You can downgrade it, but still pay the full price

As mentioned earlier, I was stuck in Second Life limbo after cancelling my credit card details as I didn’t want to continue being a premium member. However they locked me out of Second Life entirely, saying I had to pay them the renewal fee, which I had opted to pay annually.

I couldn’t even downgrade my account until I entered my card details which would result in an automatic payment - which I didn’t want!

So I wrote in. I have to commend Linden Labs for the quick reply to my query, but this situation sounds silly. Read this (I have [deleted] some parts due to privacy issues):

Hello Vantan,

Thankyou for contacting Linden Lab support regarding the issue of wanting to downgrade your account.

I will be able to help you downgrade your account to a basic account but this is not going prevent you having to pay the your annual fee.

Due to our policy, you will still have to pay the $72 because you did not cancel premium membership before your account fees were due.

I am sorry if this causes any inconvenience but it is company policy.

[Security verification questions deleted]

If you can provide me with the above information then I can downgrade your account for you.

If you have any further questions you can contact myself or one of my colleagues.

Regards, [name deleted] Linden Lab support

So this is a warning to the rest of you on paid accounts who are also thinking of downgrading to Basic membership - remember to downgrade your account before cancelling your credit card details!

At this rate I might as well renew my membership for one year! What the heck. I’ll just get lots of Linden pocket money.