Canceling Sirius XM weather . . . .

comanchepilot

comanchepilot

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Joe Farrell, yeah, him
My saga started off with the usual - but I was firm and told the CSR that I was not interesting in how my day was going and I was not going to cooperate with their script. Thus, I was able to terminate my service in 12 minutes. And only two transfers.

That said, it was not easy. And I needed to be rude. Which was sad.

The first person was off shore and I told her that I was not going to cooperate with her script and that I wanted to terminate my service. She quickly transfered me to a US / Canada rep.

This person took the information and then asked me why I wanted to terminate. I said "None of your business. I simply want to close my account."

He then said: "I cannot take your cancellation with out a reason."

I said: "I am attorney, I have your subscriber agreement. Where does it say that you have the right to ask for a reason?"

3 minutes go by and then he transfers me to his supervisor since he can't find it.

She then tells me that there is no requirement to tell them why. There is no contracted requirement but it is their 'procedure.' To which I reply, are you going to terminate my service or do I have to file a consumer complaint with my state regulator?

She says: "Let me terminate your service." 3 minutes later, I'm done.

The problem here is that you must be rude to get rid of them. Why can't they simply accept a customer's wish and be done with it?

I know others have taken literally days to terminate them. I did not want to have to waste even 45 cents on a stamp.

The whole comment that they cannot terminate without telling them why? Thats over the top. The prez of the company is going to get a letter on that one - its breach of contract.

It took me an additional 6 minutes to cancel - at my hourly rate its almost worth writing the letter. . . .
 
^^^ 1 vote for this as an XM cancellation procedure sticky. :D
 
i did that a while back... waited on hold for 20 minutes. by then i was plenty upset... so i was kinda rude, and i was cancelling due to poor customer service anyway... but when i was rude, i got it cancelled in 15 minutes. they asked me why, and i said, because i feel like it. they accepted that.

then i tried to reinstate my service a few months later, and it took 3 different phone calls with 15 minutes or more on hold. and then i had to argue for over 15 minutes to have them waive the activation fee. but i told them, well, im not paying that fee, so if you want my subscription, you'll drop that fee because I don't need it that bad and I'm not paying it.

long story short... they dropped the fee, and i payed the monthly rate.
but wow its painful trying to deal with them. also my service didnt work for 3 months so that led to multiple more phone calls, and oh my goodness. painful!
 
I've come to believe that ADS-B [FIS-B] is just easier- no one to talk to about it.
 
The skinny is to call the Newfoundland office and deal with them...apparently the Canadians have not off shored the XM custom service department....

http://www.siriusxm.ca/
 
Wouldn't be easier just to stop payment. For subscriptions of any kind I always pay by a check in the mail. On my last check to DirecTV I just wrote a note "Cancel my subscription", and that was it. Stop payment on any subscription is the easiest way to cancel it. BTW I did the same with AOPA and still receiving the magazine, oh well!

José
 
comanchepilot said:
This person took the information and then asked me why I wanted to terminate. I said "None of your business. I simply want to close my account."
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Since when is "I want to close my account" not a reason?
 
Piloto said:
Wouldn't be easier just to stop payment. For subscriptions of any kind I always pay by a check in the mail. On my last check to DirecTV I just wrote a note "Cancel my subscription", and that was it. Stop payment on any subscription is the easiest way to cancel it. BTW I did the same with AOPA and still receiving the magazine, oh well!

José
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Stopping the payment method is not cancellation of service - if you do that they will send a collection agency after you for their money. There are many stories out there of Sirius XM collecting after people gave up trying to terminate and simply closed accounts and credit cards -
 
comanchepilot said:
Stopping the payment method is not cancellation of service - if you do that they will send a collection agency after you for their money. There are many stories out there of Sirius XM collecting after people gave up trying to terminate and simply closed accounts and credit cards -
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Direct TV is the absolute worst to cancel service with.. If you are a new customer signing up the can handle the transaction with one person and 10 minutes.... Cancelling the service will take hours.:mad::mad::mad:...
 
Subscriptions are everything for their business. Everybody from the CEO down is focused on getting subscriptions. The CEO will have to talk to analysts every quarter about their subscriber churn. It's like the situation with America online a decade ago when it was famously impossible to cancel your subscription without battling script-wielding call center workers.

This is the reason I was reluctant to authorize automatic credit card charges for XM, but I gave in when I discovered while airborne that I had no data due to forgetting to mail a check.
 
They may want to know if you're cancelling so maybe they can improve it. Customer feedback.
 
saracelica said:
They may want to know if you're cancelling so maybe they can improve it. Customer feedback.
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They're asking "why" to 1) try and convince you to keep the service, and 2) develop processes to make it harder to cancel in the future. There's not much XM can do to "improve" the service..... except in the customer service department.

They ARE quite difficult to deal with - it was very painful to switch from one radio to another.... they wanted to try and convince me to keep a second radio (hard to do when you don't have it any more....).
 
And on the radio side, I'm confident that services like Slacker and Pandora are hurting XM badly.

