Why was my account disabled and why don't they tell why?

About July 19 my account in SL was disabled, after having been around for a year or so (note to Linden in case they read this: I just set this account up to be able to communicate as I've been banned from the forums too. I will terminate this as soon as this matter comes to an end somehow).

I am absolutely positive I did nothing against the TOS, never bought Lindens elsewhere than from Linden themselves, did not harm or annoy anybody. I received no warning and no communication from Linden. I just came home, found I was disabled and that was it.

I filed what they call a support ticket on July 20th. It is now the 24th and noone has bothered just to indicate what the problem might be, let alone provided any solution. I'd be happy just to know that a live person was currently looking after it.

I cannot afford overseas calls just to be put on hold indefinately.

No idea if someone in charge ever reads this, guess I'll know when they shut down this account too before I can cancel it again.

My current impression is that at a certain point companies become so huge that they do not have to care for the individual customer any more.

Why am I actually writing this? No idea. Maybe it's the faint hope that someone at least checks forum entries for abusive messages and reads it... any comments from more experienced users wpuld be welcome too.

Unfortunately, no one here can fix it for you. This is a Resident's forum, and the Linden Lab employees rarely read or respond to what is here. Raising a support ticket is the only way to get it fixed.

I realize and don't seriously expect that. It's just the only way to express myself, as I've been cut off from all other communication channels. I'd just like to know other people's thoughts. I don't think they just fire people at random though it's easy to get that impression right now. Maybe someone here has had similar experience and could help to shed some light on this.

I doubt seriously that it's as personal as all that. Could just be a simple screw up. But you may indeed have to place that call. If you were a premium member, you could also get into live chat, but I take it that you aren't? If so, a phone call and/or a ticket are your alternatives I'm afraid.

Have you looked into Skype? That is what a lot of folks from Europe use to call LL.

If that does not work, submit a new ticket each day until you get a response.

As you guessed I am not, and given the current situation I am very able to resist the temptation to upgrade.

Ceera is right. I had my account disabled too, and the only notification is the message at login that the account is disabled. In my case, I found out when I called that there had been an irregularity in the IP address very close to a time I made a Linden purchase. My account was disabled in case it had been hacked, to prevent someone using my credit information fraudulently. There was no question of a violation of the TOS or anything like that. Yes, I was put on hold when I called, but not for any more time than I am when I have to call any utility company or airline. The staff who deal with these issues are not the same as those who deal with support tickets, so a support ticket probably won't help. I'm afraid that, as far as I know, your only option is to call.

Check your junk/spam email folders. AFAIK they ALWAYS send out an email explaining the reason for the ban. Whether your email account receives that email is another matter entirely.

I have no junk folder, the mail account is used for SL communication exclusively. I have received nothing at all, and the mail system I use has been working for years without failure.

Here's a quick way to get access to Live Chat.

Make a new Premium account. Use Live Chat to discuss your alt account (the one disabled). After your Live Chat is over, you can downgrade your new Premium account to Basic.

It will cost you the price of one month of Premium. But I don't know much about international calling rates; maybe the month of Premium is cheaper.

I'm not questioning their right to investigate possible issues. In fact, I have no rights at all, as to the TOS, and can be fired anytime as it just happened. (This, by the way, should make people that put in hundreds and thousands of real $ think a bit.)

I used to work in support myself for a long time and I can tell in the company I'd been with, a support ticket being left unattended over days after disabling someone, without even bother ing to tell what the trouble is, would mean a date with the boss.

my account was disabled and i received no email whatsoever..and when i queried that, i was told they dont. So i had to make THAT call overseas..they answered very quickly though

Amity, thank you for the hint. I really appreciate that. I'm not exactly a poor person and a few real Euros wouldn't hurt me. It's just that I'd feel absolutely stupid. I am not aware of anything I could have done, and I don't like to simply throw money out of the window, be it much or or few. Where I stand I have already lost quite something through my inventory, and when you see that go down the drain you don't feel like throwing some more in.

This is completely untrue. LL regularly bans people with no contact and no reason given. It's a huge problem they refuse to rectify.

