Nancy Shapiro of Middletown is one of the hundreds of people whom Sirius XM tried to take advantage of by billing for a contract she did not need or want, and had not requested.
When she purchased a new Buick LaCrosse, it came with a standard three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM Radio – a product I will buy with my next car.
And when the trial period ended on March 30, Shapiro contacted the company to get a regular subscription, like she had on her previous car, paying about $44 every three months.
But when her credit card bill arrived in May, she discovered she had been charged $488.86 for a lifetime subscription (the lifetime of the car).
“I contacted the company to dispute the charge,” she wrote me in an email asking for my help. “I was immediately told that the subscription was nonrefundable. I explained to the customer service representative that I had not signed up for this and when I received the same response, I spoke with a supervisor.”
“Once again, I was told that the subscription was not refundable. After a significant number of calls and virtually the same response from everyone I spoke with, I wrote a letter to the President explaining the problem and requesting a refund of the $488.86. The President has never responded to my letter.”
Shapiro also tried unsuccessfully to convince her credit card company to cancel her charge.
After checking the Better Business Bureau site and seeing hundreds of other complaints about Sirius XM billing practices, I figured I would pull out all the stops.
I sent an email to the satellite radio company’s public relations department, notifying them that I would be writing a column about this complaint as well as the complaints I saw on the BBB site and other consumer sites. I also forwarded Shapiro’s email to the attorney general’s office and to the state consumer protection commissioner, and informed the PR department about that.
While the public relations department never responded directly to me, they did to Shapiro.
Within 48 hours she became a valued customer. She received a call from the customer relations department apologizing for the problem and agreed to refund the $488.86 they billed to her Capital One account. She was also promised six months of free service.
“I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate your efforts on my behalf,” she wrote me last week. “You did in one day what I have been trying to do for more than three months.” My pleasure.
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also responded to me in a written statement saying that while he was pleased that Shapiro got her money back, others have also had problems.
“My office remains concerned about Sirius XM’s billing practices and will seek information from the company,” he wrote. “We have received about 20 complaints about Sirius XM in the last five years, most concerning bill practices and unwanted automatic renewal. My office has resolved all but three. We are in negotiations to resolve the remaining three. None involved lifetime subscriptions, as in Ms. Shapiro’s case.”
Another approach that Shapiro could have taken was to file a complaint against the company with bbb.org.
The BBB reports that it has received more than 3,200 complaints against the company in the past three years, with about half involving billing complaints.
Most of the complaints were resolved and the company has a B rating.
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It seems like a clear case of an improper charge to her credit card.
Since her credit card company was so unhelpful, she should research changing to a different credit card company.
Has anyone heard a peep about Howard Stern since he left for XM world? What a black hole that company is. Just a matter of time til they go out of business.
Although it does look like their billing practices are a bit “agressive” I am a subscriber and to mc’s comment.. Howerd Stern is alive and well and frankly they have been doing the best radio ever on Sirius.
Well worth the fee.
I had a very similar issue with Capitol One. They are horrible. I did drop them and will never go back.
I’m disappointed to hear this news about Sirius XM. I’ve been a subscriber for years and very happy. I’ve even gone through 2 new car purchases, getting my account transferred to the new car each time. No issues. I hope they get their act together in this category.
I had my old radio go out, one of two that I own. Called customer service, they not only reimbursed me for unused monthly fees, they also sent me a free boombox to go along w/ my s50 radio.
Sirius XM is a great product so I hope customers with concerns about billing are helped quickly and correctly so they can continue to enjoy the huge variety of listening options available.
Love me my Sirius XM
“The BBB reports that it has received more than 3,200 complaints against the company in the past three years, with about half involving billing complaints.”
Sounds like a big number until you factor in that there are over 19 million subsciptions! If half of the 3200 are billing questions then 1600 are billing questions and those occured over 3 years so it’s ~535 billing complaints per year with 190,000,000 + subscibers. That’s a .003% (yes, 3 thousanths of a percent) complaint record. I wonder what your company’s complaint percentage is? Bet it’s a lot higher!
Sirius customer service does suck, my own personal experience, but hardly a case for a state attorney general!
george
Unethical Billing and Hard to Cancel Service
First called back in Dec. 2009 to cancel the radio. They said they will give me 3 Months free. I told them I really don’t want it, but they would give it to me any way.
Called Back in Feb, called XM Radio (800) 967-2346 to cancel both radios.
Thought the madder was done, but in April I had a $75.00 charge on my credit card. I Disputed that charge a credit was given back and then came back saying you only charged $17.50. Again thought the matter was done, but not,
Received a bill in the mail on 6/24/10 Statement Date. Account summary for billing period 04/26/2010 – 06/24/2010 for $75.00. Keep on mind, I had canceled and could not even use the radio. No signal. Called back why am I still getting charge for service when I can’t use it or want the radio?
On 06/30/10 called back about my bill. She said she would take care of it, and disregard that bill. There will be no charge and balance would be $0.00. If this madder wasn’t taken care of. I would have to call the District Attorney Office and report XM.
Thinking this madder was taken care of. On 07/10/10 I received a letter dated July 6, 2010. From their collection agency. Past Due Balance for $75.00.
6 Months latter and still dealing with this company in trying to get my account canceled.
When there is a Class Action Suit against XM Satellite Radio. Include me in.
