Does customer service exist in SL

Just curious if any of the shop owners actually try and help their customers if something bought is not right.

I recently made 3 attempts at contacting owners of items I purchased that were not quite right and here are the responses.

Owner 1 never replied at all, so item went to the trash, wasn't a huge thing, bought a necklace, lagged out, somehow ended up buying 2 of the exact same item. Now this wasn't the owners fault, but it has a bling on/off, which does not work, it's constantly blinging. IM'ed the seller, asked how i can turn it off as the commands in the notecard did not work, month later still no reply.

Owner 2. I bought a outfit, the skirt was much to big, went to resize it, no modify. Owner was online, so I contacted her, explained the problem, and asked if she would modify it a bit or give me permission to do so. Her reply, "guess you need to make your butt bigger". Obiviously the last time I ever step into her store.

Owner 3. Bought a outfit which really is lovely and payed a lovely price, 1000L. The problem with it however is the top is 2 piece, the undershirt covers my breasts, the shirt makes up the rest of the top. What happens is when both are worn, the undershirt "disappears" leaving me exposed. Tried many times taking it off, putting it back on, relogging etc, nothing helps. Transfered it to a friend who dabbles in clothing, same thing happened when she tried to wear it. (she's making me a replacement if she can). So I contacted the seller who did reply politely, but basically just said that should not happen and didn't know why it was.

Now it seems to me, that if I was a seller, and found a customer who was willing to shell out 1000L on a outfit, I would do everthing possible to keep that person happy. I would see if I could meet online to rectify the problem, supply a replacement undershirt, etc etc. I have bought several items in her store, and there were others I probably would have purchased, but now I rather doubt I will return.

To give a response, some owners are rarely online, they create offline, upload, tweak and then log off, and sending IM's to them get lost, IM's used to cap, doesn't seem as much now, but it can happen. Due to the SL bugs as well, IM's may have been lost. Best option is sending a notecard.

The second owner was just plain rude. I did buy an outfit of 500L that the skirt, even in my skirt shape didn't fit right, she sent me a mod/copy/no trans version of the skirt and I modded fine.

The 3rd owner, while seeming rude, was in a sense right. There is nothing that can be done when LL screws up something and it changes the way something works. The owner may have been extremely busy at the time and couldn't offer to meet up with you. A replacement shirt would be the one you already have, which nullifies that, since the problem is already there. Quite often, people have IMed me on the 'crappy' detail in a high detail corset I offer. The problem lies with rezzing (high detail does require longer loading times and often, some computers cannot handle it well right away) and trying to explain that to them, they get mean. This owner cannot tell if it's a user problem in some form. More often than not, it's the user's issue, and some owners tire of it. Doesn't make it right that more wasn't tried, but I can certainly understand. Especially if you were the only complaint on that particular item.

Most businesses in SL are hobbies at most, so customer service is going to tend to be a little too light, mostly becuase the business owner won't be online too awful much.

Be careful how mych expectation you put into this, though: Mind you your L$1000 purchase translates into roughly $3.50USD... most folk who make sure thier stuff works as advertised and care about customer serivce do it becasue they're concenred for reputation, not for the tiny sum of money.

And I know far too many folks who take the pseudoanonimity of SL as invulnerability of reputation, ya know?

Personally, and for all the good folks I buy from, customer serivce is a matter of personal pride. Folks like Penny Patton, Fade Dana, Nephilaine Protagonist, Fallingwater Cellardoor... etc. Just folks who give a darn about thier own work.

Yes. Everything I sell comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and I know many other sellers who do the same.


Do you know if the person is still around? If they don't log in anymore, you're out of luck. If they do log in, but they're ignoring you, that's bad.


Without hearing the whole conversation, it's tough to judge this one. Just so you know, skirts are pretty much always "too big". The mesh really sucks. It doesn't fit the avatar well at all. LL's supposedly working on a replacement, but it's been a long time now and we haven't seen it. Anyway, there's really never a reason to sell a clothing item as not modifiable, so I don't see why she wouldn't take care of it.

If it's a prim skirt, that might be a different story. I can understand not selling prim items as modable, because it's an open door for piracy, but if a seller is going to make the decision to make stuff that way, he or she should at least offer a few different sizes, or be willing resize on demand for people. It's not like it takes very long.


