# XM Customer Service



## kaminsco (Nov 27, 2006)

I called XM yesterday to renew my subscription. I had some questions so I needed a "live" body. After going through automated system and then hearing elevator music for over 7 minutes, I become very disgusted with the fact I was waiting so long for the opportunity to give them my business. I could not wait any longer as I had to go and ended the phone call.

Generally, I have been happy with XM. However, this incident has now made me think about canceling my service. I am not that happy with it where I have to struggle to give them my business. Anyone else had similar experience?


----------



## lovswr (Jan 13, 2004)

Thier India Customer No-Service sucks. I had a roady 2 that I wanted deactivated, becuase I bought a Pioneer HU with built in XM for my car. It took me 3 or 4 calls for a total of about an hour or so to get a real person in India. Then he argued with my about deactivating the damn roady!


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Why did you have to call to renew your subscription? All plans should auto renew.


----------



## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> Anyone else had similar experience?


Affirmative. They have NO customer service. I refuse to carry on a conversation with a computer (no matter what they name it). Pressing 0 multiple times gets you around the computer voice and to a real human. Also, an email to [email protected] might get you a return phone call. It did for me when I was having billing problems. An email to that address including my phone number resulted in a call the next morning from the executive offices of XM that cleared up the billing problem. Good luck. For those unaware, Hugh Panero is the CEO of XM.


----------



## ret26 (Dec 13, 2006)

I called to cancel yesterday and got right through. I have had gotten XM in '04 and pretty much got sick of all the commercials and having to pay for it too. Not to mention the progamming really blows. Its just not worth paying for. My opinion of course.

Paul


----------



## DonCorleone (Jan 29, 2006)

So, keep prices low with customer service in Asia or do you want higher prices so you can have a CSR in the U.S. with a 33% benefit tag on top of their salary, along with FMLA, possible union collective bargaining, etc.? Your choice.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> I have had gotten XM in '04 and pretty much got sick of all the commercials and having to pay for it too


What commercials?


----------



## DonCorleone (Jan 29, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> What commercials?


Yep, 1 of the big differences between Sirius and XM: XM has some music channels with commercials believe it or not.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Four out of the 73 music channels have commercials, each one of those four have a commercial free XM produced clone. It was not XM's choice to have commercials on those channels, it was forced upon them, they tried to get out of it and failed. How anyone can hold this against XM is beyond me. XM had 69 commercial free music channels before the courts ruled in Clear Channels favor and they have 69 commercial free music channels afterwards. As far as I’m concerned XM still is 100% commercial fee. XM has done everything in their power to bstardize these channels, they’re not available on XM on DirecTV, XM on AOL Radio, XM Radio Online or XM Canada and I have them blocked from my own receivers. This is completely a non issue that has been blown way out of proportion.


----------



## DonCorleone (Jan 29, 2006)

Well, Sirius is still the better product and if they merge (for some reason you don't think it will happen), it will be a moot point anyway b/c they'll be 1 big happy family anyway.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Sirius is NOT a better product. I've had XM going on four years , Sirius going on three years, each service is awesome, they both have many positives and where one provider has a downfall the other makes up for. I never thought a merger will happen, and I still don't and I really really hope it doesn't.

XM and Sirius are already a happy family in my car


----------



## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> Four out of the 73 music channels have commercials, each one of those four have a commercial free XM produced clone. It was not XM's choice to have commercials on those channels, it was forced upon them, they tried to get out of it and failed. How anyone can hold this against XM is beyond me. XM had 69 commercial free music channels before the courts ruled in Clear Channels favor and they have 69 commercial free music channels afterwards. As far as I'm concerned XM still is 100% commercial fee. XM has done everything in their power to bstardize these channels, they're not available on XM on DirecTV, XM on AOL Radio, XM Radio Online or XM Canada and I have them blocked from my own receivers. This is completely a non issue that has been blown way out of proportion.


Clear Channel also produces "talk radio"(165) nee "ask" and a few others. The CC music channels also have "cm" next to the name to identify them as "commercial music" I received several emails regarding this change and the new commercial free XM produced versions of those channels. I was disappointed when CC stopped doing the full replay of Coast to Coast AM.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Yep WLW, Talk Radio, Extreme and Fox Sports Radio are from Clear Channel as well. The downside is when Clear Channel is off of XM, when their agreement expires more then likely the talk content will go.


