I am so frustrated!!

Hey all..

I know I cant really achieve anything from this thread, but I just needed an outlet!

Yesterday I brought some textures and as I was paying the whole of SL flickered and froze for me.. not a problem I thought and patiently waited whilst it corrected itself for me.

Once I was good to go I noticed I had brought the same bundle of textures 3 times..I promise I really did only click once ( I can hear you all saying "yeah yeah" )..

So as shy as I am, I created a notecard to send to the store owner thinking that their IM's will most likely be capped and I named it a "texture question" I explained what had happened, I was really apologetic and gave some info from my transaction history to help them pinpoint what I was talking about and I asked if I could be refunded for the 2 extra bundles, they were full perms so if I am honest I did not quite know if I would get a refund as it was my first ever time in asking, but I had to as I felt a bit stung by SL through no fault of my own or the seller granted

So anyway I had my notecard declined this morning, so I gave it a little while then IM'ed the seller the same info that was on the notecard.. I was just plainly ignored! No response at all! That is what frustrates me! And when I think of the huge amount of lindens I have spent in that store in the past I get so angry!! By checking the transaction history its plain to see that it is a mistake! But even if they responded to say "well they are full perms so nothing I can do, sorry" would be better than just being ignored!

I am just starting out in creating and I would never just ignore someone.. even if I could not help I would never just ignore a customer

I once accidently brought 2 prefabs in the space of seconds and I just ate the cost as I thought it was my mistake for clicking to fast.. lo and behold the seller paid me the price for the 2nd after seeing what had happened a little while later! I was blown away by that customer service and so in return it is the first place I go to when looking for a new build

Thank you for listening, I am lucky that this is my only bad experiance of something like this.. but it does make me think about spending my hard earned money in SL, though I will never spend even 1L$ in that store again thats for sure!

No reply might not mean purposely ignored.

I often log in then go make coffee or something while things are loading, come back and never notice for a while that I have an incoming IM notice. Heck I may have even logged out without noticing.

Send them another IM when they are offline, doesn't it then send a copy to their mailbox?

It may have also been a spouse or someone logged into the character, who had no idea what to say and rather than get involved in something they did not understand, and maybe say the wrong thing, simply didn't reply.

edit: sorry missed the notecard declined, though I also will automatically "discard" incoming notecards if I am doing things if I think it is something from someone selling something, or an automated card.

If you can get it in an email to them somehow, its less likely to get accidently overlooked. Or see if they use the forums and use the IMs here. Outside of game, people are less likely to be careless about reading than if they are ingame and distracted by issues.

If it were me, I would never want to lose a longterm customer who shopped regularly, as not only your return business is at risk, but all of your friends' too.

Hi Tiana! Everyone has been having problems with SL. If your first notecard was declined, it was probably because the person you IMd was in busy mode.

Busy mode declines everything, and you don't even get a notice that something has been declined. (You also don't hear chat, any tps sent will be declined, and so on.)

The odds are very high that the person never knew that you sent a notecard.

Anything could happen that would mean the second notecard was "ignored." For instance, SL could have crashed, which would mean that the card was lost in the pile of notecards in inventory, or just plain lost. Inventory is like that, as you know. Most of us who create content have turned off the automatic preview. (It's very frustrating to be working on something and have a huge picture or notecard suddenly open in your face, blocking your view.)

Personally, and I know that I don't speak for everyone, I hate having people send me notecards. They are so hard to keep track of, and so easy to lose, and if you cannot find them, customers get angry with you.

Which brings me to my real point.

I know a bunch of texture dealers, and none of them would refuse to refund your money, if they noticed what had happened. After all, full perms means that there is no reason in the world for you to have purchased more than one pack.

When I notice that people have purchased multiple copies of copiable items, I always refund their purchase price.

But I don't always notice. When you have hundreds of lines in your Transaction, it's difficult to notice things.

So please, don't be shy. IM the owner of the texture store again. Keep IMing until you get a response. IM one of the store assistants, if there is one listed at the store. Don't assume that the store owner doesn't care. Assume that there is so much going on that she/he hasn't gotten your message, and be persistent.

The odds are extremely high that you'll not only get your money back, but an apology.

Hope this helps!

Thanks all, I guess I am jumping the gun. The thing that made me feel ignored is that I sent the notecard yesterday and SL gave the message that the user was offline and after in world for a while this morning I of all a sudden got a message saying that my notecard had been declined. So I assumed the seller had come online, so I waited a bit then sent an IM, it did not come back as user offline or anything, so then I went touring the Pond.. lol love that harbour bridge! But still no reply to my IM, thats when I could feel my frustration levels rise!