Really? Sirius may have poor customer service but that is not tantamount to cheating. My guess is the unscrupulous car dealer threw in a ‘lil extra paperwork for her to sign. I’ve had XM/Sirius for 6 years now and it’s a great product.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by George Gombossy, hohnjarr. hohnjarr said: Don't buy #sirius . They use questionable billing practices which I've been subjected to. http://bit.ly/akaSIJ [...]
I called to cancel last year and was offered a $77.00 contract for a year to stay. I was prepared to cancel at the end of the year however they offered to renew again for the same $77.00 per year…so I stayed again. Hearing how much they are trying to charge people for their service makes me crazy! I have Sirius — wonder if former XM customers are being targeted or if it’s new customers…
I have been struggling with Sirius for months and at the point of boiling over, I could use any help you can give me. I have spent a total of (since I have been keeping
track) 4.25 hours on the phone with their billing dept trying to resolve my issue, with no progress. I attempted to cancel their service back in the December time frame and they offered to give me basically free service (I think they charged $16) for 3 months. I reluctantly agreed, but made sure that my policy would not auto-renew.
Unfortunately I received a bill on March 28th for a renewal that had happened weeks earlier. Upset I called their customer service line to cancel my subscription and clear my account. I waited for 20 minutes to talk to a human being, then was told I would have to talk to another dept to actually cancel. I was put on hold for someone in that dept. After 24 minutes of waiting I hung up. I tried a number
of times over the next two weeks to actually reach someone, but each time I was on hold for at least 15 minutes and nobody picked up. I received a collection notice last week and below are my notes on what happened next;
Date Time
7/19 6:38 PM On hold for 24 minutes. Spoke with Joe, manager in
billing dept. He noted that he saw in the records I called to cancel
on 3/28, and I should not owe Sirius any funds. Promised to update
account with such information, and to call EOS to dispute the claim.
They would look my account and see the update, then immediately drop
the collection action
7/19 Called EOS immediately following conversation.
Representative checked Sirius’s records to verify. They said the only
information in my account noted from the phone call was that I was
told to contact EOS to dispute the claim.
7/19 6:42 PM Called Sirius back, on hold for 25:37, hung up when
call was not answered
7/19 7:10PM Called Sirius again, on hold for 13 minutes. No answer.
7/19 7:25 PM Called Sirius again, answered at 7:45, put on hold
to speak with supervisor
7/19 7:51 PM Supervisor Alma came online, phone call was disconnected
7/19 7:52 PM Called Sirius back, on hold for 20:10, phone was disconnected
7/19 8:13 PM Called Sirius back, on hold for 21 minutes.
Operator answers, request to speak with supervisor Alma
7/19 8:51 PM Supervisor John answer the phone after being on hold
for 20 minutes. Claims to annotate my account with applicable notes
from conversation with supervisor Joe. Notes my request to have
Sirius cancel the collection action, and my request to have $437.50
sent to a charity of my choosing (3.5 hours of my time @ $125 / hr)
7/19 9:15 PM Call dropped with supervisor John
7/23 3:13 PM Called Sirius to verify proper notes were made to my
account and notice sent to corporate. Was informed no such notes
existed. Put on hold for 4:30. No answer.
7/23 3:27 PM Called Sirius back, call answered at 3:30 by
operator Roy. Put on hold at 3:44 to wait to speak to a supervisor.
On hold until 4:09, Roy informed me he could not find a supervisor.
I informed him I refused to wait 1 second longer, and to have him/ her
call me back.
7/23 4:04 PM Initiated another call to Sirius on second phone
line. On hold for 12:42 waiting for supervisor, hung up without
speaking to one.
I would greatly appreciate any help/direction that you could give.
Thanks much,
Steve
Update:
I spoke with Ann in the corporate customer relations department over the course of three days (7/27 – 7/29). Ann was helpful in courteous in her effort to resolve the two issues. The misfiled collection act was corrected, and at my request a letter was sent to me from Sirius stating as such (although I have not received it as of 8/6). I did receive a note from the collection agency EOS/CCA that the matter was resolved.
While the matter of the collection was resolved, the request to have $531.25 donated to the charity Career Beginnings remains open. Ann informed me that she could not adjudicate that issue herself, and sent the request to a higher department in corporate. They informed her that they would not make this payment, which was for reimbursement of my time that was wasted in resolving the collection matter with Sirius which was documented in my original complain. I requested that this be put in the letter as well, however that request was denied.
My question to Sirius is this: Why are you not willing to stand by in writing a decision that you communicate via telephone?
had basically same experience as you only hung up after being on hold over 20 minutes 1st time waiting for a supervisor then being told there’ s nothing they can do but if I wanted to speak to him personally I could. I said yes but refused to be kept on hold again and hung up going to better business website and filed a complaint . Also filed a dispute with credit card for unauthorized charges. Unbelievable!!!
I, too, having been having problems with my XM billing. I will provide details in a little while.
Apparently, most of the comments here towards Sirius XM are NEGATIVE. Some points are indeed correct but some are just basically human stupidity.
By the way, although they say that Sirius & XM have merged THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN ACTIVATE A SIRIUS RADIO BY CALLING XM OR ACTIVATING AN XM RADIO BY CALLING SIRIUS (Yeah… I know, it’s ridiculous…)
Here’s what you need to learn about Sirius XM:
For new subscribers:
> Check online to see if they have the channels & the music that they usually play & you usually listen to. Some are really good & some are just useless aside from the fact that they have like 180 channels for XM Everything + Best of Sirius; 160 channels for XM Everything; 60 channels for Mostly Music & 40 channels for News, Sports & Talk channels (refer to the website http://www.xmradio.com)
> For those who want to try it out for FREE I think it’s only available for car owners both for BRAND NEW & USED cars.
