Some time ago, I think late last year, Linden Lab stopped all non-US using PayPal, introducing the second life cashier, but only for new non-US customers, and this left me unable to pay the Lab at all.
When the Lab introduced the SL Cashier, they did not "update" my account and so I continued to have the two original choices of payment method: Visa/MasterCard or PayPal. I have a preloaded MasterCard, which I specifically bought to use online and this has been accepted everywhere, except SL. No payments are accepted by SL when I try to use this card, and of course, if I try to use PayPal its also not accepted because I am not resident in the US.
At this point I developed my own workaround: I made an alt and, as a new, Non-US customer, I hoped I would be able to use the SL Cashier. It worked, I now had a choice of payment methods, including Click and Buy, Visa/MasterCard and Solo/Maestro.
I was pleased to see Maestro was accepted, this being one of the most common charge cards issued with a UK current account. I have been able to make payments for the last 6 months, using my Maestro card, buying lindens, then logging-in with my alt to transfer the cash to my main, until yesterday.
The payment options, under the Second Life Cashier, have now been reduced to Visa/MasterCard or Click and Buy. Once again, I'm stuck and unable to use my MasterCard.
I read up on this Click and Buy, a little wary of using a service I have never heard of, but checking the internet doesn't bring up anything worrying, apart from the odd moan. I registered with them, verified my Maestro card, using their process which is similar to PayPal verification of a card, and returned to my alt account page to purchase US$50 worth of lindens.
The transaction seemed to go through, but the lindens did not show-up on the account screen. I checked to see if perhaps a US$ credit was made to my alt's account, but - nothing, only a "transaction pending" listed in the account's transactions.
I checked Click and Buy, which confirms the transaction is complete. I check my bank account online and the US$50 has been deducted from my balance, or approx GBP£30.
I log-in again to my alt account and still nothing.
In the end, I had to phone billing, who were only able to raise a support ticket which will not be looked at until tomorrow, at the earliest and, from recent experience, I know it will be a miracle if the ticket is looked at in the next two months.
So, I'm not pleased, not only do the Lab seem to want to make it as difficult as possible to pay them anything, if you're non-US, but now US$50 is floating about somewhere, gone from my bank account, but not available for me to use in SL. I want to use it now, that's why I attempted to buy Lindens.
Now, what am I supposed to do until the matter is resolved?
