I am so frustrated!!

A seller (or maker) of goods and services only has to provide customer service up to the point in which they no longer derive value (profit) from the amount paid. It's part of the reason why I asked, "How much did you pay?" I'm trying to get a feel for whether or not this is a situation of insisting on US$1-million worth of customer service for the L$10 (US$3-cents) pack of textures.

According to the Terms of Service the merchant is not required to make a full or partial refund, accept returned merchandise, nor replace lost inventory. Nor are the Lindens obligated to resolve such disputes.

*looks up* Mass chaos, and a major agreement that communications suck. But mostly mass chaos and a restart of the sim we were in. It was good times!

I do understand what you are saying. I don't want to give the exact amount I paid that day as I don't really want to give away what store this was in case it is all a case of mixed up communication and me naming the store would be very unfair in that case.

On this day in particular I paid just over and around 1000l including the mistake that happened, In that store in total I have spent nearly 9000L$. I know its not millions but I was a repeat buyer and in truth I hope to be still. Though I am sorry if it makes me wrong to say but if I don't even get a reply at all ever then I will not use that store again. Even if they don't feel they should refund me it would be nice to hear that from them. I am a reasonable person, seriously I don't make a habit of bugging sellers, I read the forums and know that a lot of sellers do put up with a lot in regards to customers blaming them for mistakes in SL. So in the lack of communication I am going to give the benefit of the doubt

ffs elex is it really that complex? or are you simply trying to be argumentative?
nobody is blaming the seller for the initial problem. the buyer is feeling a bit down as a result of appearent lack of followup to multiple customer service queries. it is entirely possible that the seller IS intentionally ignoring the ims and ncs afterall.
the fact that you find it necessary to talk down and regurgitate the tos and recite reasons why sellers arent legally (fuck morally hey) required to do this and that REALLY makes me hesitant about any dealings with you.

L$1000 is equivalent to US$3.75 (which is equivalent to two doublecheeseburgers and a medium fry off of the dollar menu at McDonald's).

You are out the cost of lunch. Oh noes.

Yes, you're a "reasonable person" and you "don't make a habit of bugging sellers":

I simply find the OP's reasoning faulty. There was no reason to post a venting thread over this.

They lost their "lunch money."

Having lost their lunch money the world doesn't need to stop.

After someone loses their lunch money we don't have to hug them.

I don't understand why you are being like this, I don't think I have done anything wrong. Maybe its just the way I am, but I have always believed manners and courtesy cost nothing and are always a good thing to be armed with. I am willing to accept that this seller is not getting my attempts at communicating, but if they are and I am not the only person this may have happened to at that store then that could make for a lot of cheeseburgers, so in future they won't be getting lunch on me

This snotty little troll is getting as annoying as Jumpman was. I suggest we stop feeding it.

You're claiming a right of customer service which, according to the Terms of Service (Section 5.1), no such right exists.

Also, you took to the forums over a situation in which you've given almost no time for the merchant to respond. Has it been more than 72-hours?

--
2:13pm: Merchant hasn't responded to my 32nd IM
2:14pm: Merchant is online and appears to be eating tasty fries
2:15pm: Merchant hasn't responded to my 53rd IM
2:16pm: Merchant has taken a bite of an unmarked cheeseburger
2:17pm: Merchant hasn't responded to my 78th IM
--

Is it important to all of us to know everytime and every detail when things go south? Is important to us to know you either will or won't be dealing with this person again?

Since it was only the 'cost of lunch' why is it such a huge thing to think that a merchant, who wants to keep a repeat customer and good name to them and their friends, wouldnt have an issue refunding that amount now would they? Simply because they should have been paid 1 lunch money amount, not 3...Oh Noes, to make sure their customers are happy they would have to pay back 2 lunches...or at least communicate.

With the way this game works now a days (plz read that as *doesnt work*) customer service may be the one thing that keeps, or pushes away customers. I certainly wouldnt return to a shop where the Merchant has 0 communication with their customers...after all, it *IS* their customers that are paying for lunch.

