A disappointing land almost-purchase

posted by Jonas Ingrassia on Rolveston
45 weeks, 4 days, 5 hours, 3 minutes, 5 seconds ago
[2596 views]

I just had an unpleasant experience while investigating rentals owned by Prize Pyle (just search the map for "Prize" and you'll find the sims): Last night I came by with a friend and we'd read over the covenant and notecards available for the parcels, and found two that gave a 10-minute reserve window for $1L. (The reservation scripts then proceeded to tell us we had 24 hours to pay the tier fees -- first major piece of confusion.) We went ahead and reserved them, then proceeded to have connection issues that prevented some things (like payments) from working. So we looked around for a while anyway and decided we'd try again in the morning, since our names were still on the plots we reserved well after ten minutes had passed. No big deal, right? Wrong. We came back today, and found ourselves unable to pay (no surprise there, with the confusion over the ten minutes vs. 24 hours information, so we figured we'd just IM the owner once we were sure), and then a few minutes later, inexplicably teleported home. A brief and fairly terse conversation with the owner revealed that we had indeed been banned for not being able to rent on the spot last night. And: That we wouldn't be unbanned until our names dropped off the ban list (i.e. after 300 more people had been banned -- some other good, conscientious buyers caught among them no doubt) or we paid for the lots we had reserved the night before, which lots should have been *unreserved* again ten minutes later. We were unable to go back again and be sure of what was there -- to see what we were about to be coerced into buying if we wanted any access at all -- so we decided we wouldn't commit, if we were going to be treated this rudely. And this is definitely rude. No warning about being suddenly banned is in the covenant or any of the other information we received, and we think this is a highly punitive and short-sighted, but excellent way to lose business. Starting with ours. You wouldn't have found better buyers, Prize Pyle. There's a reason we're regularly asked to be in charge of organizing groups of residents in SL -- we're smart and caring and we have integrity, and give good word-of-mouth whenever it's been earned. And my attempt to contact you was quite courteous and downright complementary about the work you've done on your sims. The conversation ended when we asked if it was really necessary to prevent us from further exploration -- evidently we're a major threat to your business, simply by being interested in it. Confusing to say the least. Apparently, sincere interest and conscientious follow-up when there's a problem is not good enough for you. And that's a shame. Why punish people who are trying to give you business you'll appreciate having? That would be a good question to ask yourself. All you had to do was unban us, and let us finish exploring. We meant you no harm, and your information about what would happen to us was both incomplete and contradictory. That's no way to ethically run a business. People in SL are still real people. It'd be a good idea to treat them that way at all times. And this blog post is here, because you're apparently more interested in blowing off a reasonable conversation and treating everyone like they're out to get you, than in considering being reasonable to people who make an effort to patronize your business even after your severe security measures begin wasting everyone's time. Very disappointing. And a real shame. What a waste of talent.
at: Rolveston (246, 26, 23)

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8 comments...

Debby
posted at 08:58:17 - Wed 26th of September, 2007 GMT
I would NEVER do any more business with Prize Pyle. He is a childish, selfish, arrogant child. He treats himsef like "god" and everybody else like something you scrape off a shoe. STAY AWAY FROM HIM

kaliyina milena
posted at 03:19:44 - Sat 12th of April, 2008 GMT
well here's my fun experience with prize pyle, it might just top yours by a good bit. I purchased my first piece of land from prize pyle in Dec 07. Throughout the months since that time I have been adding onto my land little by little. On March 18th of this year, I bought the last half of my land which made it into an island. I paid him 32,000 lindens for the parcel. For reaons apparently only known to Prize pyle, he reclaimed my land on April 7th, claiming I violated the covenant and that I needed to leave the land immediately even though my tier fees were paid through April 18th. He told me I had until April 18th to sell the land and if I was not able to sell the land by that time he would reclaim it on April 19th as his own again. Every day since April 7th I put it up for sale attempting to sell it and every day he reclaims it specifying that I am the only one who can buy it, thereby preventing me from selling it, this seems to be so he can get the land back for free. I have proof that none of the allegations he has made against me are true. It seems this is his way of stealing not only my land but also my money because if he is able to reclaim the land on the 19th he will then be able to turn around and sell it again to another buyer....double dipping so to speak. he's sold the land to me and now is stealing it from me and will certainly turn around and sell it to someone else. It seems this is a scam he's quite familiar with as I am not the first person he has done this to in prize island, sadly I found this out after the fact. I hope that this gets the word out on how this person operates his business and if the word can get out perhaps he will be put out of business when people stop shopping his sims for land to purchase.

Jonas Ingrassia
posted at 04:58:06 - Sat 12th of April, 2008 GMT
Well, you two have certainly made me glad I never had the "opportunity" to buy from him. Obviously he was doing me a favor!

Eaglebull Short
posted at 17:47:58 - Fri 2nd of May, 2008 GMT
I know people that has good experience with Prize Island and i guess since his sims are very popular not everyone agrees. And reading the above remonds me of the fact that theres two sides to every story ..

Jonas Ingrassia
posted at 20:14:47 - Fri 2nd of May, 2008 GMT
That's certainly true. However, in my case, at least, it's documented, so Prize Pyle would have to lie to offer a contradictory version. Cheers.

Zsark Grun
posted at 03:24:42 - Fri 16th of May, 2008 GMT
I talked to Pyle about an issue I'm having with his manager. Pyle's an alright fellow but his manager is a dirtbag! Hairy Woodhen is the worse "manager" anyone could ask for. I'm guessing he's around 12 years old. Has anyone else delt with this guy??? Otherwise I like the place..not much of a view anymore since my neighbors built a humongous house in front of us but I figure that if I "Bought" the land I should have the right to display my art, right? No, Dirtbag keeps showing up and removing it, saying they're "signs". As long as Hairy Woodhen continues managing Mr Prize's stuff I will have to sadly suggest that everyone avoid doing business there if you want to avoid headaches.

Dakota Mulgrave
posted at 14:05:03 - Thu 5th of June, 2008 GMT
I have met Hairy Woodhen, and i have to disagree. He is a kinda, passionate person who tries very hard to help alot of people. He has a very hard job to do upholding the rules supplied in that covenant. The way i see it, It's just a job. Kinda of surprised he still does it so passionately. If a few people cant find a way to let things go and move on because of one simple "sign", then I would have to sadly say, that your life must be very very boring. yes you Zsark. Anyway, dont beleive everything you hear in these silly bloggs, after all they are only half truths :)

Jonas Ingrassia
posted at 20:11:06 - Tue 1st of July, 2008 GMT
I can't speak for others, Dakota, but my account is certainly accurate, or I wouldn't have wasted my time posting about it -- it is primarily the quality of the sims that inspired me to say anything, because it is such a waste to treat people so badly after working so hard (obviously) to make something that people are going to enjoy. You have offered no refutation of anything anyone here has said, only insults, which doesn't exactly inspire faith in your credibility. Try offering facts next time, or simply move along to something you find to be worth your time.

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