I hate bugging sellers, I just hate it and its the first time I have ever asked, and whilst its not for millions of lindens, it just felt a bit unfair that I had paid 3 times, so unfair to both me and the seller.

I am loathe to im them again, I worry about getting a name as nusiance.. But the other side to that is I am not giving the seller a chance to know there is a problem in case he did not get my IM ir notecard accidently.

Oh I don't know!

IM until you get one that goes through.

Seems on the face of it, you had a bad experience.... glad you felt you could vent on the forums.

However... lessoned learnt... if this happened once to you, surprising it happened yet again.... Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me...

As a seller myself, it is sheer goodwill that a seller would want to compensate every SL issue beyond their control.. especially considering the way that overnight SL can change all your goods to 1L$ and full perms without batting an eyelid... who gets to clean up?... the sellers... who pays for these actions of LL?.. the sellers.

As I deal in Media equipment amongst other things, I check my transaction reports and contact the buyers that dont purchase the full required system to make it work. More often than not, I don't get replies. What I do get is a prolifercation of IM's from customers stating that 'my' system doesn't work... I take time out to go over and check what they have done. 99.9% of the time, they have either installed it in correctly or have not bought the full system and are trying to run it off parts of another system... when I ask "Did you read the instructions?".... 99.9% reply="Instructions?"...

I don't really care that I drop them replacement parts for those they have messed up, and the parts they didn't buy in the first place to get it up and running for them.. but what I do care about is.. my time spent doing it...

I do it simply because I don't want disgruntled customers slagging my company off, simply because they didn't follow the very simple instructions which not only appear in every peice of equipment sold, but is freely given through a NC giver right in front of them.
We even have plans to install a multi language NC giver for all of our equipment to overcome even that. In my experience, the vast majority speak and read very good english anyway.

I have a HUGE sign in the shop stating that they must read the instructions BEFORE making any purchase, they can't miss it, as it sits right over the shelves full of equipment.

It seems that many blame the sellers for any and every issue, perhaps on the basis they believe we all make a fortune and can afford it....

I am not blaming anybody, I have accepted that my attempts at communication may not of got through and I would not slag anyone off, I would of spent the day feeling resentful about it if I had not of come on to the forum because as others have said my tries at contacting may not of got through.

The only ever time this happened to me before when was when I brought a build and I ate the cost and did not bother the seller as I thought it was my own stupid mistake for clicking to fast, but without asking a while later the seller paid me the cost of the 2nd house as they were copyable, I was blown away that they did that, it was not expected at all. Ever since I am very, very careful when clicking.. there was nothing I could do this time, I know I only clicked the once and just as I clicked SL for me went all messy.

I know sellers get a lot of grief and I know they work hard that is why I am loathe to keep sending IM's as I know sellers can be very busy. I don't blame the seller in the slightest its hardly his fault that I paid 3x for a pack of textures, but if he is getting my communication surely its only common courtesy to reply.

There is no guarantee of that anymore. I login regularly to have customers IMs waiting that did not get forwarded while I was offline, and a surprising number of times I have received e-mail from someone that IM'd me while I was online, and had been for 3 hours, but it was never sent to me inworld. Many times they don't get sent to either place I think.

I have started sending 3 times to people that I am trying to reach. Usually about a day apart. Half of the times I get any response it is on the second or third try, and they tell me they never received the first ones. I normal send the follow up message with the explanation that SL is being flaky on messages so I am resending this in case the previous one or two did not get through.

I have added a comment in my profile to send me a repeat or a notecard or both if I do not reply in a reasonable amount of time.

"..and I named it a "texture question"..."

That might be part of the problem. It could be that a texture outlet owner gets a grillion random queries per day about textures in general - and is swamped by incoming.
You have to help them to help you.

State the purpose up front, as the notecard name (on the card and in Inventory) and as the first sentence of an IM. Something like
"I bought 3 copies of the same bundle at your store due to an LL glitch."

Then follow up with the details that will help the store owner to confirm in their logs.
Your name (Yes, repeat it so that all of the required info is in the same unit in front of them)
The location
The bundle name
The Date and time

Break it up like that. Don't just bang it all into a single sentence.
And maybe add the relevant extract from your account transaction log.


Make your communication noticeable and helpful.


At the risk of being broadly offensive, think of your communication as being one of a grillion sperms trying to get to the egg. Ya gotta make it a tough determined one

Most of the time you can tell when somebody makes this mistake. I sell prefabs (VooDoo DESIGNS) and I have had this happen a few times. There has only been one time when I would not refund and thats only because I knew the person was just after some extra stuff.

