An IOF PSA: How to Request Customer Service

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The BabyDoll Dress (Vintage) from House of Fox is a playful, fun summer dress.

I first saw this gorgeous BabyDoll Vintage dress on  the feed. I jotted down the name of the store (House of Fox) and when I next logged in I hopped on over there to get the dress. I am a sucker for vintage floral prints and the print is not only lovely, but I love the way the shape of the skirt and the beautifully made belt. I easily found the store in search and also fell in love with a few other things like the dress you saw yesterday. I was a happy camper until I put the dress on to go shoot photos for the blog and noticed there were no glitch pants and my cheeks were showing. More than my cheeks, but that’s what lingerie is for. However, lingerie did not provide the coverage I needed.  At that precise moment I was feeling a bit wrathful – particularly with the blogger for not pointing this out – but I have learned long, long ago that it’s never wise to ask for a repair or a fix in a wrathful mood, so I decided to wear something else and ask for a fix when I was less agitated. Sure enough, after a time I was calmer and realized that both the blogger and the designer may have been looking at and shooting the dress on a pose stand and not run around enough to see the flaw. And that, dear readers, is the first rule of requesting customer service. Always wait until you feel calm and collected before contacting the store. This is as true in the virtual as in the corporeal world.

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Frolicking at the Akasha, Lost Paradise sim.

The pictures in this post were shot at Akasha the Lost Paradise – a lovely sim full of flowers and graceful ruins. So, now you can see from all the quite active Lost Angel Dance and Spring Fever poses I used in this post and the other pictures of the dress on my Flickr, this dress now has glitch pants. That’s because the next time I logged in I calmly and politely asked the creator to send me some. That’s the second rule of requesting customer service: Always make your request clearly and politely.

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Baiastice Croc Stilettos in Fuschia are a great match

Once he understood my problem, he was quick to provide a solution. He asked me to give him time to make the pants as he had not realized the problems that would result without them. I happily agreed to wait. That’s the 3rd rule of requesting customer service: Recognize that immediate fixes are not always possible and allow for reasonable time for a fix.

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The lovely EarthStones Groovy Peace Set was a Rez Day present. How fun that they match the dress so well.

Most creators have policies on the profile front page or in the picks, so you should always check for their preferred method of contact – whether IM or notecard. Some stores have designated Customer Service Representatives and if so, you should contact them not the designer for faster response.  You should also have on hand (and in your notecard) the Transaction ID Prefix, item, location and amount paid and to whom. If you have never had to get that information, you can find it at your Transaction History.

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The fun updo is from Exile - the Sunday hair style recently released. The skin is Tuli Gina 05 - avaiable now at the Dressing Room

There are also some disastrous mistakes one can make while requesting a fix. The first is threatening them. That’s just rude and abusive. Worse, it’s silly. Threats in SL are by their very nature hollow and it only makes a person look amusingly impotent.  The second disastrous mistake is to pull the do-you-know-who-I-am ploy. No matter who you are, you are not as important as you think. Moreover, there is not one society in Second Life, there are hundreds and as much influence as one might have in one of those societies, it’s not universal. Besides, anyone who says something like that just sounds arrogant and stupid. Think of it this way, do you want to be the arrogant demanding diva whose threats are shared on plurk or in a blog post? And besides, if you say something like “do you know who I am?” and they don’t, well that’s just embarrassing for you, not them. During my conversation with the designer I never mentioned that I was a blogger until after he passed me the newly created glitch pants on two layers within less than an hour of our conversation. He also said he was going to add them  to the sales vendor in his store. Then I told him I was planning to blog the dress now that it was fixed and you know what? He didn’t know who I was! He had not read my blog! and yet, I  got a perfect solution to my problem – as should any customer who asks politely and with patience. On a more serious note, good customer service is only good customer service if it’s  good for all customers. At House of Fox you get good service – if you ask politely and calmly.

How to Get Good Customer Service

  1. Wait until you are calm before contacting the store.
  2. When making your request be clear, calm and polite.
  3. Recognize that immediate fixes are not always possible and allow for reasonable time for a fix.
  4. Follow directions in creator’s profile/picks. They often specify whether they prefer IM or NC and sometimes have designated CSRs.
  5. Have your transaction information ready from your Transaction History.
  6. Do not use threats.
  7. Do not suggest you deserve special treatment because of who you are.

***STYLE NOTES******
Promotional Copies are denoted by a Bold R

  • Poses: Lost Angel Just Dance and Spring Fever poses
  • Skin: Tuli Gina 05 for the Dressing Room R
  • Eyes: Poetic Colors Ocean Medium
  • Lashes: Lelutka Diva Prim Lashes
  • Nails: PXL Creations
  • Hair: Exile Sunday R
  • Dress: House of Fox Baby Doll Dress Vintage
  • Shoes: Baiastice Stiletto Croc Fuschia
  • Jewlery: EarthStones Groovy Peace Set (Rez Day gift)
  • Akasha the Lost Paradise

22 thoughts on “An IOF PSA: How to Request Customer Service

  1. Prokofy Neva

    Is Second Life’s shopping experience some kind of BDSM roleplay?!!

    I found this retarded on so many levels.

