I’ve had Sirius Satellite Radio for six or seven years. Maybe even longer. I’ve loved it. I’ve moved my service from one car to another. Logan has too. We are very good customers. This is a service we have been glad to pay for.
Then I buy my new car. Which is awesome. Which I adore. Whose name is Harper I believe. Anyway, it has an XM radio built in. Which is fine in my mind, since oh two years ago, the two merged. Which was about the time all the stations started saying, SiriusXM Radio. Or something. They changed all of my stations when they did that. But whatever, I remained a loyal customer.
Yesterday I go online to transfer my service to my new car. No where online am I able to figure out how to do this. Which annoys the shit out of me to begin with. I sit on hold. Lalalalalalalalala, tons of minutes go by. I just hate elevator music. Can I tell you how much it annoys me? I want to gorge my own ear drums out. I finally get a human. Oh we can’t help you, you have to call XM, she says to me. WTF? Seriously. Yes.
So I do. 25 minutes later I get a person. MORE ELEVATOR MUSIC. I’m about to go postal on my cell phone, when I get a human being. Well XM and Sirius have technically merged, but we’re two separate things still. So the stations are the same, but you have to cancel Sirius, buy new XM service for the new car and we will have to charge you a start-up fee.
*Issa’s head explodes*
You’re telling me I have to cancel, then start-up a new contract for THE EXACT SAME STATIONS?????? The exact same price too?
Well, yes.
Great. Fine. Whatever.
I do it.
Mostly because I despise regular radio. It’s worth the start-up fee and the 15 bucks a month to not have to listen to those morons. They give me road rage. Truly. I am a much more relaxed, not probably going to shoot someone driver, when I have good music. And NO TALKING HEAD IDIOTS. KYGO? I’m looking directly at you. Possibly flipping you off as well.
But really, wtf SiriusXM? You merged. You now only have one set of stations. I’ve been a customer for years and years. How is this okay? Can anyone else see why you had to merge? Because your customer service BLOWS!!!!!!!!!!
Then of course I have to re-call Sirius to cancel. Another 25 minutes of elevator music. God forbid you can cancel online. She tries to sell me other products before canceling. Doesn’t understand why I’d want to switch to XM. Can you just explain to me why? BECAUSE I HAVE NO CHOICE AND YOU ARE THE SAME COMPANY.
Oh but we’re not. Not really.
Okay fine. You’re not. Am I canceled now?
Yes. Would you like to take a survey about this call and how helpful I’ve been today?
*click*
Look at my bank online a few hours later? My new fees? Charged by one, SiriusXM Radio. Same exact company as last month.
*headbang*
12 Responses to Because everyone needs a good rant now and again
Grab My Button!
I’m a joiner
now you are freaking me out about my renewal next month!
Issa Reply:
June 17th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
@gorillabuns, Nah, girl, renewals are simple. It’s so easy and it’s online. It’s canceling that is hell.
I ended up canceling Siruis after getting the same kind of run around with them years ago. And they continued to charge my card for MONTHS. And it took them a while to clear that up.
Good luck.
jodifur recently posted..The Best Laid Plans
Issa Reply:
June 17th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
@jodifur, I actually think it was them who charged me. I had a separate charge for XM today. In a day or two, when I’m up for it, I’ll call and yell at Sirius again.
Issa recently posted..Because everyone needs a good rant now and again
I have paid for 2 Sirius radios for 3 years now and I have NEVER used mine. It never hooked up right. I am too lazy to call and cancel. yeah.
Customer service woes and corporate stupidity get my blood boiling.
Yesterday, I called a phone company. After 45 minutes the technician could not figure out how to solve the problem and was going to transfer me to a supervisor.
She got back on the line with me and told me that all the supervisors were busy. She asked me to call back in 10 minutes and see if anyone was available.
I said, that’s okay, just have a supervisor call me. “Oh, we can’t make outgoing phone calls.”
My enraged reply, “Are you telling me that a communication company, has no way to communicate with their customers unless the customer intiates contact? That a telephone company set-up their call center to not allow outbound telephone calls? If that’s so, then you have just made my decision to end my relationship with your company for me. Goodbye.”
ARGH!!!!
GreenInOC recently posted..Planned Obsolescence Kicked My Arse – HARD!
I’ve had XM for 7ish years. My first radio broke about a year ago. At the time I had received an email offering a new radio (essentially the same as my old one, but upgraded) for $30 or something. I called because it looked like I could only get the deal if I signed a new contract and I was confused about how to do that, with the credit card I’ve always used and so on.
The lady I spoke with was very sympathetic because I had a radio that was broken and was paying for service. She ensured me it would no problem to switch services to my new radio and said she’d waive the activation fee. A week later when the radio arrived I called.
I have never been more frustrated with customer service. After a very lengthy conversation I ended up getting what was promised. I do not look forward to the next time I have to call them about anything. Their wait times are ridiculous.
God, this whole post makes me want to give you a hug. And to punch some other people in the face.
Issa Reply:
June 17th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
@Jenny, Bloggess, Jenny? Today I needed that more than I can even tell you. For reasons that don’t even have to do with this post.
Thank you.
Issa recently posted..Because everyone needs a good rant now and again
I am confused, you pay for radio? Is it like cable radio, with hundreds of channels? We have a few Irish channels that are really good, most people have their favourite and are pretty loyal.
Best wishes Issa.
J from Ireland recently posted..Edinburgh Rocks!!
~a Reply:
June 17th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
@J from Ireland, Yes. It’s Satellite radio. XM has something like 160 channels, mostly commercial free (over the years they’ve snuck in a few commercial channels, I’d say fewer than 10?).
I think I’d go just a wee bit postal on the lady. I’m just saying. I can’t believe they made you pay to sign up. Total crap.
I couldn’t agree more about the radio though. I don’t know what I’d do without my XM. Gouge my eyes out, probably. Watch my blood pressure skyrocket. Ram my head into the steering wheel. I love satellite radio, it’s the greatest thing ever.