I just went to send my XM bill out this afternoon and was more than a little pissed off when I looked at it... they had the stones to try and charge me these 'Other Fees' and an absurd Activation Fee after their customer service had fucked my account up.

This is the email I sent to their listener care address:

To whom it may concern:

I recently received my bill and I am infuriated with it. Again. In the time that I have been an XM customer not once has a bill matched. Each one is different, always packed with "Other Fees". Just what are these other fees? Just why did there have to be an 'Activation Fee" after your poorly trained customer service representatives completely screwed up my account, sending it to a collection agency? How can you possibly think that I am going to pay this "Activation Fee" after the nonsense your customer service has put me through? Understand that I am NOT paying this $2.00 Other Feee, nor the ridiculous $14.99 "Activation Fee". If it comes down to having my service shut off, so be it. I am no longer going to be at the mercy of your capricious and absurd bill practices.

So far, I am extremely dissatisfied with my XM Radio and subsequent customer disservice. You could at least include a number to customer service here in the United States instead of having your customers call a number in India or Pakistan. With all that is going on in America today, your company has the gall, the audacity, to outsource to a foreign country. Then, on top of that, these people are the most useless customer service representatives I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. On several occassions, your billing department has complete screwed my bill up. Your customer service has failed to shut off my service during the off season when my car is in storage and then had the nerve to send my account, an account that was supposed to be inactive, to a collection agency?! Then, upon calling your so-called Listener Care number, your representatives hung up on my three times. Upon the fourth attempt, I was placed on hold for thirty minutes. I am infuriated by your companies' lack of consideration, care or sense of responsibility to your customers.

On top of the mistreatment I received during my fourth and final call, your poorly trained representative would not stop trying to sell me absurd packages. I was not interested and told the representative repeatedly that I WAS NOT INTERESTED. First you send me to a collection agency over a mistake YOUR representatives made and then try to sell me some absurd lifetime package? Pardon me while I chuckle sarcastically at your mistake.

Perhaps your company should rethink your customer service strategies while you still have customers. This is one customer that has just about had enough.

Sincerely,
Scott ******
Mineville NY
Acct #: 1-*********
Radio ID#: VM3A****



Too much? Too little?

Nice letter. I am convinced they force those representatives to keep pushing the packages long after you say no.
XM has screwed up my account before, and I think they had been overcharging for a long time. I just don't think satellite radio has what it takes anymore.

wasn't their stock trading at like 66 cents a share last week?
People are not going to pay for radio in the economic climate we're in now. Hell, cable companies are losing business left and right!

I'm going to push to either get my bill fixed, free time, or just shut the fucker off and i'll get an iPod or a Zune player.

I would say if they don't make good on your bill just turn it off. The only thing you really lose out on is any of the talk radio, which if you don't listen to is no big loss.
Take the money that your not spending on the XM and buy the ipod/zune. I don't listen to anything else in my car because I can put the music I want to listen to on it.

I dont plan on turning my XM back on unless its being done by using a pre-paid card. Everyone I know with XM has had a fucked up bill. My dad recently canceled them too. They aswell sent his acct to collections for no good reason.

I say fuck it, get an Ipod or Zune.

Only thing I liked XM for was the talk radio.


your letter was perfect.

No no...you MUST keep at it. Relentlessly. Send them another letter. Send them letters every other day for as long as it takes.

Let me know how it works out.

Sam, I'd just buy the player and fuck the radio if they won't fix it, since they keep screwing up your account. And to think I was gonna go get a portable for XM to listen to at work. I think I'll just invest in a dock for my player instead.

I'll find one for you if I have to or you can go to Ebay and get one cheap.

Shael

well, for those paying attention to this epic saga, here is their (XM Radio's) reply:

Dear Scott ******,

Thank you for contacting XM.

Please accept our sincere apology for your previous encounter over the phone and we hope that these incidents will not permanently affect our partnership. Our objective is to provide excellent service to all our subscribers. We are saddened to hear that you were not pleased with service you received. Please be mindful of the fact that your concern is our priority and you are valued by us.

We place great effort in projecting world class customer service to our customers. Therefore, we will make every effort to ensure that your displeasure is investigated thoroughly.

Please be advised that the $14.99 is a reactivation fee, we collect an activation fee each time a radio is activated to an account, also due to escalated processing costs, we have found it necessary to levy a nominal charge (of $2 per invoice) to subscribers who choose invoice billing.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346). Our Listener Care Center?s hours of operation are as follows:

Monday - Saturday: 8 AM - 11 PM ET
Sunday: 8 AM ? 8 PM ET

Thank you,
Latoya

1500 Eckington Place, NE
Washington, DC 20002
www.xmradio.com
Listener Care: 800-967-2346


And my carefully crafted reply:

Thank you for your prompt reply, but understand that I was not made aware of these charges at the time my service was reactivated. Perhaps more adequately training your customer service representatives would help avoid situations such as I am experiencing. Since I have retained your services when I purchased my new Cobalt, it has been nothing but a billing and service headache and, frankly, more trouble than it is worth. In one instance, your company turned my account to a collection agent when it was YOUR COMPANYS' ERROR! It is obvious that your company cares more about the bottom line that providing quality customer service. I am in no way, shape or form paying the activation fee or the so-called invoice fee. These ridiculous fees were never mentioned at the time my service was reactivated, for the obvious reason. Also, this $2.00 invoice fee is a sham as well; you are charging people to mail them a bill... you are billing to send a bill. Brilliant. The so-called actovation fee is also a sham.

Consider my subscription terminated.
Thank you for your attention.