Do they *have* to? No. Would it be *smart* if they did? Well, lets see, this one particular customer has spent 9k there over time, now will more than likely not return. 9k sellable to lindex = +$31....over time, who knows what she might have spent or those she might have referd spent. Now see, they lost a tidy sum...all over lunch.

I sent one notecard yesterday when it happened, the user was offline, it was declined this morning so I sent an IM explaining as much as I could. Then after taking on board the advice that was helpful here, I sent another IM this afternoon and all were very polite and apologetic. Going by your numbers I am not bugging them nearly enough!

I think its best we agree to disagree we obviously have completely different views on what is considered good manners and right.

Thank you everyone for your input

About as important as it is for you to answer every post in this forum with a rude, nasty, dismissive, and sometimes admittedly witty remark that is beginning to annoy even ME.

None of us can predict the future nor the level of future custom. Note that the merchandise was delivered. It was not an instance of non-delivery. It was an instance of three copies being purchased. For all we know the merchant has made it clear on a sign in the shop that there are no refunds. For all we know the merchant has no sign and makes no refunds.

The fundamental purpose of the thread is to vent, and seek sympathy, neither of which will create a shower of L$1,000, bonus coins, rainbows, hugs, and mushrooms.

Money was paid and the merchandise was delivered. The crash of the client software originated on the user's end or Linden Lab's end. The merchant is under no obligation to clear the debris and return money for the merchandise that was paid for and delivered.

Ignore the "cost of lunch" thing, the amount of money is really not the point here, the respect a person deserves should have nothing to do with amounts of money.

With multiple buys of the same full perms item its pretty plain, if its a copiable item then there is no reason the buyer would have done that intentionally.

There is another possibility with the declined note Im not sure was mentioned:

Notes now pop up a blue box to ask if you will accept, its very easy for that box to be covered by a sale of an item on the sellers screen, he/she may have logged out without ever seeing the offer, Im presuming if you log without accepting it auto-declines it so the person may not have intentionally declined.

I think it wont be long until there is screaming about how messages all come up in the same place, including TPs and scripted objects asking if they can debit your account, because the "teleport" and "yes" buttons are in the same place as the "ok" button on an item sale or bit of information, its easy to be clicking them away and authorise something you didnt want to.

All true, yet a bit of service does wonders for your business and those refunded or helped will only advertise your business. Going by the book isn't always the answer.

Mandy C

I don't see it as that - I think it was a request for a third party opinion on what has happened and hope to glean some advice from the rest of us...



You are quite right. The merchant is under no obligation. However....

If I personally purchased, or was considering a pruchase, from a merchant and send an IM with a reasonable question or request, I would expect a timely response from them. By timely, I would expect this within 24 hours, as long as they have been seen to be online.

If I did not get a response, or not the response I would have liked, I would take current or future business elswhere. There are a LOT of merchants in SL, and generally you can find a similar item from someone who DOES want my L$'s and value my custom.

An example of this is a while ago, I bought an item from a merchant. It was am object with a script what would listen for a specific command from me before working. After buying the item, I installed it and it in theory worked fine. The only problem was that everytime a chatted within 20m of it, it IM'd me back sating it did not recognise the command. I IM'd the owner of the store about this problem, and as the creator of the object asked if he could fix the bug, or at least change the channel number it listened to. I got no reply - so I whet down to the store. It was amazing, as soon as he saw me arrive, I got an instant reply to my IM - no doubt to stop me talking about the bug in the chat window in front of his other customers. He replied that there was nothing that he could do, and it was how it should work. I learned a valuable lesson in that a) to solve the problem, I have had to "mute" the device and b) He has not got any further L$ from me because I have lost faith in his products and backup service.

On the flip side, the vast majority of people I have purchased from have all been very easy to contact and eager to please with backup service.

My advice to Tiana would be to pop back to the store when you think they are online and try to chat face to face, in the chat window and not by IM - it's harder for them to ignore you then, especially if there are other customers in the shop. Be careful not to slag the owner or be abusive, just state the facts and ask if she is willing to help you.

