What do you do when..

[Sephina Frostbite]

So I purchased a rather expensive item an I am having a problem with it. I wrote, notecard the maker for some help. Its been weeks and yet no reply. Whats the next action? I dont want to be a pest but I do really want the product to work or my linden back. Any advice?

[Ted McGregor]

Some tips :

 

• Check if the creator runs a refund policy at all.
• Check if said creator is still active in SL at all.
• Check for other people using the product and try to resolve what could make the product work without the creator's assistence or help.

Good luck.

 

[Pamela Galli]

I can't think of anything you can do beyond what you already have. You don't say whether you bought on the marketplace or not, but there are many creators who have left SL entirely, and just check in to collect their Lindens, if they check in at all (many even have deleted their accounts but not bothered to delist their marketplace products).

 

This is a prime reason that merchants have asked many many times for some kind of check to eliminate or at least warn customers about absentee sellers. Eventually something of the sort will happen when Magic Boxes are discontinued - those stores not converted to Direct Delivery will be gone. But that appears to be a long way off.

Many people check to see if there is an inworld store before making a marketplace purchase, because if there is, it is more likely that the seller is still in SL.

 

If you purchased inworld, then I don't see how you really could have avoided the problem. 

 

Merchants who provide excellent customer service invest quite a lot of time doing so; since time is money, that means customer service is also a money investment.  Their things might well cost a little more because you are buying not just an item but service, should you need it.  Before buying something expensive it is worth doing what little you can to investigate what level of service is included in the price. In the case of what you bought, it appears that the answer is: none.

 

[Coby Foden]

Once I bought something from marketplace.  It was stated there the item is mod/copy/no transfer.  Ok that was perfect for me.  When I opened the item I saw that it was mod/transfer/no copy.  Arrgghh.. I didn't want that!

Ok, during a couple of months time I sent several polite IMs and several notecards to the seller.  I never got any reply.  And I saw from the group that the seller had logged in several times during that time.  I wonder what was going in that sellers mind?  Surely they had seen some of my notecards and IMs.  In the sellers profile it was even stated that "if you have any problems please send me a notecard".

 

So, sometimes it can happen that nothing helps to solve some issue.

[chloe782]

This has happened to me a lot of times, contact someone else who has the same product as you at try and resolve the problem

[Lori Paramour]

This has happened to me on two occasions, both involving items that cost several thousand L$.   I always send IMs unless the creator asks for notecards.   But, I also back up the IMs with notecards regardless.

1st    BE a pest if your are getting no response.   Even if they have a no refund policy, you have a right to at least an acknowledgment.   That's just common courtesy.

2nd  If you bought the item from the MP and get no response, leave a bad review spelling out the problems you encountered.  Also spell out the process you followed trying to get the problem resolved, and relay the fact that the creator was of no help what so ever and in fact ignored you completely.   You may have to go back several times so I would make a copy of the review.  Then if the creator deletes it, you can always repost.  This tactic worked for me on both occasions, though it was time consuming.

3rd  Tell everyone you know about the problems you had with that specific creator.   Since we can't file complaints anywhere inworld where it would get maximum exposure, word of mouth is the most effective way to get information out about dishonest, unscrupulous and disinterested creators.

Good Luck

[Pamela Galli]

 

1) You can try being a pest, but you might be muted, so no one might hear you.

 

2) Creators cannot remove reviews. There would not be much point in reviews if that were the case. However, they can flag reviews that are off topic -- ie don't provide any information about the quality of the product or service but are a rant about deliveries or something else irrelevant -- and LL will remove them.

 

3).  In SL you can tell everyone you know, but they probably will not bother to tell everyone they know, so word just does not travel. Even blogs have very limited readership.

 

(The main way "word of mouth" works in SL is really more like "sight of eye" since ppl see things they like and go check it out in the store.) 

[Sephina Frostbite]

I bought the product in world and I was dumb and purchased without demo because well she didn't offer one. I never ever buy without a demo except in this case because she is very well known and liked. I didn't think there would be an issue with  a well known an popular Seller. I guess I was wrong.