How long do live help requests usually take?

I need a Linden (probably just to reset the sim or something) and was wondering if it's worth staying online or if I'd be better off emailing support.

I've gotten Live Help responces in as little as a few seconds...and at times....no responce at all. Sometimes you need to post a little "Pokes?" to re-get their attention. Other times they're so swamped they couldn't help you even if they had 6 hands, as many comps and keyboards, and an expresso machine hardlined into thier viens.

Of course...that's simply because "Clear Cache and Relog" isn't the answer to everything.

A lot depends on your first message, if all it says is "hi, I need a Linden", it's possible the resident volunteers may close it and move on if there is a high volume, and Liasons may close it, not because they don't want to help, but because a lot of people ask for a Linden when they don't really need one.

You'll generally get the best kind of response by giving a short summary of the problem as your initial message, and if you feel it needs a Linden in particular, end with "could a Linden look into this?". That gives both the volunteers and the Liasons a chance to answer your request .

Yeah, I found simply asking for a reset rather than simply asking for someone to take a look at the sim got a much better response. Within a minute the sim was on it's way to restart. It was only an educated guess that a reset would fix things, but luckily it was right.

I've used it twice so far and always got a response within mimutes.I always give a brief description of the problem.

In Help Request always state your entire problem/question before you start waiting for a reply. If you need a Linden, it is even more important that you do this. (Please don't just say "I need a Linden!". If a volunteer asks you to add some more information to what you've said so far, that does not prevent you from talking to a Linden later in the same session, so please don't get mad and close it

If you still don't get any reply for a while, it is possible that the channel is just busy; it's also possible that the problem is one that can't be solved on the spot (you can still get a reply, it's just that this kind of problem is usually given lower priority than problems that can be solved right away).

Ditto what Yumi said.

The one and only time I've used it, I had a Linden respond within 2 or 3 minutes and the problem was solved another minute or two after that.

In my initial Live Help message, I described the problem exactly, concisely, provided specific details (when, where, etc), and pretty much left it at that. When the Linden responded, all she said was she had checked into it, agreed it was a problem, and was taking the action that I had hoped for. I thanked her and that was the end of the session.

In RL, I have had to play tech-support often enough and I am all too familiar with the kind of requests people have, so I know from personal experience what is likely to get ignored vs. what is going to get immediate attention. If I get two requests at the same time, the first one having a whining or accusatory tone and essentially says nothing more than 'Something's broke, fix it right now' while the second is factual, impassive, and contains lots of information specific to the problem, my reaction is simple. The second one is addressed immediately because I already have everything I need to deal with it. It gets fixed and whomever sent it gets immediate response. The first one goes on the back burner for when I have enough time to provide the hand-holding that the person is likely going to require -- or if I know I won't have time to provide that for some time, they get an impersonal request for more information, and a link to a users guide.

-Atashi

The only times that I can recall when I managed to get a Linden to come and help, in person and right away, as a result of contacting Live Help, was when I was reporting confirmed or suspected self-replicating objects or a grid attack in progress. I once found several identical objects on my land, one of them inside my house, all scripted to ask passers-by to touch them... I treated it like finding a potential bomb on my property, and they responsed in similar fashion.

But at other times? Even when I had a 14 year old admitting his age in front of me? When I was watching it rain cages as a griefer attacked? I couldn't get a Linden to do squat.

For a sim reset, call the Concierge or the support phone line. You'll get far better response time than Live Help. There is a dedicated number only for sim owners and estate managers. e-mail the Concierge to get that hot-line number, and keep it handy.

As I understand it, concierges don't deal with mainland sims though.

Live helpers can be swamped, the number of requests can go from zero to hundreds in a matter of seconds.

Bad:
"Hi"
"I need a Linden"
"You @#$@#$ holes"

Good:
"Hi, Geeky Wunderle is running around Ezquerra in his underpants and it looks awful, could someone please make him put some clothes on"

ok so thats not something live help would help with, but it tells them 3 important things:

1. Who
2. Where
3. What

Depending on how busy Live Help is, you may get a response in a matter of seconds, or it may take minutes, and if you don't get a response in a reasonable time, feel free to say something to get peoples attention.

I'd also suggest not to be abusive, remember Live Helpers are volunteers, they don't have to do it, and are probably less likely to help if you abuse them.

Depends on Banana breaks, etc...........never know at times.....

Yes, they do, if the person calling is a land owner (or their estate manager) and they own the equivilent of at least one full sim. I used to be an estate manager, and the gurdebook for private island owners and estate managers was very clear that the concierge was also available to mainland land owners with similar sized holdings.

Precisely. The last issue was one that my husband had with his account, which was also affecting a few others. He got on Help Request, after I had walked him through the basic list and it didn't correct it.

Simply put he said, "Hello. I'm having a problem with my account in that I can log in, but I get to the point of where it tells me that my clothing is downloading and I'll look normal to everyone else, except, I don't and it's not fixed after at least 30 minutes of waiting. Also, my inventory seems to be nothing but empty folders." And since there is a cap, he had to add, "I've cleared the cache, rebooted both game and computer, even logged in on another sim, but it doesn't resolve. I've tried my account on my computer and my wife's and she's logged her account onto both computers. Her account has no problems but mine does. Is there something else I can try?"

Took a couple of tries, since the poor volunteer got swamped and the first Linden probably crashed at the same time he did. Third time got Char and that's when things started rolling. And usually I have very good response times when it comes to Help Request, myself.

Guess I'll stick to live help then (my land = 512m²).

It isn't? Darn...
*stops her clear cache and relog-macro*

On subject... The few times I contacted life help the responded rather fast. Say within 15 minutes...

One time I contacted them and they helped me to resolve my problem... to be more then month later contacted again, to tell me that they had more usefull information for me on the matter. I really appreciated that .

Morwen.

They're taking forever to answer the last question I asked. I don't see why it's taking so long. All I asked for was the value of Pi.

This is why the grid has been so unstable recently we have been running a distributed pi calculator to get you the most accurate answer we can.

So far we are up to 3 bazillion decimal places, we're estimating it will be quite sometime until we have an accurate enough answer for you.