    First, the notion that one has to have something called “glitch pants” to wear an item of clothing (!). Is that some kind of awful admission of design failure or platform failure…or what?! Why should there even be need of such a thing, ever stop to think that?!

    Next, what’s up with all these silly rules? If I buy a dress and my butt shows when it shouldn’t, and I”ve paid money for that dress, I think it’s fine to tell the owner — hey, my butt shows, what’s up, I’m a blogger, do you want to be embarassed or what? That’s *fine* because people should not make dresses where one’s butt shows. But of course, I naturally wonder what the big idea is, when so many DO show their butt cheeks ANYWAY.

    As for all the other constraints, again, look, do these people want to sell stuff or don’t they? Give them a piece of your mind. If they can’t stand it, they can lose a sale. Whatever.

  2. Cajsa Lilliehook Post author

    Prokovy,

    Just last week, Gidge and I were lamenting that we never write the kind of commentary blogs that would generate a Prok Attack and so would never be graced by a comment from the Notorious Neva.

    I never imagined a worldview in which courtesy and manners were equated with BDSM, but since that is your opinion, please let me punish you with gratitude. Thank you, Prok, for making my day.

  3. Lavea

    Really, Prov? Are things so boring that you had to comment here? Surely there’s some underlying conspiracy afoot somewhere in SL that you can occupy yourself with rather than making such a completely unnecessary, uncalled for and idiotic comment to a fashion blog.

  4. Gidge Uriza

    OH MY GOD PROK LEFT US A COMMENT! HI PROK!
    I am so fucking delighted I can SEE STRAIGHT!
    And you know, I’m taking Prok with me now when I have customer service issues. That totally just made my day.

  5. Kalia Meiklejohn

    Someone is grasping at relevance I think…

    Anyway, great points on customer service, that old saying is true – “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”.

  6. SySy Chapman

    Caj: GREAT post, so well said. Awesome that the store has such good service 🙂 I’m gonna pick up that dress too.

    Prok: ehmm..thanks for the lols. is all i have to say!

  7. Chandni Khondji

    Really awesome post, agreeing to 100%. And thanks for the big lols Prok, needed that 😉

  8. Pingback: Prokofy Doesn’t Understand Glitch Pants

  9. Kat Alderson

    Is Prokofy Neva’s comment some kind of pretending-to-be-intelligent roleplay???

    I found it retarded on so many levels.

    First, the notion that someone who has been in world so long doesn’t know what glitch pants are or why they are often is necessarily is laughable, if not downright ludicrous.

    Second (I would write ‘Next’, but I can count to two), I found it a bit hard to believe that someone who suffers Foot In Mouth Syndrome dares suggest content creators are not allowed honest mistakes, and should be accorded rudeness instead of courtesy when said mistakes happen.

    Third, and also ridiculous, is the fact said-same FIMS sufferer can make a blanket judgment about the value or desirability of naked butts, and expect validation when many people use Second Life solely to explore the adult aspects.

    Fourth, I would like to make it clear that Prokofy really should not be offering a piece of his/her mind to anyone – because obviously, he/she is already lacking in that department.

    That being said, I will offer this:

    Great post, Cajsa! Not only are you points the best way to insure good customer service, they are definitely esteem boosters for ourselves. There’s nothing quite as esteem-eroding as knowing one has made an ass of herself when she could have acted with dignity and grace.

    Well done!

  10. Gemini

    Thank you, Cajsa for this post. I know from experience the abuse designers and their CSRs/Managers get if some customer’s problems aren’t fixed within 5 nanoseconds. The majority of customers thankfully are polite and friendly, but it’s the unpleasant ones you tend to remember the most!

  11. Rosie Barthelmess

    Ahahahaha, really?

    Okay FIRST and foremost as a content creator, thanks for the amazing post. You definitely catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and everyone deserves more than a modicum of respect at the start of any interaction. Well done1

    Now, back to my snorting and laughing. Nothing makes a good giggle more than when a self proclaimed expert totally shoves her foot in it.

    Awesome.

  12. Terry Toland

    A beautiful take on the outfit along with presenting what should be common sense. As demonstrated, however, common sense seems to be a rare attribute and people need to be reminded.

  13. Ando Joubert

    Great tips on customer service – I’m sure people answering the call of “helllp” from customers will benefit greatly from it.

    Hey, one thing *is* for certain…

    When Prok impotently shrieks at a store owner “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM???”….. they DO know, and then laugh as they do the ol’ Eject and Ban routine on Prok’s sorry, exposed ass. She must have a terrible life.

  14. Tyr

    LOVED this post! From a creators stand point, I know sometimes we get a bad name. Our picks can be off putting, but since its SL, there is only a few real ways to organize things so you arent trampled by the masses. I think its easy for both parties to forget that the other is just another person behind the screen. So much like any situation if someone comes in for the attack? Anyone….is ready to be on the defensive.

    I try to be courteous when it comes to customer service, but I wont lie and pretend Ive been perfect. Ive shut down a few cold IMs and rudeness with defensiveness of my own. But when it comes down to it, i’d rather help and get something fixed, no matter who the person is, than have someone walk away, not pleased with my work.

    Anyway bravo for the post 🙂 well done.

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