Disappointed is Customer Support

[Duke McDonnagh]

I have been a member of the SL Community for many years And almost always And now I have concierge support because I own a sim. I have never not been provided anything but top notch customer service. I would be hard pressed to come up with any examples where my experience with concierge support has not been satisfactory. Not that I always got the answer or solution I wanted but at least i felt they knew what they were doing And Had my interests as a customer at heart.

I recently had occasion to help a friend who was only a basic member. I was shocked to see what customer service she got which really amounted to none. So immediately I purchased her premium support so at least we would have chat to work with. And be able to submit a case on any topic. This is well worth it only $85 bucks a year. 

Any with her permission i sat off to get her issue resolved, which I was confident that I could now that I had chat support to work with. (Not it is perfectly within SL terms of service for me to be allowed access to her account with her permission at her own risk). 

What a disappointment this has been. They don't seem to care or have very little empathy for her situation. I am going to paste the rest of the store now since I already have it ready should i get to talk to a supervisor which I have requested. I  still have hopes that a fair resolution will be forth coming. Your comments And feed back are appreciated.

Original Transaction:
10/01/2012 28,000 lindens deducted from account.

This ad was created And published (Otherwise there would be no charge)
but right after creation was the last time it appeared in my profile.

The ad never ran And disappeared from my classifieds in my profile the
next day after creation

I requested a refund this was denied because I had created the ad.
(ISSUE: The CS agent mistyped when the "final" response was
put into the ticket. She wrote I'm sorry but we will accommodate a refund
request". I assumed that this was an error And informed chat support that
I wanted clarification if the refund had been approved or denied I never got
a response to this request for clarification but someone went in And modified
the cancelled ticket to read "I'm sorry but we will NOT accommodate a
refund request". I see this as a potential serious security And trust 
issue in that someone would be allowed to go into a closed ticket And
modify it after the fact". We as customers are not even allowed to comment
on it)

When I asked why the ad had not run i was told "If an ad was canceled
it will not run"

MY position is And has been all along that I did not cancel the ad And 
I am 100% positive I had no intention of canceling it. If proof was
provided from a log that showed I cancelled it then I would accept
responsibility for my mistake.

I opened a new ticket as instructed by chat support making this request. The
ticket disappeared. Subsequent attempts to create a new ticket also
disappeared. When I tried to pull them up the system pulled up the original
closed ticket. To the best of my knowledge I never received a response
to any of these tickets.

IN the last chat session i was told that i should not have opened
duplicate tickets And that at least two of the tickets i was informed
that proof of cancellation could not be provided. This is the first
I heard that this proof could not be provided to me.(ISSUE: I have never
been able to pull up any of these so called duplicate tickets except 
right after they were created And even now they do not appear in
my support history. When I do try to pull up one I get the old ticket
which has no mention of the fact that proof could not be provided. The
Customer service agents seem to be able to see all the tickets but
I cannot)

Issues And questions:

1. I paid 28K for something I never received. Even If I did cancel it on
the day it was created why should LIndens get my money? Shouldn't there
be a prorated refund?

2.Why is an agent allowed to go in And modify an already closed ticket
presenting security And trust issues. Why not allow clarification
comments only?

3. WHy can proof of the cancellation not be provided? (It's hard to
believe there is no log of cancellations as this is part of a transaction
where you are taking Your customers money. Not to log it is a poor
business practice at best And potentially could lead to civil claims
of fraud unfair practices.).

4. Why is it assumed "the system" is infallible And the customer has
to be the one that made the mistake when we all know that glitches
And missing transactions occur a lot.

I still believe its reasonable when I ask for proof to be provided that
the ad did not run because of a mistake I made or action I took. If 
this proof cannot be provided then it is reasonable for me to expect
a refund or credit so I can run the AD.

28K is not much to the lindens but to someone like me of limited
resources who is working hard at trying to make success of a business
28K is a LOT.

[wiked Anton]

28k IS a lot of money and i can certainly understand you angst, but privacy laws would not allow them to show you the proof you are asking. I was once building  on a sim and dragged a texture to a surface, there was a glitch and everything in sight wes textured with this one texture. it took me a week to fix it all. what i am saying is, when you hit the ok button, perhaps the system registered it as cancel......anyway, hope you get your money back but i can garauntee you wont. good luck

[Duke McDonnagh]

Thanks for the replay,

 

its not me its my friend they need to show her. So privacy laws is no excuse.

 

Duke

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Welcome to the wonderful world of LL customer service.   I'm glad you have had positive experiences up to now because I rarely have, even at concierge level.  Even when the situation was serious and clearly not anything that could be caused by anyone or anything other than the server all I ever got was the runaround like you have.  I know other people that are premium members and concierge members  that have never received good service either.  That is why I refuse to pay for premium membership.

