Sirius XM Radio
reviews and complaints

As with all new Honda purchases I received 3 free months of Sirius Radio when I purchased my new Honda vehicle . I renewed the Sirius for 1 month (by check...thank goodness as I have read of numerous credit card charges continuing). I then called and cancelled. But a bill was sent charging me for extended service after I had cancelled. I have received calls every day for weeks after the cancellation from Sirius advising the service was to be turned off. I called customer service and advised again that the service should be cancelled immediately. I next received a billing from a collection agency. I called them as well and they are a typical collection agency that is only there to get the money. I can not allow my credit to be ruined by this lousy $49...but it infuriates me that they are scamming everyone as they have scammed me. I made many good faith efforts to contact them only to have them advise they have no record of my phone calls. When contacting them by email the response has been that they could not locate my account...when I had provided them (customer service agent Nehru-no last name) with all the account numbers. I pdf'd the billing and then never heard back from them. This has to be illegal and appears to be occurring to many many folk judging from all the complaints I have read online. I surely hope this kind of bad business practice can be stopped.

Start reading through the Sirius complaints, and you'll see they have a nice little scam going on.

My story is the same as others here. I canceled my account with Sirius (because I got a new car with an XM radio in it). I also canceled well in advance of my renew date, and got a collection notice for $34.25 seven months after I canceled. I got a ridiculous story, as apparently have many others, about agreeing to a paper invoice even though I didn't have the car with the Sirius radio in it any more. Now why would I do that? I asked what the $34.25 was for and they told me "service." Service? I always paid Sirius in yearly installments, and it cost a lot more than $34.25. I canceled in December and my renew date was March, so it couldn't have been a month I used after my renew date. No one could tell me anything that made sense. I talked to four different people at Sirius and each one kept telling me "but it says here that you agreed..."

If it said there that I was Queen of England, would that also be true then? Finally I threatened to cancel my XM account and was told - no kidding - that "we don't have anything to do with XM." WHOA! How did THAT inter-office memo get lost?

I also ended up paying the $34.25 in order to not mess up my pristine credit. I even sent a registered letter to Mel Karmazin, the CEO of Sirius. Of course, I've heard nothing back, other than - not kidding again - a phone call from a Sirius rep "noticing that I'd canceled my account some time ago and would I be interested in a promotion?"

You don't often suspect large corporations like Sirius-XM of perpetrating a scam, but boys and girls, this is nothing but.

On 8/3/09 I called to cancel my Sirius service on a radio I purchased from Radio Shack and I was told it was done . I then said I wanted to pay for the next 6 mo. service on the other radio and was told it would be $78.58 and gave her my debt card number. On 8/10/09 they drafted $156.83 from my account? When I called Sirius to get the matter figured out I talked to three different people, gave them each my name, account number, verified my address and phone number with each of them and spent most of the next hour on hold. After all this time I finally get to speak to someone who is getting it straightened out but now I am told I will not get a credit for the difference of $78.25 but $62.41. When I asked why the difference they told me some bull about fees and I had to pay for the service to todays date since the person I talked to on 8/3 did not put any notes in the file. After talking to "Emma" a supervisor I got nowhere and decided after 1 hour and 15 minutes it was time to cut my losses and hung up. Since Sirius is the only "game" in town what choice do we consumers have but to sit on hold an continue to waste our time when we have a problem. I think their idea of "customer service" is "If we leave them on hold long enoug they will hange up" . I work customer service all day for a very large insurance company and if I put someone on hold for that long a time I have no doubt that I would not have a job the next day. Who is looking out for the consumer in situations as this?

I am jealous of the Sirius subscribers who have lucked out and have not had any problems with their Sirius equipment or subscriptions.
This luck group should be very thankful because if they ever have to deal with Sirius customer care, oh boy! They are just plain a__holes! I am not joking! We all know that with all the products we use regularly in this day and age ie. cell phones, computers, electronics, that we are going to have tech problems and have to call upon the associated customer care. That's fine, and it happens and I have had my ups and downs with different companies but Sirius takes the cake. I purchased a Stilleto 2 and one month after the warranty expired, for no reason at all, driving down the road, it just stops working. I call and they take me thru the steps of upgrading and resetting the device and so on. They tell me that its busted and I must buy a new one! This thing costs &350.00! It just breaks after a year and they tell you to buy a new one?! These boys at Sirius must be raking it in because $350.oo to me is decent chunk of cheese.
I love Howard Stern and the music but these jerks must think they can hold you prisoner! No way! Dont do it, Im telling you...

