Rental Dementia: Excuses, Excuses -- and Dated Prims

I hate nagging people to pay their rent. I have scripted rental boxes that send people four separate reminders over a period of two days, and that should be sufficient. The overwhelming majority of people pay their rent when they get the box reminders, or even well before. In fact, it's interesting how many people *do* pay their rent on time because they are decent and courteous. Of course, in the recession, times are harder, people get later, and some simply stop.

If someone is a long-time tenant, I don't boot them. Why boot them, when the lot is not likely to rent again quickly in the economic downturn still underway in SL and certainly not over in RL? I might put their land back in search, but I won't boot their prims.

And if I have someone who has rented for years, on multiple sims, and usually eventually paid, even though they might need frequent reminders, my tendency is to be kind-hearted and let them go late. Most people when they do show up then don't pay for their missed time -- they don't have an easy way to do this, but a few will if I give them an exact cost.

So this person below, who has rented from me for years, is simply taking advantage -- that's what I have to conclude. Each time I've had to send them a reminder to pay rent, they are already a week overdue, and have already received automatic notices and have already gone over the two-day grace period.

In the years this tenant has rented, she has been through all kinds of things, supposedly -- it's the flu, or a death in the family, or someone banned her from her own land, or she's been in the hospital. When you get a pile-up of these kinds of excuses, you start to wonder. Really? You had all these things happen to you? Maybe. But...really?

What makes you doubt in people's excuses is that in the periods when they didn't have a flu, a death in the family, a construction problem, a banning problem, a hospitalization, they *also* need reminding. Over and over again. In fact, when I collect all the records from two of my accounts reminding this person, I realize it's even more than I thought. It was chronic. I was too kind-hearted here.

Oh, maybe this person really was in the hospital. Since they had referenced being sick in the past or having family issues, I cut them some slack and left the prims for two weeks.

But finally, when I have been shorted again and again, week after week, despite having to pay my own tier to the Lindens, I start to get mad. Why do they think they can take advantage of me? It's not fair to me.

When I visited this lot with a huge high-prim complex build on it and saw the box still wasn't paid for more than two weeks, I hesitated to return a complex build that might have pets in it especially. I checked the prim list, however, and saw that it had the current date of that day. That meant that the person had put a prim out on their lot or changed a prim. To be sure, their log-in date on the group was from in fact three weeks ago, but people don't always use the group such as to have a fresh log-in and the prim date can change even if the log-in doesn't. (One thing that isn't clear and may have changed from different versions of SL is whether the group log-on date is the overall log-on date to SL, or only the use of that group; it used to be the former; I think it's now the later.)

To be sure, prims can change if you have temp-on-rez prims that refresh. But I didn't zoom into this person's house to see what they might or might not have, I sent a notecard in case IMs were capped and said that the rent was way overdue, I could see that the person was logging in, and that it really was taking advantage.

Most people would understand they were at fault. Most people would say they would pay up or ask for their prims to be removed.

Not Penolope Eldritch, who told me she would never rent from me again AND recommend to other people that they should not rent from me.

Um, because I ask people to pay on time, after weeks and weeks -- and years of repeated late rental payments?! Because I finally in exasperation note that the person has logged on, so surely they should get rent paid?! As they have guiltily and belatedly before?

Instead, I'm told that pets and temp rez create the dates. I looked into the house and indeed saw plants that were temp rezzing and in fact adding thousands of extra prims to the sim, impacting performance beause there is only so much of a buffer for temp rez, and that likely created the date.

But so what? Dating of prims is an accurate device to see if someone is logging in because more often than not, it reflects the fact that they have put new prims on their land.

And the real issue is: the rent isn't paid.

So here are the nasty notes I get from Penolope:

You cannot look at the prims and determine if someone has been online or not.  That is just stupid.  If someone has temp prims or prims from virtual pets, they will ping on that day whether or not someone is online or not. 

I dont know what your problem is but I am not cronically late or you would have booted me a long time ago.  yes the last two months have been bad on me in and out but soon as I got home I would pay you.  Before logging in today I had planned on paying you for thsi past week that I was late and I had half a mind not to do it after your disgusting letter and accusations.  But I am a better person than that so I have sent it anyhow so I can wash my hands of you forever.

All those people whom told me it was a bad idea to rent from you cause you were a arrogant nasty person.. I told them you werent.... guess I was wrong.

Do NOT Contact me ever again or  it will be considered harassment and I will report you to LL.

As the record shows, this person has gotten NUMEROUS REMINDERS for months -- and years -- and is not only a chronic late-payer but an overprimmer. Landlords beware!

I'm being threatened not only with an end to business, but destruction of my reputation AND a report to the Lindens for harassment (!).

