee helps customers?

I thought he was the in-house hardass, sent in to deal with hardasses.

I'd do that job. I'd be damn good at it too.

Having trained some people doing customer support (mercifully not for very long) the things you try to get them to avoid are:

Ignorance
Indolence
Indifference
Incompetence
Idiocy

(you can tell there's a snappy mantra about the 5 I's can't you!)

I won't comment about Lee in particular - but some of the things to remember are that the customers don't usually mind if you say "I don't know, but I'll pass you on to someone that does" - and it looks a damn sight more professional than having them ring someone else and have it done easily.

Not being indifferent is not the same as gushing insincerely. I don't need customer support to be my "new bes' mate" I want them to do their job. I DO want them to listen, understand and be polite. I (more or less often) may also need them to calm me down. I'm (almost) always prepared to answer more questions about my problem as long as they're sensible and make it look like they're making progress - having the problem solved makes it more likely I'll be willing to answer questions next time too. I've used "I" in there because it's not universal, but most people react the same.

Ruling out the last two - good recruitment and sensible HR policies. If they're useless and you missed it at interview, fire them. People have bad days, even bad weeks, but somewhere you've got to draw the line and show them the door. If you keep missing bad eggs at the interview stage and having to fire people, review your recruitment procedures.

Just my tuppence worth.

I raised an issue at the beginning of January. I have sent countless emails since, to three different members of staff. Three and a half months later, the only replies I have had are ones telling me I will get a reply at some point. I've given up tbh.

Like any company, some staff are really helpful, some are far from it. The biggest problem, however, is no one is available to answer questions that require someone in authority to answer. Those who are willing to help are not in a position to answer, those in a position to answer are not willing to help.

Not hardass its JELLOASS

People invest large sums of money into projects that rely on this company's professional support. Jarod says it's a con job; but they must be doing something right for people to invest large sums of money into projects that rely on this company's professional support.

Gah!!! *bangs head on desk* I have even asked for an old account of mine to be reopened when I was out there at LL in California.

There is a chance that they changed their policy on this issue. But I know this person did reopen her old account. ANyways whats the big deal in open pasted accounts as long as they are in go standing.

When I emailed support awhile ago about reopening an old account, I was told it couldn't be done. Now I hear that it can be done.. I may try again

I personally have gotten my beta name back. It took them all of 5 minutes to do so. I've also had a couple of very unhelpful encounters with the particular LL employee stated and have nothing positive to say about his customer service skills. Perhaps they should take him off of customer service support and simply allow him to do whatever else it is he does without direct interaction with customers.

I gets a little frustrating when one Linden tells you it can't be done, another one tells you it can, and another big Linden tells you to just send her an email. When all is said and done, nothing happens and you hear nothing back. You know it is possible for them to do it.

Heck, I will even pay a fee to get the account pack. Say the annual price for a premium account. I just don't really want to create a new account (which I may be at my limit I think) and reset my born date. I know, a vanity thing.

There are always two sides to every story. Nevertheless, I can appreciate that if a customer feels they have been treated poorly that we want to address it.

I'll be looking into this further. In the meantime, I'm going to close the thread because I think the point has been made.