Why doesn't the escape channel ever feature songs (Either classical or others) by mario lanza. His great voice has never been been surpassed or even equaled since his death in 1958. His arias are sensational as is the rest of his repertoire and certainly would provide the level of enjoyment that your current escape listing provide and more. On listening to the 50s music channel again I have never heard any of his songs.

I was a loyal customer for 10 years with Sirius but due to the economic crunch I decided to cancel my monthly subscription with Sirius several months ago. Of course the retention department attempted to do everything possible to keep my account active. One final option they provided was that they could put my account on temporary hold for several months. This would eliminate a reactivation fee that is normally around $50 in the event I chose to reactivate my account. As a bonus they would provide me 1 month free when I reactivated. 4 months later I see a monthly subscription charge on my statement. I was surprised as I never requested the service to resume. I of course called to obtain reimbursement and official cancellation of the account. After roughly 30 minutes I was told sorry we'll reimburse you only less than half. Crazy as they offered me an additional 3 months of service if I stayed but they wouldn't reimburse $12.95? Finally after getting a manager involved the company decided it was best to reimburse the full amount.

Don't be fooled. If you want to close your account just close it completely. Don't take this bait and switch tactic. I had every intention of reactivating in better times but I'm not inclined to give them my business now in the future.

Sirius XM Radio Inc has to absolutely set the record for being the worst customer service program or record! While attempting to cancel the service after 4 years I was placed on hold for the confirmation of cancellation process. After 40 minutes the line disconnected. After calling in a second time and waiting 20 minutes to get the screener, I was given a "direct, no wait number" [protected]), upon which she hung up. Calling the direct number was only a 25 minute wait (we are up to 1hour 25 minutes) when a barely intelligible voice attempted to give me a free radio and when a supervisor was requested, put me into a dead hold for 40 minutes.

Needless to say, I expect an billing problem and hope that the company goes out of business. I'm confident that the call center must enjoy reviewing the statistics of how long stupid people, like myself, will wait on the phone to talk to somebody that cares (obviously there is nobody in Sirius / XM that does)

I just want to share my honest opinion. I have been a Sirius Satellite Radio customer since 2003 and I have always paid $6.99 every month for my two additional radios on a 6 month basis. I guess Sirius has raised their prices to $8.99 every month for every additional radio after the first radio unless you prepay for 1 year then it is $6.99. I don't think it is worth the price increase at all. Over some time I have noticed on certain channels such as the rock station 'octane 20' 'lithium 24', 'hip hop nation 40', and 'the heat 50' is increasingly censoring their music. I singed up just to hear it the way the artist produced it and not hacked up like on air radio. I don't get it...price increases and censoring..and not to mention their customer service is horrible. Only today after I told them to cancel all three of my accounts because of the price increase they offered me $5.99 every month for a 6 month subscription each for my 2 additional radios. It makes no sence at all... if they would have left it at $6.99 for every month I would have not cared! But now they still take a loss. Anyways just wanted to say this.

XM/Sirus is advertising their new iPhone application for Online broadcasting. I recently renewed my contract in Feb. 2009 for a 3years which came with online listening service. To my surpise I can't get my iPhone to connect. I called XM customer service and at first was told yes it should work on my phone and then was corrected that because I have a LOCKED in RATE for 3 years they would have to change my contract and charge me 2.99 more a month, so they want to charge me for something I suppose to already have. RIP OFF... I told her to leave my contract alone I don't need it that bad.

It's sad when a company like XM Radio teaches their in employees to LIE! I brought there promo radio it was supposes to come with a home kit and for a one time fee of $69.00 with no another recurring fee. That was the 1 & 2 lie. From here it just got worse. I have a satellite radio that I have never listen to and never will. Their rep's claim a credit of $100.00 was sent to my credit card. My credit card company has not seen the credit nor have I. I know times are hard but to rip customers off who would without any scams or schemes do business with the XM because of the product is just sad. Something should be done about companies who take advantage of customer in this way. Lie, lie, lie and how about another order of lies because that’s what you are going to get with XM radio.