I used to have XM in my business vehicle, but anymore, I simply listen to "my stations" on Pandora when traveling.
 
I had no trouble canceling. They dropped my service, so I stopped paying. Done.
 
comanchepilot said:
Stopping the payment method is not cancellation of service - if you do that they will send a collection agency after you for their money. There are many stories out there of Sirius XM collecting after people gave up trying to terminate and simply closed accounts and credit cards -
Click to expand...

I actually enjoyed calls and letters from those collection agencies, that's all they do, they never come in person to collect. Do you think they are going to spend any travel money to try to collect $50. DirecTV stopped calling when I threatened suing them for harassment. BTW I am using a TV antenna now and I get the same channels I used to watch on DirecTV even when it rains, all of these for free.

José
 
Well, I never hesitate to lambaste a company when their customer service sucks so I also try to give them kudos when they do good.

I cancelled my XM weather subscription today. I'm not flying as much these days and their radio programming has become far too mainstream for my taste (i.e. deep tracks are no longer deep...they're playing a lot of forty year-old top 40 **** that I've heard a million times in those forty years).

Total length of phone call = 6:16.

At the beginning of the call I was on hold for three minutes waiting for a live body (and when they picked up they seemed to be in this country). Got transferred to the aviation division, there was no hold at all getting into that division. She didn't play the "why do you want to cancel?" game. She didn't try to sell me anything or talk me out of it. She simply verified my account information and took my cancellation instructions.

I was done with her in two minutes.

They did good.
 
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XM has a special aviation number. They answer in less than a minute. Too bad they have not been able to solve my problem. When I can ADS-B on my G1000 XM goes bye-bye.
 
Glad to hear it - maybe my letter to their VP of customer retention had an impact in the last 3 weeks!
 
Easiest way to cancel service:

Let them do their talk to convince you to stay. Follow it with a "Oh...I'm sorry, I wasn't listening, will you cancel my account?"

They'll do a second pitch. Follow it with "You know, I still wasn't listening. I know you have a job to do, but you'd be better off trying to convince someone else. I'm not going to be swayed."

They'll try another time, most likely. Follow it with "Its strange....I swear I heard you say 'Yes sir, I cancel your account,' but it came out with a bunch of other stuff that I'm not interested in."

Usually, they'll give in. Frustrate them, instead of getting frustrated yourself. If they pull out the "There's no need to be rude card," you can respond with "I missed that, can you repeat it?" a few times until they get the hint.

You have to understand, the reason they try to save people is because most times when people call, they're not really interested in canceling, they're unhappy with something that the rep can fix (or the customer is trolling for credits). If you make it painfully clear that you are canceling because you want to cancel, and not for any other reason, they'll give up and move on to the next call.
 
steingar said:
I had no trouble canceling. They dropped my service, so I stopped paying. Done.
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What's weird is that I stopped paying -- and XM still works. Go figure.

Not that I need it, with ADS-B on board -- but it is funny that it's still showing up on the 496, so many months after cancelling. I guess they're copying the magazine subscription model? :rolleyes:
 
Jay Honeck said:
What's weird is that I stopped paying -- and XM still works. Go figure.

Not that I need it, with ADS-B on board -- but it is funny that it's still showing up on the 496, so many months after cancelling. I guess they're copying the magazine subscription model? :rolleyes:
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Same experience here. I suspended my account for 9 months while doing projects on the plane but using the 396 in the boat the xm never stopped working. I thought about not re-starting it but i didn't want to risk them finally turning it off when I did need it.
 
We all have stories, I'm sure. I used Dish Network for years; then, just went to local stations and quit watching all the others, so I cancelled. I sent them written notice. It was really funny when they didn't cancel and I finally called. They said I couldn't cancel in writing, I had to call. I laughed pretty hard and asked where it said that. Of course, the person to whom you are talking is told to say that and I tried to be nice, but in the end I just told her to sent me a credit for unused payments and if they didn't honor my written notice, which she acknowledged they received, I would turn it over to my attorney. A few weeks later the check came. Business is tough; I know they're hanging on as hard as they can, but this will really affect any future business I transact with them if I ever do. Almost as bad as withdrawing money and closing your account at the bank (g) Best, Dave
 
The trick is to make up an excuse they can't argue with. When I canceled my XM subscription for my car, I just told them that I don't have a car anymore. Hard to argue with that.
 
This thread reminded me that I needed to cancel direcTv. I did it in about 10 minutes. The only reason I had been hanging on, is sunday ticket, nfl network and red zone which time warner cable now provides.
 
P.S. Dad closed a Wells Fargo account in person almost a year ago. Somewhere in all if that they decided he's still got $0.05 in the account.

They have mailed him ten statements via paper mail letting him know this.

He's waiting to see how many they send at $0.20 or so or whatever they pay for bulk mail rates. He has the close out paperwork, if they try to tell him that there are fees associated with his closed account. Heh. Heh.
 
denverpilot said:
P.S. Dad closed a Wells Fargo account in person almost a year ago. Somewhere in all if that they decided he's still got $0.05 in the account.

