A note on cancellations

[satkinsn]

As I've said elsewhere today, I take back every good thing I've ever said about SiriusXM's customer care...and then some.

Long story short: I've subscribed for the last six years, but because I may trade the car in question, because I'm not happy with the sound quality, because I stream more from my phone nowadays, I decided to cancel and at least try going without.

My auto-renewal was yesterday, 11/2. Knowing that, I called a week and a day early, on 10/25, and cancelled. So far, so good.

Got up this morning and discovered my debit card was $164.77 lighter. SiriusXM, despite having eight days including five business days, somehow didn't understand I had canceled in time to not charge me. They sent a note saying a "refund request was submitted" which "should take three to five days."

I called customer care and was told, essentially, Yep, don't blame you for being mad but nope, we're not going to lift a finger to help you. The customer service supervisor I ended up with said "there's no one I can call, no button I can push" to make my money come back faster. Mind you, there's nothing in their customer service agreement which requires you to cancel a day earlier than your renewal, let alone a week.

I'm lucky. I can manage the $165, but what if I *needed* that money, to fix a car or pay for a child's medical care? And since no one could quite explain to me how this happened, and specifically no one said, "Whoops, this was a mistake," my guess is S/XM has done this to other customers as well. Obviously, I won't make the mistake of leaving a debit card number on file going forward, but I really think this is just shoddy, terrible treatment.

s.

 

[mhardy6647]

We had similarly lousy experiences with them -- but in essentially in the opposite domain. We refused to use any electronic means to pay 'em and used checks. Second year renewal -- they effed it up. We went round and round with 'em, finally said "forget it" and cancelled, full stop.

I miss the Dead channel but not enough to deal with their processes.

 

[Jeffery]

I called to cancel before my auto renew kicked in, but I called a few weeks ahead. It was the most irritating call ever.

I want to cancel my subscription before auto renew.

Is there anything I can help you with today?

Yeah, I want to cancel my subscription before auto renew.

Are there any additional services or packages or channels we can offer?

No, I just want to cancel my subscription before auto renew.

Would you care to answer a few questions about why you want to cancel?

No, I just want to cancel my subscription before auto renew.

Maybe you could answer a few questions so we could help you with your service.

All I want to do is cancel my subscription before auto renew. Is there anybody I can speak to that can help me do this?

Yes, I can help you with that, but first let's talk about what additional services you might be interested in.

It went on like that for a bit, I just kept repeating what I was trying to do and finally had to resort to getting a cancellation confirmation number emailed before I'd hang up. I had to get a lawyer to send a letter to Dish to get them to terminated my dad's service after he died, so not quite that bad.

 

[hjames]

Wow, thats like trying to cancel AOL, back when AOL was a thing ...

 

[jhtstone]

My patience does not run that deep. I do not continue to repeat myself and I do not let the person in the other end guide the conversation. I make my request, I repeat it once very firmly, and then I get it done.

I also never agree to auto renew and I do not give anyone access to my cards or accounts. Approvals must always go through me. More work now but I do not have the patience to correct the "mistakes" of companies like this.

 

[+48V]

...
Sirius XM agrees to settlement, will pay states for misleading advertising and billing :nono:

 

[satkinsn]

What's weird about it is, New York's not part of the deal. Either our Attorney General has something separate going or he's...not interested.

I did two things after my experience noted above, both of which were pretty far out of character for me. 1.) I filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office - haven't heard anything, don't really expect to. 2.) They billed me something like $164.44 and refunded me $163.99. I called and (politely) demanded my 45 cents.

Does any of this make a lick of difference? Nope. And I don't even feel better. But enough is enough.

s.

 

[MacNoob]

Never ever use a debit card for anything you might have to return or cancel. It's like trying to pry cash out of people. Credit card much better - you don't have to pay for a month and you can always dispute the charge with the credit card company.

 

[ericok]

Not cancellation but I call every 5 months to cancel my service and they give me five months for $30 including all fees and taxes (basically $6/mo). So I'm essentially on the $72/year plan. You have to call BEFORE the 5 months are up or there is hell to pay. I put a reminder on my smartphone calendar to keep it going.

 

[Jeffery]

The agencies claimed that the satellite radio company offered extra incentives to staff members who retained customers who wanted to end their subscriptions.

I figured as much

 

[satkinsn]

(Cross-posted from XM Fan)

All the above said, I ended up re-upping for six months. Cost me about $52, car radio + internet.