For existing subscribers:
> If you don’t want any hassle with you bills ALWAYS PAY ON TIME! Especially when paying via sending CHECKS ’cause your service MAY BE interrupted at the DUE DATE while your paying is STILL BEING SENT. Also please take note they charge $2.00 INVOICE FEE (I know… ridiculous…) every time they send you a bill.
> You can pay through credit card on TWO (2) ways: (1) either by AUTOMATIC DEBIT of you’re credit card or (2) pay it via OTCCP (One Time Credit Card Payment) which both options can be done over the phone or through the internet.
> If in any case you miss your payment the service will be interrupted for a couple of days (which of course you’ll call their customer services which takes 10 days to get a hold of a live person…) & you’ll have to settle the due balance to start the service back again. NOTE: If your service was interrupted & you already paid the balance you’ll start the service AGAIN which basically means you pay the service AGAIN (like monthly, quarterly, etc..) after paying the DUE BALANCE.
Feel FREE to reply if you have any questions about their services.
Thanks…
You’re a friggin’ idiot. Quit trying to blame the customers for the company’s mistakes. I WISH I could pay a bill late by sending a check, my ONLY option for payment is via my debit card. Sirius has never, not once, in two years, sent me a bill or notified me via email that my renewal was coming up – they just took the money out of my account. It was never the right amount, nor at the right time, and they once charged me for my “quarterly” service two months apart.
There are over 1675 complaints to the BBB about their billing practices over the last three years. 200+ in 2009, 400+ in 2009, and 900+ over the last twelve months so, as you can see, the complaints are pretty much doubling every 12 months. And you have the nerve to blame the customer??!!!
My husband and I have been XM radio subscribers for over a year. We bought three XM radio accounts, one for myself (portable), for our vehicle, and for my father for Father’s Day last year. My husband called in January this year to cancel the portable device. After waiting on the line for about 40 minutes the representative gets on the line. My husband explains that he would like to cancel the portable radio. The representative tries to get us to keep the service. After unsuccessfully doing so, the representative states that she will transfer him to the cancellation department. After waiting for another 20 to 30 minutes the representative from the cancellation department comes on the lines. My husband explains again that he would like to cancel the radio. The representative offers him all likes of incentives and deals to keep the service. He states that he would like to cancel. The representative then states that he could not cancel the service because the system were down. Three months later we notice XM radio billed us for the two monthly radios still. My husband calls back and receives the same service, however his wait time is longer. He asked to speak with the supervisor. He asked to be credited back for the radio he asked to be cancel, which he was told no refund. My husband then asked them to make sure they cancel the portable radio. Three months later we are billed for all three radios, as my father’s subscription was to be renewed annually. My husband calls and received the same treatment, with the wait time, “save the sale”, cancellation department, then to the supervisor. My husband was told by the representative in the cancellation department that she could not process the cancellation because her system was down. This happen after she tried to see if he would change his mind. He was so upset that he told her to cancel all the radios and he wanted a refund. Again, she explained her system was down and she was not able to see how much he was charged. My husband asked to speak with her supervisor. After 20 minutes of holding. She asked, “Are you still there”, very poor customer service and passes him over to the supervisor. My husband explained that he would like a refund because he cancelled the service back in January (which the other representative was able to see on the screen). The supervisor stated that he would refund our card $127 and some change, which was close to $30 less than the actual amount charged. When my husband asked him why he could only refund $127 the supervisor did not give an explanation. We waited two weeks and no refund to our bank account or cancellation. My husband called back on his lunch to inquire about the refund. After holding for 40 minutes the representative said that she could not refund the card because that information was no longer available to her since the account was “cancelled”. He told her he had the card number with him. She refused to take his card information and stated she would send him a check in the mail in 6 weeks.
wow i am going threw the same thing right now. your on hold for over an hour.was told the credit would go back on the card then told well it takes 3 weeks then called after that then told they dont have my credit card number so they cant credit the account.. then told a check is in the mail. now i feel sick i bet the check will never come … If i put this on my American express this would of never happend they would take it off asap.. I wish 2020 would do a report on this company..
This whole experience sounds very similar to mine, I had to contact this site to get the atty general involved in order for them to stop a collection action on a service I had canceled months before (see my story below). This company is nothing more than a big scam who happens to have a radio division. I may still have the email of the person in corporate communications who finally put a stop to the madness (all of the mail is still not answered officially, I demanded they pay for my wasted time, which they refuse to do and refuse to acknowledge officially that they refused to, what a bunch of gypsies!)
