[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

"One  problem I guess is people may have to declare their incomes for tax if  they have a Premium account........................."

If they are cashing out income in the US, they should be declaring the income regardless of premium or non-premium. I'm sure many don't. I have since day one as the last thing I want is some future headache with the IRS over a few grand a year and a lot less than that in terms of tax dollars owed.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no more or less reporting to the IRS by LL or anyone else based on the premium status. In general, those that qualify for concierge status via private islands simply don't pay premium because they pay enough in other payments to qualify for support. I pay premium because I always have, not because I need it. It gives me the ability to see things that develop like Linden Homes, which as a non-premium I would have had to have the experience related to me via third party. Once experienced, I knew it was a zero threat to private estate residency levels, and possibly a great way to teach people that private estate is awesome by comparison. LOL. Third party experience is never as good as first hand knowledge...

Which brings us back to third party support.... nuff said.

Charlene Trudeau, SkyBeam Estates

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

:"I've  worked in support for many years and you guys are doing it all wrong  lately, with a niche product like you have, you need inhouse support, I  don't care how appealing the finance manager sells third party support,  it is not suitable for a platform like this."

 

Third party support simply won't work for SL. If you don't live and breathe SL daily, you just can't assist with many of the problems. For concierge level residents, our Live Chat options should also be escalated directly to someone with concierge level knowledge. I can't begin to tell you how frustrated I get when I am dealing with someone with far less experience with SL than I have (Aug 2005) and who cannot understand what I am telling them when I know someone like Dee Linden or Charlene Linden (or any of the concierge level Lindens who we lost with the overseas shutdowns... a decision I *do* understand, even if I miss them terribly).

Outsourcing tech support for Dell lost me as a client also, for the same reasons. I worked as a sys admin for 12 years. Calling some shmo in India with a book he follows to troubleshoot things was horrible. I"d have already done the first 20 troubleshooting steps and still be forced to go through them one by one until we exhausted his repertoire and I could get bumped up the line to someone who could get beyond the basics and either find a solution or do what I knew would happen to begin with: replace part x, y or z.

One would think that if SL is trying to follow the *successes* of other tech outfits, they would have studied and learned from how horrible a failure many if not most outsourcing of customer support has been, and figured out how to make a cost effective, well-structured support system.  Need 'Ontyne's'? Make sure the people most likely to ask 'how do I attach my shoes' go to them. But make sure the folks who need a higher level of support can get to it and reach people who know SL. Really know it.

Charlene Trudeau, SkyBeam Estates

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

"And while  not a *direct* renter of of land from Linden I do pay a lot of  USD a  month to private region owners. (And storeowners when I shop)"

I hope your estate owner is as responsive to assisting you directly as they should be. I consider it, right or wrong, to be part of my job to take over for LL on customer service to the extent that I can, even filing tickets on behalf of my customers, or being a go-between on live chat, when needed to resolve issues. They won't always help through a third party, but I at least try to intervene whenever the regular system fails a basic level member.

In the end, what we really pay for when we are premium *is* the support. The stipend and 512m2 of land is mostly irrelevant.

Perhaps LL should consider a new support only membership fee, that is less per month and does not include a stipend or land allowance.

Charlene Trudeau, SkyBeam Estates