The buyer is always right?

[Nethya Emor]

Contact them, provide great customer service, don't let yourself be 'blackmailed' but try to make your customer end up satisfied. It has been working with me for several years so far, vast majority of people will be glad you contact them and tried to resolve the issue. Double check your product pages to make sure everything is as clear as it can get as well, including product images.

 

[JoJo Aurelia]

My description states I offer refunds. There is no reason to be left a crappy review. Especially because the script necessary for my product are not mine, but bought from another person. So I tell them to contact me for refund or replacement if script goes bad or if they try to open the box which you can't do with baby clothes. Think applier clothes for babies. But still I get occasional 1 star reviews, "It didn't work..." no note to me, no opportunity to help. And Linden, who used to take down bogus reviews, says it's my problem. I will contact buyer and offer refund to remove review. But if that fails... And it often does... Refuse to answer me... Well, it is frustrating after days creating something for another to pay pennies on the dollar to kill its sale. 

[Lexbot Sinister]

On 10/29/2017 at 12:21 PM, Gadget Portal said:

If the review is false, against the TOS, or off topic, get it removed.

If the review is legit and still bad, improve your customer service or your product. Or both.

 

A review may very well be false and won't be removed. A review doesn't even need to have anything written. I've got a review with only a sad face once. No idea what was wrong, and the customer didn't reply when i asked them, either. I flagged it, other people flagged it, it wasn't removed. Anyhow, i have bemoaned that on the forums before.

 

There are people well willing to toss out a 100-200 L$ just to be able to write a bad review on something you have made, just to have a personal dig at you. The only thing i could come up with against that, is to have lot of good stuff for sale so one fake review just drowns out. Those reviews are of course written so they don't go against ToS, just intended to mess with you and your sales.

 

The reverse also happens, of course, like alt-reviews and bought reviews. All in all, reviews are kinda meaningless. It should be a questionnaire instead.

• did the product box include the actual product?
• did the product have Li, texture options and permissions as described?
• were other product features as described? ( scripts, animations, etc)
• did customer service reply if any issues were brought forth?

And then maybe cook up a score from that.  The first and second points should ping back LL for a product check, so it's not empty boxes or other type of scams.

[Paul Hexem]

2 hours ago, Lexbot Sinister said:

 

A review may very well be false and won't be removed. A review doesn't even need to have anything written. I've got a review with only a sad face once. No idea what was wrong, and the customer didn't reply when i asked them, either. I flagged it, other people flagged it, it wasn't removed.

Sounds to me like you flagged it wrong.

Is that even possible?

I know I've had nonsense reviews removed before, quite easily. Somewhere there's a list of things that LL will remove a review for, but I couldn't find it just now...

[Lexbot Sinister]

6 hours ago, Gadget Portal said:

Sounds to me like you flagged it wrong.

Is that even possible?

I know I've had nonsense reviews removed before, quite easily. Somewhere there's a list of things that LL will remove a review for, but I couldn't find it just now...

 

Have you flagged a review before? There is no category for "This is utter nonsense".

Although for those that haven't looked, the categories have actually improved lately, so now you can flag for things like the review being made by "alt of seller", and the review being made by "direct competitor". These are new, not sure when they were added.  You can also flag a review if it's about non-delivery, that has a flagging category now! Or if the complaint is about Li increasing with resizing

 

[Pamela Galli]

16 minutes ago, Lexbot Sinister said:

 

Have you flagged a review before? There is no category for "This is utter nonsense".

Although for those that haven't looked, the categories have actually improved lately, so now you can flag for things like the review being made by "alt of seller", and the review being made by "direct competitor". These are new, not sure when they were added.  You can also flag a review if it's about non-delivery, that has a flagging category now! Or if the complaint is about Li increasing with resizing

 

I just checked — those are not very comprehensive flag reasons. They left out the most common one, which is that someone gives one star because the item IS exactly as described, but the buyer did not read the listing at all. Some of the flag reasons are hardly ever seen, like quoting IMs. And how does anyone know whether someone is an alt?

So typical of LL to not consult anyone who actually deals with review flagging.

[Lexbot Sinister]

1 minute ago, Pamela Galli said:

They left out the most common one, which is that someone gives one star because the item IS exactly as described, but the buyer did not read the listing at all.

I think you could try " Off topic - the issue is already noted in item description" and then everything in the description would be the " issue" so to say.

I wish there was a category for "Buyer did not test available demo".  (and then complaints about things easily seen in the demo)

I have never seen chat logs either, and a better umbrella term would be "review goes against Community standards", where chat log would fit in, but also profanity etc.

[Pamela Galli]

50 minutes ago, Lexbot Sinister said:

I think you could try " Off topic - the issue is already noted in item description" and then everything in the description would be the " issue" so to say.

I wish there was a category for "Buyer did not test available demo".  (and then complaints about things easily seen in the demo)

I have never seen chat logs either, and a better umbrella term would be "review goes against Community standards", where chat log would fit in, but also profanity etc.

