Lack of Customer Service by Linden Lab/

[TimKoul]

35 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

"Essential services" don't exist in a bubble.

Perfect example, I'm at work yesterday and today. When I walked in yesterday, they'd put in a new computer some time during the week. All my files, shortcuts, and credentials gone with the old one. Luckily my company kept their support people on for the holidays so I could recover what I needed and do my job.

Second Life is not an essential service. 

[Sid Nagy]

Their prices ain't exactly cheap. Just saying.
One might expect something in return for it IMHO.

Edited December 25, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Rowan Amore]

5 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Their prices ain't exactly cheap. Just saying.
One might expect something in return for it IMHO.

Limited support is not the same as no support at all.   I'm sure many places that are actually essential in the world also have limited their support staff for the holidays.  

[Paul Hexem]

2 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

That sounds like they were essential to you, but that's not what an essential service is, Unless you are working for one..  shutting the electricity off to a town  is shutting down an essential service..

The guys keeping the elecricity on need gas, tools, parts, cell and internet connections, lunch stops- none of the companies supplying those are essential services, but without them the people taking care of our essential services will be miserable.

We're a globally interconnected world now. Nothing exists in a bubble anymore.

4 minutes ago, TimKoul said:

Second Life is not an essential service. 

Neither are most places staffed today, mostly by people getting paid way less than what LL tech support gets paid.

[bigmoe Whitfield]

I was forced for many years as a manager to work every holiday accept july 4th...   then I moved into a factory setting as a production worker...  I was expected to run on christmas eve till christmas morning doing my job, did that for 7 years before they had a heart,  so it's why I said what I said,  I was once there and knew how big of a hurt it made not being with family. 

[Ceka Cianci]

14 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

The guys keeping the elecricity on need gas, tools, parts, cell and internet connections, lunch stops- none of the companies supplying those are essential services, but without them the people taking care of our essential services will be miserable.

We're a globally interconnected world now. Nothing exists in a bubble anymore.

Neither are most places staffed today, mostly by people getting paid way less than what LL tech support gets paid.

Most of those sound pretty essential and I believe were even on the list of essential.. I mean most were open during the pandemic when  non essential businesses were shut down. Just because there is a big list of them doesn't mean everyone  is on it..There is still a good list of non essential ones as well. Like the one we're chatting on right now.. hehehe

Edited December 25, 2022 by Ceka Cianci

[Nalates Urriah]

Has anyone got any DATA on how many people use SL's Live Chat per day and specifically on holidays? 😳

If one doesn't know, how does one make any kind of decision on whether they should be providing service on holidays or not?

If you want support on holidays, how much would you be willing to pay per month to get it? Oh wait... you want it for FREE... included... which if included in memberships then spreads the cost across all of us, whether we ever use the service or not...  and how many of those wanting holiday support service complain SL memberships are too high?

So many people never think things through. 😢

[Marigold Devin]

.

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Marigold Devin
It's Christmas Day. Taking a chill pill and moving to the sofa.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

This thread needs some holiday cheer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE, WHEEE!!

 

*I'm currently waiting for a plumber to get back from his long holiday vacation so he can fix the toilet which has been running to all hell since early in the week. LL will likely be back in the office before he will. 😄

[Paul Hexem]

47 minutes ago, Nalates Urriah said:

Has anyone got any DATA on how many people use SL's Live Chat per day and specifically on holidays? 😳

If one doesn't know, how does one make any kind of decision on whether they should be providing service on holidays or not?

If you want support on holidays, how much would you be willing to pay per month to get it? Oh wait... you want it for FREE... included... which if included in memberships then spreads the cost across all of us, whether we ever use the service or not...  and how many of those wanting holiday support service complain SL memberships are too high?

So many people never think things through. 😢

Conversely, many people never think beyond the schedule of a 9-5 office job.

[Ceka Cianci]

4 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

Conversely, many people never think beyond the schedule of a 9-5 office job.

Now those sound like some nice hours if that's all they are working.. That's like half a day for me.. I worked that many hours at night and then came home to my real jobs..

Had to leave the night time one though, because they were wanting to add more hours which was cutting into the others.. That place started to suck anyways.. hehehe

[Love Zhaoying]

You know, sometimes people just want to complain. 

Their complaints don't need to have merit, or have relative importance.

So long as we let them complain, the world will keep going around.

Even if they are just complaining about no live chat customer service from Linden Lab on Christmas.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Yes, the plumbers in my area will come in the evenings and on weekends & holidays -- for an extremely high fee compared to normal Mon-Fri 9-5 hrs.  Ditto for any other repairman that I want to come to my house outside of typical M-F 9-5 hours.  

Many other businesses -- i.e. restaurants, shopping venues, theaters, etc.. -- might be opened today, but they are doing it in hopes of getting more money, not because they give a crap about any of their customers.  And it sure doesn't mean the employees are happy about it -- and many, if given the choice, would opt to not work holidays.

 

While LL is supplying some support today, their normal chat & ticket support is primarily 'daytime hours' and the Billing support is ONLY Mon-Fri daytime hours.  That is where I think they fall down, since they have a lot of non-US customers. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Love Zhaoying]

I figured it out! The Original Post of this thread and supporting posts are "trolling". 

An example of, "I don't really believe this thing, but I'm going to post about it to get a reaction and so that people argue."

Brilliant!