To the OP, they recently had a blog post related to this with advice:

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/07/16/knowledge-base-article-of-the-week-33-fruit-rind-joke-goes-here/

Incredibly bad title for those searching for help I might add.

It outlines how to appeal your account suspension. As well, on my blog you can read the experiences of others, and in the comments of part 3, how the subject of the story was able to finally be heard by LL.

http://dariencaldwell.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/lls-secret-shame/


EDIT: Realizing you probably cant get into the support portal (how convenient), here is what that article referenced by the blog post says:

Sindri, I feel for you. A friend has just gone through this experience, for no reason whatsoever! He found that his account was inaccessible. He is one of the nice guys and had not done anything wrong or done anything to anyone. He was never sent an email or anything to explain why this had happened.

He sent in a ticket asking them to help and asking why had it happened. They just ignored that! He sent another ticket which remained unanswered. So he sent a third one as this time he was panicking a bit. They answered that. Told him not to write anymore and that he was spamming their system sending in these tickets! That really upset him. He tried Live Chat three times and each time he hung on and hung on and no-one "Chatted" to him once it had been opened up. He "Chatted" to them but got no response each time.

He also asked them if they were still taking his classified payments because he could not get in to cancel the ads. They ignored that. He asked them if he was still getting his stipend. They ignored that. He asked them if the payments that were being made to him for rent were in fact coming to him or going to them. They ignored that!

Just as much as it was out of the blue that his account got disabled, with no warning, no message, again out of the blue, he could get back in. He feels they stuffed up somewhere, but he was so upset by this treatment that he came back, sold all his land and said he had lost his enjoyment of the "game" and it was thanks to us, his friends, we are the only reason for him staying. Unfortunately, apart from the couple of times he came in to sell his land and catch up with us, we haven't seen him here since! I think he is just not going to come in anymore which is such a shame as he is such a lovely guy and was always good for a laugh.

He may well answer this himself if he is still reading the forums. I am fairly sure he won't mind me mentioning this. It is good that people are alerted to the fact that this can happen any time without warning and if you spend a lot on tier, adverts and so on, you stand to lose everything if you don't get back before they close your account permanently. Which is one of the reasons why he sold his land, apart from all the dismay he felt. (And must still be feeling as he just doesnt come in - if you are reading this, your friends miss you so much)!!

I wish the best to you Sindri, although I can't really help with suggestions for your best way to deal with this. Maybe like my friend, you will find out of the blue, you can get back in again. Just keep trying.

Honey

Many thanks Darien and Honey, it is somehow comforting to learn that it happens to others too. I am frustrated about this matter but actually don't take it all too serious because after all it's a game - so far.

It starts becoming a serious matter when money comes in. OK, they don't charge basic accounts, but they do charge premium accounts and land owners, and it appears that these are subject to the same treatment.

What Honey wrote isn't exactly encouraging or comforting, as land tier can sum up to considerable amounts of money, and the basis to this business relationship is the TOS that clearly states you have no rights whatsoever, and can be fired by the sole discretion of your 'partner', LL, without them owing you at least an explanation what is going on.

Ignoring support requests systematically, as Honey reports, beats it all and really makes me wonder what kind of business ethics, if any, are involved there. I'm not suspecting them (yet) they are doing that kind of thing on purpose, but I wonder if mere incompetence would really make it better.

OK, I filed the ticket 4 days ago now, I used to be a basic member, and of course I didn't expect support staff to drop everything to spring to my help. Anyway I am not suffering from a possibly complicated technical issue. Something obviously has happened that made them shut me off, possibly (and hopefully) for a good reason, and that should be pretty easy to explain.

Darien's post contains a fax number. I don't see yet why they should care for faxes if they don't care for support tickets, but I will give it a try anyway. Something tells me that if I tried to call them I'd be put on hold, then transferred to another person, then put on hold again, at my expense and at overseas calling rates.

This sort of situation is inexusable! Surely when an account is summarily suspended the user ought to be sent an email notification with the reason plus info on how to appeal if a mistake has been made. Good grief, what sort of company treats people like that?

--
Aes

A company that feels they don't need their customers any longer.