I know the problem of buying something twice or thrice with a single click. A lot of my customers complain about it recently. Only seems to happen with Linden vendors (unscripted prims set to "sell contents".

Usually, an SL merchant will refund you in this case. I always do, and I found that most other SL businesses are also very customer friendly, so never be shy to ask or complain if something goes wrong
If I happen to see in my transaction history that someone bought a not transferable ware twice, or bought a set and a single item that is part of the set, I refund them unasked. I also replace wares in case of an inventory loss; since I chose an unstable platform like SL to sell my wares, I somehow feel responsible for system failures.

Sadly, what passes for normal customer service in one person will not be the same across the board. Some people care that people have given them their real money ... some are happy to sit and take multiple payment for the same thing.

"So long as it's not my pocket" might be the case here. BUT I must stress, I have been having lots of problems with IMs simply never turning up or turning up out of sync ... and it's caused many problems (thankfully with people who know me well and assume the best not the worst ... they have more sense than I do, I get upset!).

IM them again ... and if you have the information from your SL account transaction history all the better. Once dialogue starts most vendors are helpful.

If not ... well you could always stand outside the shop TP point wearing a titler saying 'OWNER NOT PROVIDING GOOD SERVICE' you will get banned from there - but if you are so unhappy with the service you ain't going back anyway are you?

I will vouch for this. I bought a skin for someone once, and she gave me a free ... attachment ... for him

regarding the declined notecard...


i decline ANYTHING unsolicited. if you are a stranger, you have to IM me and tell me you are sending something first, or i will decline it. standard policy.

they can't read the notecard if they don't open it, and they can't open it if they don't keep it. so they have no idea wut's inside your notecard in this case.

i hope it's now being worked out.

The "bad experience" took place between your client software and Linden Lab's servers. It has nothing to do with the merchant. If I'm in a diner and they serve me cold eggs I don't drive out to the countryside and shoot the egg farmer.

Yeesh.

I don't blame the seller one little bit for my having paid 3x, I never said I did. I was concerned at not receiving a reply to notecards or an IM. I have since sent more IM's after reading all the fantastic advice here. But still no reply, though they seem online.

Thank you everyone for all your input, there was lots of valid reasons that was explained to me as to why this may have happened regarding the no replies and I am going to believe that its a mess up with the communication system, I am sure no one would purposely ignore someone in this way.

Thank you all so much again

Glad you posted this. It has been happening to me. I will get an IM in my email that never shows up inword or the reverse. It has me worried because what I do is time sensitive.

I ended up missing the Support Portal meeting because of it. BTW whatever happened at that meeting?

Elex, you are so funny. Cold eggs is not a shooting offense!

You've decided to never spend Linden dollars with a merchant who had nothing to do with the crash of your client software. Sounds to me like you're blaming the seller:



Yes, in the event of a crash of the client software or if one has spastically clicked their mouse it's the merchant's fault. They should be punished for that.

*rolls his eyes*

Residents are under no obligation to reply to IMs or accept offers of inventory whether business has been conducted or not. After having stated you wish to no longer do business with them for an error they had nothing to do with they're under no obligation to service you. You place too high a value on your custom with this merchant... so... how much did you spend?

I still think underneath all that is an actual human being. Underneath that....Parking probably.

The owner probably never got info and was in busy mode. Don't worry about bugging the proprietor, that's part of the responsibilty of owning a business. I'm sure they won't mind and will be more than happy to make things right. On the few occasions that I've get IMs from customers, I try to get back to them within the hour of my log-in, but sometimes can't (ie. just logged in to pay rents and have to run). I usually include something extra (little gifty) because if someone does me the service of telling me an item isn't tranferring propperly or is beiing sold for $L10 (hate prim drift!), I want to be sure to show mt appreciation as well as concern for the frustration that they may have experienced. Good luck, but for the most part, I'm hoping you don't need it. Most peeps I've come across are usually pretty above board.

Maybe not if they're hardboiled or served in a Spanish style tortilla. I tend to dissagree in most other cases though (depends on intensity of hangover I guess). lol

Actually, I hate eggs.

I was not slamming the seller one little bit over the fact that I had paid 3 x. How could that be the sellers fault? they were not sat behind my monitor making the purchase.

I was frustrated and what I perceived to be lack of customer service which yes would make me very wary of spending anymore money in that particular store. I was feeling as if now they had my money they did not care. Though as has been pointed out to me it could be a case of messed up communication and I have taken that on board.

Eggs are ok... but sheesh green ham... now thats bad!