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SoonerGlass

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Posts posted by SoonerGlass

  1. If I had been around since 2005. yeah. I WAS around since 2005, but I had no reason to use the dashboard. Stupid stupid me. Yeah, I get that. thanks. It's very easy. Yeah. Thanks. I get that.

     

    And for anyone who asked, no, of course they haven't resurrected my avie or generally indicated in any way, shape or form that this issue means a thing to them. It doesn't. I can only commend those who have the foresight to save themselves the misery and downgrade.

    I also really love the way, as I'm looking around in the forums, this topic was moved and then I had to login to find it. Bury hot issues much, LL? oh wait. Right. See? And I promised myself I was going to be less naive.

  2. Hey all,

    First of all, Sapphire, thank you very much. I had not checked this thread and logged in to discover your generosity. Thank you. I will try to find a way to celebrate your birthday and I will use the Linden you sent to either save for Anik's resurrection or try to make some progress with my skin biz (which was NEVER thriving, sad to say - i'm ok but i'm not a wildly skilled artist like some folks who make skins... still... fun for me and a little spare change once in awhile).

    I found a lot out in the real world that I love. That was the secret benefit of being bounced. Knitting, for example - who knew? Yep. Knitting. And reading. You know, old school - books. With pages and everything. And my relationship with my s/o, which improves with actual time just like any relationship, RL or SL.

    Big benefits. Obviously I'm still furious with LL and won't be going premium again, but I really appreciate the kindness of many of the  posters, who often did a better job of explaining the issue than I did. I still hope to learn some scripting and more about meshes and so on, but I believe my alliance with this corporation will be much more clear eyed and calculating that it had been historically. And I really don't see that I'll be inviting any more RL friends to join. A nice cup of coffee and a chat in RL face to face wins.

    One of the better lessons learned from this experience.

    Cheers all and thanks again,

    SoonerGlass Resident
    who will miss the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  3. Honestly, I didn't know I would still be able to resurrect her. their CR people told us we would have "a couple of months".

    Regarding the dashboard, I NEVER came out to the website. Just logged in and out of SL. So this is a good idea if I want to get my stuff back.

    I'd been out of SL entirely for about four months, though. I wasn't even sure I wanted to open a free account. They did a lot of damage with this.

    I was a raving fan. I can't overstate this. I typically spent three or four hours a day in SL and more time drawing skins, etc... I work for an international corp and I actually pitched SL as part of our social media strategy three years ago.

    So maybe I'll do as you suggest. There's this one great vest by Tres Blah I really want back. I'm not sure at this point it's worth the $72. I can't disagree with the people pointing out this is just a financial agreement that I screwed up and SL is just like any other corporate flesh eating monster . They are exactly like every other corporate flesh eating monster.

    That made it a lot less fun for me.

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  4. ooo i don't think anybody mentioned some of my old favorites - especially Fashionably Dead and Chip Midnight, if he's still around.

    Also, I was in Tres Blah yesterday - gorgeous skins. Check 'em out.

    I've been out of SL for a couple of months and it looks like Tres Blah has really come out with a lot of beautiful work. My other favs are Curio.

    Cheers,

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  5. Hi - I don't even know if that was an option. It wasn't an option that was presented to me from "Customer Support". Huh. Funny, because I could have probably scraped up the montly fee at the time, just couldn't lay down for the whole year.

    Considering the whole experience and the fine print, I'm guessing since I already had hit the rebilling cycle, changing to monthly wasn't an option. It never occurred to me to ask at the time.

    Good suggestion, though.

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  6. Thanks, Rhonda. I'm not saying I wasn't an IDIOT.

    I'm just saying the IDIOT part started when I signed up for Premium.

    I didn't know the renewal date was coming up (gift. not my cc account, blah blah blah). We literally contacted "customer support" the day after the charge hit. Alas, as stated in the fine print, I was screwed.

    So all you self-rightous folks who enjoy pointing out how those of us who are so stupid we end up getting stung, you're all exactly right and I worship at the tidy shrine of your organizational marvelousness.

    That being said, if the Lindens wanted me running around continuing to drag all my friends into SL and extolling the virtues and beauty of the experience in spite of the miserable **bleep** of a learning curve and all the other weirdness that lives in SL... they would have been willing to work something out.

    They have built an anti-fan from a true believer. I'm not saying don't go play in SL and have fun, build, shop, make friends, get your freak on or whatever. I AM saying, if there's even the most slender risk you might overlook a pending renewal date, DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES sign up for a PREMIUM ACCOUNT with an account you want to keep. The annual fee is nothing compared to the pain if you can't renew.

    Thanks again, Rhonda. Yeah. It kind of sucks.

    And I'd forgotten how there are always folks dying to remind you how much of a dumb azz you were to make a mistake and blah blah blah.... I remember letting that silence me in the past, but I pretty much stand by my experience on this one.

