I Make HUDDLES™ » customer support

For customer support, contact Connor Trudeau

Keiki Lemieux — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:28:47 +0000

The best way to get prompt customer support is to IM Connor Trudeau in Second Life. Do not drop notecards or send IMs to Keiki Lemieux, almost all issues should be directed to Connor Trudeau via IM. Because of some personal issues, I have not kept up with correspondence directly to Keiki Lemieux, nor have I kept up with the comments on this blog. However, Connor has kept up and can usually help you within 24-48 hours with any problem.

I will be trying to keep up with correspondence and blog comments going forward from today.

The Detach Bug is fixed

Keiki Lemieux — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:04:42 +0000

UPDATE February 20, 2010: The Detach Bug is now fixed. I have not been able to verify it happening since the fix was finally added to the server code late last summer.

A while back, I had reported that the Detach Bug had been fixed. For many months we have been waiting for the fix to be implemented in the official SL client. It’s finally been released and as best as I can surmise, the fix now prevents you from making copies of worn objects. This does indeed prevent the first reproduction of the bug, but it does nothing to fix the core problem. HUDs that are worn from the ground are still in danger of being lost when they are next detached or when you log out or crash.

How to prevent the Detach Bug

Never wear your HUD directly from the ground. Right click on the HUD and take it. Then wear it from your inventory.

Wearing objects from the ground may lead to inventory loss

What to do if you have lost a HUD or other detachment

You should do the usual things from the Second Life Wiki like clear your cache. But if that doesn’t work, contact Second Life support. Open a ticket on their website and ask for an inventory restart/fix. Explain that you have lost a HUD when it detached, that it disappeared from your inventory and that you have tried solutions from the wiki. They will help you, even if you are just a basic member. Their support might be faster if you are premium however.

Second Life support can help you! If you lost your HUD from the Detach Bug, they can almost always retrieve it using their inventory fix. Always contact support for this problem.

What else can you do?

Please take the time to log into the jira site (the official Second Life bug tracking system) and vote on this problem. The current jira issue for this problem is SVC-2956.

UPDATE (June 26): There is another well commented description of the same essential bug on the jira. Please vote for VWR-12525.

Linden Lab Customer Service Improving?

Keiki Lemieux — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:53:04 +0000

It seems to be, at least when it comes to the Detach Bug which has been eating HUDs for the last few months. As I blogged about in April, there is a way to get your HUDs and other attachments back when they disappear after detaching. But only Linden Lab customer service can do it for you.

But there were two problems.

First, many of the customer service people didn’t seem to know about the fix or offer it as a solution to premium members who were complaining of inventory loss. It took persistence and luck to find a Linden who would know about the solution and who would do it.

Second, basics don’t have an official channel to get help for this problem. They don’t have an option to file support tickets for inventory loss, and so they had no real way of petitioning for the fix.

A couple weeks ago, I brought this to the attention of Cyn Linden, the VP of Customer Relations at Linden Lab. She let me know that they did discuss it internally, although I never heard what action they took. However, it seems to have worked. For the last week or so, whenever I have referred someone to Linden Customer Service, they have reported back to me success. The CS reps now seem to recognize the problem when it’s brought to them and act on it quickly. This is great news. If you are a premium member who couldn’t get help before. Try live help again, you may have success this time.

As for basics, I don’t know yet what is happening with them. However, I do think that some who have posted on the jira issue have gotten help. If you are a Basic member who has suffered from this bug. You might want to try submitting another customer support ticket or posting on the jira issue. If you do, please take the time to describe what happened and what your computer’s specs are too. That info might be helpful.

JUNE 23 UPDATE: Linden Customer Service has improved considerably on this issue during the last couple of weeks. I am now recommending that you file a support ticket to remedy this problem. Several people have gotten help on this matter within 24 hours of filing a ticket. Tell them that your HUD attachment disappeared after detaching and that you would like an Directory Repair/Inventory Restart.

All Users (Basic and Premium) Should Be Able to Request an Inventory Repair

Keiki Lemieux — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:21:51 +0000

It’s simply unacceptable that Linden Lab has no pathway for Basic users to recover lost inventory. Inventory Loss is still pervasive. There has been a rash of inventory problems in the last couple of months. Basic users who lose inventory are typically power users in Second Life. They rent land, they buy lindens on the Lindex and they are the bulk of customers who buy products from content creators. It’s appalling that Linden Lab’s official response to their plight is “go premium or go away.” Collectively they contribute mightily to Linden Lab’s bottom line, they deserve at least some minimal service when their property disappears because of Second Life’s faulty code.

There should be a quick and easy way for Basic users to request an inventory repair from customer service. They should add either a way for a Basic member to request one, or a way for all of us to run one ourselves through the website.

