The Cancellation Process

I subscribed to SiriusXM in 2012 when I purchased a new vehicle. I enjoyed the wide range of options and access to the BBC World Service, which I can only get during the morning hours locally.

The price has crept up over the past few years, but I never really thought about it, until yesterday SiriusXM e-mailed me a survey. I don't normally even bother to look through these e-mails, but they caught me on a day off so I went ahead with it.

This survey changed everything for me. It asked me how much I felt the service was worth, then asked me how much I was paying. I wasn't 100% certain, so I logged into my account and found out. Next, it asked me a series of questions about how much pride I take in haggling and how upset I was when paying full price. It really got me thinking about how often I listen to Sirius XM (about 20-30 minutes on the average day, long road trips once every year or two) and comparing it to other services I use. I realized that SiriusXM is worth a lot less than what I'm paying.

I went online to chat with the company about this, but they don't let you chat about cancellation. I called the number provided, waited on hold for a relatively short five or so minutes, and then spoke to a rep who offered to lower my overall bill if only I'd agree to pay $120 (plus fees) for a full year up front. When I declined she made a second offer for a six month deal for $60 (again, plus those monthly fees, of course). When I declined this and explained that I was not willing to pay anything right now, she put me on mute and did not respond to me until after asking if she was still on the line repeatedly I eventually hung up. Classy customer service, that!

I still needed to cancel the service (I wasn’t interested in paying less after the customer service experience I’d just had) so I called back. I asked the rep who answered the phone to provide me with a mailing address. He asked me to provide him with account information and I repeated my request for a mailing address. The rep shouted over my second request for the address, and when he stopped I opined that shouting down upset customers was a terrible way to retain business. I asked if he would either provide me with a mailing address or a manager. He placed me on hold.

Several minutes later, the rep came back with a mailing address and asked if there was anything further. I let him know I’d still like to speak with a manager and the call was immediately taken over by a third rep, I’m assuming some sort of floor support lead representative.

Rep #3 was actually pretty great at her job. She was friendly, and while she did make me sit through a total of four offers before she eventually agreed to cancel the service, she never muted the call to avoid my request. We came to an agreement, and I am no longer a customer!

So, point of caution for those of you considering signing up: the sign-up is a fast, painless process. Plan about an hour of your time when you’re eventually ready to move on to something that provides you a better value.