Gomez

The expectation is that after things went kablooey between the OP's client software and Linden Lab's server the merchant has an obligation to make things right. If the OP should be mad at anyone then it should be at Linden Lab. Note that the Terms of Service preclude "unmistaking" this sort of error.

If the merchant wishes to maintain goodwill, they can, but they did not cause the problem. And they are under no obligation to so.

I also think it's a mistake to take it out on the merchant when the mistake and/or error was on the part of Linden Lab and/or the OP.

--
"I won't eat at your diner ever again!"

"Err... why not?"

"Because I had a car accident in front of it"
--

I dont know why you keep replying or even reading the thread when you are obviously not *reading*. I think everyone agrees they are under no obligation to refund the money...I would be more upset about the lack of response or customer service. You can go on and on about this, but to be honest...if I purchase, say, a sofa in a RL store and they deliver and charge me for 3, I dont care who is at fault, I will try and contact the store owner. It may have been the fault of 20 different places between my order and delivery/charges, but the contact is still the owner. See how RL situations and SL situations like this arent comarable to each other? Its not really comparable to the examples you toss up, but do keep going, its amusing to watch you argue with everyone on points they have already agreed with lol

So true!

Mandy C

*sighs*

It wasn't the merchant's fault... they have no obligation to provide customer service for this scenario... the merchandise was paid for... the merchandise was delivered... it's not the merchant's fault if the mousey attached to the computery got clickety-clicketied three-times.

The OP has no expectation of customer service as...

It wasn't the merchant's fault... they have no obligation to provide customer service for this scenario... the merchandise was paid for... the merchandise was delivered... it's not the merchant's fault if the mousey attached to the computery got clickety-clicketied three-times.

If the OP doesn't get the positive outcome for the customer service they shouldn't expect it's because...

It wasn't the merchant's fault... they have no obligation to provide customer service for this scenario... the merchandise was paid for... the merchandise was delivered... it's not the merchant's fault if the mousey attached to the computery got clickety-clicketied three-times.

are you retarded?

Aww, you seem so tired and upset about this, even though its not as if the person is IMing or expecting anything from you. Its hard when so many dont see things your way, but, we are not obligated to.

*sighs*

No one said it was their fault...no one said they were obligated...no one said they *had to*. I am curious as to why you are so hell bent on being the one to decide what is or is not obligated for customer service? Who died and made you the customer? If someone purchases something from someone, you have a customer and a merchant. What *that* customer feels they need in service (in this case, a simple "Im sorry, I do not offer refunds due to LL's issues" would have more than likely solved the entire problem) is going to be entirely different than what *you* feel they might need...but you are neither the customer, or merchant. Everyone that comes through here is entitled to give their opinion about it, but you are laying out a dead set *this is the law of merchants* kind of attitude. *shrugs* Doesnt seem to be getting very far though.

I, personally, think that a merchant should communicate but...again...they have chosen not to take care of a customer and probably have lost one, if not more (from word of mouth) so that is their choice. Again, you are arguing points people agreed with, because you dont agree with the other points that were made or you like to just argue. In which case it doesnt warrent a reply anyway.

No one said it was their fault...no one said they were obligated...

If I found this person's business, I would never shop there. Every store in my hometown is run by someone who understands business and customer service better. This sounds like someone who hires more lawyers than customer service reps, and assumes every customer who walks in his door is there just to cheat him.

OK Elex, Imagine this RL scenario....

You are out shopping in RL and you urgently need the toilet/bathroom. You go into a department store and approach the customer service counter...

You say "Excuse me, is it ok to use your toilet/bathroom?"

Do you expect the person behind the counter to:

1) Stare at you blankly for several minutes with no response
2) Say "Yes, of course - they are just over there"
3) Say "Sorry Sir, they are for customer use only".

If you have chosen 2 or 3, this is exactly what the OP is asking for - a response! If you chose 1 - then you really need to go think about it again...

The department store is under no obligation to let you use the toilet/bathroom - but the VERY LEAST you should expect is a response to the question.

Gomez