Buyer beware!
If you see a receiver you like to purchase and are considering the rebate as a buying point, please beware that sirius xm will not honor your rebate. Even if the rebate form is linked to the item you purchase, you see the item on the form, you give them everything they require and by the required date.. Be prepared for a loosing battle as they will not honor your rebate and tell you that you did not buy it from an approved retailer. Just beware, if you want the item.. Please don't even think about considering the bogus rebate offer. You're going to be highly frustrated and disappointed.

I purchased a Sirius Radio for home.When setting up the account on the phone, I gave them my credit card for 3 payments and an activation fee. I specifically indicated on there "recorded" conversation, that I would not be responsible for any further charges and did not want any other services. I paid for 2 years in advance, of which I have not used a year. I received a call a week ago needing an updated credit card number in order to continue the prepaid service. Come to find out, they were charging me 299.00 a month for auto radio services which I do not have. They cancelled these charges, supposedly, from January 09- May 09. The charges for the three months in 2008 will not be refunded, eventhough I did not authorize the service or have the equipment. They will not even issue credit for the unauthorized payments. Now I am receiving emails stating that the prepaid service will be discontinued in 48 hours if I do not provide an updated credit card number. They misused the initial credit card number; Fortunately, it expired at the beginning of the year and now they are going to disconnect a pre-paid service because I won't trust them with another creidt card number.

As XM & Sirius subscribers know these companies have merged. They changed the channel line up a few months ago to merge some Sirius channels to XM and vice versa. At that time I had three XM radios and one Sirius radio subscription. The Sirius radio is in my wife's Expedition. It came factory installed. We paid a full year subscription of Sirius at the time of purchase. *This was prior to the merger of the two companies.
When the subscription was about to run out they sent me a bill to continue service for the next year for apprx. $130. The merger was complete and the channel line up change had also been done. I figured I didn't owe the full $130 because I already had three other radios currently under subscription, this should be classified and discounted as an additional radio.
I phoned Sirius and told the CSR my reasoning. She put me thru to her supervisor. I explained again. The guy said, 'You are right. We get these calls all of the time. We have not yet merged our billing systems yet so there is nothing we can do." I asked him what it costs to add an additional radio to an account for a one year subscription. He said $88. I immediately logged on to my Internet Banking and sent Sirius a check for $88. I told the guy the check was on the way and I do not expect to get my service interrupted.
A month later the service was shut off. A couple weeks later Sirius called my cell phone to offer me this great deal to come back. Turns out it was around $80 for a year. I told the guy I dont want the service and to send me my $88 refund back. He said couldnt do that.
Today, apprx 2 months after solicitation I get a letter from a Collection Agency for $35. with Sirius radio as the creditor.
WTF! They recieved and still have $88 of my money and I havent had service in months. I will probably be filing a lawsuit against them Tuesday morning if this does not go my way tomorrow.
Anyone else having issues with them. Class Action sounds real good.

I just had the WORST experience with Sirius. I am a long term Sirius users. 3 subscriptions, some 2-3 years old and 1 is 1 year old. Recently, a radio was stolen. When I called, I was told I could put the sub on hold AND get a new radio from for $10 when I decide. Period. No new activation fee, no radio swap fee.. simple. But at the time, we could not make the decision as we were on the way out of town, literally. In the meantime, Sirius sends me 2-3 times a week emails offering +2 months if I activate a new radio & no fees to reactivate. Now, I call to get that $10 radio, to replace the stolen one, and activate it on my on hold sub and I am told not only can I NOT get the +2 months bonus offer but I MUST PAY a $15 radio swap fee and I CANNOT get the $10 radio I was first offered as that requires at least a 3 month subscription despite me having an open sub. Now, not only does this contradict their emails, it contradicts their original customer support persons offer and claim to me, but I already have an account on hold that has a not used subscription tied to it. But, now I see clearly. They are going to take advantage of my misfortune, since the radio was stolen, and make some sort of money off me for my loss. Period. That is their goal. They will not honor the claims they made to me, they will not give me a break since the radio was stolen and not charge me the $15 radio swap fee nor give me the radio at $10 like they said you would. On top of that, the night before I waited on hold for 1 hour and got disconnected because their hours of operation ended - while I was on hold! No mention of hours in the dreadful recording, no mention of how long my wait time is like most modern hold phone services can do. So, here I am, trying to get a radio to replace my stolen one, conduct business with them, and they make it painfully hard on me. So, let me clue them in on the big picture. Their lack of desire to wave all the fees associated with activating a new radio to replace my STOLEN one (about $15), their lack of desire to give me the $10 radio at the $10 price and not force me to add a renew period on top of that since I already have one on hold for a radio, is going to cost them much more than what they could have saved by just helping me out and making it easy on me. In 2010 I have a year renew coming up... I will not renew. That means, they will loose 3 radio subs.. and 3 radio subs I have had for years and might have kept for years more. So, their desire now to not be flexible in their policy, to charge me petty fees now, will cost them so much more revenue in the future = hundreds if not thousands of dollars of years worth of possible renew sub fees on 3 radios. You know, I do not NEED a radio I pay for. It is a luxury, not a necessity, and even more so in these economic times. You would think they would work to keep me, but instead they push me away with petty fees, misinformantion, changing stories, inflexible requirements, and hoop jumping. Talk about not looking ahead or at the big picture.

