I have been a paid subscriber of XM Radio since June 2004. For the most part I am very satisfied with the technology and programming. However, at the end of this month I will not be renewing. Sirius XM messed up. Here are the reasons I will be returning to terrestrial radio (AM/FM) in March.
- After XM and Sirius merged, they lowered the sound quality for online listeners and then had the gall to demand a higher monthly fee to get what was previously defined as part of the service. I paid for a 4 year renewal based off the high sound quality of their online offerings. After they lowered the bitrate, the music stations were unlistenable. Basically they went from near CD quality to AM radio quality.
- Poor customer relations. Channels were added and dropped and I never once got an email or letter. The only time I ever got an updated channel listing was when there was a bill. On a few occasions, I emailed stations asking what song they played at a certain time. Only once was any of my emails ever returned. Don’t ask your listeners to contact you if you have no intention of responding to them.
- The May 2007 suspension of Opie and Anthony for something a deranged homeless man said. The station is marked XL for explict language. That 30 day suspension was uncalled for and showed that XM Radio is a spineless company that cared more about the merger with Sirius than free speech.
- Call center in India is unprofessional. I have absolutely no problem with call centers in India. The majority of my experiences have been positive, but not with XM Radio. When I have called XM Radio, it takes forever to connect with someone. Once you get someone on the line, they have music blasting. I was able to overcome the Indian accent, but not with Snoop Dogg playing in the background.
- Call center in India deals with sensitive financial information. American laws protect my financial data on American soil. Although India has data protection laws, I do not feel comfortable that I am protected or have recourse if that trust is violated overseas. In other words, I will not be reading a credit card number to anyone that is not in America. Tech support, no problem. Financial transaction, no way.
- The most important reason is that XM Radio has fraudulently charged my credit card twice, lied to me and has not apologized or made peace with me. I was forced to cancel my credit card number and file fraud charges on them. The full details are on the post Filing Fraud Charges Against XM Radio.
- Seattle has at least three good commercial free radio stations on the FM dial. 88.5 has dance music, 89.5 has jazz when NPR isn’t on and 90.3 has a killer selection of indie music. There may be more good stations, but I haven’t ventured past 90.3.
There you have it Sirius XM. I predict your company will go into bankruptcy. When people like me that have been early supporters and die hard backers of your technology walk away angry – you have problems.
After you go through bankruptcy, fire Mel Karmazin, bring the call centers back to the States and emerge as a new company I might forgive you. Until that happens, you’re dead to me.
Good choice ending the contract there MAS, for 2 reasons based on your experiences:
1. There are very good outsourcers in India that have competitive costs, high quality, training and employee satisfaction. Then there are the very low cost awful ones that do not invest in quality, training or employees. They exploit kids graduating from college, give them more than the newbie starting wage with the result that a large number of them have serious psychological issues after being yelled at all day by angry customers. This has apparently become a significant issue in call center hub cities. Sirius has obviously made the choice to optimize for their bottom line at the expense of their customers.
2. Based on my experience running call centers, I would not recommend giving your credit card number over the phone to anyone, either inside the US or outside (and sometime it is hard to tell the difference). It’s better to use a secure online system to enter that type of information. The person handling a complaint/question on the account (for most e-tailers) and doing security verification usually cannot see the entire number so would not be able to steal it. If you have to give out a number, a lot of CC companies now offer the alternative/encrypted number as well as fraudulent charge protection.
Wow. Big step for you. I know how much you love the hot talk radio. Will you simply go without?
I’ve begun listening to podcasts more and more.
I have had my radio out for the past few days (fuse?) and feel like a Sirius Junkie because I miss it so much!
P.S. If you like Sirius XM then see their “rags to riches” story on DVD. The movie is called “Stock Shock” and it goes over the history, development, and near-death experience of the stock. I did not know the inventor of sirius xm was a woman!–well she is now, at least. DVD is cheaper at http://www.stockshockmovie.com, but the DVD is pretty much everywhere for sale.
