Linden Answers forum closed...

This should shed some light on the current state of affairs:

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/01/19/update-customer-service-improvements/

So Linden Labs is frustrated too. Well, hooty hooty too!!! They are frustrated because we (the users) are frustrated.........they get it from all sides. Guess what, I know exactly what they are experiencing.....been there, done that so many times it's almost sickening. All I can say to LL is........get to work!! Fix the problem. No excuses, no "give me time", no "you just don't understand", no "please be patient". Most of us have felt what they are feeling at one time or another in our RL line of work.......they don't get a lot of sympathy from me. Why? Because it's almost all their fault they are in the position they are in. That's not some unfounded assumption...........it's based on past performance, past promises, past changes that are changes for LL's benefit (not the users), and this constant "we feel your pain" when I know all they feel is THEIR pain.

You ignore your customers' needs, your customers will rebel..........and that's not a good thing for any company. If they truly hear us on the problems we are experiencing then why don't they do something concrete to show us they do? Oh, some vague promise of "we are working on a solution" along with some really off the wall explanation of the why or how is not cutting it with a lot of us. Most of us are not stupid. We can see a pile of ***t when we come up on it. Closing any avenue of commications (even an ineffective one) without something better (or at least as good) already in place and manned is utter stupidity..........or, worse, treating the users like they are utterly stupid for buying into some empty promise (it's an empty promise because most promises made by LL have been empty in the past.......it's about a track record).

I sincerely hope they find a way to get customer service up and running. There is no way SL will continue to be anything more than just some second or third rate online game if they don't. Such high hopes for LL (and us users) all down the drain because someone just doesn't get it how important customer service is. And I don't care how much of genius you are and how cutting edge your product is you will fail if you customers are not happy. And I doubt anyone can say the masses are happy..........well, the masses who care anyway. There will always be the ones who just go with the flow.....but they will leave soon anyway.

Hmmmmm..............why does that sound to me like when I call my local cable company and I get "to continue in English, press 1"? "If you know your party's extension number, please enter it now", "if you are calling about your bill, press 2", "if................" ect, ect. You get the picture. Automate it..........keep it automated, That way we don't have to directly deal with the problems..........they can find the answers themselves. Oh how I love that automated customer service.

Sorry, Robin..............that ain't good enough. It's another off the wall idea that solves nothing.

I don't think increased response time was quite what was desired. Yes, I'm sure it was a thinko, but I thought it representative of all the half-bakedness out of LL.

L$1000 says that come May, we'll see another such statement much as we saw similar three months ago and three months prior and...

What would be good enough for you, Peggy?

You people continually flame every idea and every inch they come closer to helping YOU. So, what exactly would be good enough? It's not enough to continually knock down everything they say or do as "not good enough". You continually make statements full of assumptions that have no basis in fact. You then rave on about how you know all about what a successful customer service model is. So what, specifically, would be "good enough" for you? Do you want Phil's cellphone number, so that you can always have a direct line of support to the CEO? Do you want a magical mystical system that automatically filters out the 28000 "how do I get this box off my head" questions so that the remaining 2000 substantial inquiries can get queued and serviced? What exactly do you want? SPELL IT OUT, since you are such an authority on large scale customer service models.

Just read the blog! )) I hope everything they say will come true. I hope they really give us support when we need it (though I've had a very good past experience with some of the Lindens, not everything has been bad). Think the real problem is that you dont get assistance in a timely fashion, this makes us frustrated and we vent our anger in here.

I would like to point out something, maybe not in the theme... why is it that some people try to ridicule another's residents point of view? is this forum not moderated? I dont think "*fart* is an apropiate response to anybody. Well, my point of view. I thought we were all educated adults.

I see it this way:

LL charges us for two things. Land and L$. So...
they owe us some degree of billing support.

Everything else is provided both "for free" and "As Is",
with the warning that "as is" will change over time.

If the free service is "not good enough", too damned bad.
Revise your expectations if you can. Walk if you can't.

Complain bitterly all you want if it makes you feel better,
but keep in mind doing so is not only one of the least
effective ways to bring about the change you want, it
may also work contrary to your goals.

There are many things that LL could do differently.
The decisions they make may affect us...
but those decisions are theirs to make. Not ours.

No amount of angry forum posting is going to change that.