Is this prim clothing or real clothing? If it's prims, then what you're seeing is the alpha sorting glitch (common to all OpenGL applications), and a competent builder should know better. If it's regular clothing, it sounds like maybe the two garments were inadvertently put on the same layer. They're either both shirts or both undershirts, and when you put one on, it replaces the other. Otherwise, the seller is right, and there's no reason that should happen. Either way, if I were the seller, I'd offer to replace it without question.

Sorry to hear you're having such issues. Please try not to assume the SL merchant community as a whole is that way. You'll find that most people are pretty accommodating.

Oh I'm not sitting here pulling my hair out over $3.50, actually if loggins wern't down, and I wasn't sitting here bored, would not have probably even posted. However it obviously bugs me a bit or it woundn't be an issue with me, however small.

But I guess my point is, yes, it's only $3.50, but how many more $3.50's would I have spent if I had recieved what I would consider even a small bit of concern in resolving the problem. As it is, I now move on and shop somewhere else.

Is this prim clothing or real clothing? If it's prims, then what you're seeing is the alpha sorting glitch (common to all OpenGL applications), and a competent builder should know better. If it's regular clothing, it sounds like maybe the two garments were inadvertently put on the same layer. They're either both shirts or both undershirts, and when you put one on, it replaces the other. Otherwise, the seller is right, and there's no reason that should happen. Either way, if I were the seller, I'd offer to replace it without question.

Sorry to hear you're having such issues. Please try not to assume the SL merchant community as a whole is that way. You'll find that most people are pretty accommodating.



It's regular clothing, and what you are describing is probably correct, other undershirts I have show through/cover. Though each is deffiantly "labled a shirt and the other undershirt"

As far as the any off the conversations, and you can only take my word for it, I've found that mostly in life, politeness will take you much farther than rudeness. As far as the lady goes that told me to make my butt bigger, I didn't even bother replying, just left.

YES! There is such a thing as customer service in SL.

I think it depends on the person/business.

Very sorry that you were treated like this. Rudeness is never excusable.

My first bad experience was with a no mod/no copy item. It did not fit properly, and was not as advertised. The seller was no help, so it was trashed...and like the OP, I never darkened their doorway again.

I am not sure how they plan on staying in business if this is how they treat people. Why bother having a shop at all?

Personally, I create things that I enjoy making...and I sell them so that others may enjoy using/wearing them. Changing an item to fit one person's home/style, or their particular color needs is really no big deal. A couple minutes work and you have a happy customer!

Even if it is *only* $3.50 USD, that's a latte!

Either way it is important that my customers are happy...and I truly believe the established business owners feel the same. You will notice that those who have been around a while are still here because they DO care.

Best,

~Ari

Customer service does exist in SL.
Businesses choose to provide it or not based on if they can afford the time/money/energy involved. Some can, some can't.

Some businesses strongly encourage dialog between the creator and the buyer. For example, I pay people L$25 to L$500 per good idea people submit to me for improving my product. This works out great for my customers and helps improve my product too.

Customer service does matter, and tends to matter more the higher the value of the goods being sold. Some companies are able and willing to provide customer service, and I've seen some examples of great customer service in SL.

IMHO, businesses should clearly state, before purchase, what level of support comes with their product. Businesses may wish to stock two versions of their products - one without support and one where the customer pays a fee for support included in the purchase price. This would allow businesses to check how much their customers valued post-sale support. Polls and voting could also be used to ask prospective (or past) customers about their preferences with regard to support.

Everything I sell is backed 100%. If a customer has a problem, I'll make it right.

I have refunded double purchases cheerfully; I have maintained, replaced, and even completely reconstructed builds, well after the work was 'finished'; I have even created and uploaded special textures to fix a clothing glitch that was entirely due to corrupted texture data in one user's inventory. (The dress was only bad for that one user).

My SL businesses are a hobby for me, but I take customer service quite seriously.

I'm very sorry to hear about the problems you've encounted and described. I do not own a buisness in SL, maybe one day, but I have personally had nothing but good experiences when it was required I contact one. I've had items provided, replaced and even had the seller/creator take time to come too me and help me resolve an issue.