I couldn’t agree more. As a five-year subscriber, I am canceling my service. I just don’t feel that they have done anything to support all of the price increases over the years. My price keeps going up and I get less (no Internet). I just can’t come to grips with paying $15 for radio content. At this point, I have found a ton of alternatives online, streaming stations with good content. Not too mention, there are a ton of stations on Shoutcast and Live365 that simulcast the better Sirius content.
I just talked to someone today and informed them I wasn’t renewing. He asked me why and I told him the price. I told him that I recently saw an introduction special for $4 a month for new subs and I’d stay if I could get that. He said no and there were no other offers he could make. I said, well either I can cancel my account, and re-open another one for $4 a month or you can just meet the price. Why reward someone that hasn’t listened and not a 5-yr subscriber? He said no, so I just said forget it. I’m not looking for a handout, but the price doesn’t support the product anymore. There are plenty of other options online at this point. I just found it funny that he would rather me cancel my account and chance that I won’t come back (I won’t) than just meet the price. Pretty ridiculous.
Yeah… Sirius had me hooked. Till this latest endeavor that is. I had 5 cars and a marine application with them. In all I have been spending nearly $1000 a year.
Last August my wife and I sold our VW Tourag back to Mid Western Auto Group as it was in the shop more in the 364 days we had it than in our garage. I canceled Sirius service on August 27th, 09. On September 6th, 09, Sirius auto billed me for $110. Just found out about it March 29th, 10. No refund given.
This is not the first time I had an experience like this with Sirius. After a conversation with a supervisor it was resolved the last time.
This time after sitting on hold for 47 mins, I was called a liar and charged $75 for canceling that service and $15 to transfer service from another car I just sold to one I just bought. I requested to speak to supervisor. After 15 more mins on hold and a lengthy conversation this was reversed.
I previously had asked not to have auto renewals as I change cars out a lot. After reviewing my account I found 2 other charges for someone elses accounts (nearly $300.) another hour on the phone to straighten out.
Could barely understand guy on other end as he had thick accent and kept breathing heavily into his mouth piece. Also, if I hear one more JAZZ song while on hold I am going F#@KIN’ POSTAL!
Now I have found out that their marine program does not cost $149.99 a year as I was told by the dealer. In all, it cost $321.02 a year! My boat is in the water (Lake Erie – Ohio) from May 15th-Sept 15th and is used 20 hours a season. That is about $16 an hour. The real problem is their satellite only works about half the time and weather is ALWAYS WRONG!
But what pisses me off every 5 mins is the commercials we SUBSCRIBERS are PAYING to listen to. Sirius was suppose to be commercial free… guess not. Screw your clients – screw yourself.
I will not be renewing any further and have closed the credit card they have on file and that they would not remove unless I gave them another good account.
Good bye Sirius – XM
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I too am a victim of XM/Sirius fraudulent billing. I bought a 3 year subscription in 2007 for my new vehicle for $360. In late Feb 2010 I got a mailed reminder from XM that the service was expiring soon and I had until Apr 1st to renew. So, just after mid-March I phoned their (India) call center. I was offered a lifetime subscription for $460. I told the guy I needed to know what my ability would be in the future to transfer the subscription to another radio. He said I would be able to move the subscription a total of three times to other radios. I told him based on that assurance, I would buy the subscription and gave him my cc number.
A little over a week later, I received a mailing from XM with the fine print statement describing their service. It said that vehicle radio subscriptions generally cannot be moved to another radio. Only subscriptions for portable radios can be moved. I checked my credit card account and saw that XM had not yet billed me. I called XM on March 31 and told them I had been deceived or misled about the transferrability of the subscription. I asked them to check the recording of my phone call to them for the evidence, cancel by request for a subscription, shut off service to my radio at the end of the 2007 subscription and not bill my credit card. XM’s agent acknowledged my complaint and said they would recommend to the head office that my request be honored.
Over a series of telephone conversations with XM, a number of increasingly strange offers were made to me for service but I never got one I could really accept. Ultimately, XM billed my credit card for just over $351 (I can’t explain the amount). I phoned my credit card company and disputed the charge. They investigated, agreed with me and refunded the charge.
