Not a computer Genius, just like playing Game, becoming work cant pay fee

I noticed a few days ago that my monthly premium balance was showing in red, after calling LindenLabs and being on hold I was told that my payment was rejected by my bank. I was told that LindenLabs had changed banks to the UK. I was never aware of this and was told that it was covered in the blogs that this would be happening. I play for fun not for drama so rarely visit the blogs. I have spent 2 days working with my bank who now tells me that they will not authorize payments to the bank in the UK because it is known for numerous accounts presenting fraudulunt activity to American Bank accounts. I did get them to release the hold for this month only but now I am wondering what to do. I do not want to open account at different bank when I have been banking with my current bank for 15 years, do not want to use interest charging credit cards and do not want to use PayPal as I have already had theft identity because of PayPal transaction. I signed up with good faith with the same account and believe that Linden Labs should do something to prevent this kind of headache to me. The majority of the SL population is American and I can only assume that many others are having this same problem - I also believe that we should be concerned why Linden (an American company) is using an overseas bank and in a banking atmosphere that is obviously know for fraudulant activity and giving customers names, personal information and account information to who knows who. I did read onetime in some web posting that Linden had researched something and was wanting to let everyone know that this is a safe and secure operation. If true why are service providers blocking transactions from this institution? Please find an alternate and safe way to people pay a smiple $9.95 without having to spend hours on the phone or with Linden with people that answer - I am only a phone support person.


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Gigs Taggart [16/May/07 09:20 PM]
Please do not post account specific problems in Jira.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Issue_tracker


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Rod Longcloth [17/May/07 09:07 AM]
I knew that this would be the resolution to this problem - say misfiled, ignore it and never have to deal with. Please tell me where to go with this problem. Everything changes daily. 2nd life is just that a 2nd life, I cannot spend all my first life reading pages and pages of items, spending hours waiting for websites to load, hitting log in 12 times just to log in, staying on hold on phone support for no answers. WHERE DO I GO TO GET ANSWERS - PLEASE. NO INWORLD HELP, CANT GET LINDENS, NO HELP ON PHONE, MAKE HELP AREAS AS CONFUSING AND TIME CONSUMING AS POSSIBLE, PLEASE JUST WANT TO PAY MY FEE AND BE LEFT TO BUILD

Just receive notification that large tier fee is due today. Will not be able to pay that either. Now will lose land and everything that I have spent 6 months building. What can I do.

Contact your bank and assure them that the charge is indeed authorised.

Couple of things: Although the numbers aren't firm, based upon the source, SL isn't populated primarily by Americans. LL is based in the US but they are aiming to reach a global audience, so having operations in other countries is a reality. Also, the service provider (LL) did not prevent the transaction, your bank did. Even after calling them, they rfuse to allow the transaction? Well , then I would take my banking business elsewhere, no matter how long I had been with the bank. They can question a charge, that's fine. But once I say it's legit they should not question it again.

Just a side note. I bought some lindens this week and noticed the charge came from London, Ontario.

The majority of SL users aren't American

I don't know if you misunderstood your bank, but the UK I think has more stringent data protection laws, I have never heard of banks here selling your personal info.

There have been some people having problems with making payments due to some banks having fraudulant transactions with LL, which is understandable as you will always get some trying to scam the system.

Don't forget that not only are you a customer of Linden Lab, you are a customer of your bank! THEY are working for YOU. It's YOUR bank account and you should be able to authorize charges or withdrawals from anyone you want (within the law). Brenda's right; if your bank won't cooperate with you, you might consider a new bank... don't you pay them a monthly service charge?

I certainly agree. It is your money, your (legal) intended creditor and has your personal authorization. There should absolutely be no reason for the bank to block your account unless it is on the US list of terrorist organizations. (money laundering institution).

or rather the UK list seeing as he's in the UK. hmm, can't see Linden Lab in there.

what Brenda said anyway. same applies in this country. at worst, your bank could refuse to insure the transaction should any fraud occur, but i believe they must process it if you authorise them.

Get a paypal account and let your bank deal with paypal rather than the foreign bank.

It is nice hearing from you all so quickly. I understand all the post, my bank does listen to me very well, they have authorized the charge for now on my word, however I am going to have to call everymonth to do this and that is a bit of a headache. I understand that the bank does work for me but it is more than a simple checking account, I have investments loans, etc. I guess the point I was trying to get to was that the bank is looking out for my interest also and I am concerened that if a bank that is being used is flagged as known for fraudulunt activity, etc. Should I be concerned. And good to know that Americans are outnumber, one of the things I really enjoy about SL is the diversity and most of my friends are Eruopeans and I thouroughly enjoy spending time with all of them and learning so much about their cultures and lives.

Just want this to be fun again and am getting a huge loss of energy when it takes forever just trying to get an answer or a place to look for help.

You have now accused the UK bank twice on a public forum of "fraudulant activity and giving customers names, personal information and account information", I have already questioned this as I have never known of UK banks doing this and they would be in deep trouble if they did. I suggest you ring your bank again and clarify what the actual problem is, as I don't think you could have understood correctly at all.

How about a free checking account with a debit card?