I love Sirius, but they can be pretty shady

[FaFaFooie]

Wife bought a car that came with 1 year of Sirius on it ... I have Sirius in my car

In my wife's old car, she used an old Starmate with a car kit ... we basically had no use for this and only wanted 2 accounts - my car and her new car ... the plan was to shut off the Starmate (it only has about 45 days or so left on the 1 year subscription)

I call them up and have them activate the new car ... the whole process took less than 5 minutes. I then inform the lady who did my activation that I would like to have the Starmate shut off. She says she can't do this, but could transfer me to someone who could

Long story short, I was put on hold for 15 minutes (had the phone on speaker in my office) and then it was disconnected. I called back, went through the menus ... again on hold for 19 minutes, disconnected. This was yesterday and I gave up thinking it must be some glitch and I would try again today

This morning the same thing happens. On hold for a really long time and the line would go dead ...

Finally on the 4th attempt this morning (7 attempts between 2 days), I finally get a live human where it takes over 15 minutes to shut the radio down (though she did transfer the remaining time leftover to my other account).

If I had to guess, they have this system in place to discourage people from cancelling - especially if it is an impulse cancel from getting angry at the service or whatever the problem may be.

I really like the service and have been a customer for over 3 years now ... this practice is downright shady though

 

[Davis]

I think this may be an isolated incident. I have canceled a radio in the past week and had zero trouble. In my many years with Sirius I have canceled several radios with no problem. Sorry for your troubles but, IMO, this isn't shady just unfortunate.

 

[down4six]

Never have had a problem either, and I have added and switched radios. I'm wondering if there was a phone system gremlin or something.

 

[limegrass69]

I've never had a problem either. The only "complaint" I have is that while you can activate a radio online, you have to call them to disconnect.

However, that seems to be a pretty common thing when it comes to subscription based services like satellite radio, TV, cable, phone, etc.

 

[Davis]

Well see if fafafooie comes back to post. I hope we don't get a huge influx of trolls around here, like we had with SBS.

 

[FaFaFooie]

How was my post a troll?

I just find it VERY odd that is was very difficult to cancel a radio and really easy to activate one

I posted this here because SBS is unuseable (very very slow)

One little point I didn't put in my original post ... when I aske dthe CSR who activated my new radio that I wanted to cancel my Starmate, right before she started the transfer to the proper department, she states " I'm sorry about the wiat time you are going to experience on hold" ... something tells me it isn't an isolated incident

 

[Davis]

Oh I wasn't accusing you I was just wondering if you were going to come back that is all. We had a lot of people making false claims at SBS; I wasn't trying to insinuate that this was one of them. I apologize if i didn't word my post well enough.

 

[Davis]

I wonder if there are a lot of people changing companies. If Margaritaville were offered in the Best of I would be making the switch and I would get the best of.

 

[limegrass69]

I just find it VERY odd that is was very difficult to cancel a radio and really easy to activate one

Welcome to DRC. I don't think what you experienced is all that unusual in the sense that they make it very easy to sign-up, but make you jump through a hoop or two to drop the service.

In my personal experience, I've never had to wait more than maybe 3 minutes to get to a rep. It is true that disconnects are handled by a different area than customer service/activations. Also, I've seen some posts around here mentioning that SiriusXM has been re-aligning its call centers. Perhaps your call got jammed up with all of the changes.

Sorry you had a bad experience...but hopefully you don't throw out the baby with the bath water. I think Sirius is an excellent service, the folks around here are great, and should be able to help you out with just about anything!!

 

[DAB]

Actually I have experienced what FaFaFoie is talking about. I called to cancel my Streamer because I usually only have it activated during the a certain time of the year when we camp a lot. Anyway, I had to call 3 times before I finally got someone that would actually deactivate it. Then I logged into my account and verified it was done. One of the first 2 told me she had done it, but when I logged into my online account the radio was still showing as active.

