Complain about a product or service

XM Satellite Radio

Jim of Hudson, NH October 14, 2009

I purchased 2 XM Radio prepaid cards from Best Buy that are good for application to current XM radio accounts. Customer service tried to tell me that I could not apply them to a current account. He accepted the cards when I read the rules to him from the card. Then he said that I could only apply one of them to the account. When I asked why, he hung up on me. I got it resolved but it took a second call and a supervisor. XM has poorly trained customer service people.

Greg of Roanoke, VA October 13, 2009

I called the first time to cancel my sub. and they said how about we give you 2 months free and i said sure when I called back to cancel 2 months later they said they cancelled it and I said thank you very much. Now I get a letter for 32.25. when I caleed them they have records of my first call but they said the second call was dropped and they will not issue credit, this is not right plz help

Carl of Las Cruces, NM October 11, 2009

Nothing has happened since contacting you. Nothing from you either concerning same. Now 4 1/2 months, or close to it, that they owe me a check for 136.52...

Robert of Johns Island, SC October 10, 2009

I bought a 2009 Toyota Venza. I was two years into a three year contract with XM at the time I purchased the car. I switched my contract to cover the radio that was in the car. After three months, an XM person called me and told me I could extend my contract for the life of the car for about 60.00. I told her to send me a bill before I would agree to sign up. She sent me a bill for 400.00. I called and said "No Thanks." They said "Too bad. No cancellations."

I was finally able to get them to cancel my service but the dunning has now started. They want my money even though my radio is shut off. They actually owe me money for the one year I had left on my previous contract.

After seeing the hundreds of stories on the internet, the evidence is in that this is AOL (If you're a AOL user, you know what I mean.) all over again. These people are apparently thugs that are using the U. S. consumer credit and collections system to strong arm everybody in sight. It appears to be an extortion system that's going to take a serious class action lawsuit or severe consumer backlash to correct.

I have given up on trying to work with people that are working from scripts. I am am willing to organize an XM/Sirius Victims Response Organization. It will be what it sounds like. Our efforts will be aimed at the criminal aspects of the XM/Sirius operations. We will coordinate efforts with the FTC, every state attorney generals offices in relevant states,every consumer advocate organization that will listen, a direct appeal to every car maker that is a business partner with XM/Sirius (And then legal and picketing action when they blow us off.

If we can find the right big legal guns willing to do the class action route, we'll go that avenue as well. (With the car companies, Toyota, Ford, GM, etc. being the first targets.) I will be recruiting mostly retirees with a lot of time on their hands to help with the cause. Our main weapon will be publicity as we expose the apparent corrupt nature of the XM/Sirius sales tactics and their willing partners in the automotive industry. These companies sell us cars, give our names and phone numbers, and who knows what else, to XM/Sirius and then say "This is an aftermarket product. It's not our problem." when XM uses these sleazy sales tactics. We will make it their problem.

If you are interested in supporting this campaign, contact me. Simply tell me you're interested so I can gauge the level of interest. Please pass this message on to every blog you can think of that deals with consumer rip-offs. BTW. Anyone thinking they can just pay and XM/Sirius is going to go away, is dreaming. When your present contract is up, they'll be back. Ask anyone that's paying protection money to the mob, if you want a preview of what is possible with these jokers. Let's help each other put a stop to this. Now.

Theresa of Rancho Cucamonga, CA October 10, 2009

I have 2 xm radios and am charged every 3 months w/an auto deduction to my checking acct. The latest charge was 89.58 rather than the 77.70 I have normally been charged. I called and the cust svc rep said due to royalty charges, etc billing increased. I told her it w/have been nice if this info had been included w/increased bill. She then looked at my account and said I s/actually be charged 74.67/mo as I have 2 radios and she would reverse charges to reflect this.

A couple of days later I checked my account and rather than a credit of 14.91 I was charged an addtl 28.55! Of course I immediately called and spoke to another cust svc rep. She said it was because I had called in the middle of a billing cycle. After some discussion I asked to talk to a supervisor. She put me on hold and came back and said she had explained the situation to the supervisor who authorized reversing the charge. She said the supervisor was on another call and could not speak to me directly. Another 5 days have transpired and still no credit of 28.55!

I called again and told cust svc rep I wanted to speak to a supervisor. She kept trying to get me to work w/her I nicely said since this was now my 3rd call, I wanted to talk to a supervisor. Guess what, I held for 15 mintues and no supervisor available. Pretty bad customer service! XM owes me 28.55 + 14.91. I feel a nightmare beginning. Of course I want my but what kind of customer service is this if you cannot talk to a supervisor?