YAY, Sam!

I bet their reply was a pre-written document filed away in a reply drawer. You shouldnt have given them an account number or radio number. Now they are going to bill you for replying to your email.

Posted by big dave I bet their reply was a pre-written document filed away in a reply drawer.

For sure. I bet it looked something like this before it was sent off.

Dear <customer name>

Please accept our sincere apology for <incident> and we hope that these incidents will not permanently affect our partnership.

Everything else just reads like it was auto-generated by a script designed to change the response based on the frequency of keywords.

World class customer service, indeed.

What a joke that reply letter was. A perfect example of corporate bullshit.

Since Sirius and XM have merged they could give a shit less if people are pissed off. They have no competition and therefore no reason to provide decent customer service.

I used to have Sirius before the merger and didn't have any issues. I did however get sick of paying all the bullshit charges they tack onto the monthly subscription fee. So now I just have my ipod with a bunch of illegal downloads.

Sounds like an auto-reply to me.

My sister killed her XM radio, she got tired of the exact same BS theat you have been dealing with. At this rate they will no longer have any customers left!

the saga continues...

today, i received a nasty phone call saying that my service will be 'interrupted' if my payment is not made promptly.

and the latest auto-reply:


Dear Mr. ******,

Thank you for contacting XM.

We have received your email and we certainly understand your concerns.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you are facing with your account billing and we are willing to assist you with your issue.

Our objective is to provide excellent service to all our subscribers and our representatives are well trained to assist customers with their issues. We are saddened to hear that you were not pleased with service you received, but we can assure you that our representatives will convey the company?s guidelines in a polite and friendly manner. Please be mindful of the fact that your concern is our priority and you are valued by us.

We can guarantee you that our team does not take pleasure in embarrassing or distressing a customer. All of our customers are appreciated and each subscriber plays an active role in the growth of XM. Your matter will be forwarded to the relevant department and your concerns will be investigated, in order to enhance the service which we provide.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346). Our Listener Care Center's hours of operation are as follows:

Monday-Saturday 8 AM - 11 PM ET
Sunday 8 AM - 8 PM ET

Thank you,
Marvin

XM Radio Inc.
1500 Eckington Place NE
Washington, D.C 20002
www.xmradio.com
XM Listener Care: 1-800-967-2346


to which I replied...


XM Customer Service,

I do not want to speak with your customer care. I want an American and a
supervisors' number if this issue is to be resolved. I have already received
a threatening phone call today. That's the capper. Either your company fixes
this issue, or the service is cancelled. I do not want a lifetime package. I
do not want a 'Best Of' package. I want a member of management from this
country on the phone to handle this. I do not want an incompetent
representative from India, or wherever your call center is located.



yeah, the last one i sent is weak. I'm tired of dealing with it. At this point, i am pretty much sick of the whole thing and could really give a shit if they cancel the service or not. I drive the car maybe once or twice a week now, so whoopty fucking doo.

Edit:
this was received this morning... Another autoreply:


Dear Mr. ******,

Thank you for contacting XM.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused and we are sorry to hear about the difficulties that you have previously encountered. We have escalated your request to our Supervisor and you will be contacted as soon as possible. Thank you for being a loyal listener and we look forward to many more years of providing you with our service.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346). Our Listener Care Center's hours of operation are as follows:

Monday - Saturday: 8AM-11PM EST
Sunday: 8AM-8PM EST

Thank you,

Paul

XM Radio Inc.
1500 Eckington Place NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
www.xmradio.com
XM Listener Care: 1-800-967-2346

good job sam.

you shouldnt have to put up with such poor CS. ive had similar experiences with cell phone services up here in canada-land. im actually willing to pay a bit extra, and have better cs and headache free services.

i dont think ive heard of one person thats been happy with any of the sat radio services. i love it when companies talk about activation fees. its just such bs. you buy their service, and their hardware, activating the stupid thing on their network should be handled. most of the time its done by a button presser anyways, just to allow the ESSID of said device to talk to the network or w/e. stupidity.

personally -- i havent listened to the radio by choice in quite some time now. cds are wonderful things. mp3 decks are even better. i cant stand radio DJs, i hate the commercials, and most of the time the music they play is garbage.

there are only a couple of channels that I really listen to anyway. I will be a little sad to lose XM52 Faction, XM48 Octane, and the Decades channels... but to put up with this shit? It's asking a bunch.

Posted by Samurai there are only a couple of channels that I really listen to anyway. I will be a little sad to lose XM52 Faction, XM48 Octane, and the Decades channels... but to put up with this shit? It's asking a bunch.

You can always find their playlists or recently played songs on their websites, and just download to an mp3 player or disc.

Yeah, XM sucks now.

I'm still pretty pissed that "Sqizz" turned into "Octane"

And their billing shit is fucked up. Threatening to cancel the service if the bill is not paid 2 weeks before the bill is due.

Not to mention that prices are going up in July.


FTW

All he needs for the car is one little cable. That's it. It's a 20 dollar cable that plugs into the earpiece output jack on either a Zune or an Ipod and into the auxiliary input jack on the radio console itself. I just haven't gotten around to buying one so that we can use my player in the car.

Either that or the FM transmitter setup that plugs into the accessory jack, formerly the cigarette lighter, of the car. That's a little more pricey, somewhere around 50 bucks.

I don't think he'll be buying a player anytime soon though. Myself, I'd cancel XM, then take that money, what you'd pay for three or four months of XM and go get a player. Microsuck should have them on sale pretty soon, usually every year or two they come out with a new generation, so the old ones go on clearance for up to half price.

Shael