I bought a skin in-world, but never received the item, have contacted repeatedly. What do I do?

[MayLynn Moonstone]

I purchased a skin at the in world store on March 13, 2016 but never received the item.

When I searched for the store through the search window in Second Life I found out that the owners like to be contacted this way: "DON´T IM ME SEND A NOTE WE DO NOT RETURN MONEY FOR ERRORS COMMITTED BY CUSTOMERS There´s a rule that the Company does not return money for errors committed by customers."

I DID send the owners, and everyone else associated with the store Notecards on about 20 of the 38 days since I purchased the item, AND the error is NOT MINE--I DEFINITELY paid for the item--I just NEVER received the skin that I paid for!!! (I know this sounds dramatic in my tone--but I am ALWAYS polite and courteous when communicating with other residents in SL and real life  ;-)  )

I have sent a variety of 5 different Notecards on 20 days over a period of 5+ weeks and have not heard anything from anyone: NOT the owners and, NOT from other people associated with the store;  I have sent Notecards to ALL of them and have not heard ANYTHING from anyone.

I went back to the store and found this on their FAQ board:
"7. I bought a product but did not receive. How to proceed?
Wait a few minutes or even 24 hours before complaints, can be SL lag. If after 24 hours your product is not in your inventory, send a Notecard with the full details of purchase e.g. location, date, time, product and destination. This information is available at Second Life, just log in and check transactions and account history."

I DID include all of the transaction details in every Notecard that I sent.

Is there anyone I can contact to get my money back? I paid L$3499 Second Life Lindens or $14.41 US dollars. I really want the skin, but if they can't give me that, than I'd like my money back.

I'm at my wits end, where do I go from here?? Is there ANY help or resolution possible??Is there ANYONE who can contact the store on my behalf?

[Lindal Kidd]

MayLynne,

I'm sorry you're having this problem.  You are doing all the right things to try and resolve the issue (with one exception.  You should remove the names of the avatars and the store with whom you're having the dispute from your post here.  Naming names is against the forum rules and could get you in trouble.)

Linden Lab will not involve themselves in this sort of resident-to-resident dispute.  All you can do is what you have already done...and do try to remain polite in your communications, it's much more likely to result in a favorable response.

About the only other thing you can do is resolve never to buy from that store again, and find a product you like somewhere else.

[MayLynn Moonstone]

Thank you Lindal for your answer, I truly appreciate it! I did remove all of the names of the store and the people associated with it...I had no idea that you couldn't use their names. As you can see this was only my second question in 6 years.

 

The sad thing is that I had purchased from this store the very first skins I ever owned when I was a newbie...I'm so disappointed in the customer service that I am going to return all of their skins back to them. It will say more than words can, PLUS it will help thin out my inventory! At over 100,000 items in my inventory every little bit helps.

 

Can I ask you a question personally?

[GranpaBud]

I'm having the same problem with another inworld store owner.  I tried to buy a skin on 8/16/16, but instead of getting the item, it said I failed to pay the owner/creator but took $1500L.

I IM'd and wrote a notecard that day.  No response.

I wrote another addition to that notecard, saying I wanted a refund or the skin I paid for,  noticing she had been online that day, so I know she saw my nc.  No response.

This kind of behavior should be handled by SL as FRAUD if these creators refuse to make good on a purchase.  It's STEALING from other residents

***SL/LINDEN LABS - if a resident complains about paying for items and not receiving them after 2 days, then YOU should be reimbursing those residents.  It's easy enough to look up the paid for & received items in an account.