----------



## Bobby94928 (May 12, 2003)

machavez00 said:


> Clear Channel also produces "talk radio"(165) nee "ask" and a few others. The CC music channels also have "cm" next to the name to identify them as "commercial music" I received several emails regarding this change and the new commercial free XM produced versions of those channels. I was disappointed when CC stopped doing the full replay of Coast to Coast AM.


Where can I find a list of the XM produced version of the CC channels? I listen to a few of those CC music channels and while I don't get overly annoyed at the ads, they are repetitious.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Nashville 11 -> US Country 17
Mix 21 -> Flight 26
Kiss 22 -> XM Hitlist 30
Sunny 24* -> Escape 78

*The new Sunny is more of a Soft AC/Music of Your Life station, the previous Sunny was Easy Listening. Easy Listening is on Escape, the new Sunny is closer to The Blend on 25.


----------



## dclaryjr (Mar 11, 2007)

I listen to XM over my internet-capable phone at work. I usually listen to "The Loft" (50) because the programming is good for an office setting and I've discovered some artist I really like. Sometimes the software on my phone locks up and I don't get the current artist and title info. I've emailed Mike Marone several times asking for that info and I always get a very timely response.


----------



## kaminsco (Nov 27, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> Why did you have to call to renew your subscription? All plans should auto renew.


Please read my post. It stated that I had questions and needed to talk to someone.


----------



## kaminsco (Nov 27, 2006)

DonCorleone said:


> So, keep prices low with customer service in Asia or do you want higher prices so you can have a CSR in the U.S. with a 33% benefit tag on top of their salary, along with FMLA, possible union collective bargaining, etc.? Your choice.


Get adequate customer service and keep customers. Inadequate customer service, customer leaves. The global sourcing of customer service is little deeper than this.


----------



## kaminsco (Nov 27, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> What commercials?


Listen to any of the comedy channels. They are there.


----------



## Bobby94928 (May 12, 2003)

Steve Mehs said:


> Nashville 11 -> US Country 17
> Mix 21 -> Flight 26
> Kiss 22 -> XM Hitlist 30
> Sunny 24* -> Escape 78
> ...


Thanks Steve......


----------



## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

Steve Mehs said:


> Nashville 11 -> US Country 17
> Mix 21 -> Flight 26
> Kiss 22 -> XM Hitlist 30
> Sunny 24* -> Escape 78
> ...


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

kaminsco said:


> Listen to any of the comedy channels. They are there.


Of course they are. Satellite radio was never about being 100% commercial free, it's commercial free music, talk and entertainment channels have always been fair game for commercials. Most of the talk channels are outsourced from other broadcasters and XM has no control on what happens on those channels anyhow.


----------



## kaminsco (Nov 27, 2006)

Steve Mehs said:


> Of course they are. Satellite radio was never about being 100% commercial free, it's commercial free music, talk and entertainment channels have always been fair game for commercials. Most of the talk channels are outsourced from other broadcasters and XM has no control on what happens on those channels anyhow.


These are not outsourced (channels 150 & 151). They are direct XM broadcast with an XM host, (Sunny Fox) and with commercials.

I was not complianing about them, I was just added to another post that noted above.

However, I was complaining about their customer service. I still have not received an email response which I submitted after trying call them. I will be cancelling.


----------



## n-spring (Mar 6, 2007)

The biggest complaint I have about XM is the poor sound quality on some of the talk/comedy channels. Why does XM Comedy (150) sound like AM radio?


----------



## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

XM and Sirius are already a happy family in my car







[/QUOTE]

i like that setup looks neat do people ever look @ you weird when they are in your car ???


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> These are not outsourced (channels 150 & 151). They are direct XM broadcast with an XM host, (Sunny Fox) and with commercials.


That's why I said most. XMs flagship talk station, The Virus has commercials, as does XMSN, NHL Home Ice, MLB Home Plate and other inhouse XM talk channels. My point was talk stations always had commercials, but some of it is not up to XM. 


> The biggest complaint I have about XM is the poor sound quality on some of the talk/comedy channels. Why does XM Comedy (150) sound like AM radio?


Compression. XM only has so much bandwidth, the more channels they have, the lower the sound quality. Talk stations do not require stereo and the dynamic range you need for music listening, so they receive less bandwidth. Last I knew of, The Virus and XMPR are the only two talk stations that are in stereo on XM.



> like that setup looks neat do people ever look @ you weird when they are in your car ???


Thanks. I do get odd looks, some positive feedback, some negative. But hey, I'm happy. People find I odd a 21 year old would rather spend money on radio entertainment then booze. The looks I get at the car audio department at Best Buy with my XM t-shirt and Sirius hat are priceless though.


----------