I have never heard of the Lindens refunding anything for any reason or providing proof of any of their assertions.  In fact the TOS specifically says they won't be liable even if you can prove it is their fault.

From the TOS: Section 10.2

Linden Lab does not ensure continuous, error-free, secure or virus-free operation of the Service, the Linden Software, the Websites, the Servers, or your Account, and you understand that you shall not be entitled to refunds or other compensation based on Linden Lab's failure to provide any of the foregoing other than as explicitly provided in this Agreement. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, and to that extent, the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you.

I am sorry to tell you that your friend is out the money and has no recourse unless the jurisdiction she lives in does not allow a disclaimer like the one above.  If she does, she would need to take it to a RL court of law and prove her case.  Probably an expensive proposition that would also take a lot of time, and without concrete proof she was not in error in any way, she would not win.

 

[Duke McDonnagh]

Hi thanks for your feedback. I am sorry you haven't had any positive Support experiences. Your right it would be fruitless not to mention extremely expensive to take them to court. I will continue to persue "justice" until i feel like its fruitless. 

 

Duke

 

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life, I find.

- John F. Kennedy

[JoJo Aurelia]

Omg this is bad but... I lost half my inventory and was put out of business. Read my full report

here:http://www.kakiadesigns.com/2012/08/the-risks-of-virtual-business-in-second.html

I actually haven't been in SL since this happened. I cancelled my $75 mainland tier, and my prem service. I still have my items on MP but marked down or free. It was a big wake up call not to invest my time here. I still offer CS support.  But after 3 years I threw in the towel. I just couldn't fight with LL anymore. 

[Perrie Juran]

---

Faye Feldragonne wrote:

Omg this is bad but... I lost half my inventory and was put out of business. Read my full report

here:

http://www.kakiadesigns.com/2012/08/the-risks-of-virtual-business-in-second.html

I actually haven't been in SL since this happened. I cancelled my $75 mainland tier, and my prem service. I still have my items on MP but marked down or free. It was a big wake up call not to invest my time here. I still offer CS support.  But after 3 years I threw in the towel. I just couldn't fight with LL anymore. 

---

Have you added your voice here?

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Merchants/To-RODVIK-Request-meeting-with-Merchants-on-CommerceTeam/td-p/1693865

 

[GothGirl Demonia]

First, I don't understand the AD business you are talking about.

1. Second Life classfields/AD listing

2. Or Market Place AD.

Either Way, always pay through PayPal, or a creditcard company with 0 fraud liabality, and make sure the terms and conditions on which you have signed with your card company.

First, I would put in a support ticket, and talk to LL about the issue.

Second, I would try giving them a call on the telephone after making the ticket incase they ask for ticket ID.

I have never had a problem with Linden Lab on billing issues like these before so I couldn't say, however their support when I have had to phone LL has always been good has it changed I don't know however it seems like LL would be willing to help resolve the issue.

While Linden Lab May have a certain TOS or disclaimer in their Terms OF Service, it does not limit the right to outside companies paying Linden Lab, aka if you have 30 days to file a dispute with your credit card company, or paypal then do it and tell them that they did not deliver the product or service to you. In other words the most that can happen is Linden Lab ban's you account, but if you really want your money back and don't care then this is an option. ( see you paid for a product by a company that is a registered company in the U.S, and they actually didn't deliver the product.) Its not up to your CC company, or paypal to review their TOS, and conditions, all they handle is the money, and if you claim you didn't recieve your product and the company is unwilling to refund then they should handle it.

Also I believe given the fact that LL is located in california you could.

www.ftc.gov and file a complaint here for lost funds.

I have filed disputes against other companies for failing to deliver virtual products a couple with paypal, a couple with my card companies, and guess what. Every Time, I got my money back It was never no more than $100 lost so it wasn't a lot but each time I got the money back even though the company declined to refund. There are also other situations where you can use this to your advantage.

If this doesn't work and you decide legal aid, small claims, or such that is another option if you wish to spend more money I guess.

[JoJo Aurelia]

No didn't add my voice. I should. I didn't know about that link. I think we all suffer in silence.

[Kathrin Pearl]

Hi,

Thank you and everyone who have responded so far. It was a classified Ad. I will make note of the information you provided, it may prove very useful.

Duke

I don't fear Death, but I love life, so when I go it will be kicking and screaming!

[Phil Deakins]

---

Kathrin Pearl wrote:

I don't fear Death, but I love life, so when I go it will be kicking and screaming!

---

I don't fear death either. I just don't want to be there when it happens.

[Kathrin Pearl]

I am happy to report that our efforts have paid off and LInden lab has offered us a Settlement which we have accepted. We look forward to being part of the SL community for many years to come.

Where there is hope there is everything!

Kathrin

[rosebanks123]

I wrote a letter to the CS once and it never atteded to my request. I was so disappointed with them where I have to find out myself the solution to my problem.