I have the same issue with them right now that they owe me a refund and after multiple phone calls I am now being told that they no longer have my credit card info and cannot give me back my money. They had the card when they charged me. The latest story is that they will finally cut me a check and I also will not be holding my breath but I certainly will be filing complaints with my state’s consumer affairs and sending a letter to the “executives.”
heres a good one, i have been a subscriber for over 5 years, i got in my truck one day and tirned on my sirius only to find out to my amazement it was turned off, i called my wife and found out hers was also turned off, instead of calling the company and complaining i just figured the hell with it, its just one less bill and i really didnt listen to it much anyways.i knew the bill could not be delinquent because they had my debit card number and billed my account every month.a couple of weeks go by and i get a lettter from sirius claiming i owe a bill of 33.00 i called sirius and they stated they tried to bill my debit card and it was cancelled, i told her this is IMPOSSIBLE,i still have the same debit card and use it everyday.she then wanted to give me 6 months of free service if i would be willing to go back to sirius, i then told her where she could put my sirius unit. now three months later i got a letter from a collection agency saying i owe sirius 33.00 well guess what sirius i have a letter from my bank saying my debit card has never been cancelled and no funds were even tried to been taking out by sirius for the months sirius claims my debit card was cancelled. TIME FOR A MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINT SIRIUS HOPE THEY ARE READY..
I was so ticked off about my dealings with them i made a video about it..
link
I just spent the last 3 days and multiple hours on the phone dealing with nondelivery of a product. My wife ordered a carkit online and it was never delivered. When I spoke with UPS they said that the delivery practices that sirius chooses is the cheapest way and removes UPS from all liability with it all falling back to Sirius to “help” out the customer. The multiple people i spoke to were not helpful and in fact extremely rude. I kept explaining that I cannot spend hours on the phone and that I was using my valuable cell minutes for the calls. They kept putting me on hold and eventually just disconnecting me. In the end they said they would refund me the price of the carkit but not the shipping or the taxes. Apparently they do not follow through with the responsibility of their cheap choice of shipping. Terrible customer service! I hope someone, or a group gets together to sue this company.
I have never encountered such unprofessional customer service. I spoke to several people (all of whom were difficult to understand and not friendly) who had different answers to the same questions. I attempted to return an item I never received and was provided a “return ticket” #. The return never showed on my credit card, just the charge, and when I called back to speak with yet another person I was told they had no record of the return ticket number. Ironic, considering the individual who provided it to me 2 days earlier had mem repeat it back to him twice. I asked to speak with the person I originally spoke with, Max, and of course they had no record of me ever speaking with him, nor could they connectme to him. Again ironic, since the nice automated voice tells me that me call will be recorded and and it’s important to them. I finally called to dispute the charge on my credit card, which I have NEVER had to do before. Additionally, like other posts I read here, I was put on hold for a manger, waited 20-30 minutes each time, and was disconnected. If my call is that important to youSiriusXM, then you shouldn’t outsource your customer service to save a few dollars. When I called Chase Visa to dispute my charge, I immediately was put through to an understandable, and friendly customer service representative who treated me like I was the customer. Unlike SiriusXM that made me feel like they were doing me the favor. Hey Sirius – I still have my order number and return ticket number that you gave me which supposedly doesn’t exist according to 50% of your people I spoke with. So, let me know before you try and defend this complaint and I’ll give it to you!
We purchased an XM radio from Syrius in May 2008 for my son’s car with a 2 year contract paid up front. In the fall of 2009 the radio was stolen from the car and we never got it back. In December 2009 someone opened a new account under my son’s name with a new radio ID number. In February 2010, I called to cancel the Syrius XM account because I knew we were never going to see that radio again. When I spoke with customer service, I was told we had two accounts (I thought there was only one account under my name). So I found out we were being charged both monthly for the account set up under my son’s name and quarterly for the account under my name. The customer service rep agreed to cancel both accounts and refund part of the money I had paid up front for two years service. Well here we are over 1 year later and I am looking through my bank statement and find that Syrius XM has been charging me still, not just for one account but two and this after I was assured both accounts had been cancelled. What the hey is going on. It’s not the money that’s the problem; it’s the fact that these people are going into my personal bank account and withdrawing money at will without any authority to do so. I’d like to sue them at this point for identity theft or privacy theft or something. I am spitting mad and of course, the customer rep doesn’t even work at headquarters but he’s on the other side of the world. Maybe I will send an email to the attorney general for NY. Anybody got any ideas how we can make this company toe the line?
My new Toyota came with a 3 mo trial XM radio service. Sirius decided, for me, to assign a subscription and billed me for it after the 3 month trial period ended. Beware of this company. Unless you want the service, refuse the 3 month offer when you buy a car.
I filed a complaint with the BBB.
I purchased the XM Select package for my Honda Fit. I drive 95, to route 9 to 91 into Hartford, CT. Service drops in odd places and never returns. I’ve contacted the company and they tried to blame it on my Honda radio, but I have a Pioneer system. They were going to charge me a $75 early cancellation fee and wouldn’t refund my money for a product that doesn’t deliver in this area. Try it for a month first to see if service is avail in your area.
I bought a car in December 2010 and had the 3 month trial and signed up for the 3 year offer. In May I traded in the car and GM did the switching of all my services and I was told the 3 year offer would continue with the new car. In June, I was contacted by Sirius/XM to sign up for their service after the 3 month period. I told them I had a 3 year plan and they stated I did not. But they did say I had a credit which almost equaled the amount of the three year plan. At present their customer service whom did not speak English as a native language and was hard to understand stated there was no record of a three year plan. Using the logic in how I bought the original plan and asking her why Sirius broke my contract had gotten her confused and she tried to sell me an additional radio….I asked to speak to her manager and after minutes on hold she mentioned her supervisior was very busy and would call me back. Well it has been 12 hours and I have not had a call back. I feel Sirius broke my contract, held onto my money, and never notified me of any of their dealings. All I wanted was them to reinstate the 3 year plan I originally paid for to be transferred to my new vehicle. I feel sorry for a company that has a great product, but can not use English speaking call center reps and have them understand English from the customer. At this point my only option is to engage an attorney for a breech of contract or ask for my money back and not use their product.
