Let me preface this post by saying that satellite radio is a great service. You get access to a whole lot of content that you might not otherwise be able to access. When I got my new 2012 Ford F150 XLT SuperCrew, I got a trial subscription for the first six (6) months to a subset of the SiriusXM stations. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the selections on the Electronic and Dance stations, the BBC content, stations from Canada, and a wide variety of news outlets, not too mention the comedy channels.
On September 3rd, my trial subscription expired. I knew that it was going to expire. In fact, I put a reminder in my personal calendar to warn me that the trial expiration date was arriving. I liked the service enough that I was going to subscribe so that I could continue enjoying the service.
However when the renewal date approached, I determined that it was not financially smart to sign myself up for yet one more monthly payment at this time. No big deal, I would just use Pandora, Spotify, Google Music and standard terrestrial radio until I was where I could pay for the subscription.
That’s where it all gets painful. When the SiriusXM customer service representative called me to make sure that I knew my trial expiration was coming up I explained that I was not currently interested in signing up to pay for it. When he helpfully (at least in his mind it was helpful) informed me that the monthly payment was only $16 a month, I ensured him that I had actually read the mailing they sent out and knew what the prices were and I just didn’t want to continue.
Now despite the belligerent tone of voice he continued to use to try and bully me into a subscription, I finally managed to get off the call without losing my temper (which was a major feat, let me tell you). In a logical universe, they would mark my account as having declined service and to try again in a few months (but hopefully never since I did mention that I didn’t want them to call me again) and that would end the matter.
This is where SiriusXM has failed to gain a customer. Almost every day so far this month I have received at least one call from the SiriusXM folks (866-903-7474) trying to suck me back into the fold. This constant bombardment is a real pain in the rear. I can understand one or two attempts, but at some point you have to realize that continued calls are not going to get the customer.
So here’s the email I sent to the SiriusXM Customer Service folks today after yet one more call:
I realize that my trial subscription has expired. In fact I even talked to your customer representatives at least once concerning this prior to the expiration.
I happily informed the customer service representative that I knew my subscription was going to expire and that I was not interested in converting my trial at that time due to the cost, and yes that I knew it wasn’t a lot each month if I subscribed for a year. After he kept trying to get me to convert, rather insistently to the point of belligerence, I finally was able to get him to hang up.
Recently I have been receiving calls from your company (866-903-7474) at least once a day (sometimes twice).
I realize that you would like to retain customers and to gain new ones, however when a current/former customer informs you that they no longer wish to continue the subscription, it doesn’t engender good customer relations to bombard them on a daily basis with calls.
For this reason it is unlikely that I or anyone in my household will ever subscribe to your services at any point in the future. I appreciate that you have made it even easier for me to embrace the free and/or ad-supported streaming services like Pandora Radio, Spotify, Live365, Google Music, and Amazon Music.
Thanks,
Andy Fore
So instead of caring about subscribing to SiriusXM, I will just use my mobile data plan to get the most out of Internet-based streaming services that I can. I would rather give my money to my mobile provider for data usage than to SiriusXM, since Verizon doesn’t deem it necessary to spam me with phone calls about their services.