So when people do that, out comes my blog, and out comes my notecards, and I publicize as a deterrent to further bad behaviour.

Hi,

Please pay the rent. I really am tired of being taken advantage of. You're logged on day after day, and you just skip it because you figure if you are a long-time tenant, I will be tolerant. And I am tolerant. But enough is enough.

If this is too much rent to be paying, maybe try a smaller lot, I have them.

Or if you really do forget, then put it on Paypal with an automatic subscription, it will work out a bit cheaper if you don't have to buy Lindens.

Whatever, just solve the problem so that I don't have to be a nag and have to remove your prims.

Prokofy

Penolope:

Excuse me....but it is impossible for me to have been loggign in day after day because I was in the hospital.  I am home just a couple hours and log in for the first time in nearly two weeks so I can pay my rent to see that nasty letter accusing me of logging in day after day and ignoring my obligation to pay rent.

I take high offense to your accusation as I did NOT log in every day.. did NOT ignore things.  Since i had been renting for quiet some time when you didnt get a response from me that shoulda told you something.  An inquiry would have been more polite than the outright lies you accused me off.

I will not rent from someone whom accuses me of things I did not do. 

I am removing my property now and will never again rent from you nor recommend ravenglass to any of my friends and associates.

Penolope Eldrich

Penolope,

I reminded you over and over and over again, and when after weeks on end I see no response, and I see the prims on your parcel dated with today's date, I demand that you stop taking advantage of me or leave. And it's good you are opting to leave, because this has been a chronic problem of yours, in which you have taken advantage of me, merely because you were a long time renter and you figured you could count on me to cut you slack. I did. It was not merited.

I'm sorry, but I can't keep having these excuses about hospitalization. I myself just spent the last two days in the hospital with my sick child. Everybody has a story, Penolope, and you've been stringing me along way, way too long. I looked in my queue of all my messages to you for months and months on end, and every month, I have to send a reminder. I try to keep it polite and I try to be patient because you've been in the hospital before, but frankly, I'm being ripped off for weeks and weeks of rent for a large expensive property, and it's just not fair to me.

If you're in the hospital so much, then don't rent in Second Life? Or don't expect people to keep your prims for weeks on end? and if they do, but then ask not to be taken advantage of, rather than responding with hurt and outrage -- utterly unjustified and utterly misplaced -- accept that you are at fault for not paying your rent, don't expect the world to accommodate you because you have to go in the hospital (I have no way of verifying this when people use this excuse constantly, and I have come simply not to believe it in many customers. For those that I'd be inclined to believe, such as yourself, I have to wonder why they don't pay the rent during the weeks that in fact they are NOT in the hospital.)

I can see the dates on the prims on your parcel. And the date shows today's date. To be sure, your log-on in the group showed October 5. But it can happen that people don't log into the group or activate the group after they put out their prims, but they change a prim on their lot. And your lots prims showed today's date for placement. This isn't something I make up, it's something that is automatically created by the system. And there it is, do I need to screenshot it just to collect my damn rent?!

I held your prims for weeks on end, over and over and over again, as the chat logs amply show, and this is not the case that you have been in the hospital for months, so please don't put me through that.

Please *don't* rent from me again, and please *don't* recommend your friends -- I just can't afford to sustain deadbeats. I've been patient with your for years, really, out of kindness, and it was not merited.

Prokofy

When you lay a prim on land, it automatically date-stamps it. And there it stays, with that date-stamp, never changing, if you do not add prims to that land. Once you do, it will change. So it's not that prims are "pinged" just because you own them and you log on -- that would only be the case if you were generating temp-on-rez prims.

Records below:

[2011/09/03 11:37]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Sat Sep 03 13:35:49 2011) i just  came bak to sl..but i cannot find ravenglass rentals group so I can join it
[2011/09/03 11:38]  Prokofy Neva: Hi, that's strange, it's in search/groups. Do you have both PG and M clicked? it's in PG
[2011/09/03 11:38]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2011/10/26 0:11]  Prokofy Neva: Hi the rent is due in Ravenglass
[2011/10/26 0:11]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2011/11/05 15:55]  Prokofy Neva: Hi, the rent on the townhouses is being reduced to $650 a week. $100 has been added to your box, when it expires, it will be reset. But I see you have 1542 prims o ut so either ask to buy more prims or reduce, it's 450 here on these houses.
[2011/11/05 15:55]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2011/11/10 13:10]  Prokofy Neva: Hi, the rent is due, I reduced it to $650 as the island is getting the rents reduced. There are still showing 1466 prims (maybe temp rez) to your name and 706 on the parcel, so that's still too many, you get 450.
[2011/11/10 13:10]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2011/11/10 16:22]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Thu Nov 10 16:44:02 2011) hey hun..sorry i wasnt ignoring you.. I been sick with the flu.  I wil check the prims.. the flowers emit temp prim blooms but they shouldnt be running that high.  Im still fuzzy headed..if we moved my rent to 1000 a week would that cover the extra prims?
[2011/11/10 16:22]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Thu Nov 10 16:44:44 2011) let me know... i will be on later tonight to pay the rent
[2011/11/10 16:30]  Prokofy Neva: Hi, well take a look what's up on your land, no hurry, and then I would put in an extra box anyway
[2011/11/10 16:30]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2011/11/11 23:34]  Penolope Eldrich: I know the 200 is 450...how muc would 300 prims be?
[2011/11/11 23:35]  Prokofy Neva: 550
[2011/11/11 23:35]  Penolope Eldrich: okies when you get the chance can you put up the rental box for an additional 300
[2011/11/11 23:35]  Prokofy Neva: ok
[2011/11/11 23:36]  Penolope Eldrich: ty!  be back tomorrow... and will finally be back home
[2011/11/11 23:36]  Prokofy Neva: great
[2012/02/12 21:49]  Prokofy Neva: Hi the rent is due and also the two parcels together would be 450 plus 937 prims but you have1089 and 500 plus so you need to reduce a bit, thanks
[2012/02/12 21:49]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/02/12 21:52]  Prokofy Neva: also can you take down the plywood boards on the property lines/ you can always view property lines with view/property lines while wearing the group tag
[2012/02/12 21:52]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/02/12 23:03]  Penolope Eldrich: hey hun...sorry had a death in the family so just getting home.  I am in the process of remodeling so should have the prim overage fixed in another day or two...
[2012/04/03 22:12]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Wed Apr 04 00:05:35 2012) hi hun.. i was paying my rent and got a problem.. for some reason i am banned from half the land and it wont let me pay the larger plot rent
[2012/04/03 22:12]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Wed Apr 04 00:10:12 2012) i cant pay what I cant access
[2012/04/03 22:13]  Prokofy Neva: that's odd, no one has banned you, and even if you were put in the ban list, you could just delete yourself with the same powers
[2012/04/03 22:13]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/04/03 22:15]  Prokofy Neva: I'll check
[2012/04/03 22:15]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/04/03 22:17]  Prokofy Neva: I found you in the banned list on the corner parcel, I certainly didn't p ut you there and I don't know who did, it's odd. I removed you, but keep in mind that you can remove yourself with the same ban powers you have
[2012/04/03 22:17]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/04/03 22:18]  Prokofy Neva: is theer someone named Nathalia Parisi who is with you? Because her prims are on here
[2012/04/03 22:18]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/04/03 22:19]  Penolope Eldrich: no i dont know who that person is
[2012/04/03 22:19]  Prokofy Neva: well maybe she squatted and banned you
[2012/04/03 22:19]  Penolope Eldrich: the land parcel thats not letting me on has red lines too
[2012/04/03 22:19]  Prokofy Neva: to try to get the spot
[2012/04/03 22:19]  Prokofy Neva: wellI took out out of the one parcel
[2012/04/03 22:19]  Prokofy Neva: you're not in the other
[2012/04/03 22:20]  Penolope Eldrich: its possible..i will need to check the house now to find out what she put there
[2012/04/03 22:20]  Prokofy Neva: it must be up in the air
[2012/04/03 22:20]  Prokofy Neva: I'm going to look
[2012/04/03 22:20]  Prokofy Neva: I don't recognize that name, not a tenant
[2012/04/03 22:20]  Penolope Eldrich: ok..i was finally able to pay that one
[2012/04/03 22:21]  Prokofy Neva: well she just rezzed two empty houses up here
[2012/04/03 22:21]  Prokofy Neva: maybe it's a mistake
[2012/04/03 22:22]  Prokofy Neva: I removed them
[2012/04/03 22:22]  Penolope Eldrich: thanks. I will double check things
[2012/04/03 22:22]  Prokofy Neva: she's not in the group anymore
[2012/04/03 22:22]  Penolope Eldrich: i been offline.. had an accient and am just now getting to weher i can get on again
[2012/04/03 22:23]  Prokofy Neva: sorry to hear that
[2012/04/03 22:23]  Prokofy Neva: someone paid for your parcel today and wanted me to return your house
[2012/04/03 22:23]  Prokofy Neva: not this Nathalie, but another one
[2012/04/03 22:23]  Prokofy Neva: so I refunded them and sent you a notice
[2012/04/03 22:24]  Penolope Eldrich: thank you.. I ddnt have anyone who clould log in for me to pay it
[2012/04/03 22:24]  Penolope Eldrich: but i got the notice soon as I got online finally today
[2012/04/03 22:24]  Prokofy Neva: well I saved it for you because I figured youd be back
[2012/04/03 22:24]  Penolope Eldrich: how long did it go unpaid.. so I can send you the back rent saturday
[2012/04/03 22:24]  Prokofy Neva: I don't know
[2012/04/03 22:25]  Penolope Eldrich: I will pull up my transaction history and figure it out
[2012/04/03 22:25]  Penolope Eldrich: tonight im too tired
[2012/04/03 22:25]  Prokofy Neva: ok no problem
[2012/04/03 22:25]  Prokofy Neva: I just wanted to make sure if you wanted it that it wasn't returned
[2012/04/03 22:26]  Penolope Eldrich: thank you so much
[2012/04/03 22:26]  Penolope Eldrich: i am gonna head to bed..will check house and such tomororw..make sure the squater didnt activate a bunch of stuff
[2012/04/03 22:26]  Prokofy Neva: well her prims are all gone
[2012/04/03 22:27]  Prokofy Neva: and I'm not sure it's a squatter, because it's empty rezzed houses, maybe just somebody next door but the name I don't recognize
[2012/04/03 22:27]  Penolope Eldrich: i dont either.  guess we will find out when they show up again
[2012/04/03 22:28]  Prokofy Neva: I'll just ban her from the sim don't worry
[2012/04/03 22:29]  Penolope Eldrich: thank you again..have a good night.. iw illd o a prim audit in the morning

