# Cancelling Sirius...the new AOL?



## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

Trying to cancel Sirius reminds me of the stories a number of years ago when people tried to cancel AOL. Very long wait times and the CSRs really pushing a hard sell. The first time I called to cancel I was on hold for 20 minutes. Then, after I gave my radio to someone else and they could not activate, I had to call again. This time I tried to sneak in by saying I had a billing issue. Hold time? 1 minute. However she said she couldn't help me and transferred me to "cancellation" -- hold time 28 minutes.

The poor people who now have my radio are getting a "SIRIUS" runaround. They were first told they could not activate my old radio because it was still on an active account (which it's not), then they were told they could only activate it if it was mounted in a car (untrue). Sirius also gave them a hard time about the activation fee which they finaly agreed to waive, and finally told them that an "FM transmitter number" was needed to activate the radio. I told them to try activating it online, but I'm sure they will be charged the activation fee. At this point they don't care as long as they can get it to function. Mission accomplished Sirius!


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

This thread IMMEDIATELY came to mind yesterday and today... I am currently caught up in a customer service *nightmare* with XM.

I have 3 radios with XM. On 11/16 they billed me for 1 year of service on my primary radio in my Yukon. Then on 12/25, they billed me for 3 months of service for the same radio. Then on 2/15, they billed me AGAIN for 6 months of service.

I have gotten 4 different explanations from just as many people trying to explain the repeat charges to me.... none of which make sense... after sitting on hold for about 30 minutes each call.

I just spoke with a fifth representative who is finally willing to take care of the 3 month charge. He said he is not authorized to take care of the sixth month charge due to the amount, and will have to open a "problem ticket" for it. And someone should contact me within 3-5 business days to discuss it with me. We'll see how that goes...

I also want to disconnect a radio that is a vehicle that I no longer own. Every time I am transferred to that department, I sit on hold for about 20 minutes, and then the line will just go dead.  This has happened all 3 times I have asked to be transferred over there. I'm sitting on hold right now on my 4th attempt. 25:57 so far....

I am not kidding guys... I have over 4 hours invested in this nightmare in the last two days. Luckily, I can just leave it sitting on hold at my desk while I continue to work.

I admit that the second charge slid by me... and I should have kept a better eye on it... But come on! They should fix this no questions asked!! I guess this is why some people don't like to leave credit cards on file with companies. At least it's my AmEx.... they are extremely easy to work with if I end up having to dispute the latest charge.

I'll post back when this call is over.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Ok. Finally got that radio turned off.

I was just charged 42.00 for 6 months of service on this radio 2 weeks ago... which is 1.75/week... and she told me the credit that I would be getting back was 22.xx.... It took 5 minutes for me to explain to her that that wasn't correct... She finally fixed that and issued the proper credit.

Did I mention that she was a treat to deal with?? 

Now we'll just wait and see if the contact me regarding the other billing errors... If I haven't heard from them by this time next week, I'll just call AmEx and dispute it... I'm not going through this mess again... I think I've made _more_ than a fair attempt to rectify this.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

AirRocker said:


> Ok. Finally got that radio turned off.
> 
> I was just charged 42.00 for 6 months of service on this radio 2 weeks ago... which is 1.75/week... and she told me the credit that I would be getting back was 22.xx.... It took 5 minutes for me to explain to her that that wasn't correct... She finally fixed that and issued the proper credit.
> 
> ...


Email Ellen....oops, wrong provider. :lol:


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## WERA689 (Oct 15, 2006)

I called XM yesterday, to cancel 4 of my 5 radios. I was transferred to retention, they picked up in less than 3 minutes, and took $200+ off a 1 year renewal, cancelling only 1 radio to stay within my budget. The whole thing took half a hour...a lot of that BS'ing with the old guy in retention. Just sayin'.

BTW, I ended up with 4 radios for one year for only a bit more than I had been paying for 5 radios, plus on-line, per QUARTER!