They have mailed him ten statements via paper mail letting him know this.

He's waiting to see how many they send at $0.20 or so or whatever they pay for bulk mail rates. He has the close out paperwork, if they try to tell him that there are fees associated with his closed account. Heh. Heh.
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I had one that tried to bill me for overdraft fees after I closed the account and they tried to charge a low-balance fee. Funny how the words "next call is to the bank regulator" got the problem resolved very quickly.
 
wsuffa said:
I had one that tried to bill me for overdraft fees after I closed the account and they tried to charge a low-balance fee. Funny how the words "next call is to the bank regulator" got the problem resolved very quickly.
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I remember having a problem with a bank fee on a credit card that was fixed very quickly when the letter to the president of the bank had a copy send to the Comptroller of the Currency. A very large bank, and I got a call from HQ very quickly. :D
 
I had XM weather until I lost my antennae. I called and told them so and they put the account on hold ("We can only do that for 7 months."). They refunded the charges they made post "lost" call. A year later, I got a notice that they were going to close the account.
Problem solved.
 
denverpilot said:
"The voices told me to cancel. What are you wearing?"
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You have the right idea but you are letting them off way too easy. Pressured speech and flight of ideas should keep the guy dazed and confused.

You need to know why I want to cancel? Great. The other night I was talking to my cousin, well no, he is actually my cousin-in-law. We were sitting on the green couch watching the Weather Channel when we started talking about how snow is depicted. It's kinda like Intellicast but I think slush is different. Is it snowing where you're at? We are forecast to get snow and I was thinking that I need to get the snowthrower ready. I have a Toro machine but think it might be time to trade it in on an Ariens. Almost everybody around here has one of those and I won't have to change the oil first.

(At this point the guy will probably interrupt in a futile attempt to get a simple answer.)

Just a minute. I'm trying to explain this to you! Now where was I? OK OK OK. Yea yea yea. Well we, my cousin-in-law and me and Bill, decided to go to the casino and I was sure I had it figured out where I could beat the slots but we decided to practice on something else first. I lost a few but started winning again which is good 'cause I was running out of money and I gotta pay for the XM subscription. I went to play the roulette wheel, black. So I think slush is pink on Intellicast. I'm not sure how it shows on XM. When I turn off XM the weather always improves so I have had to turn it off a lot lately. Whoa! My face is starting to tingle so my grandpa is about to send his thoughts and my face is starting to tingle real hard. (5-10 seconds of silence) Oh no! Next time I'll bet red. I lost all my money so I'm broke. Can you guys take an I.O.U.? My wife is so ****ed I lost my paycheck that she said I gotta sell the airplane. I can hide the airplane in another hangar but she will see the XM on the credit card bill. But....... if I send you an IOU every month she will never know but my girlfriend might find out anyway 'cause she works for the post office. What should I do? What would you do?
 
Gary F said:
You need to know why I want to cancel? Great. The other night I was talking to my cousin, well no, he is actually my cousin-in-law. We were sitting on the green couch watching the Weather Channel when we started talking about how snow is depicted. It's kinda like Intellicast but I think slush is different. Is it snowing where you're at? We are forecast to get snow and I was thinking that I need to get the snowthrower ready. I have a Toro machine but think it might be time to trade it in on an Ariens. Almost everybody around here has one of those and I won't have to change the oil first.

(At this point the guy will probably interrupt in a futile attempt to get a simple answer.)

Just a minute. I'm trying to explain this to you! Now where was I? OK OK OK. Yea yea yea. Well we, my cousin-in-law and me and Bill, decided to go to the casino and I was sure I had it figured out where I could beat the slots but we decided to practice on something else first. I lost a few but started winning again which is good 'cause I was running out of money and I gotta pay for the XM subscription. I went to play the roulette wheel, black. So I think slush is pink on Intellicast. I'm not sure how it shows on XM. When I turn off XM the weather always improves so I have had to turn it off a lot lately. Whoa! My face is starting to tingle so my grandpa is about to send his thoughts and my face is starting to tingle real hard. (5-10 seconds of silence) Oh no! Next time I'll bet red. I lost all my money so I'm broke. Can you guys take an I.O.U.? My wife is so ****ed I lost my paycheck that she said I gotta sell the airplane. I can hide the airplane in another hangar but she will see the XM on the credit card bill. But....... if I send you an IOU every month she will never know but my girlfriend might find out anyway 'cause she works for the post office. What should I do? What would you do?
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Outstanding...:thumbsup::thumbsup::loco:
 
denverpilot said:
"The voices told me to cancel. What are you wearing?"
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LOL!

I will never, ever, ever, ever give Sirius/XM my credit card number. I pay by check, only. That said, the last time I called to re-up for another year the young woman was very polite, gave me my usual 50% discount (just for the asking) and re-upped me and I paid, fine.

A year ago when I tried to do the same I really wanted to reach through the phone and throttle the dude on the other end.
 
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