@ Aeslyn, in answer to your question - the sort of company that did that to my friend! And that I think is why he has been so upset about this treatment, when he did nothing wrong whatsoever. And in return they accused him of spamming them with just three tickets, cos he needed them to help sort it out because they had given a date when he was going to be permanently banished from SL! And ultimately I think, this is why he seemingly no longer enjoys the "game" however much his friends are there to help him have fun again.

He was worried that if they permanently banned him, as they seemingly intended to do, for no reason whatsoever he was going to lose all his linden dollars he had saved for a year and a half, all his land and all the things that were cluttering up his inventory. Plus, he had been working on a project for over a year, and had chosen the land for it carefully.

When he popped back briefly after they magically allowed him back, again with no warning, he told me that he was so worried they could do this again at any time , and also felt they didn't deserve his paying custom. So, he sold all his land, stopped his classifieds, and yes, they had carried on taking the money for the ads even though he couldn't get into the "game". And no, they did not continue to pay his stipend while they stopped him getting into the "game". How unfair is that??

So, the owners of this "game" have driven out a really great person. And I wonder how many others this has happened to that we don't hear about?

And to Sindri again, I am sorry that what I have written is not encouraging nor comforting. I just wanted to let you see that it does happen to others and that you are not alone and hopefully, you will just suddenly find that you can get into the "game" again just like that. And if that happens, please, please don't let this awful situation drive you away as well. I am so glad I only have my 512 parcel and therefore no tier to pay!

Honey

Or could be lack of support staff. still call them, thats the best option I have seen work yet. even if it costs a few euros it will be worth it in the end

There is no excuse for summarily suspending an account without an explanation to the account holder. None. You should not have to be the one reaching out to LL, especially since they'll ban someone on any frivilous AR depending on what day of the week it is.

LL does many, many things in odd ways.

Ban for untested ARs, ban untested ARs against 'youngens' who have been age verified, ban for too much money beng bought/sold/used too quickly without asking why, send acceptance email for employment by accident, suspend accoutns without giving a reason, interpretting rules differently constantly, and much, MUCH more.

I normally root for LL, and say they rock (They do), but in things like this they really need to do some work. It's a few horrible habits they've got themselves into, and they need to break those habits or they're just going to get more flak.

My former account showed up out of the blue one day as "pending cancellation" and I couldn't get in-world. I sent in a support ticket to LL and they restored the account. I sent in another ticket (reply to the first one) to ask what had happened, had I violated any TOS unknowingly? They said the cancellation had not been initiated at their end. To this day I still have no idea what happened. If I hadn't initiated it, and LL hadn't initiated it, then who initiated it???

(and after the account was restored, I discovered all the avi's inventory, friends list and groups list had poofed into thin air... none of those were ever recovered...)

Use skype to dial the toll free number. will work. goodluck

There are two ways to get hit with the ban hammer because there are two paths to being abuse reported. The third option is rarer still and is the true system glitch.

The first of these is getting involved, even innocently, in illegal activity, like accepting fraudulantly obtained Linden $s or having your IP address tied into some attempt to hack the servers. This can always be appealed and resolved, but you may never know the details because it *may* involve real world criminal prosecution. You were simply caught in the dragnet.

The second of these involves other residents filing an "Abuse Report". This can be appealed as well, but mistakes are more likely to happen. And the more mistakes a resident makes in Abuse Reporting TOS violators (especially if they file loads of frivolous ARs), the less likely the reporter will be listened too.

The system glitch I mentioned is very rare and involves a simple bit of damage to the database. This is the one that truly strikes dread into the hearts of the Lindens maintaining the system as it involves finding a needle in a haystack. There is no appeal for this, since no criminal or TOS violation has taken place. Fortunately, this is *extremely* rare.

Another not so rare way to get blocked involves no message at all from Linden Labs beyond "Unable to Connect" or "Account is unavailable". This is *not* a true ban. There is no message "Your account has been suspended". Even basic members have access to the Account page. Try there first to see if you have been banned or have simply become one of the walking wounded as the Login Servers are being repaired/restores/updated...