Linden Lab says that they believe some users have been billed twice for tier (land use fees). They are encouraging anyone affected by the double-billing (it appears you will have to go and check - or maybe check with your card company) to file a ticket through the Support Portal.

If the stories we hear have any grain of truth to them, then double-billing land-use fees to some users is an ongoing problem with Linden Lab's billing system - as well as users who are unable to process payments to Linden Lab at all.

According to an email I've just received, and which is being twittered and IMed about like mad, all EU residents will be paying VAT on their bills to LL. What fun.

The email to me is reproduced below.

Hello, Eloise Pasteur.

We have identified that you reside in a European country. Accordingly, your next bill will reflect Value Added Tax (VAT) charged at the rate specified by your country. Please note that VAT applies to all payments to Linden Lab such as land sales, monthly maintenance fees and Premium subscription fees.
If you are eligible for a VAT exemption, you may submit proof of your exemption status, such as your VAT number, here:
https://secondlife.com/account/vat_enter_id.php

If you have other questions, please read the VAT FAQ:
http://secondlife.com/corporate/vat.php

You can also contact us via the support portal:
http://secondlife.com/support

Best regards, and thank you for your continuing support.


Linden Lab
Creators of Second Life

Billing and Concierge phone lines at Linden Lab are having trouble again. You might consider this something of a regular occurence. Of course, Linden Lab uses VoIP IPBX systems to handle these lines.

Is this sort of failure common? It certainly has been in my experience - every company I've been at that used them has experienced significant difficulties and downtime (and still are). It hardly seems to be a representative sample, however - the majority of these systems may run flawlessly.

In any event, if you need to call Billing or Concierge, be prepared to be extra-patient.

In the month of July, Meta Linden tells us, Linden Lab saw an actual fall in the number of premium accounts for the first time on record. The ballpark figure is approximately 5,800 accounts, many of which are on hold due to an "inability to pay".

This appears to be due to inability for Linden Lab to bill due to lost or incorrect billing information, and incomplete account information that is preventing Linden Lab from contacting those account-holders - presumably broken email addresses and the like.

We're expecting July's metrics to be published later today, where we'll get a better, overall picture of the state of Second Life through the month last month.