How do you feel about replacing lost items?

Haven't had anyone be that rude yet but my response then would be oh well sorry. However I have gladly adjusted a prim skirt a few times because it just didn't quite fit someone's derriere.

I've been having quite a bit of these issues of late. Mine are usually in two different forms. The first is someone contacts me because they've lost their AO device. This happens quite a bit more then people would think. With that one I sent her the poses without even checking and changed all mine to copy/no transfer. Since then I've still gotton a lot of people with the same issue, and kindly reminded them that there should be another copy in the animations folder.

I have quite a few vendors rezed in various places around SL. There is one in only one location that seems to not like to give the item after purchasing. It says it does, but it actually doesn't. I've deleted the thing and rezed a new one many times. With this, I've always replaced them as soon as I can get online.

I've lost inventory items quite a bit more then I'd like. The first time was within my first month of SL. Some were helpful, but many were not. Because of that, I've keept records of all sales since I started selling things in July '04.

*makes list of sellers to "lose items from*

Most things I sell are copy/no-trans, and I would have no hesitation in replacing them. For a trans/no-copy item, the answer is "depends, but probably yes especially if there were SL issues at the time."

Actually, I am the one who lost items and am hesitant to go begging for another. I personally would replace an item if a customer claimed it had poofed.

And I think a forum post is a GREAT way to get feedback and see how people feel about this type of situation.

G'morning Nyx
I would usually replace the item if I can prove they purchased it and if isn't someone that has made a habit of asking for replacements... being in Live Help, I am aware that it is a known issue that residents are losing items from thier inventory for some unknown reason, but I would also reccomend sending them to Live Help first... often times they can follow a few steps to recover the "missing item".

It depends heavily on the customers story.

Many times all I've needed to do is suggest ways to search their inventory for the item and it will turn up either in Lost & Found or dragged into some sub-folder.

If I can validate the transaction, then I am happy to replace the item. On a few of the very high price items which are transferrable, I will do a bit more digging and perhaps offer them a different option, like 50% discount. This depends on a number of individual factors and I judge each on a case-by-case basis.

But I love the clothes I bought from Preen. Especially the Moshies -- just perfect when I'm in a punk rock girl mood.

I had that happen the other day for the first time... someone ARed a customer of mine because they thought my "Particle Recycler" was part of a grid crasher and the Lindens took it from them (inventory and all).

I gave 'em another copy, no problem. Unless this was happening all the time and it was obviously someone trying to rip me off, I can't imagine telling a customer "no".

Haven't had that happen yet in-world, but I've had people tell me that CDs I'd sent them were bad, or lost in the mail. I asked them to send it back (if they have it) or give me their address again and send it back if it turns up (if they don't) and send them another one immediately. If they didn't want it, couldn't get it to work, or whatever, I refund them.

If I get a CD back (which usually happens) I check to see if it had a problem I can avoid and toss it.

If it was something that cost me anything near purchase price to send, that would be different, but for software on CDs or any SL content... I don't see why not, even if it's no-transfer (so I can't verify they got rid of the original) so long as it's not common.

Well the general rule is, people hate Aimee until they actually MEET Aimee.

Within reason, Mash and I try to have a no quibble guarantee. Unless we really feel someone is taking advantage or a *repeat* item loser we will certainly replace things.

Customer service is important, whether RL or SL. We would like the same courtesies extended to us !

Regards, Baccara

What about people who hated Aimee before they met her and after they met her?

*gets back to designing an Aimee voodoo doll that generates random "I hate you, I hate you!" IMs when it is pricked*

I'll replace any item. Yes, someone could scam off of me.... whooptee do. For the whole one or two dollars they'd save by scamming me, my honest customers will appreciate my customer service and probably patronize my shop more. Of course, if someone messages me and says they bought something, but could I please change the angle of the arm, I'll go re-upload a version for them. So I tend to go a bit beyond for most of my customers in other ways too.

This is the same reason that so many shops irl will take an exchange or a return, even when it's obviously been used or no longer fits the return requirements, just to keep the customer happy.

How could anyone hate someone who wears flapping blue wings and giggles so charmingly? *scratches head*

I'd like to ask the original question the other way -- how many customers will just repurchase lost items rather than try to contact the seller?

I have had problems with expensive items maybe 3 times in the year I've been in SL, and on another occasion helped a newbie who didn't get a purchased item placed in their inventory. In every case the merchant was very responsive and replaced the items without a problem.

But there have been a number of other cases where items have just vanished from inventory (for example, the left shoe of a 2-shoe set) or weren't expensive and didn't deliver. I simply repurchased them and went on, not thinking it was worth bothering the merchant. Customer IMs and notecards probably inundate them enough the way it is, and I tip DJs more than the $50 to $200L it costs me to replace the smaller stuff.

Sensual- you mentioned there are steps you can take to possibly turn up your lost inventory items, could you explain those here?

I have had good experiences from every vendor I've purchased from. Altho there is one seller I no longer purchase from because of the bad customer service I heard about.

I remember a few months back when the vendors were having a problem where you would buy something, it would take your money but never give you the item after contacting the vendor they came over investigated the problem and promptly gave me the items I never received. *huggles Munchflower*

Also quite recently (within the last 2 weeks) the same thing happened both my partner and I purchased several items from a vendor and never received them,the seller came over investigated and gave us new items. In the second case I received them hours later and tried to pay her but she wouldn't let me and returned my second payment. *huggles Zoe*

And last but not least have purchased from SLB and had a vendor glitch, never received it again the vendor replaced it. *huggles Arbel*

Altho it does sound like I've had alot of vendor issues, considering the time I've been in SL 9/04 and the amount I shop (waaaay to dang much) I think it's negligible. All of the above mentioned sellers have a customer for life and one who recommends them to my friends.