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Love Zhaoying

[Scylla Rhiadra]

2 hours ago, bigmoe Whitfield said:

I was forced for many years as a manager to work every holiday accept july 4th...   then I moved into a factory setting as a production worker...  I was expected to run on christmas eve till christmas morning doing my job, did that for 7 years before they had a heart,  so it's why I said what I said,  I was once there and knew how big of a hurt it made not being with family. 

This is the kind of story that distresses me.

I understand the desire of paying customers to get value for their money, including full service when it's needed. I've had very few issues with SL myself over my years here, but I'm sure there are many ways in which LL could improve its responsiveness to customer issues and problems.

But this particular issue isn't just about "value for money" or "customer service." It's also necessarily, because of the particular issue at stake, about the quality of life of those who are employed by LL. To me, "essential services" are those things without which people will suffer serious and substantive harm or even risk of death -- heating, electricity, access to medical care of various sorts, policing services, special services for those in need (homeless shelters, women's shelters, and so forth). Briefly losing access to SL, even if it is a source of income, doesn't really fall into this category.

On the whole, LL seems to have a pretty positive and progressive corporate culture. I have the sense that, relatively speaking, it is a "good place to work." And part of that is undoubtedly the result of not forcing employees to work at times that our culture has designated more private or "family" time -- i.e., holidays.

I personally think that maintaining a happy workplace is more important than providing marginally better customer service. I'd far rather patronize a company that treats its employees like real human beings with real emotional and social needs, than one that ruthlessly exploits them in order to better service customers (looking at you, Amazon!).

Edited December 25, 2022 by Scylla Rhiadra

[norajulian]

Whew, there's a lot to unpack here. 

 

Many American-based businesses run on adjusted schedules during federally-recognized holidays that are usually spent with family, friends, or lounging on the sofa watching Home Alone and eating fried chicken. In a fast-paced, digital world, most of us could use with a reminder to chill out and take a peek into what "real life" is all about.

I would say that we appreciate your understanding, but uh. I don't really think you do understand. 

 

Happy holidays. ♥ 

[CaithLynnSayes]

This is such a first world problem. Why can't you let LL employees be with their families for one or two days? 

[Kylie Jaxxon]

Happy Holidays to the grinches that are complaining ...enjoy your time off SL employees 🎄

[Love Zhaoying]

11 minutes ago, CaithLynnSayes said:

This is such a first world problem. Why can't you let LL employees be with their families for one or two days? 

Because other people aren't important, just what we want..? Only guessing.

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Because other people aren't important, just what we want..? Only guessing.

Oh yes .. because the OP is going to need to resolve a billing problem TODAY /s

[TimKoul]

4 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

Their prices ain't exactly cheap. Just saying.
One might expect something in return for it IMHO.

It's a subscription to a virtual world. Any issues can wait two days. It's Christmas, people don't generally sit and stare at a computer screen all day this time of the year.

[Paul Hexem]

4 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

You know, sometimes people just want to complain. 

Their complaints don't need to have merit, or have relative importance.

So long as we let them complain, the world will keep going around.

Even if they are just complaining about no live chat customer service from Linden Lab on Christmas.

It's actually an issue I've had for over a decade.

4 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

And part of that is undoubtedly the result of not forcing employees to work at times that our culture has designated more private or "family" time -- i.e., holidays.

I personally think that maintaining a happy workplace is more important than providing marginally better customer service. I'd far rather patronize a company that treats its employees like real human beings with real emotional and social needs, than one that ruthlessly exploits them in order to better service customers (looking at you, Amazon!).

I think this is actually a problem- that it's considered "forcing people to work" any hours that aren't normal, in a society where we do expect those 24/7 essential services. The people that provide those 24/7 services don't and can't possibly have normal schedules, so their needs will fall on times outside of Mon-Fri, 9-5. We're basically telling them they're not important enough to have decent customer service, while expecting them to continue to potentially risk their lives for us. Or at least, live lives with already miserable hours for us.

[Kathlen Onyx]

This is beyond ridiculous. For the complainers @belindacarson@Sid Nagy @Paul Hexemon this thread about how 24/7 Live support is essential to you please describe what issue you had during this time and the financial impact that it has had on you. Not something that potential could happen but an actual example of something that happened this weekend that caused you to lose money or not be able to access Second Life. 

I haven't seen one thread on here, besides this one of needless complaining, that anyone has had a life or death issue that they needed Live support and it couldn't wait until tomorrow.

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Sam1 Bellisserian

[Love Zhaoying]

36 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

5 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

You know, sometimes people just want to complain. 

Their complaints don't need to have merit, or have relative importance.

So long as we let them complain, the world will keep going around.

Even if they are just complaining about no live chat customer service from Linden Lab on Christmas.

It's actually an issue I've had for over a decade.

You'd think that a decade would be long enough to get used to it!

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

This is beyond ridiculous. For the complainers @belindacarson@Sid Nagy @Paul Hexemon this thread about how 24/7 Live support is essential to you please describe what issue you had during this time and the financial impact that it has had on you. Not something that potential could happen but an actual example of something that happened this weekend that caused you to lose money or not be able to access Second Life. 

I haven't seen one thread on here, besides this one of needless complaining, that anyone has had a life or death issue that they needed Live support and it couldn't wait until tomorrow.

 

The answer, when we finally get it will probably be something like:

* whine * But I had PLANS over the HOLIDAY in Second Life!