In keeping with the comments of others, I used a credit card rather than my debit card.

Why did I do it, after a genuinely lousy experience with customer care?

Well, I'm still unhappy with sound quality and customer service, but I found myself missing certain channels more than I thought I would - POTUS, the NPR channel, one of the country channels, Soultown, RealJazz.

I guess that speaks well for S/XM, since none of my alternatives, including Pandora and Stitcher, scratch the exact itch S/XM does, in exactly the same way.

s.

 

[BeerCan]

I would rather listen to road noise, then give my money to siriusxm.

 

[satkinsn]

Eh. I've moved through the seven stages (or whatever) on this issue and am no longer mad. I accept that they're going to screw me if they can, but will give me a deal if I ask for it, and that I have to protect myself from their billing practices, which is why I finally took the advice of many other people and switched to using a credit card so that I can contest charges, come the inevitable day this ends in tears.

 

[robert_kc]

I had a SiriusXM subscription for my car for $4.99 per month, which I was marginally satisfied with. (I'm disappointed that they have only 1 classical station, plus 1 opera station. The other stations are worthless to me.)

At the end of that subscription, SiriusXM charged my credit card $101.18 for 6 months service - without my authorization, and without even notifying me. The charge just appeared on my credit card bill.

I called and told them that IMO this represents fraud. I told them that I no longer trusted them to have my credit card on file. I instructed them to delete my credit card from their records, which they did.

Because I have limited over-the-air-radio access to classical music where I live, I reluctantly agreed to do business with SeriusXM strictly on the basis of paying via the “old fashion” method – i.e., they send me an invoice in the mail, and if I want to continue the service I’ll send them a check. I have on my calendar to call them before my current subscription expires to negotiate another term – or not – because I’m not willing to pay their full retail price to listen to one or two stations. (FYI, they charge $2 to mail an invoice. Whatever. I’ll evaluate their total fees when I negotiate the next renewal.)

The marketing geniuses who run this company apparently don’t understand that they have pissed off many customers due to their unethical billing practices.

What are my other options for getting classical radio in my car – i.e., the format wherein classical music is “pushed” to me by a knowledgeable DJ, with no commercials? I don’t currently have a smartphone, but will likely get one soon. However, wouldn’t streaming music to a smartphone consume a huge amount of data traffic, and cost a lot in terms of data plan, and have spotty coverage when traveling?

Regarding options for playing music of my choice in the car, I’ve again encountered frustration. Last year I bought a new car that included “premium audio” as part of a package. I was disappointed to discover that the only digital format that it will play from a USB memory stick or SD memory card is MP3 (i.e. no FLAC files). I’m unwilling to transcode my FLAC recordings to MP3 just to play them via the car’s stereo. And thus far I’m unwilling to buy a portable-music-gizmo (e.g. Pono) for the rare occasion when I’d want to listen to recorded music while driving. (IMO the noise floor in a car is too high for serious listening of classical music.) Therefore I stick with SiriusXM and CDs in the car, which is disappointing because I paid for the expensive stereo.

Perhaps I’ve going off-topic, but I’d be interested in learning about options for in-car audio, particularly commercial free “radio” (e.g., kusc.org). Thanks

 

[YammiePhil]

"there's no one I can call, no button I can push"

That's how I felt about SiriusXM for the two days I had it. What a bunch of unimaginative hack programming.

 

[satkinsn]

I had a SiriusXM subscription for my car for $4.99 per month, which I was marginally satisfied with. (I'm disappointed that they have only 1 classical station, plus 1 opera station. The other stations are worthless to me.)

At the end of that subscription, SiriusXM charged my credit card $101.18 for 6 months service - without my authorization, and without even notifying me. The charge just appeared on my credit card bill.

Thing is, they can get away with it because of that mumbly thing they do over the phone when you first sign up. If you listen carefully, they say they'll renew your sub automatically when it comes up "at the current rate."

Because I have limited over-the-air-radio access to classical music where I live, I reluctantly agreed to do business with SeriusXM strictly on the basis of paying via the “old fashion” method – i.e., they send me an invoice in the mail, and if I want to continue the service I’ll send them a check. I have on my calendar to call them before my current subscription expires to negotiate another term – or not – because I’m not willing to pay their full retail price to listen to one or two stations. (FYI, they charge $2 to mail an invoice. Whatever. I’ll evaluate their total fees when I negotiate the next renewal.)