Now XM has sent me a bill for about $285 (I still can’t explain the amount) that includes a $5 late fee. I will dispute that bill directly to them, but I have the feeling this saga will continue.
What a POS!
I am also a long time subscriber and I just got off the phone with the India call center. I no longer need the land radio as I have been listening to Sirius XM on my Ipad. So I told this woman this and when I got off the phone she had canceled my online account because it was connected to the land radio. Very miffed not canceling but I am pissed.
I am a lifetime Sirius subscriber and enjoy the service. I recently purchased a new car with a XM radio. I was assured by the dealer that it was the same company and I would be able to transfer my subscription. After contacting both Sirius & XM I am frustrated and angry. Their customer service model is based on extracting every last bit of money possible. Customer satisfaction & loyalty aren’t even on their screen.
Has anyone out there found a way transfer a subscription between the two and if so, what are the magic words?
Sirius-XM customer service is unprofessional and outright rude. I was being mistreated by their support in all kinds of ways that is too long to describe here. They refuse to mail me a receipt for every charge on my card. They also declined to send email receipts. Email receipts for God’s sake! They don’t realise how crappy their new player is. I just got logged out in the middle of interesting programming and being unable to log back in I spent 1 hour with less than knowledgeable support guy until I was able to log back in, but the programming was gone with the wind. Once you (every 1-2 hours) get logged out, you must log back in by typing your full email address again. Used to be easier to log back in. They should not log us out in the middle of news etc. Signal quality in the last several months deteriorated so much for the online service that I started losing signal for 3 seconds every 10 seconds. No kidding. Finally I called them and canceled my online player. Next time I will cancel the car radio as well.
Customer service is horrible. We had XM in both our house and the car. In November of 2009 we called and cancelled the subscription for the house. In February of 2010 we received a notification in the mail that the credit card on file had expired. When I looked at the statement it was for the radio we had cancelled. I attempted to call customer service and spent quite a long time fighting with the automated systems. Never could get to the right place. Finally kept hitting the 0 key on the phone and eventually somebody would pick it up. I asked why they hadn’t cancelled our subscription and was told it was computer problems. In June of 2010 we received a statement in the mail explaining our services with XM. This also showed we had 2 radios and 2 subscriptions. I called again -fought the automated system again and got somebody else on the line. They informed me that they would do something about the cancellation. In late September of 2010 once again I contacted XM after again being notified the credit card on file was expired. I was told again that there were “problems” getting accounts cancelled and they would “try” to get this done. In October of 2010 I called because we had sold our vehicle and I wanted to cancel that subscription. Got a very rude man on the phone. After 45 minutes going back and forth; being told I had to contact the cancellation department (that was the number I had called); they finally seemed to understand it. I no longer had access to the website and finally I no longer get notices that the credit card on file has expired. Unfortunately they refused to refund all the money from the time I originally contacted them to cancel in 2009. They need to get rid of the stupid call center; get rid of automated systems that don’t understand a word you say. This started out being such a good deal…boy did it turn out to be a horrible deal. If ever we sign up again it will be without a credit card. They can receive a check in the mail like everyone else.
I also got screwed by Sirius. Bought a new car in 2009 and received a 2 year subscription from GMAC…free. Came with the car along with 2 years of OnStar. It just so happens that I had subscribed to Sirius for my wife’s car in the summer of 2009 (for her birthday) and canceled a year later in 2010. Now, I get charged on my Discover Card (same card I used for wife’s car) for renewing the new car subscription. Talk about fraud.
Every time Sirius XM charges my card they increase the fee. They will not send me a prior notice to raising the fee nor they will ever mail or email me a credit card receipt (!!) and an invoice (at least a credit card receipt!?) even if I asked for a receipt many many many many many times and I was promised many many many times! Never happened! I am calling them right now to CANCEL forever. USA companies do not know what customer service is!!! Therefore USA e-CON-omy will be gone soon to the dogs.