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## Canis Lupus (Oct 16, 2006)

Email Howard. :lol:



RobertE said:


> Email Ellen....oops, wrong provider. :lol:


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

I have to say I had a fairly pleasant experience with Sirius. I have one lifetime plus four add-ons. Three of the add-ons were quarterly and one was monthly. They've been sending me e-mails about changing my plans to lock-in the rates, so I called to do so. Also, I decided to drop one of the quarterly subs because I no longer use it. The rep I spoke with was very professional and did not give me a hard sell dropping the one radio. I was credited with the remaining two months on it and they extended the other three to annual contracts. The only problem I had was when I checked my account, it still showed one of the three add-ons as being quarterly. I called, and waited less than a minute and the rep told me it was to preserve the "three free months" that it had on it and that it would convert to annual in May. As long as that works out correctly, then I'm satisfied.


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## Galaxie6411 (Aug 26, 2007)

Originally years ago I went with sirius because at the time it was cheaper. I didn't use it much and canceled after a year or less. 4-6 months later I lost my wallet and all my credit card numbers were changed, one of which I charged my Sirius account to previously. About 4 months after that I get a years worth of subscription fee's for the Sirius radio I no longer even had on a credit card number Sirius didn't even have. I have no idea how they used my old number to get ahold of my new number and charge it for a subscription I never had. I finally told sirius I would prosecute under fraud and was laughed at so I told my credit card it was fraud and they finally kicked into gear and took the charge off. Needless to say I didn't even entertain going with Sirius when I got back into satellite radio a few years ago.

I did activate my 4th XM radio last weekend and the lady on the phone tried pretty hard for me to get a lifetime sub, then they wouldn't take my free activation fee coupon even though it worked fine on the website. Eventually they signed me up for the $77 deal for a year instead.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

My XM subscriptions auto renewed on 2/20. I called 2/23 to cancel and was offered two free months. I specifically asked if that would delay refunding to my Visa card, and was told no, the money would be there within 72 hours. I checked my balance and it hadn't shown up. I called and was told that the account was still active for two free months, then I would get the refund. I told the CSR shut off the radios, NOW. I'm still waiting for the money to show up on my Visa.


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## YCT (Mar 16, 2008)

machavez00, sounds like we had a similar experience though my turned out better. My XM account automatically renewed on 2/25 (a week earlier than I had written down) and when I spoke to the customer service rep on 2/26 I got an unbelievable runaround. I remained very polite but I was passed through several CSRs and hung up on several times. After a couple hours, I was able to cancel. Oddly, I was never requested to stay a customer. My VISA account was indeed credited within 72 hours.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

I was refunded and my radios now show 1 and 247 only (and Channel 0 of course)


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

I currently Have two Roadys (one of which) expires in MAY and another that expires in October. My plan is tell them I sold the car and the radio went with it  That worked really well when I cancelled another radio last fall. 

Start out with I SOLD THE CAR-TRUCK-or whatever it will save you at lot of time.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

AirRocker said:


> Ok. Finally got that radio turned off.
> 
> I was just charged 42.00 for 6 months of service on this radio 2 weeks ago... which is 1.75/week... and she told me the credit that I would be getting back was 22.xx.... It took 5 minutes for me to explain to her that that wasn't correct... She finally fixed that and issued the proper credit.
> 
> ...


To update... They never contacted me... So I decided to give them one more chance to make it right today... The representative would not let me speak with a supervisor... She was sure that she could help me... We went in circles for over ten minutes... and still couldn't get it straightened out... So I told her I would just called American Express and dispute the charge... She said that was fine if that's what I felt like I needed to do... I guess I'll just wait and see if/when they cut off my service... :lol:

Also... when I asked to take my American Express off file, so they could no longer charge it automatically, she told me that this would result in a $2 "invoice fee"... !rolling I started laughing and just hung up... 