[2012/04/26 20:36]  Prokofy Neva: Hi, the rent is due in Ravenglass
[2012/04/26 20:36]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/07/30 18:27]  Prokofy Neva: Hi the rent is due in Cub
[2012/07/30 18:27]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/08/21 21:22]  Penolope Eldrich: i fully agree.  sorry was checking otu possible shop locations for my flowers
[2012/08/26 13:12]  Prokofy Neva: Hi the rent is due in Cub, please pay on time
[2012/08/26 13:12]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/10/21 12:34]  Second Life: Inventory item offered
[2012/10/21 12:34]  Second Life: User not online - inventory has been saved.
[2012/10/21 16:38]  Second Life: secondlife:///app/agent/0d045250-8073-4ff3-b079-7233366d93f2/about has given you this notecard:
 secondlife:///app/inventory/bf1403b9-4678-0d12-eef2-b399f5e8b783/select?name=Excuse%20me
[2012/10/21 16:48]  Second Life: Inventory item offered
[2012/10/21 16:48]  Second Life: User not online - inventory has been saved.
[2012/10/22 05:49]  Second Life: secondlife:///app/agent/0d045250-8073-4ff3-b079-7233366d93f2/about has given you this notecard:
 secondlife:///app/inventory/e4385aa8-56d5-7639-5dad-7a26e496fa9f/select?name=Last%20note

[2012/06/23 02:41]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Fri Jun 22 11:55:10 2012)may i get the skipper title
[2012/09/04 13:56]  Random Unsung: Hi, the rent is due in Cub
[2012/09/04 13:56]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/09/06 21:26]  Random Unsung: Hi, the rent is due in Cub
[2012/09/06 21:26]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/09/25 17:41]  Random Unsung: Hi the rent is due in cub.
[2012/09/25 17:41]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/09/26 13:35]  Penolope Eldrich: (Saved Tue Sep 25 23:53:06 2012)sorry hun... i just got home...thought i paid that but guess i didnt.  its paid now
[2012/10/04 06:22]  Random Unsung: Hi the rent is due in Cub
[2012/10/04 06:22]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/10/13 14:26]  Random Unsung: Hi the rent is due in Cub
[2012/10/13 14:26]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.
[2012/10/16 05:54]  Random Unsung: Hi, please get the rent paid, I have to pay my tier on time, so I need you to pay your rent on time.
[2012/10/16 05:54]  Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.

 

 

Comments

[Jadeclaw]

Wow, that's rich.
I always pay 2 days, before the rent is due and I make sure to have the funds ready to cover atleast 4 weeks.
And if I can manage that, everyone can. Sure, real life can be a bitch sometimes, but being constantly late is inexcusable. I can understand, that your patience is wearing thin in this case.
That 'Penolope'-person should be ashamed of herself.

[Amanda Dallin]

I believe the login date in the group is still the last login to SL not the group but that doesn't matter. You have to pay tier whether she pays you or not. It's not a game when she takes real money out of your pocket. A week is more than generous. I had someone take advantage of us like that a while back. He was late nearly every month, often a week or more and he also got mad when we finally returned his store but we had less stress and a lot less wasted time with him gone.

[Reg]

"destruction of my reputation"

Considering the reputation you've enjoyed up to this point, best hope it IS destroyed.

Then you can create a new one as a caring and kind person instead of the pompous, abrasive, arrogant witch you've been up to now.