Mall owners riping off customers

I would just like to know whats keeping this kind of stuff from happening, who do I need to talk to file a complaint and get my money back, and how can we fix this. This shouldn't be happening in a game where people are trading real life money. If this was an MMO with fake money I wouldn't care. But this is SL and are money shouldnt be taken so easily.

Name them.

Don't expect anything to be done about this. You can send in all the proof you have, including proof a blind man can see and all you'll receive is a notecard stating you don't have enough content to back your claim, therefore forget it.

Not being able to be named in forums is just one reason why griefers and people who cheat do it since they know word won't get arouind much about them.

I'm not saying this person you're referring to is guilty since I don't know what happened, just what I read. But for the most part, players who have been harrassed, pushed, caged, and you name it, know exactly what to expect from the games so-called police.
Nothing but that notecard.

Can't name them. It's against the forum rules.

Ask for them in IM or PM, though.

I was probobly his best customer. I bought two stores for 5 weeks and my friend got 2 stores. He cant just take away peoples stores without cause. What is going to happen to his other tenants who know nothing about what he did. They are just going to get ripped off like me and JJ. He ripped us off a few minutes after JJ bought his stores. All day none of us could rez anything because the parcel was full then he IMed me and told me he fixed it and found a bunch of junk prims then I go for a 15 minute jog and when i come back i get an IM saying my lease has been terminated. I then ask him about it on IM without response. I then ask about it on group and he says go away I'm not discussing it then I keep asking him on IM and I get one message that says that he ejected me from the group.

HE CANT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!

LINDENS ARE REAL LIFE MONEY!!!!!

Against official forum rules, yes.

There's a number of 3rd party SL forums though where it's generally acceptable. secondcitizen, sluniverse or sl-forums to name a few.

Well, that's the point.

Someone requested he name names (which he did in another thread, now Strifed), and I responded that you can't name names, it's against the forum rules. The "here" part is implied.

However, IMs and PMs can work, too.

He can get away with this and will. Just like in real life you will have scum in SL, that will sell you the sun and the moon and give you crap.

My mates and I have been ripped off 7 time since we came here a few days ago, (I posted a ill-time message about one I THOUGHT was a ripper, because of pervious experiences) and later apologized about it and to him, as he turned out to be one of the (seems to be very few) in SL that will actually help out and try to make things right.

Sorry to say, IMHO, trust no one unless you know them well. And "If something is to good to be true, it usually is" you can rate him using the radial menu though.

Cheers

I still have no clue if there is any possible action I can take. I would ust like to make sure that everyone knows about this scum so that they will never rent from him again!

You can author a "fiction" passage in your signature with his name and disclaimer "all characters are fictional and have no relation to real life, living or dead"

Loophole right there. Maybe rename the mall or something.

I'm not going to debate this in a forum. There is a Land Covenant for all of my malls. If someone violates it, they receive the appropriate consequences. Nuff said. Obey Land Covenants on commercial property and everyone is happy.

Steve Mahfouz

I can't argue with you there, Steve. Rules agreed to by both parties have to be obeyed, or there's no contract.

However, it would appear (and, yes, appearances are often quite deceiving ) that your customers are kinda in the dark about your enforcement of said rules. While I accept and endorse that "Ignorance of the rules is no excuse", when you've done your due diligence (and I am not doubting you did; it's beyond me to judge), but when I have residents/tenants/customers/visitors break the rules, I do inform them of the fact, and what specific rules they violated.

After all, people who make mistakes can't learn to correct their errors if they never know what they did wrong. I also generally like to listen to their side of the story, for at least one attempt to appeal, just in case I have made an error in judgment myself; and I do err, there's no denying that.

Anyway.. it's not anyone else's business but yours and Script Su's. It sounds to me like he just wanted to know what happened and why. It's quite possible he didn't ask very nicely, and you're probably well within your rights to tell him to take a hike as a result.

Here's hoping it all gets worked out one way or another.

Did the person get thier money back for the advance rental after being ejected without notice or is the mall owner just waiting for the next 'victim' to come pay in advance and not understand what they are getting into?

IMHO, the seller should have made sure the buyer was informed of something they seemed to not understand..

Or does the mall owner consider ripping someone off for 10 Weeks of advance payment as 'part of the deal', covenant etc..?

That IMHO would be the proof of the pudding...

Either way Steve-o, I and my friends will definatly be stirring clear of anything associated with you if you feel its your right to do this to people without even bothering to find out why they disobeyed you covenant or even understood it..