This isn't a bad answer. Like you, I have it in my calendar to call when I'm close to renewal, and just get the discount price. Unlike you, I use a credit card, so that if they screw me on renewal or price, I'll make it my credit card company's problem.

What are my other options for getting classical radio in my car – i.e., the format wherein classical music is “pushed” to me by a knowledgeable DJ, with no commercials? I don’t currently have a smartphone, but will likely get one soon. However, wouldn’t streaming music to a smartphone consume a huge amount of data traffic, and cost a lot in terms of data plan, and have spotty coverage when traveling?

Yes, streaming using your smart phone is expensive. With Pandora, you'd burn through a gig of data in two or three days, assuming you listen eight hours a day. (Good breakdown on streaming music and data use here.)

The other thing, of course, is that you chew up battery on your cell, and you tie it up to an extent.

Regarding options for playing music of my choice in the car, I’ve again encountered frustration. Last year I bought a new car that included “premium audio” as part of a package. I was disappointed to discover that the only digital format that it will play from a USB memory stick or SD memory card is MP3 (i.e. no FLAC files). I’m unwilling to transcode my FLAC recordings to MP3 just to play them via the car’s stereo. And thus far I’m unwilling to buy a portable-music-gizmo (e.g. Pono) for the rare occasion when I’d want to listen to recorded music while driving. (IMO the noise floor in a car is too high for serious listening of classical music.) Therefore I stick with SiriusXM and CDs in the car, which is disappointing because I paid for the expensive stereo.

Perhaps I’ve going off-topic, but I’d be interested in learning about options for in-car audio, particularly commercial free “radio” (e.g., kusc.org). Thanks

Well, I ended up in about the same place you are. I live in a rural area with spotty cell coverage, so I've stuck with Sirius and CDs. Like you, I use the classical channel, which is about the only decent-sounding channel left on the service. The jazz channel is decently programmed but sounds horrible, and even the talk/news channels are so compressed that they're hard to listen to.

So it's Sirius for me, but not happily. I would pay more, and accept fewer channels, in exchange for better sound quality.

s.

 

[ldatlof]

I don't listen to classical music in the car so this may not apply to you. My car too only plays mp3s. I transcoded my flac files to mp3s @ 320kps and they sound really good in the car. I can't tell the difference the usb stick and the CD player. In fact I never use the CD player anymore.

Give it a try because it will be cheaper and sound much better than SiriusXM.

 

[Wildcat]

That's how I felt about SiriusXM for the two days I had it. What a bunch of unimaginative hack programming.

I liked XM when I had it, but...that was before Sirius barged in and dumbed the programming down. An acquiantance of mine was one of those let go when the axe fell at XM--he was musical director for one of the XM "decades" channels, and had a popular nighttime gig along with a popular feature that aired weekly. I recall, I had tuned in to listen to his 6pm special on a Friday evening, on my drive home, and some "Cousin Brucie" shyte was running instead. Totally dumbed down, infantile stuff like you hear on many morning drive time radio programs these days. And the programming dumbed down along with it.

The sirius/XM of today is IMHO nothing like it was back in its glory days, prior to sirius ruining it. A handful of favorite channels of mine were killed off just before that, or changed so that they no longer head the breadth of programming they used to. That's when I pulled the plug. A real shame, as what I heard on XM introduced me to so much new (to me) music I wouldn't have heard over terrestrial radio.

 

[Wildcat]

A tip for subscriptions: some credit and debit card companies offer a "virtual" card which is only good for a year, or less if you specify. That way, the virtual card could expire long before the renewal, and their authorizations will fail. I use this often for anything requiring periodic automatic payments. All you do is go online and generate your own card--you are issued a genuine 16-digit card number, expiration and CVC code.

 

[satkinsn]

FWIW - and I post these numbers over at XMFan as part of a running thread there - I just renewed my car, my wife's car and internet service at an annualized rate of $186, taxes and fees included. It's the "Select" package, which includes everything except MLB, NBA and NHL on the radio. (As opposed to online.)

I leave it to the reader to decide whether that kind of money is worth it. I report it here only to again make the point that no one should ever, ever pay S/XM's published rates, which are far higher. Call the cancellation line in order to make the deal directly - you get there by hitting the main line and cancellation is an option from there.

s.