--
This thread is still inappropriate for Resident Answers.

It's moderated in so much as do we care to report posts if they break the rules.

But that aside, I agree, I have had some great service from Lindens when I've needed them. Which has been exactly three times and that was to handle a griefer on Linden Lands. And that was back when the population was smaller. A lot smaller. I actually feel sorry for the liaisons who do handle the in world stuff, I really do. They shouldn't have to deal with the phones, the emails, and the forums, as well as trying to juggle the IMs, the bombs, the particles of the in-world experience. It isn't fair to ask it of them, either.

Only solution is to actually have two forms of Lindens. The in-world Liaisons and the out-world Liaisons. Out-world should sort the emails, the forums, and the phones, while the in-world does the booting, the banning, etc... One would only see the out-world in SL when there are meetings, sick in-world liaisons, or 'major issues that require all hands on deck.' And visa versa.

And why not have a computer program that can weed out spam? Any little bit that gets your actual complaint heard is a good thing. Sure, most major companies have the 'press 1' option list, but that's to get your call to the person that can best answer your questions.

Customer service instead of lip service............pretty simple.

/me agrees.


I looked. This was the most appropriate one I could find..

When I take a hit on my credit card to Linden Labs it's not free. So what do you suggest I do? Revise my expectations? Walk?

You fit in right well with some at Linden Labs.

Hahahahaha I better quit before I get banned

By and large I agree with this statement

Resident Answers was intended (I believe) as an informal alternative to the unpaid helpers who sometimes in the past manned the live in world help. The added attraction of this forum was that longer-term SL residents could fairly reasonably answer common problems and issues because we have all been there before. Also it was (and still is) an open society where sometimes new solutions to old problems emerged.

Both the copybot and now this issue of the Linden resident answers is causing this forum to descend into a Linden bashing party. Some questions and answers on both these issues are perhaps legitimate, but in my own opinion if this type of behaviour continues Linden Labs will close the thread suggesting we all use in world or alternative sources including that of third party websites.

If we could all agree on ONE third party site to use I would go there, but we cannot. So if you all want the forum to close carry on bashing Linden.

Oh...and by the way I have "issues" too from time to time, and in some cases I profoundly disagree with the way Linden order the world. But I am only a little person, am extremely unlikely to be able to change anything, have no real desire to work for Linden Labs and am unlikely to make my fortune within SL.

And finally I would say some very hard words insomuch as the people who spend all their time in SL without success and/or fulfilment, leading to frustration expressed on these BBs should re-evaluate their lives putting right the issues in real life that drive them into virtual worlds.

Sorry to be blunt.

Regards

John

I think it's important to note that the forum as a whole is not descending into a Linden Bashing or Linden Apologist forum.. The commentary is pretty well contained into one or two threads, like this one, while the rest of the threads are alive and healthy with resident questions and insightful answers and ideas.

No, this thread doesn't really belong in Resident Answers, but there is no other "home" for it either, and if I were a Linden Lab employee involved in implementing the customer service changes Robin blogged about, I'd be very interested in the opinions expressed thus far herein. It's gotten heated at times, but thus far has remained healthy - opinions all over the map, all of them of value.

Like the copybot debates, this too will die off, and everyone will walk away from it (including LL) with a little better understanding of the issues, and of each other.

Oh, and if you've ever read Phil's in-world profile, I think he nails the bottom line pretty well:

"Blame it all on me"

Peggy-

You can park at a strip mall for free.
You can stroll their shops for free.
You pay for the purchases you make there.
You pay for the gas to get you there and back.

The mall and merchants owe you nothing if your car gets stolen while you shop.

If you didn't get the L$... or have the land ownership rights you paid for... then you have a legitimate problem. But it sounds like you think your payment entitles you to more than what you actually purchased.

So yes... I'd say, yes, your expectations could probably use a little revising.

Malls and merchants have customer service.

And no one is blaming LL for the fact that their car got stolen out of their driveway while they were playing SL.

I'd be willing to take you up on it if the bet is changed slightly. How about no Lindens in Linden Village 95 percent of the time starting in February. I'm sure there will be some noob Linden that will pop in. But I'm also positive there will be no significant Linden presence there.

The only problem I see is how to verify the length of time a Linden is in the village.