No Dispute Resolution at Linden Lab
As soon as I knew I had been ripped off by Yaelle, I tried to contact Linden Lab, the people who run Second Life. I called them several times at their corporate office in California, never reaching a person even once. I never received a return phone call to any one of the five messages that I left. I also mailed them a letter by next day mail, but received no reply back. On the Second Life website, there are instructions for how to make complaints against another player using their in-world reporting system. I made three complaints against Yaelle and I received three automated replies, but no answer back from Linden Lab.
This is the address and phone number of Linden Lab listed on their web site:
LINDEN LAB HEADQUARTERS
945 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 243-9000
If Linden Lab had acted in that first day, the money that had been transferred to Yaelle could have been frozen in her account. Two days later, this player’s account was deactivated on Second Life.com. I do not know if her account was deactivated by Yaelle herself or if Linden Lab deactivated it, but I do know that I now have no way to contact her. I hold Linden Lab responsible for not acting in a timely manner to resolve this dispute and to help me get my money back.
After two weeks of not being able to reach anyone at Linden Lab to help settle the conflict, I finally contacted my bank and disputed the charge of $80.95 for Lindens that I paid to Yaelle. I told my bank that I had tried to settle this matter directly with Linden Lab, but that I was unable to contact them by phone or by letter, providing them the only contact information that I had for them. I told my bank that this other player was in breach of contract for the role-playing services we had agreed to, and about the defamatory statements she had made about me. I told them that I had reported her to Linden Lab for fraud, using their in-world reporting system, but that all I received back was an automated email response. I also made the point that Linden Lab had complete access to the chat logs which would demonstrate that this other user was in violation of their own Terms of Service. Finally, I pointed out that Linden Lab had access to her credit card number and could therefore charge her for this disputed amount.
I waited for another two weeks and called my bank several times to ask how they were doing reaching someone to talk with at Linden Lab. The person at my bank told me that she had tried to contact the people at Linden Lab every day and had been unable to reach anyone there. Finally my bank resolved the charge for $80.95 in my favor, returning this balance to my account and putting a charge back on my credit card to Linden Lab.
If I had to guess, I would have to say that Linden Lab is going out of business. Back in the early nineties, I tried to contact Amiga Corporation to talk with them about a software incompatibility I was having with one of their Operating System upgrades. At that time I got no return phone calls and at best got incompetent and abrupt customer support representatives. Less than a year later, Amiga was out of business. I am having the same experience now with Linden Lab. Supporting that Linden Lab is in trouble, I have read that in June of 2010, they announced a corporate restructuring plan which included a 30% reduction in their workforce. Because no one is now answering their phones I wonder how many employees they had before the firing. Maybe there are just seven of them left? Finally I have just read that Linden Lab recently had a change in CEO. Taken altogether, this would not be a company that I would invest in.