Not being a seller (yet) I would gladly replace lost items without question, it's not the good press you get that really affects your business but the bad... for every one happy customer you have they may tell their friends...for every unhappy customer you can be sure they will tell their friends.

*huggles*

Ash

Sticking my .02L in here, these are my own steps:

* Enter a keyword in the inventory search field at the top. For example if I've purchased jewelry from RH Designs, I might enter "RH", or if it's clothing from Nomine I'll enter "Nomine". The shorter the entry the more items you'll find. Check all results closely to make sure the item wasn't placed in an oddly named newly created folder, or as an Object somewhere that needs to be unpacked.

* Check Trash and Lost & Found folders in case the items were deleted or misplaced.

* Relog in case the items really are in my inventory but the asset server hasn't updated me yet. I usually do this last, and only after about 30 minutes of looking in order to give the item/s time to rez in inventory. Once in a while, relogging will fix the problem.

Only after those steps do I officially claim the items gone.

Haha, I remember when I was in the game sims, and she was talking to RacerX. I was about a 1/2 sim away from her and somehow I could still hear that darn laugh. If you ask me, laughs with sounds are kind of creepy. I once met this full grown woman who had a baby's laugh, I thought that was odd until I heard other baby sounds coming from her! I had to take a break from SL after that experience.

Good question, that's pretty much what I was thinking espacially since said items are transferable



Again pretty much what I was thinking

We went into vended avatars knowing (especially for attachments at the time) it was very possible and entirely likely they could get permanently broken on sim crossings, etc... Also we wanted to foster a modification community and we couldn't really allow mods on items that could not be copied (waaaaaaaay to easy to break them).

So from the very get-go every luskwood avatar sold has come with lifetime support/replacement. We go to some pretty long lengths to ensure people who have problems with our avatars can come through the other side happy and with a shiny new avatar.

We haven't had a 100% sucess rate in alleviating all concerns but if you consider we've only really had i would say 3-4 people whom we could not make happy no matter what we did, >99.99% isn't too bad.

selling copy+no transfer, and having an extensive offsite database of our sales has really freed us to pretty much just drop new copies of avs on anyone with problems. The only 'tricky' issue that comes up sometimes is people exchanging accounts, aka dropping off one account entirely, deleting it, and creating a new one, as this gets potentially difficult to track.

To get around that we have a system whereby we must be notified from *BOTH* accounts, prior to any deletion that this is happening, and then, once the older account is permanently removed from SL, we can transfer those items sold to the new one.

Sure, these are the few that I know of,
Clear Cahce and relog
Reinstall SL
Using the find search along with the filters, object if object, clothing if clothing etc
check trash
check lost and found



I would be careful of what you "hear" about unless it is from a reliable source, I have a decent amount of patience when it comes to customer service, but from time to time there is just people in this world you can't please and they become irrate and seek revenge by smearing your name in the mud...

We've had people IM us with: "I've lost my av head, can I buy just another head?" -- Kinda always found that strange. We always replace lost or missing items.

Sorta thought that was SOP, but I hear more and more that folks charge for replacements.

Yeah actually to go one step further, when people do buy a replacement for an avatar we would have gladly re-sent them for free we generally will offer them a credit towards any other avatar they like. Since the item was vended with copy permission, honestly if someone pays us twice for one, we do feel somewhat indebted to them and that we should provide them something else now for their money that they should not have given us.

You are absolutely right Sensual. I do keep that in mind *hugs*

Thanks for the info regarding finding lost items, did all that except the reinstall...some items just have never come back....altho my ducks came home (flew south for the winter?) after 2 months being missing *laughs*

Overall I think most people are honest wonderful people to deal with.

*huggles*

Ash

I keep accurate records of who has purchased items from me, on what date, and how much they spent. It's easy for me to verify that they bought something from me. Those records go back to a time when the most expensive item I sold was a L$30 T-shirt. My most recent projects are whole-sim builds. I keep archive copies of all my merchandise and all important structures, so they can be readily replaced.

If a customer of mine wants content replaced, I'll do it, no questions asked. I consider that part of giving good customer service. Yes, someone might 'take advantage of me' by asking me to replace something that they didn't really lose, or by asking for a different item that the one they purchased. But the few who would do that are no reason I should penalize the rest of my loyal customers.

I had a customer once whose skirt texture corrupted in their inventory. They bought another copy of the same dress, but the UUID info in their inventory for that skirt texture was still screwed. I refunded the purchase of the duplicate dress, and reloaded the texture from my master images, to give it a new UUID, so I could make her a replacement skirt that would work for her.

I have lost things myself, and have been grateful to merchants who were willing to replace the lost items. When you stop to think about it, the value of a happy customer far outweighs any losses one might incur from responding positively to requests to replace lost content.

I remember when i was a newb and i bought a luskwood avatar. was a grey kitty. Way back in 2004. Well i always had this shyness that prevented me from starting a conversation unless spoken to. One day my previous SL partner took me to a damage enabled parcel and i died. It totally messed up the avatar (it did that back then) and i cried so hard. I didn't know Luskwood had a replacement policy so i bought a new one. Anyway you live and learn i guess. It was almost a year later when the cat 2.0 av came out that i learned about this.