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Sirius/XM Not Canceling Accounts

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
by oztech

One of my Sirius radios were stolen a few months ago. I decided to cancel the service until I bought a new radio. Little did I know that Sirius/XM continued to charge my credit card. I called again to have it canceled. Again my card was charged. Only when I switched credit card numbers did the problem resolve itself. This opened the door to many calls from Sirius/XM to get me back on with its service.

A friend of mine had XM prior to the Sirius/XM merger. He stopped liking the service after the merge. He also called to cancel. Just like me, it continued to charge his card.

OK, two mistakes with me, then one with my friend. Could this just be rare occassions where Sirius/XM slipped up? Tonight a friend of mine posted a message on his Facebook account. “Damn you XM RADIO! Stop charging my credit card for my canceled account.”

Amazing! Three friends report the same experience with bad customer service within six months. This has to be an extreme coincidence or Sirius/XM is knowingly making an effort to just charge people for service they don’t want. The company is losing subscribers by the hundreds and seems to have resorted to doing anything to keep them pumping money into the company. It’s clear that consumers shouldn’t waste time with it. Having money stolen from me and getting many annoying phone calls is not what I want from a company I do business with. I’ll listen to my iPod from now on, thank you.

7 Comments

Adrian

September 9th, 2009
at 9:00am

If I were you I’d definitely get this reported, it can’t just be a coincidence that this is happening.

Murray Williams

September 9th, 2009
at 9:11am

I have had a very similar experience. It took six months to cancel an account. I kept getting charged and then penalized for non-payment for a partial month’s bill.

I asked for the account to be canceled, it was but they conveniently forgot to include the bill for the final partial month even though I expressly asked the representative for the exact amount I needed to pay to finalize my bill. I paid that amount and then was sent to a collection agency for non-payment… apparently the final amount owed wasn’t so final. This didn’t happen just once, it happened three times. Each time, there would be a fraction of a month which was then compounded by penalties for non-payment… NIGHTMARE!

What about I want to close my account is so hard to understand? Why is this so tough?

In an industry that is heading face first into the crapper, wouldn’t it be in their best interest to have the best of customer service?

AnKnee

September 9th, 2009
at 3:08pm

I had the same issue. I was a pre-merger XM subscriber. I loved it until post-merger. I called to cancel, and was assured they cancelled my account. 3 months later, another charge, another call to XM Listener Care, and more assurances. 3 months later, another charge. So I went online and low and behold, my online account access was still active. I changed my credit card #, and they still attempted to bill me! In the past two weeks I must have received 20-25 calls trying to get me to give them a valid credit card #. No thanks! Just last night I received an email from XM-Sirius stating that my account was now cancelled, and they would like me to take a survey to find out why I did not update my credit card with them. (Sheesh!)

H. T. Nance

September 9th, 2009
at 5:04pm

I purchased a new vehicle in 2006 and paid for a 3-year service contract with XM Radio though the dealership. Initially decided not to renew in 2009 after the 36 month obligation was completed. Without my consent or approval the service continued for 2 months and I then received a bill for $38.00.

Called their customer service and explained that I was being billed for a service that I did not request. Also mentioned that I was now considering a renewal of my service but that would not happen until they either removed the charges or provided me with a copy of a binding contract under my signature that allowed an automatic continuation of service. . After some hesitation, the bogus charges were removed. That took 2-3 weeks.

I then renewed the service by phone. (Never give these crooks your credit card information.) In renewing, I made it emphatically clear that I was authorizing only a three year obligation and that I would not allow an automatic extension unless I specifically approved it at that time. The agent acknowledged and concurred. Also, I required the agent to give me the total cost-plus taxes and fees. Then I wrote the figure down just in case I needed it in the future. Sure enough I did. Surprise! I received a statement that included an additional unmentioned fee of $56.00 Music Royalty fee. Again, called their customer service: had a short discussion and demanded a supervisor. Same song, same verse as before. Believe I mentioned The FCC and my State Attorney General and once again the bogus charges were removed.

Unfortunately, I cannot take my business elsewhere to get satellite service so I will pay these slime merchants for another 3 years service so I can listen to Fox/CNN while I travel.

What can we do about companies like this?
1. Never trust them
2. Never ever let them have your credit card, personal, or SSN information
3. Pay by check or, better yet, Money order.
4. Never accept their sham service and bogus billing
5. Always report them to the FCC and your state Attorney General if they persist in illegal billing
6. Never use profanity, be firm, tough and threaten the agents with personal accountability and liability (always get their name before starting the conversation)
7. Follow through, always!
8. Never let an unauthorized charge on a credit card go unchallenged

I have used this technique repeatedly and found it generally works, particularly with corporations that are licensed or incorporated in the US. If everyone, who is a potential victim, would get aggressive, these crooks might have to clean up their act.