    Premium is not worth it. Not to me. Not anymore.

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  7. Yep. You're right. It was all in my service agreement, but that doesn't change how this experience - opting to PAY was infinitely worse in my case, than keeping the FREE option, would have been.

    Stay with the FREE account - it's a reasonable deal. If you go PREMIUM, you risk everything and you will get exactly the same kind of customer support you get in many other arenas - very poor to non-existant.

    Premium? Don't do it. Downgrade. just say NO to Premium.

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  8. Can't pay the balance.

    And if I pay, I'm in the same spot I was the prior year.

    I told them I was not interested in continuing - if you want to be particular, I gave them a YEAR of warning I wanted the account closed. So I paid the account and they still re-charged us and took all of it. If you pay, you're back on the hampster wheel. They did not close my account at the end of the year. They re-charged us and took everything.

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

     

  9. Oh yeah. I know I'm screwed. I guarantee Linden covered their bases. I can't do a thing about that, but I CAN warn other well intentioned fans, if you want to keep your experience positive and you have a SHRED of concern about being able to cough up the cheese, do NOT go premium.

    Furthermore, do not rely on their support to assist you in any way, shape or form. They will not.

    In the end it will cost you far more than Linden.

    Thanks,

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

  10. Yeah. As I mentioned, this had been a gift. Evidently the charge hit my roommate's credit card and it wasn't something she could manage. I couldn't cover it at that point, either.

    This had happened the prior year, incidentally, and we had scrambled to pay the annual fee. At that time we had also told Linden in no uncertain terms we did not want to be automatically rebilled. Evidently that's not an option or they didn't care or they don't just sell a one year membership. It's eternal. Like all deals with the devil.

    It never in a million years occurred to me that the demise of my premium account would take my avatar and all her stuff along with it. I thought the only risk was my land and my stipend. In fact, you lose the entire account and everything in it - that's the leverage they have to get you to continue with a premium account.

    I'm sure it was all in the small print. I'm sure I don't have a leg to stand on.

    So that's my cautionary tale. Just say NO to premium. In the end you end up all raggedy azz with nothing.
    SoonerGlass Resident
    the Ghost of Anik Pavlova

     

  11. Hey all,

    NEVER EVER get a Premium Account.

    I used to be Anik Pavlova. I was in SL for five years. My old B-day was June 2005.

    A couple of years ago my roommate gave me a premium account as a gift. Very sweet thing to do, and I loved it. My own little corner of the world with some monthly Linden to baby along my tiny little skin biz. Cool. Fun.

    Last December my roomie couldn't afford to renew the premium account. Let's just say "cool and fun" turned into SL Gulag and Death. Basically I was told, because we didn't cough up the annual fee, my account, with five years of inventory, thousands of uploaded textures and all the files for my little biz was closed down. Permanently. 

    Wow. Bummer.

    Well, we couldn't come up with the funds for a premium account, so Merry Christmas, Anik Pavlova, you're dead. You, your hundreds of little Ozimal bunnies, your houses, your extensive wardrobe, all purchased exclusively from ligit SL businesses - none of that rip off crap..., your skin biz, your cool SL dog, you're dead. Buh bye.

    I just logged on again two nights ago. I wanted to see a friends horses. I had a small reserve of linden. I bought some clothes. It was nice. I uploaded five textures to make my avatar again. I counted every single linden.

    I can't say I'll never put money into an SL account, but after being killed off and getting ZERO assistance from anyone in SL support after five years and several thousand US dollars (which is a lot to me) i can guarantee I will never EVER EVER get a premium account again and I will make absolutely sure I only spend what is essential to optimize my SL experience.

    I will test all my uploads in beta for free before putting them on the live grid for 10L, I will only rent land from other sources so I'm not paying or trusting these guys with one red cent when I don't have to.

    I'm an idiot. I actually thought the fact that I'd been here awhile, that I cared, that I've recruited people to SL would make a difference. HAHAHAHA - isn't it cute I thought that was the case? What an idiot.

    When you call Customer Support, if you can wait out the abysmal hold times, you will talk to someone who does not care even a little, about anything except getting rid of you. They're not going to help you. They're not going to do anything except tell you, in a flat, bored voice, that you are screwed.

    Don't believe the hype. These guys will flush you for $72 US, no matter what kind of history you've had as a "resident".

    I may never have been a SL rock star, but I was a fairly vocal fan. I brought a number of people to SL, one who is currently making a killing in the horse market. He is a rock star. And he will never ever purchase anything from Linden he doesn't have to, because he knows exactly how things have gone for me.

    You can't buy the kind of good press I used to give you guys.

    Maybe I'm not the only idiot in this equation.

    SoonerGlass Resident
    the ghost of Anik Pavlova

     

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