I can relate Sarah, when I initially setup in
SL it was to make a go of buying/selling/renting land and boy what a lesson it's been. I've had to cut back on a lot of things simply because I tried to be nice, and the more I extended myself for tenants, the more they took advantage of it, to the point of there's more than a few avi's running around that owe me a few hundred U.S. in unpaid rent. As you put it, LL doesn't care what your sob story is, you're still liable for tier, bottom line. Even those tenants who are continually late usually have a system worked out where over a short period of time are racking up free rent, and I try and counter that with a little speech on "I'm not here to fund your game, and I'm not making any profit, I just want to pay my tier". Sometimes it works and sometimes....meh.....
From what you posted, no one can fault you, and it seems pretty typical of the way things happen and the things people say. Just keep doing things the way you are.....