Unfortunately I think you've just had a bad string of luck or timing with the people in question. Each time a need arises for me to contact someone I am always concerned I will in fact havea bad experience, but thankfully I've yet to do so personally. Here's hoping your future purchases will be without problems and should they still be, you bought the item(s) from a responsible and caring seller.

Gezz, not trying to drag this out (wish logins would come up) but how much customer fault can there be in wearing a piece of clothing?

And honestly another pet peive of mine is the no modify on clothes. I realize that most designers probably do this as some folks would have a tendenacy to screw them up and then demand that they be fixed. I have bought many things that need a bit of "tweaking" but can't due to the no modify.

If I bought something from Walmart (ugh), tried to hem it, screwed it up, I woundn't take it back to the store and demand that they fix it, nor do I think most resonable people would.

Actually just yesterday I ruined my favorite hair. It has a piece of jewelry in it, which does not color change. So I have been editing it to change the color to match whatever I am wearing. Well, to make a long story short, I have green hair now, but that was my fault, and would never contact the seller to replace something my negligence caused.

There can be a lot depending on if it's prim or not. We haven't been given details on the items that are in question, so we can't really fully answer your questions properly. However, some people do not realize how to wear an outfit totally, and believe me, that does happen. Just because you might be smart enough to figure it all out, doesn't mean others are.

As far as mod... all my clothing is no mod. Frankly, because people can and have bought items before, modded them, sold them as their own creation, at a HUGE markup. They can buy 60 white outfits, mod the textures and resell them as they please. Sadly, I've seen it happen.

You'd be surprised as how many people mess up mod items then demand for them to get a new one. See, as it stands, without a workaround, it's gotta be copy or transfer. I don't mind doing mod on no transfer items, but most people would rather have transfer items, as opposed to mod. I certainly wouldn't put mod on transfer items.

While you may take the blame when you goof something, most people do not. It's just like the verified account debate, a few people can ruin it for the majority. Same goes for creators who have tired of people IMing constantly about goof ups on items that have clear directions.

For some reason, your Wal-Mart analogy made me laugh. Not sounding mean, but people do not behave in this game like they would in RL. Most get much ruder, expect more here and think that because it's so easy to contact creators, they should get something done. Also, when you buy something from Wal-Mart, you can try it on, most creators don't have a demo of most clothing.

Thank you for that reply, I did not know about the other reasons things were marked as no modify. I thought it was just so the consumer woundn't ruin them while trying to tweak or change something.

As to the clothing, it was all non prim, just normal slap on and wear stuff (well at least I thought that's all I had to do).

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I've had good and bad relations with vendors. Bad vendors simply do not get my buisness anymore and I will tell those that ask not to buy there. I don't campain agaisnt them, but I will tell of my experiances when asked.

For good vendors, I pass along thier names and products by word-of-mouth. It travels as fast in SL as it does in RL. Those good vendors (see above for some of those ^.^) knwo this and treat thier customers with respect to earn thier future buisness, the buisness of thier freinds, and to just be nice.

I won't post names here, so as not to be an Ad-monger, but if you would like some shopping suggestions, IM me in-world.

~Jessy

Oh hon, I'm sorry. I wasn't clear.

I wasn't speaking toward your right to get proper service or your right to be bugged to get such a half-assed answer, just that we're all faced with the connundrum of folks not always being terribly motivated.

Yes, me too! I treat my customers the same... Taking the quote from Joel Spolsky:

"We don't want your money unless you're amazingly happy with our product"

I try to help the customer, and even if it's his/her mistake, he/she can always have the money back.

SL seems to me to be an area where providing very good service is both affordable and one of the goals of playing. It's all a game here, we're not playing for our retirement accounts, so giving good service is part of the fun, at least for me.

I just wish it were easier to do things like update all outstanding copies of a script or product.

I try to respond promptly to all my customers, and do what I can to make it right if something doesn't meet their needs or is flawed in some way. Most things can be worked out if we work together.

I believe that there are so many people making and selling stuff out there, the best way for someone to remember me is if they had a positive exchange, so I make that my goal.

So, to answer your question, for me it's about customer relationships, and that is all about customer service.

By the way ... that is Gestalt's This 'n That Market in Yamato

Well stated Jim!