Please take the time to vote for this issue on the jira: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/WEB-656

Basic Member who Lost Inventory?

Keiki Lemieux — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:08:12 +0000

I now strongly suggest anyone who is a basic member of Second Life and who has lost inventory to become a premium member so that you can get customer support on the matter. I have been hesitant to recommend this because I was not sure that it would help. However, over the last few days, I’ve heard of several cases of people who have managed to get support and retrieved their lost HUDs (and other items).

In the mean time, I’m going to research other ways we can lobby Linden Lab to both fix the bug that is causing this latest rash of inventory losses and to create a channel where Basic members can get support for inventory issues.

I also found this issue on jira, I think this deserves many, many votes: To gather Inventory loss troubleshooting data, let Basic users submit tickets for loss.

Inventory loss bugs affect many Premium & Basic users. Linden has been interested in getting timely data to help track down the causes. However currently, only Premium users may submit tickets about inventory loss. By not allowing Basic users to submit tickets about this, Linden is losing all the troubleshooting data they could provide. And clearly, it’s needed. Linden should start letting Basic users submit inventory loss tickets. Besides, Basic users contribute to the economy, by buying items, buying/renting land, etc. It doesn’t seem fair that there is *zero* official concern when their investment in the economy (items) is affected (lost).

Please note, this issue is not specifically requesting that Linden HELP Basic users (though actually I think it should when we lose items)…it is requesting that we be ALLOWED to help Linden! By giving them data (ticket info) to help them track down bugs that affect everyone.

It’s not enough. Inventory loss should be something that all users of Second Life should be able to get support for, but it’s a start.

If you lose inventory, make sure you get support from Linden Lab

Keiki Lemieux — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:08:02 +0000

PLEASE NOTE: If this has happened to you, please add your comments to this jira entry about the detach bug explaining all the steps you took before the HUD disappeared. Also, for everyone else, please log in and vote for it.

JUNE 23 UPDATE: In order to get help for this, I now advise that you open a support ticket about this. Linden Customer Service has made significant progress in the last couple of weeks to address this. Open a ticket, explain clearly what happened (that your attachment disappeared from your inventory after detaching, after a crash, or after it was replaced by another attachment). Ask for a Directory Repair or Inventory Restart. It will work. At least I don’t know of a case when this fix has failed to return HUDs lost in this manner.

The last few weeks, I’ve seen a definite spike in inventory problems. I think it is a new bug, and it’s hitting some people multiple times. There are many variations, but the basic problem is that some HUDs are disappearing from inventory simply when they are detached, often but not always when they are replaced by a different HUD.I was skeptical that Linden Lab support would be helpful, but one of my customers did report that they recovered their lost HUD with all the animations still inside. It took some persistence, but they were able to recover the item when a Linden employee used a particular utility to recover lost/corrupted objects. It doesn’t always work, but it often does.

I sent this Linden an IM to thank them and to ask some follow up questions. I’ve removed their name so that he doesn’t get swamped with direct support requests. As always, you should go through the official channels to get support. However, I thought many of my customers would want to know some of the things that he said:

Keiki Lemieux: Hello, if you have a moment, I would like to chat.

a Linden: i have a minute or two.. what’s up?

Keiki Lemieux: first, a thank you. you helped one of my customers today find a copy of their HUDDLE EZ Animator with loads of her animations inside. I have been getting dozens of customers with similar problems over the last couple of weeks. They detach a HUD and it disappears, sometimes with 100s of animations inside. I’ve been helping people for 2 years, and this seems to be a new bug that happens when someone detaches a HUD and it just poofs from their inventory. I was hoping you could give me some advice about what directions I should tell them. I am assuming that some of them could get their items back if they could get to the right support person.

a Linden: correct.. the first step is contacting support either by ticket or Live Chat

Keiki Lemieux: what level of membership are they going to need to get help?

a Linden: Premium helps bunches to be honest

Keiki Lemieux: And the problem I’m describing, do you know if it’s a known issue? I never heard of this a month ago. Now I’m getting a couple inquiries a day, which usually means there are dozens who aren’t bothering to IM me.

a Linden: I’ve been able to fix that issue a few times with a”fix” i can do rather quickly. I’ve seen it creeping up a lot lately. Not sure why it’s happening, but i suspect it could be any number of things.. from which viewer they are using, to issues with the servers, to acts of bored dieties

Keiki Lemieux: is there a particular thing they can ask for? “Run that inventory fix it utility” or something?

a Linden: basically, yes.. that would point to the direction that would need to be taken. although sometimes that doesn’t completely fix the issue, often times it will

Keiki Lemieux: and is it a time sensitive thing? do they need to do it within 24 hours or a week or something?

a Linden: i’m sure it helps to alert us as soon as possible, but a week or two is probably fine.. maybe longer than that as well