This is not the way to deal with loyal customers. Beware for those planning on getting Sirius for their use.
SIRIUS AND XM EXTORTION TACTICS
When I called to cancel my Sirius Package the rep offered a complimentary extended service on my new XM equipped car. After a few weeks, XM reps called me up and said Sirius reps don’t have that authority, they’re still separate companies – pay up or we cut you off.
FCC should investigate this monopoly. It’s a mafia.
So here I am on the phone with Sirius XM disputing a 132.48 charge that I never authorized signed for or agreed too.
I bought a new Mazda and the car has Sirius XM I had no idea there was a trial period to try the product could careless.
Suddenly I’ve got Sirius sales people calling constantly to have me buy the product each time the answer is the same NO its two damn expensive and has little or no value to me.
The calls go silent now I look at my bank account and there is a charge for 132.48 for SiriusXM WTH…that is out right theft I did not as I said agree to buy the product don’t want it yet these people can just go right in and charge you for it anyway what really pisses me off is the car dealership gave these clowns my account information without my consent or authorization.
Monday there is going to be hell to pay. Anyone have any idea of any lawsuits being brought against this business?
It appears that the left hand does not speak to the right……..I am being charged on a service I cancelled and I am being sent to collections for it………HOW can we stop them………It seems as though they are getting away with it…………WE all need to speak louder and get our voices heard. XM is ripping my family off and yours………..
We had xm in our cars and we just now cancelled because my husband would make a payment and ask them to e-mail him when the next payment was due to e-mail him to let him know. they just went ahead and ran a credit card payment. this has happened twice and he has called them telling them over and over please e-mail me before payment but no they just run it. what kind of business is this, better get new managers in there and resolve this. there nothing but a rip off. they better close there doors.
Yesterday I cancelled my sirius xm after two years. I have enjoyed it very much but when you dropped the southern gospel channel then it’s not worth the price. The lady offered me two month free but when you listen to only two or three channels then you take it away. I know that a lot of people may not listen to gospel but I do and it’s like taking away one third of my programing. Maybe one day you will replace this southern gospel channel and when you do, I think you would be doing a good service for Christians. Chrales Steele , Warrior Al.
since when has it become legal for sirius to activate your radio without your permission and then send you a letter saying this is a free trial..and in extremely small type mention that this free offer is for 3 months only and if you dont cancel you will be charged at the charges which will apply then..is any legal entity willing to take this on…as i am sure they are doing this to hundreds of unsuspecting customers,..
Good product but very poor customer service. Today, I see a completely unauthorized bill on my AMEX for $293.00. Subscription was to last until 9/12. I was shorted 1 year. Cust. Serv. says sorry but they cannot help.
BTW…24 month renewal expires in 23 months.
I have had problems trying to renew for over 1 month. When I finally did, and gave them a credit card, they charged away. Count me in on that class action lawsuit
We had this same problem. We were not notified that we were signing an annual contract on automatic renewal, and we were charged with no notification to us the following year. When we complained to management that our car said, “Call SIRIUS to renew your subscription,” they told us that they can charge their customers with no notice and that is our tough luck.
Sirius has very unethical billing practices. They won’t allow anyone to opt out of auto renewal, which I find to be total BS. So I figured that the way around this would be to NOT link my renewal to any credit card so that they are forced to mail me an invoice – at which time I can cancel if I so desire. Only one problem… they don’t send you the invoice until AFTER the auto renewal kicks in! Hence, the reason I said they are unethical. All that aside, I still love the service so I renew every year after threatening to cancel so that they always end up giving me a rate that is around 50% lower. It’s all a game, but I’ve learned to accept the headache so that I can be entertained by the service!
From Tori and Greg Deaton
Charleston, SC 29492
To XM
RE: Very Disgruntled Customer
Listener Care:
As requested by the last customer service representative I talked to today, I am writing this letter in an attempt to get a $90.00 refund check that was requested on July 28, 2011 and mailed on October 20, 2011 and never received. This check needs to be reissued; however I was told by this representative that I would only be able to get the check reissued by writing a letter to corporate. It is amazing that it took three months to get the check issued and not very surprising that I did not receive the check. This has become my expectation of your company.
Also, due to my continued poor customer service experiences and billing errors, I have cancelled all five of our accounts. So, I am now expecting an additional refund of $160.51 for the unused portion of my service on account X-XXX4559857. I am also getting a refund on account XXX-XXX-6970 for $184.70. I was told it could take approximately 8 weeks for this refund to be processed. I will be disputing this charge with American Express.
I have outlined the numerous conversations and number of representatives required to get a resolution. Excuse me I never got a resolution, I cancelled all my accounts to get a resolution. The whole issue stemmed from a Mariner Package that we purchase for six months during fishing season. The package was due to terminate on October 4, 2011. My husband called to verify the cancellation, yet the audio portion of the Mariner Package was left in place. I received a bill for $66.72 and I tried on several occasions to resolve this bill without success.