I don't not think this is a policy or ploy by SIRIUS, but I do think there are some lazy ass people working in these support centers that will hang up on you in a heart beat rather that do their jobs.

 

[limegrass69]

I don't not think this is a policy or ploy by SIRIUS, but I do think there are so lazy ass people working in these support centers that will hang up on you in a heart beat rather that do their jobs.

No doubt. I think it's pretty obvious that some of the people working in these call centers are not 'cream of the crop,' if you get my drift.

Not to mention they are probably getting minimum wage with supervisors breathing down their necks to get off the phones more quickly and to upsell.

 

[Davis]

DAB, I have experienced stuff like that too but not the constant hanging up. I suspect (hope) it was the transfer of call centers that messed it up. I have had issues with them messing up my account, overcharging, etc... but never hangups. I hope it isn't a sign to come.

It is very unfortunate that there is little we can do, as consumers, to ensure proper handling of our accounts. It is also unfortunate that many call centers seem to employ people who don't care to do their job. They just, as DAB said, are lazy and have no problem hanging up on you.

 

[hank-the-dwarf]

i never had a problem when i canceled,but dam if they call me one more time to take advantage of that 2 months free promotion im gonna stop answering my phone

 

[DAB]

i never had a problem when i canceled,but dam if they call me one more time to take advantage of that 2 months free promotion im gonna stop answering my phone

Now you are on to something, because they darn sure will bug you to death. I've had them do that with radio's I've canceled even though I still have an active account. I've gotten ugly with them several times and finally the calls stop.

 

[limegrass69]

i never had a problem when i canceled,but dam if they call me one more time to take advantage of that 2 months free promotion im gonna stop answering my phone

I mentioned on the "old" board that if you let their long-winded announcement play to the end (after it repeats a couple of times), there is an option (via touch tone prompts) that will allow you to stop further phone calls. Calling customer service and asking them to stop will get you nowhere. Give that a shot. :bigthumbup:

 

[hank-the-dwarf]

I mentioned on the "old" board that if you let their long-winded announcement play to the end (after it repeats a couple of times), there is an option (via touch tone prompts) that will allow you to stop further phone calls. Calling customer service and asking them to stop will get you nowhere. Give that a shot. :bigthumbup:

i have done that,told csr when i get them live and called and removed myself from the list-getting fewer calls now but still getting them.

 

[limegrass69]

i have done that,told csr when i get them live and called and removed myself from the list-getting fewer calls now but still getting them.

Bummer. The voice prompt on the recording when they called me did the trick for me.

Maybe sign on to your account and change the phone number?

 

[hank-the-dwarf]

Bummer. The voice prompt on the recording when they called me did the trick for me.

Maybe sign on to your account and change the phone number?

Dont have an account with sirius anymore-i have xm thru direct tv that i listen to when home on weekends

 

[SISO]

My quick cancellation story:

I got through to a person fairly quickly (if I remember correctly only a minute or two on hold). When I explained to her that I wanted to cancel my account she said "ok, let me transfer you to someone who can help you with that." I was transferred fairly quickly, and then talked to another CSR. She offered me about 3 different deals ranging from discounted service, to free service for 3 months, and then a free boombox. I kept telling her no, and it would seem she got fairly agitated and the way she talked to me wasn't the friendliest. Finally she asked in a fairly rude way: "I don't understand what you're going to do with your old radios". I said sell them on eBay and with a sigh from her that was that.

Sirius customer service, as a whole, is horrible. But few companies have good customer service these days.

 

[Super Dave]

i have done that,told csr when i get them live and called and removed myself from the list-getting fewer calls now but still getting them.

If you are on the Do Not Call List report them. As long as you have business dealings with a company they can call you, until you say "Put me on your do not call list." Then they are not permitted to call. If I get an automated recording, that may offer an out at the end, but I don't feel like waiting, I report them. I report that there was no one to talk to and ask to be put on their list. They get the complaint, and the calls stop. If there are enough complaints there could be a fine and they will stop these practices.