Yes, re demo!  No excuse IMO if someone fails to take a look at demo. Too bad LL didn't consult us about it. 

[Charlotte Bartlett]

LL really don't review all flags properly - I have had one flagged for over a year now.  And it's not a review, it's some weirdo writing random stuff. So not even a subjective difference of opinion.

LL are very arbitrary on what they remove, and that customer on the "review" above, I notedcarded, IM'd, and refunded to zero response which my super nice customer service hat on - so no matter what you do as a merchant you can't navigate the 10% who are genuinely poor customers. Somebody noted above they always get 5 star reviews - I don't and it's normally 99% of the time as they couldn't be bothered to click the see the item in Second Life link which Tp's them straight to the product.      "Item was smaller than I wanted" - one example.  I have had rarely a genuine issue which I rectify, refund and get them a new copy.    One lady she had issues with a pool she didn't like the texture, so I went and customised it for her and made an error during that.   I of course then went back and fixed and refunded her for the trouble.    Her 3 star review remains today.  She is a very rare case though so not at all reflective of what my customers are like.   Mostly they are adorable, so it tends to be non regular customers I see the stranger reviews from.

Echoing what Pam said I am disappointed that LL did not consult us here on possible options.  Again they have been written off synch to what merchants really would need in that drop down.   Mine would be "didn't read the item description and check the demo".      I have even had a star knocked off reviews due to the LI or something similar - which is clearly listed in the marketplace information.

 

 

[HunniHope]

3 hours ago, Pamela Galli said:

I just checked — those are not very comprehensive flag reasons. They left out the most common one, which is that someone gives one star because the item IS exactly as described, but the buyer did not read the listing at all. Some of the flag reasons are hardly ever seen, like quoting IMs. And how does anyone know whether someone is an alt?

 

2 hours ago, Pamela Galli said:

Yes, re demo!  No excuse IMO if someone fails to take a look at demo. Too bad LL didn't consult us about it. 

These! Recent experience with this. Buyer did not read the description, did not try the demo and then ranted and raved at me in IM calling me a fraud, then continued to paste the entire IM along with parts I didn't originally see because I had muted them by this point. This took a flagging and 2 tickets to get the review taken down. First response from LL was the typical "we do not get involved with resident to resident dispute". I had to open a 2nd ticket (because they closed the first) and explain yet again that they breached ToS and also point out that it included swearing. None of this was necessary, or should have been necessary. 

In my policy on the MP i think i state no refunds where demo's are available. But i haven't carved that in stone. If in the previous example the buyer had come to me with hands up saying they made a mistake, and not screaming at me (yes their capslock key had a malfunction and got stuck in the on position), if they had actually come nicely, I would have refunded because we all make a mistake and slip up sometime. Being nice really can go a lot further, even when  you are the one in the wrong.

In the past I've even had someone make a bulk purchase on my MP store, then IM me and with no explanation threaten to leave bad reviews on everything unless i give a full refund, i refused, they started leaving the reviews then got tired after just the 2nd one and gave up. 

Yes, we need more categories for flags.

Yes, we need the Linden staff looking at these flags to actually read what we are flagging

Yes, we need a compulsory comment box when flagging because when we have to flag it is rarely for just one reason, but we have no way to explain that at the time

No, Customers are not always right

Yes, there are bad customers out there with bad attitudes, few and far between luckily but they still exist

I hope, that the new user group which starts on Fri 10th can in some way help give us a louder voice and get our concerns not only seen, but actually heard. 

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by HunniHope
must learn to check spellings and grammar, even partially lol

[contagiouScolD]

What if you purchased multiple no-copy items for a role-playing system, and was denied an upgrade or refund for said items that no longer functions without the upgrade or new item purchase? Surely I wouldn't be wrong for writing a bad review for the unnecessary hassle I had to go through. 

 

[Paul Hexem]

17 hours ago, Lexbot Sinister said:

 

Have you flagged a review before? There is no category for "This is utter nonsense".

Although for those that haven't looked, the categories have actually improved lately, so now you can flag for things like the review being made by "alt of seller", and the review being made by "direct competitor". These are new, not sure when they were added.  You can also flag a review if it's about non-delivery, that has a flagging category now! Or if the complaint is about Li increasing with resizing

 

Actually I have. I picked "Off Topic", "Already in description". and then left a comment on the review about why it was wrong, and it vanished. Apparently commenting on a review is the same as already in description, 'cause their problem (their PC was bad) definitely was not in the description.

[Tamara Artis]

I received another 1 star review for a pose that costs 1 linden, saying how the pack contains 2 versions and none of them fit her own shape.

Can someone advise me what to chose when flagging a review? Or maybe its better to just leave it as it is? I wrote her a nice reply lol

[Pamela Galli]

 There’s not much you can do, Tamara – negative reviews don’t really hurt sales much anyway, and I don’t suppose it matters much if it’s only one Linden 

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

Bad reviews are an opportunity to demonstrate customer service skills to *potential* customers and also answer problems/address issues others might have as well. We all had to learn the strange art of shopping on MP and the comments can be very helpful in learning some of the less obvious aspects of it. I always appreciate informative ones.