I wrote a letter this past summer regarding the poor level of customer service I received from Sirius XM Radio. I have once again received this same poor service. In an attempt to correct a billing error by your company I had to stay on the phone for over 3 ½ hours. The only reason I held this long was in an attempt to get the situation corrected. I had placed other calls unsuccessfully, so I decided to do whatever it took to try and get the issue resolved. I am recapping my experience below.
First Call 11:50 a.m.: My husband Greg Deaton made the initial call and after talking
with a few people he was placed on an indefinite hold. He needed
to leave the office for a meeting, so he asked that I take over the
call. I continued to hold approximately 15 minutes when the
customer service representative came on the line. Once again I
had to go thru the entire scenario. The rep had difficulty figuring
out all the transactions on our account. We had previously been
charged on our American express $274.43 on May 2, 2011,
$184.30 on June 29, 2011 and $170.46 on November 2, 2011.
This representative placed me on hold a few times in an attempt
to try and figure out the transactions. He finally told me he
needed to discuss the billing with a manager and placed on a
final hold. After 10 minutes he picked up the phone but cut me
off. I assumed it was an error and since he had my number he
would return my call. He did not.
Second Call 12.20 p.m.: I call the Listener care number 1-88-238-6496 and asked the
representative that answered the call to transfer me to the last
person the record showed I was speaking. He told me they had
know way of tracking this information. So, he wanted me to go
thru the entire scenario again. I refused and asked to speak to a
manager or to be passed to the next tier. My husband had gone
thru three people before getting the last representative that was
Disconnected. He refused to transfer me and eventually hung up
and disconnected our call.
Third Call 12:35 p.m. I called the same listener call number and went thru the same
Scenario. She would not transfer me to the next support tier. So
I asked her to transfer me to cancellations. She kept telling me
I had to explain my problem to her before she could transfer
my call. I kept telling her to transfer me to the cancellation
department and once again she hung up and disconnected our
call.
Fourth Call 12:55 p.m.: I called the same number again and got a male representative
named Alan. I was forced to go thru the entire scenario. He
put me on repeated holds, but eventually figured out the
erroneous bill was related to the audio portion of the Mariner
package that should have been canceled on October 4, 2001. He
had identified all the radios and the vehicles each corresponded.
I asked him to cancel the remaining portion of the Mariner
Package. He had to transfer me to cancellations. I spent
Approximately 40 minutes on the phone with gentleman
before being transferred to cancellations. Once transferred
to cancellations, the representative made me recite the entire
scenario once again. This is incredibly frustrating. During this
conversation I mentioned the $90.00 refund check never being
received and she stated she was going to submit something for
research. However, she then asked me for the radio number to
be cancelled. The radio is on the boat! I told her it was the radio
with the open balance. She told me she was unable to see that
information. I told her the previous guy had determine the radio
number. She told me she was not going to be unable to cancel
the radio without the actual radio number. We went round and
round. So, I told her if she was unable to cancel one radio to
cancel them all! She HUNG UP ON ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fifth Call 2:35 p.m.: Once again I called the same Listener care number and
immediately asked for cancellations. I refused to go thru
the scenario again. I was transferred to cancellations. However,
after repeated holds and repeated questions it took 45 minutes
to cancel the service. I also asked this representative about
the $90.00 refund check I never received and she told me there
was nothing they could do about the check not being received
since it clearly stated on my account that Sirius XM issued the
check. She suggested I talk to my mail carrier and bank!
WHAT! I asked her if she was insinuating that I was lying about
receiving the check, because unless I received and deposited the
check my bank would have no knowledge of their check! I told
her my mail carrier only delivers the mail, he does not monitor
the sender. She once again told me she could do nothing
about the check. I told her that was a great way to run a
business, you can enter in your system that you have issued
checks that are never received and that eliminates your
responsibility. I wish I could pay my vendors in this manner!
End of Call 3:35 p.m.: I own and operate my own business. This disrupted my entire
day. However, from previous experience this was the only
way to resolve the situation. I am assuming this tactic is to
get people to continue to hang up or give up via frustration!
I am forwarding a copy of this letter to the Better Business Bureau and any consumer organizations that monitor poor business practices.
Regretfully,
Tori Deaton
I can beat all of you! I have never in my life had a SIRIUS radio account. However, for the 2 1/2 years I have had my current cell phone number, I have gotten automated threats from SIRIUS that they are going to cancel my account if I don’t pay up. Sometimes I get 2 or 3 of these per day! I have called their customer service and they can see that somebody else’s name is on the account and SAY that they’ll fix it, but it doesn’t happen. Just cancel the account and stop calling me – that’s all I ask. This is harrassment! Who can I call? My state attorney general?
Well, isn’t it great that you can just drop Sirius and get XM … no, wait, the FCC granted them the right to merge … for the consumer’s benefit. NOT.
sirius xm was billing me for a vehicle i turned in for lease two years earlier. I just checked my amex business card this month and discovered what they had been doing. I filed a dispute with amex.
Sirius automactically withdraws your subscribtion with out notifying you. Noticed we had a withdraw from our account went and looked back to find never received a bill. When I called they said they just automatically withdraw from the account last on file. REALLY, I don’t think so. I did not authorize you to make this transation. I want to see a bill showing the charges and what I am getting for that money. We are not pleased with the way they do business what so ever. Seems illegal when they withdraw money without an authorization or sending you a bill.
