SiriusXM — Local services in New York

I have spent over two hours on the phone with Sirius both with an offshore agent (German in Honduras), then with his supervisor Ellen (ID 2313AD). I finally insisted on being transferred to someone in the United States and rather than doing that they told me to kiss off (not their words) and send a letter to "customer service. Checking the address on Google I proceeded to call the New York office and try to get a bit of satisfaction.... NOT. There I spoke with agent Bonnie (ID 17317C). Sadly no agents have last names, though I explained since they had my last name, they should share theirs with me. Speaking again to the highest level person that they would connect me to I explained my problem. Since October (for 3 months), in addition to legitimate charges to my credit card (there was only one), I had been charged on three occasions for charges which were not mine. On investigation, they determined that my credit card was also assigned to a second person (Reynaldo Trevino), whom I had never heard of. They were able to confirm for me that the address on his account is different from mine and there was no suggestion that I had permitted the charge. After getting to the bottom of the problem, I suggested that perhaps they should confirm credit card information by either/and checking for zip codes (his is different than mine) or asking for security code. They explained that was not their policy. All of the supervisors (once I reached them) agreed that the charges were inappropriate and that it was probably their error listing my card on his account. I should say that there were no other inappropriate charges on my card. After agreeing with the total situation, I simply asked them to credit back the charges which were made to my card and to remove the card from his record. They agreed to do the latter, but told me that to refund the charges that I would have to submit a formal request by mail or fax including three months of credit card statements in order for them to reverse the charges. I explained that this should not be necessary, since they have identified the problem and seen that it was their error. In any case the final phone call ended with a "have a nice day" and "thank you for calling Sirius." Total dissatisfaction. Like the product but hate the billing and customer service aspect. Finally I called my credit card company and asked to have the charges removed which they did immediately.... Thank you...

I wish I could write a glowing review of Sirius XM's service but I can't. I can't because I can't even get a radio from them... If I were to rate the product only then I be able to say Very Good - Excellent. I've used the service online and really liked it so my wife tried to order me a radio that I could take on the road. However their customer service department was too inept to figure out what we wanted, when we wanted it, and how to get it to us in an acceptable time frame. The following is what I posted to their Facebook page in hopes that they would attempt to make the situation right.

Dear Sirius,

I tried your Internet 30-day trial period and I enjoyed the product so much that my wife attempted to purchase one of your radios and the "All-Access" subscription. While your product is awesome the customer service portion of your company is very SUBPAR! The customer service agent didn't even ask what she wanted and proceeded to set us up with a subscription that we didn't want. She told him exactly what subscription we wanted and that we wanted express shipping. Your agent shipped the product ground. Sent it to an incorrect address. Charged the wrong price and spelled the name wrong. When she attempted to speak to a supervisor he told her that there was nothing that he could do. He advised her to call the credit card company and cancel the order through them. I can't believe that such a great company with a superior product would allow such ineptitude in their customer service department.

You have over half a million followers on Facebook and 49K followers on Twitter. Plus, more than 19 million people subscribing to your service. That tells me that SiriusXM is doing something correct for that many people to be enjoying this product. But, what I can't figure out for the life of me, is WHY can't I get a satellite radio expressed shipped to my door with the...

No commercials, not true. They advertise themselves like crazy, and add a lot of talk from artists about why they made the songs. Shut up and play the songs already!!! Many repeats of songs on channels. I mean really, I know there is more variety in each style. All services will renew at "then-current rates". A free trial is fine but do not accept a "follow on plan". Decline that after your trial ends or you will be charged. Better yet, if your new car's radio is active, don't even call. It may be on a dealer's demo with no end or charge to you at all. You can not ask for any deals like 6 for 25 unless your radio is canceled 1st. Agents get penalized if they can not talk you out of canceling. After said promos end, renewal at full price unless you call to cancel. Not worth the hassle of getting hung up on so that the agent won't get penalized for canceling. Get their names on every call! They can set up the radios to cancel on any given date, but you have to push hard to get that arrangement. If you have more than one radio, consolidate them all into one account to save money. Only one remains at full cost. Still not worth it. The business is dirty and a rip-off. Here is how I know this...

I worked for Alorica which used to be APAC in Green Bay WI. I was on the sales team to prevent cancelations. I answered for SiurusXM for a few years there. It was a dead-end job with no chance of advancement or raises unless supervisors liked you. They had me use my brother's account for training. Headquarters in New York audited and found I was in my brother's account. They did not care if it was for training, that there was no fraud, or that I was one of the top agents who could meet their unrealistic goals. They insisted I be terminated. Boycott SiriusXM...