[Tamara Artis]

Thanks for your replies... both Pamela and Bitsy.... I know its not a big deal if you look at the 1L$ value but it is a value and makes me sad seeing the person who left the review has her own MP shop so I know she is well aware that what she did was wrong. 

[Cindy Evanier]

I have been mulling over leaving a negative  MP review in recent days.  Not because the product wasn't what was advertised exactly but because on questioning the creator about some issues I was having making it work he decided to refund me and stop answering me.  What I expected to be a simple thing taking a day to set up ended up taking me 10 days and many frustrating hours working out the anomalies in his script.  Things which could have been sorted with a more informative "how to"  note card and of course replying to my IMs/note cards.  I am not sure if I will leave a review or not yet, I am giving him another 48 hours to reply to my final note card.  I am just not comfortable leaving a negative review (especially as he just refunded me) and wonder how many feel the same.

[Tamara Artis]

3 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

I have been mulling over leaving a negative  MP review in recent days.  Not because the product wasn't what was advertised exactly but because on questioning the creator about some issues I was having making it work he decided to refund me and stop answering me.  What I expected to be a simple thing taking a day to set up ended up taking me 10 days and many frustrating hours working out the anomalies in his script.  Things which could have been sorted with a more informative "how to"  note card and of course replying to my IMs/note cards.  I am not sure if I will leave a review or not yet, I am giving him another 48 hours to reply to my final note card.  I am just not comfortable leaving a negative review (especially as he just refunded me) and wonder how many feel the same.

Maybe (if its not urgent for you) it would be good to wait a week or two and then send a notecard to the merchant saying you want to use the item, you want to pay for it and you would like to try and make it work.

It can happen that the merchant knows the item needs support and he is not able to give it at this certain time (this I say from my personal experience because I sometimes have only few mins to login, pay rent, answer the most important notecards and go on with my rl obligations). It is easiest to simply refund the person and go back to more important things, this is why I suggest to wait. 

And if you don't think waiting is okay then simply use this refunded money and buy the same product from another merchant. I wouldn't leave a negative review because I got refunded. 

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

How about a sort of neutral 3 star review pointing out both the problems and the refund? Then it's on the page and might help others who also have problems.

[Cindy Evanier]

2 minutes ago, Tamara Artis said:

Maybe (if its not urgent for you) it would be good to wait a week or two and then send a notecard to the merchant saying you want to use the item, you want to pay for it and you would like to try and make it work.

My last note card pretty much said I was happy to pay for it. I wasn't and didn't want or expect a refund and I have it working just not in the way I expected from the item description.  I will wait a little longer though.  I would have appreciated an acknowledgement he was looking into it. (he has been online)

3 minutes ago, Bitsy Buccaneer said:

How about a sort of neutral 3 star review pointing out both the problems and the refund? Then it's on the page and might help others who also have problems.

This is most likely the route I will take after giving him a little more time.  

It's just me feeling a bad person for giving less than 5 stars to someone.

 

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

26 minutes ago, Tamara Artis said:

Thanks for your replies... both Pamela and Bitsy.... I know its not a big deal if you look at the 1L$ value but it is a value and makes me sad seeing the person who left the review has her own MP shop so I know she is well aware that what she did was wrong. 

Yeah, that will be a lousy feeling.

So what can we do to replace it with a better one?

[Pamela Galli]

2 hours ago, Cindy Evanier said:

My last note card pretty much said I was happy to pay for it. I wasn't and didn't want or expect a refund and I have it working just not in the way I expected from the item description.  I will wait a little longer though.  I would have appreciated an acknowledgement he was looking into it. (he has been online)

This is most likely the route I will take after giving him a little more time.  

It's just me feeling a bad person for giving less than 5 stars to someone.

 

 Normally a refund means do over, no harm no foul. But if it cost you that much time, a refund alone may not really compensate you for the inconvenience. If you think you have a duty to warn Others then you might leave a review minus a couple of stars at least. I think the seller should get some credit for the refund.

[Paul Hexem]

Despite how a lot of people act, 3 stars isn't a bad thing at all. It's completely neutral.

Some merchants get offended by anything less than five and have their friends send you rude IMs (that was a fun day, so much whine, not nearly enough cheese), but they're just crazy.

One or two stars is negative. 3+ and you're doing alright.

[Tamara Artis]

6 hours ago, Bitsy Buccaneer said:

Yeah, that will be a lousy feeling.

So what can we do to replace it with a better one?

I know I CAN contact her but I don't want to do that lol

The person who left the review did more harm to herself than to me or my freebie item. Most people don't bother to read (both reviews and the product description), ones who do bother will see whats going on there. That's it. I was just wondering what do I need to click in order to get the review deleted but now that I thought more about it, I might just let it be there

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

k, looks like i misunderstood again. sorry. i only wanted to help.