I think I'm about done with this company... Too bad too... I really enjoyed their service for the most part... :nono:


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I got a year for $66.00 when I called to cancel after they dropped WLW.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

When I canceled two of my XM subscriptions and one Sirius subscriptions, they tried everything to keep me from dropping them, including 3, 6 and 12 month prepay options at reduced costs. I declined everytime. I want to pay monthly for the service, not quarterly ot semi annually and I only want one subscription for each. Finally the CSRs realized that and gave up.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I have called in at least three times to cancel my XM subscription, each time being stuck on perma-hold and hanging up before speaking to anyone. Yesterday I got a call from XM wondering about my bill. I told them that I have called several times to cancel and they said they would send me to the proper department. They forwarded me and I, once again, found myself on perma-hold. After 5 minutes I hung up (again). I'm tired of trying to deal with these idiots and am simply going to keep using the radio until they shut it off. Hopefully my Slacker will be back from repair before that happens. Of course, Slacker lost my radio after receiving it, so who knows.


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## ka8zay (Feb 12, 2009)

Ha I have to post this one. So today I called to threaten to cancel over the price increase. I have 4 receivers and have had service since they started up. I figured like many people have done before I could get a better deal from wanting to leave and I would stay. My original intent was to at least keep the main receiver in the car. I waited on hold maybe 10 minutes got a rep on the phone told him I wasn't happy with the price increase and wanted to cancel service. He said all 4? I said yes I didn't like the fact the price went up, he said he would give me 1 free month. I said not good enough and he said let me put you on hold and get them cancelled. Came back in like 2 minutes and said all canceled. That was it, no other attempt to save me, no other offers, after all these years and almost $40/month I was worth 1 free month and thats it. No wonder they can't make any money.


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## RBTO (Apr 11, 2009)

ka8zay's story sound's too good to be true (that easy to get off the hook???). After my experience some years back and the horror stories I heard since, I came to believe you DON'T cancel a Sirius subscription. I had requested to let mine expire at the end of my term, and then Sirius insisted that I canceled and owed a cancellation fee which they promptly charged to my card. It took me some time and finally a threat of legal action to get my money back.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

On April 14 I received an email informing me that my subscription had expired and I was invited to take part in an on line survey. I took the survey and in final comments mentioned that I had tried to call in to cancel several times and got stuck on perma-hold each time. As of that day my radio was still working. Eventually, this past Saturday, April 18, they shut it off. I still haven't received my Slacker back yet, and am now stuck with off air. I guess I can survive for a few more days, I certainly don't want to sign up for XM for just a month so I have it for the few days I need to wait for the Slacker's return.


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## dvrfan (Mar 14, 2006)

I've been an XM subscriber for several years and presently have XM in my 2008 Honda Accord, 1997 Toyota Tacoma 4WD and a Pioneer Airware at my desk. I called to update my cc info. last week and the overseas csm offered me Lifetime subscriptions, I understood, for my 3 radios for the lifetime of the radios, for $499. I didn't/couldn't completely understand her so I passed on the offer. 
I would like to have a less expensive long term plan for my radios. Anybody have any suggestions as how to go about getting the best deal?

Thanks.


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## brant (Jul 6, 2008)

ka8zay said:


> I wasn't happy with the price increase and wanted to cancel service. He said all 4? I said yes I didn't like the fact the price went up, he said he would give me 1 free month. I said not good enough and he said let me put you on hold and get them cancelled. Came back in like 2 minutes and said all canceled.


The cost of business in this country is continually on the rise. Everyone has to raise their prices. Do you complain that you need a raise when your cost of living goes up? Someone has to pay for it, so the company has to charge more to cover it.



ka8zay said:


> That was it, no other attempt to save me, no other offers, after all these years and almost $40/month I was worth 1 free month and thats it. * No wonder they can't make any money.*


You want to pay them less and have them give you free service. And yet, you wonder why the can't make money?


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