I had a similar issue, they tried to bill my expired debit card for approximately $400 which I knew they were going to do because they tried to talk me into it when I was paying for the previous subscription. I deliberately left my expired account information in the system. Any how, I caved and ended up renewing for 6 months for about $30. I came across this website looking for information about satellite radio outages and am not all that surprised to see the number of unethical attempts at billing done by Sirius. Their billing department is indeed low-down unethical scum. I too question the legality of being able to debit large sums of money from someones account without sending out a timely invoice.
Spent 6 calls and 102 minutes this morning to get answers to a renewal and ultimately cancel 3 subscriptions. 2 people hung up on me 3 others were useless including the supervisor. I finally got a woman named Diane in the cancellation department that took care of everything. The killer was I wasn’t going to cancel the service when I first called, after the run around and complete disrespect I couldn’t imagine giving that company another dollar of my hard earned money.
sold a car that had Sirius XM satellite radio service this past summer, to buy a new car also with Sirius XM service. The car I sold had 18 months left on the prepaid subscription and I called Sirius support to ask for that service to be transferred to the new car. I was told that they could not apply the old subscription to the new radio but that I could receive a credit to my account. The new car had a trial subscription that is about to expire. When I went to apply the credit, none was found in my account. I have called Sirius support multiple times this weekend, spending several hours on hold and being transferred from one representative to another. While on hold the call disconnected twice for no obvious reason, requiring me to call back and be on hold. I have now filed a complaint with the NY BBB and will be cancelling my Sirius accounts (3). (My new car has HD radio and I mostly listen to my ipod anyway.)
Similar issue just this week. Last year my subscription was to expire. They told me they would renew me 2 years for $99. Sounded like a good deal, until I recieved a “renewal notice” in July 2011 saying that to renew for another year would cost $350. I immediately called and said that I had a two year subscription for which I already paid. They confirmed that this was accurate and said to ignore the renewal notice. I said “Thanks” and thought it was over. Then in September 2011, I discovered that my credit card had been billed for the $350. I called and was told that I never had a 2 year subscription. It was only a one year subscription with an automatic renewal. I disputed this and the charge. After talking with no less than 4 people (and being bounced around various departments), I said to please cancel my subscription. I was then transferred to the cancelation department and they put on the “hard sell” to get me to stay. I said “not interested.” They were very apologetic, said that they would give me a complementary 2 months and would remove my credit card information from their systems. Then, this month, another charge appears on my card for $13.95. Not a lot of money, I know, but I called to find out what was going on given that I was assured that my account was canceled and that my billing informaiton had been deleted from the systems. They confirmed that I had, in fact, called to cancel but that they could not remove my credit card information from their systems because of the refund they had sent to me for the $350. They then suggested that I should have called back to have it removed after my refund was processed. (What???). They then told me that my so-called “complementary two months” was really another automatic subscription renewal (What???). Again, I said, cancel my account and give me back my money. They agreed to do both. They tried to offer another “complementary 2 months” and I was very, very clear in my rejection of that offer.
I know that the CT law on automatic renewals requires advance authorizatiion from the customer. Sirius is not abiding by the law and someone should go after them legally for being the scam artists that they are.
I describe my experience with XM Sirius below. Still no resolution. Very sleazy practices.
I have a dispute regarding a billing for “automatic” renewal of Sirius/XM service that took place on my inactive account (1-16485836838) for a pre-paid (check number ) 12 month period between Oct. 2010 and Oct. 2011. Your billing statement due date 11/09/2011 states I owe a previous balance of $159.83 plus an invoice fee of $2.00 for total of $161.83. You then send an invoice statement due date 12/05/2011 showing a $133.26 previous subscription credit with a new total amount due of $28.57. You follow this statement with one showing due date 12/09/2011 amount due $28.57 plus late fee of $5.00 for a total of $33.57. The next statement I received was from a collection agency acting on your behalf.
On three separate occasions, I spent over 15 minutes (per call) on the phone with various representatives from your company. The last two calls ended in my being cut off. My first call was prior to the end date (Oct. 2011) of the 12 month service period. I was told in that call the renewal rate would be $159.83 and that there were no promotional rates available at that time. I informed the service representative that I will cancel my subscription effective the end of that 12 month service contract. I specifically told a representative named Chris following receipt of the statement with due date 11/09/2011 that I am not renewing the service, it has lapsed and to cease sending statements. Statements continued followed by a statement for the collection agency EOS CCA.
To put things very simply, the only agreement that exists between your company and me is that I agreed to pay for 12 months worth of service and did so. Our contractual agreement ended at the end of that 12 month period.
I have been billed initially for $161.83 with a final statement billing for $33.57 for the “automatic” extension of service that I have not agreed to verbally or in writing. As I have been informed by my attorney, this “automatic” extension of service, without any type of agreement from me, is neither an agreement nor binding.
In addition, it is my understanding that attempts to threaten damage to credit standings, based upon invalid billing practices, is a clear violation of Federal Statutes relating to MAIL FRAUD and EXTORTION.
My specific request is that you remove the above mentioned billing and forward a statement from both XM Radio and your collection company EOS CCA, showing a ZERO BALANCE on my expired account.
If this request is not met within the next 30 days, this matter will be forwarded to my attorney and the State of Georgia Attorney General’s Office.
In addition this matter will be forwarded to the Postmaster General for any Prosecution for the violation under the Federal Mail Fraud Statutes.
