Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Sirius XM needs to accept the modern era


I recently needed to cancel Sirius XM accounts for my kids, who were no longer using the satellite radios in their cars.  I did what you'd expect:  logged into my online account, and looked for the cancellation option.

Sirius XM doesn't offer one.  You can buy services and radios online, and you can change the lengths of your subscriptions online, but to cancel, you have to call them.

I hate calling support lines, but I needed to cancel these radios, so I called.

After answering an automated question, I sat on hold for three minutes.  When an operator answered, she wanted to know why I was cancelling the account.  I told her.  She then tried to talk me out of it.  I said I just wanted to cancel the radio.  She then tried to sell me another radio for my house.

At this point, my frustration bubbled over, and I asked if she would prefer to let me cancel my service or have a supervisor take over.  She said she'd help--and then wasted more time with more questions.

Eventually, we cancelled the radio.

I wasted nine minutes on the phone doing a task I could have done online in a minute.

If you're going to offer online management of your services--as most companies do--then allow one of those management tasks to be cancellations.  I understand the Sirius XM folks want to minimize cancellations, but all they've managed to do to this buyer is leave me so annoyed with them that I will now actively avoid using their service if I possibly can.

Get with the times, Sirius XM.





5 comments:

Mark P said...

I think this is a common problem, it's always difficult to cancel services.

I was interested in the concept of Sirius XM, I don't believe we have this in the UK. I believe we can get radio signals from our satellite dishes along with TV signals but I've never seen the point.

Most of the time I want to listen to a radio channel I just use DAB or FM and if I'm at home internet. Radio reception is pretty good in the UK, I suppose that's the advantage of being a relatively small country with a higher population density.

Mammrk P said...

Nearly forgot:

Happy Don't forget your towel day:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day

Mark said...

Why, thank you. And a fine day it is, too.

Michael said...

I recently had this same problem. Just wait, soon they will start sending mail every other day, and emailing you, and calling you to try to get you to sign back up.

Mark said...

I sincerely hope they do not.

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