Wendi of Medway, MA October 7, 2009

I purchased a new Buick in Jan 2009 - it came with the free XM radio trial. When the trial was up, XM called many, many times trying to talk me into signing up again. They had a good deal for a 3 month extension, which I said I would do, IF it would cancel at the end of the 3 months. I would not be able to sit on the phone to customer service to cancel the service. The women told me in no uncertain terms, that the 3 months did not automatically roll over. I did not have to call them, they would contact me if I wanted to continue the service. Silly me, I believed her. I paid for the 3 months - now I am being billed a rate twice the 3 month extension rate, for 1 month. I called and tried to explain that the service was not supposed to continue. No one at XM, cared - they said "not our policy".... They were not helpful, and were rude. I hope everyone gets the word - XM is not a nice company to deal with. I will pay the bill - as I hate to screw up my credit over a bill. But it pains me to do so, on principle. If they billed it to my credit card, I could dispute the charge - but since they are direct billing me (a privilege which they make you pay for) I will pay:( If you don't have an extra 40/ month to pay for radio - be sure to cancel the service as soon as your free trial is up! It appears that many, many of us have had an issue with XM and their billing practices.

Frank of Lancaster, NY October 6, 2009

I purchased a new GM vehicle with a trial subscription to XM radio. After one extension of the service, I decided it was too expensive. When they called about another extension, I told them I was not interested and please cancel my subscription. A couple months later, I receive a call from a collection agency that I owe XM Radio money for service that was not cancelled.

After many phone calls and discussions with various levels of service reps, it was clear that XM was not going to budge. I decided to pay the collection agency rather than screw up my credit report.

Be very careful doing business with XM Radio. If you really like their service be sure to carefully read any customer service agreements and understand that when you try to cancel it will be very difficult if not impossible without paying addtional fees. The consequences are that I paid some money for service that I did not want and although I thought I canceled, apparently I did not follow their cancellation guidelines.

Carl of Las Cruces, NM October 5, 2009

I closed my account at the end of May 2009. On 6/8/09 was told via e-mail refund check in the amount of 136.52 was being processed and would take apporx 4-6 weeks. This now the 5th of October and still no check...I just keep getting e-mails, when I make inquiries about the check, "Thanks for contacting us." Then I rcvd an e-mail that stated that the account was closed on 8/3/09 and it would "again" take 4-6 weeks to process...STILL WAITING!!

Bryan of West Bloomfield, MI October 5, 2009

On Aug. 8th 2009 I cancel my radio acct. I was told I that I was had to wait. Only 5 to 7 days for my refund check then it turn into 8 to ten weeks. After waiting that time I received the check. I went to the bank to cash the check the bank tells me that the check hadn't been release by XM Radio so since my bank and XM bank are the same.

My bank figured that XM would release the check later when the mixed up was cleared.I had money in my acct. to cover it. The check comes back returned so I call Xm twices about the return check all I got was the run around that some one would contact me in seven days about it. I was told that twice about as of this date no one have contacted me about the returned check! I had to pay for return check which was 30.02 plus a ten dollar return check fee so XM Radio owes me 70.04!

Rebecca of Brandon, SD October 1, 2009

I bought my car new in 2005 and the XM Radio was already running. I had an automobile accident in July, 2009 and did not have access to service for XM from the time of the accident until September, 2009. I began receiving automated calls telling my my service was about to run out and I should call such and such a number. Since I did not have my car, I could not verify anything. I also do not call and give out my credit information to automated machines (or people for that matter), that I have not initiated contact with. I also did not receive a paper bill. However, I then began getting calls from a bill collector in September, within days after receiving my car back, telling me XM had turned me into collections!

I refused to give my billing information to this stranger who was demanding my credit card information and requested XM's telephone number. He refused to give it to me said, "you have to pay now." I let him know the conversation was over. I then looked up XM's number on line and was assured, that, yes, I had in fact, been turned over to collections (the first time in my 54 years!). So, I requested they send me a paper bill and that I would pay it. Guess what? I got not only the collections bill, but also a separate bill from XM for a differing amount for the time period when I did not have my car! I guess when times are tough, companies feel a need to bully money out of the customers. I'm not impressed. And, now that I know how they do business, unless you are a masochist, spare yourself some pain. It appears they are desperate.

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