where is my vip account

[wichapiska]

just signed up & paid & created 3-month vip account 1) the $5000 credits & prev L$ balance showed 2)when i went in-world on sl the 5000 L$ did not show 3)i was not given choice of houses 4)couldn't set up my badge .. even tho i am on disability and very limited income i thought i'd give this a try as there is a lot i can't do out here in the real world.... i hope i won't regret it

follow up day two

i managed to find instructional videos for my advatar and other things but not for why my vip membership or payment is not showing up... also non of the perks for the vip membership.... the 25.00 payment has showed in my account and except for the the time when i purchased no recognition (especially in my l$'s).. no expedited support ... no house... no land unable to create badge.. etc... y'all are real quick with taking our money but not so quick with delivering what it is for...

 

also never did get a screen to register my account after payment cleared

[Marigold Devin]

There is sometimes a little bit of confusion when first becoming a resident of Second Life. 

It isn't essential to become a premium member to enjoy all that it has to offer, but I do advise you, now that you have opted to pay for a quarterly membership, to make full use of Live Chat. For more about this, please go to the support home page and read down for the link.

https://support.secondlife.com/contact-support/

This part of the support on offer is a resident to resident help area only, and we are always willing to share our experience and/or expertise.

If you are trying to obtain a Linden Home, these do actually become available and unavailable again very quickly, so you need to keep checking until  you fall lucky.  (You might ask why Linden Lab don't dedicate more sims to the Linden Homes - many residents have asked this question.)

I'm a bit confused about the bit ...

"also never did get a screen to register my account after payment cleared".

Your account is already registered. You just need to ensure you have downloaded the client, and log in to get going.  (To download the Second Life Viewer, scroll to the bottom of this screen for the "Download Second Life" option towards the right there.)

There is a lot to learn and discover with Second Life, and I will admit to you, that I did not become a premium member until I had been an explorer of our amazing virtual world for about two months. Linden Homes did not exist back then, but we could (and still can) purchase chunks of mainland.  Mainland is now cheaper than it has ever been, so you always have the option to purchase mainland - but, do get used to being inworld first is my advice.

There are a lot of us (myself included) who are on a very limited income, and no one likes to feel they have been ripped off.  I am sure, in the fullness of time, you will ensure you get value for money with your Second Life.  I know I certainly do.

To keep this thread updated, to ask more questions, to make clarifications or to ask for same, please click on "options" at the top right hand corner of your original post and "edit".

And remember - Rome was not built in a day (I still learn something new every day).

[Rolig Loon]

There are no Lindens here.  This is a resident-to-resident forum and we are all Second Life residents like you. 

There is also no such thing as a VIP account.  Like Marigold, I suspect that you are referring to a Premium account.  If you have signed up and paid your first bill, then you are "registered".  That's all there is to it.  You did not need to sign up as a Premium member, however.  I never bothered, and I have been here almost 7 years.  Here are the benefits of Premium membership:

• Your own private Linden Home
• Linden dollar rewards
• Exclusive virtual goods
• Premium-only sandboxes
• Other benefits, including live chat support, the right to own mainland in popular areas, and immediate access to adult-only areas.

Follow each of those links to see the details, as well as what you need to do to claim each of the benefits.  Those of us who sign on as Basic members may rent property anywhere in Second Life, and may buy land on private estates.  We can use public sandboxes for building things or, having rented or bought land, can use that.  In my opinion, the most important advantage of Premium membership is access to Live Chat and technical support, but that's one good reason why this Answers service is here -- to offer that service to all members.

If you have not already found them, I suggest exploring the informational resiurces in the Knowledge Base.  Just click the Knowledge Base tab at the top of this page.  To address many of the questions you have right now, I suggest starting with these articles....

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Second-Life-Quickstart/ta-p/1087919

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Accounts-overview/ta-p/700019

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Premium-membership/ta-p/1054477

Also, log in to your dashboard at secondlife.com and explore the links on the left side of the main page.  They will lead you to places where you can change settings on your account, track your bills and purchases, and monitor your land use.  If you have other questions from time to time, please don;t hesitate to come back here and either ask your question or explore to see whether we have already answered it for someone else.

Welcome to Second Life.

 

[Lindal Kidd]

PLEASE read Rolig's and Marigold's answers CAREFULLY, and follow all the links they gave you, too.

It's clear from your question that you have a lot of misconceptions about How Things Work Here, and a little background reading might help a lot!

[Abigail Longmeadow]

The others have answered well about premium membership status.

The money meter in the viewer is not always accurate. Sometimes clicking on it will cause it to update, or sometimes you need to teleport to a different sim to make it update. It should eventually show the correct amount of money. You did upgrade your existing Second Life account to premium? Right? If you created a NEW premium account (an alt) nothing in your old account carries over, but you can still log into your old account. You can even transfer money from your old account to your new account. Some other things can be transferred, but most items can not.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Premium-membership/ta-p/1054477

I will add that your forum badge in this forum has nothing to do with your avatar status (premium or not). Forum status simply depends on how many posts you have made, and how many other resident's questions you have answered, and how many 'kudos' and 'accepted solutions' other members have given you.

This help page is a little old, but still gives you the idea:  http://community.secondlife.com/t5/help/faqpage/faq-category-id/ranksroles#ranksroles

PS Premium members are not given a house, they have to go to a web page and claim one. One way to get there is the link on your dashboard https://secondlife.com/my/account/membership.php?lang=en-US  under Premium Membership that goes to this page  https://land.secondlife.com/en-US/lindenhomes/land-selection.php   The selection of homes in each style is limited.