I don't want people cursing my name everytime they see/use/hear of my product! LOL! Not all press is good

Best,

~Ari

I'm awful at Customer service, I admit it. I try to help people if I can, but usually I can't. Most questions I get arise from problems with SL or problems with scripted stuff not working as it should (And I know nothing about the scripts).

I someone attract assholes too. While customer service is well and good, I wish sometimes the customer would remember that we're just players too, and most of us are artists. We're hobbiests that haven't ever taken business courses or have experience with "Dealing with jerks". At my job I don't deal with irate customers throwing fits over something that cost $3. I deal with representatives of corporations, and it's all very friendly, but professional. I often treat SLers with that same professional demeanor, which does /not/ work for customer service ("Sorry sir, we cannot do that, it's not within our policy."

Far far too often I have people who are extremely rude and belligerent, and act as if whatever they spent in $L = USD. Being awful at customer service, I tend to respond with a similar tone. I've had plenty of people tell me they'll never do business with me again. But you know, frankly, If people are going to be that rude to me, I don't want them buying my stuff anyway.

Someone should start a customer service business so I can hire them to be my voice since I'm so awful with it.

About IMs, they're still capped. I often come on SL just to see most of my screen filled up and not all the IMs make it through. I've also found out that not all IMs make it to my email either. So I really do encourage people to email me instead of IMing me. That's much more likely to actually make it to me.

Good customer service is a must to stay in business in SL...after all we are selling pixels..lol..My feelings are service must be included to make the item worthwhile to the customer. I have met many wonderful vendors in SL that have gone out of their way to help me, have only met one that was a jerk and wouldnt honor a gift certificate that i had won at a club. Hes now out of business..so goes to show, a little kindness in this game goes along way in being competitive.

We rent out condos...and some of our renters have been with us over a year..and thats one thing that we take alot of pride in. We go out of our way to be sure our renters have the place that they want, and try our very best to be sure that we answer all IM's, but lately i have noticed too, that i miss alot of offline messages.

i agree that customer service is much needed for a business in sl, however the pseudo anonimity that our avatars give us has the tendency to make some rude behaviors appear, i already had to deal with customers that where never satisfied, no matter what i could do for them it would never be enough.

We sl designers have a life too.

As a customer, I'm not going to get all worked up over a few cents (when US$1 is around L$275, most of what I've bought is around 50 cents). Sure, it'd be nice if something that I buy fit/worked, but if it doesn't, it doesn't. Most of the time I've been able to modify it to my liking. There's a few things that I just can't get to fit/work. It could be my body shape or whatever. I honestly don't have the time to fuss over a few cents. I just chaulk it up to bad design (because there is a LOT of bad design in SL) and move on.

As a vendor (I just started selling a few items that I've made), if someone has a problem with anything I sell, I will try my best to satisfy them.

There is customer service in SL, although it can be hard to find. Often when a customer sends me an IM and I get back to them they seem surprised that I responded which is in itself a sad commentary on customer relations in SL.

Personally I try to run my SL business the same as a RL business, where customer service is the key to a successful enterprise IMHO. I answer all my offlines, my messages often get capped but since they get sent to email (I use a serperate email addy for SL) I use that as a tool to make sure I get back to everyone. Sure I get some crap in there that is sometimes annoying but I guess thats the price to pay. I have even gone to the step of putting in my profile tht I WILL answer your questions, which seems weird to me. I offer a 100% satisfaction guarentee, if you have a problem with your item I will fix it or refund your money. I will replace items customers screwed up for a small fee. Really the only thing I don't cover is lost items, as stuff like that is open to abuse.

I often see in some higher profile business owners profiles not to contact them at all and I find that sad really. The best suggestion I can offer to anyone is read the sellers profile and any refund policy thay may have. usually you can get a good idea on how friendly they are towards thier customers.

I bought some hair at a pretty well-known place and although there were no demos I took a chance and bought the hair by the way it looked in the picture, Guess what, the hair didn't match the base, the base was not prim, it was a total disaster. I emailed the person suggesting she have demos and that I was very unhappy with the hair. She did email me back but explained that she does not give refunds as is stated in her terms, blah blah blah. It looked like a form letter to me. Made me Curious to see if other Kitties who bought stuff there have a problem with it so I asked around, and I found a few others with the same problem AND received the same form letter. 250L isn't much, but it is enough to learn not to trust sellers who refuse to give refunds unless a demo is available.