You're only hearing one side of this. Steve has stated that he doesn't want to debate it in a public forum.



I own a mall too and I can tell you, that's just not in the mall owner's best interests financially. The majority of people who rent in malls will choose to rent again when their lease expires and many refer their friends. It's simply better business to keep them happy.

To run a scam like the one you described would actually make the mall owner less money in the long run, not more.

Steve is a decent guy from what I've seen of him so far. Personally I suspect the whole story isn't being told here.

I can't imagine what went wrong , and it's none of my business and I'm sorry for your loss however I have been dealing with this mall owner ever since he opened up the mall , also my girlfriend rent's from him . I have 2 stores there and not once have I ever had a problem , as a matter of fact the owner in my opinion has down right bent over backwards to help all us merchants out , he set's up events and even advertises for us with money out of his own pocket , to top it off he's a nice guy , there are rules there and not strick one's but good well thought out rule's . Now I'm not no judge and ain't no jury , maybe you accidentlly misunder stood the rules , it happens , I wish you better luck in your future here at sl and happy holidays to everyone .

Regardless if they break the "rules" or not. You can't act like some hard up and just say you did wrong, so you're out!. Many times you have to bend a little, explain to them what is it they did and let them know it won't be tolerated the next time. Many times people overlook certain rules and don't realize they're doing something wrong.

Your reputation can take a beating, regardless who you are.

When these threads pop up, so often there's a side the OP doesn't tell - the fucked-up thing they did. In the time I've been in SL, that has emerged to be the case more often than it's not. I wouldn't be too quick to judge Steve. There's every chance the OP knows what they did, or should know what they did. Sometimes you encounter people that no amount of explaining will get through to them why what they did was wrong. So I wouldn't be too quick with those pitchforks.

Steve has worked hard to build up not one but three malls. This is the first time I have heard anything like this happening.

Obviously Steve doesn't work his butt off like he does just to rip off tenants. The guy's reputation is at stake. Not to mention the small amount that he is being accused of ripping off is not much compared to the business he would lose if he did that kind of thing.

The point is most people in this thread don't honestly have a clue what happened here. Setting someone up as a bad person or "rip off" without anything but one person's version of the story is irresponsible.

I don't know how many people he ripped off. He ripped off some random guy who I recommended go to that mall. He told me he got ripped off also. I dont know how long this has been going on before it was exposed. This is more than just my lindens. I can make back those lindens in a matter of two hipie surveys its about the fact that he rips people off and people just say that there is nothing we can do about it. Who knows how many noobs he has ripped off. I have only played for a couple of days and I have already ad all my money taken away.

I had two stores and my friend had two stores. He cant just take them away and get away with it.

IT IS NOT THE LINDENS IT IS THE PRINCIPAL!!!!!

My shop may have been nothing much and it was simply a nice little office but that gives him no right to just take it away like that. I had used it is a nice little meeting place for my group. Now I have no store and I can't afford to another store. If someone gives you a deal they shouldn't be one click away from ripping off.

So what did you do to piss him off so much, Script??

I love the fact that Strife has become a verb, due to due to that venerable personage's zeal when it comes to forum closage.

My understanding is though that you can say what you like in-world.

Place a classified ad in-world denouncing this person as a charlatan, say I!!!

Assuming you yourself are not some cowardly blaggard looking to blacken the name of an upstanding pillar of the community.


It's so difficult to know what to think in this topsy-turvy world, and who to believe.

"It's like 60 minutes! First you're mad at the company for making the drug in the first place, but then you just end up feeling sorry for the people who need it to make their hair grow."
- Pheobe from "Friends"

I think we have established this already. He stole my money and he stole my friends money. He gave me no explanation what so ever, ignored me, and then cut me off. All this happened litterally a few hours after paying for 5 weeks in advance (>.< wtf is wrong with me).

BTW please do not name this mall owners name. I don't want to get this thread strifed. So refer to it as it, him, or he.

Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of us viewing this thread (not all, I grant you, but a majority) are not satisfied that this has been established. The jury is still out, I'm afraid.

Has anyone checked the mall owner's covenenant to see what the rules are? Script mentionned that he was using the store merely as an office and meeting space. That in itself might have been against the rules for all we know. We won;t know unless we take a peek.

Sorry Script but you've not answered ed's question. You've told us what he's done to piss you off repeatedly.
We'd like to know what you did?

That is the thing i never found out. He just gave me back my money back he still never gave me an explanation of what I did wrong.

Please close (or strife) this thread. Lets end this discussion.