Your company has digressed into unethical billing and unscrupulous business practices which have done nothing to positively promote your product. These techniques will only secure you a very negative reputation among the satellite radio listening audience. To put it bluntly, you need to clean up your act if you want to stay in business.
have been trying to cancel my xm radio for months. My new car antana didnt work so I wasnt even aware I had it until a bill for 87 dollars came. I was told it was cancelled. After numerous phone calls where I am “disconnected” and several calls through a foreign customer service rep that i cant understand,I sit waiting for someone from XM to do their job. I get email reponses saying they see I want to cancel my service but I didnt stay on the phone long enough. Well your people hung up on me and if you see I want to cancel it, why not cancel it? I filed with the BBB and now I am getting attention but holy hanna, this is ridiculas.
“Pay your bills on time” what an arrogant response. I can only hope that wasn’t from a real Sirius employee. Why should anyone pay a bill for a service they didn’t subscribe to?? I’ve already described my experience to 5 other Sirius customers I work with and everyone of them is discontinuing their service. Sirius’s treatment of me has only ensured they will get very negative advertisement for life from me.
I am so not surprised to find all of these complaints that sound so familiar. I suppose I was lucky as I actually had a theft earlier this year that necessitated a new credit card so when my renewal came up, Sirius didn’t have a valid card to charge. Instead they started to call me… Incessantly. When I told them I wanted to cancel service, I was told that I would only be able to do so by sitting on hold with.a different department for 30 to 60 minutes. They could transfer me, but I would not get through to anyone. This happened time and time again – I received up to ten calls a day from someone who was trying to “verify my information as a routine update to their system”. When I informed that person of my desire to cancel, the person would become rude and basically tell me again that I could try to cancel by sitting on hold. I am now waiting for the collection letter as I am now past my renewal date and the radio is still on. Even if I LOVED the radio service, out of principal, I would never do business with these scam artists again. They will not see another dime from me unless it is via my attorney whom I will be paying to sue them.
I am getting hounded by Sirius agents in MANILLA Pill-a-Peens, and I can’t get them to STOP CALLING ME!! I have canceled my account. I paid the balance. I KEEP GETTING HOUNDED BY CUSTOMER CARE, and N O W, they tell me “…des, sir, eet kin tayk up toh ten dayhs for eed to ha-peen” TEN DAYS?? What? ” I’d like to speak to somebody State-side, please..” Sir, we do noht haf dat nomber” (BALONEY).. “well, then, “CHAD”…please give me your supervisor”…sir, I can noht do thaht”..why not”….”it cahn taik up tooh tehn daiz for eed to ha-peen”…no, no no…please, you guys call me every six hours, except for midnight..so that’s another 24-plus calls ?? ( it’s been a few days since I thought I cleared up the account…). IF THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO, I WILL NEVER, EVER, SIGN BACK ON TO SIRUS-XM; their phone system sucks and is annoying me to the point of harassment!!! GOD HELP ME. I WILL NEVER HAND OUT MY CELL PHONE ( no landline…we cut the cord years ago)..instead, I’m getting a MAGIC JACK…they can grind their boney little fingers to a stump calling that number for all I care.
SIRIUS XM: You’re sadly doomed to failure. You need to re-invent yourselves; surrender your satellites to a company that can use them for two-way communication and internet capabilities..because YOU SUCK.
On behalf of SiriusXM, I’d like to apologize for the mistakes that happen in regards to the billing. It is true that ALL of our services do automatically renew unless you call in to cancel, and the excuse given for that is so that you, the subscribers, never go through any interruptions in service that you did not authorize. However, when I was going through training, the REAL reason described is so that we get all the money up front so that -we- never get screwed over. I disagree with this practice and voice my opinion about it on a daily basis at my call center.
I actually work in the cancellations department, so I listen to the disgruntled comments of subscribers all day and try to make up for things that have happened by offering you promotions that are meant to make things better. Everything from a year at half off to five months for twenty-five dollars. However, in an attempt to make it so that the company would earn more money, they’ve actually been removing certain promtotions from the repertoire of the retention agents. NO longer will 5for25 be available, or 2 mos free service. The BEST deal available now is the year at half off, which isn’t even truly a year at half off. Our regular subscription fee is 159.39, with ‘applicable taxes and fees’, whereas the year at half off reduces that 159.39 down to an even 86.
To be completely honest with you, ladies and gentlemen, I’m hunting for another job because I don’t think I can stand behind SiriusXM for too much longer. At one point, I enjoyed my job, being able to save all the customers who called me lots and lots of money. However, as they placed tighter and tighter handcuffs onto the wrists of our agents in an attempt to make the company more money, I can’t help but feel like THIS is exactly what causes the depression that America is falling into.
If you have stocks in SiriusXM, sell them. If you have our services, cancel them. It is in your best interest to remove yourself from this cycle so that you can break free and save yourself more money in the long run. SiriusXM is NOT worth the trouble.
Especially if you’re a Howard Stern fan. He’s actually sueing our comapny for not fulilling our end of his contract.
I urge everyone to stay away from Sirius XM. Their accounting process is hideous. I have been trying to get an error on their part corrected for 6 months, still to no avail. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of paying for their service ever again after the hassles I’ve gone thru!
I called Sirius to cancel. They claimed that I did not. They have turned my account over to some collection agency. This is for $35. I will go on every forum I can find to put the word out that your company is terrible. I actually was planning on renewing until Sirius tried to screw me. They will never get the $35. They will get an investigation from the Attorneys General of MA and VA though. I wish them well.
Jamie