I had XM service installed for a period of 3 years which was paid for in advance. We totally forgot the date it was supposed to expire and we had no intention to renew it. Today I have received a bill from XM for services provided beyond the 3 year period. When I called XM I was told that XM continues the service until I call and cancel. I didnt cancel my service but they discontinued it last month and by the way I didnt sign a contract with them either. I have read several other complaints on XM.
Is there room for a class action lawsuit against XM?

It seems as though corporate america comes up with these great ideas of looting people whereby they either have it in fine print someplace saying that you have to call and cancel oterwise they continue to render service that you dont need as it is either terrible or obsolete.

It was some of those great guys in wall street that brought this economy to its knees and guess what, they get million dollar bonuses!

What a rip off! I activated my radio and NEVER received a signal. I called and was told I was getting an "Airplane" signal, which of course never made it to me (after the 7th call, I was informed that there wasn't such a signal). I have called them over 12 times now and still haven't received the refund I am due. I was put on hold for a very long time only to have to repeat the story to yet another person, she ended up hanging up on me. I am still in the process of "getting a refund" and I will not give up until I get the refund. This has been going on for over a month now and I expect it to continue but they will get tired of me and I WILL get my money back. I would recommend to save yourself the troubles and don't get mixed up with XM!

I have been an XM subscriber for several years now and listen to XM via the car's receiver (both of my cars have it so I have a multiple user account) when on the road, or via the online service when at home or work. I have broadband connections and so the online service sounded relatively ok at the high speed rate. I was notified in February 2009 that on March 11, the online service would no longer be part of my package. However, if I agreed to sign on for another 3 years at this offer time, I could continue to receive online content. So I did and my credit card was billed.

After March 11, I went to the XM online site and went to my favorite music station. This time, the music sounded horrible and realized that I was listening to it at the lower data rate. When I went to switch to the higher rate (as before), I was told that the higher rate required additional fees! I was not told of this in the original offer and the quality of the lower data rate is unacceptable.

Got contacted in the mail about Serius XM's plans to charge an additional $2.99 for internet streaming, but good news, should I go along with pre-paying for one two or three years, I can continue to enjoy the service I have had at the locked in price, no additional $2.99 a month. So I went for it and took on two years. I go online tonight, and the player is blank except for my presets, with which I am able to access some programing. I decide to get to the player through the internet rather than with my favorites link, thinking that may resolve it, and I do get to the player and it still has the raggedy, corrupted graphics, but all stations are there, only the quality isn't the same as it used to be. I go to the settings and I see:

SETTINGS
Choose your listening experience: Basic Online Listening - 32k Premium Online Listening - 128k
Choose your listening experience: Your package does not include premium online listening. Upgrade now.

The upgrade costs $2.99 a month. I can't help but feel deceived. I had at my disposal the higher bit rate stream prior to the letter, and felt I was going along with the offer to preserve the service I had enjoyed for years. As a matter of fact, the letter said that, "Your current XM Radio Online listening privileges will be available at no charge until your next renewal date." Shoddy, shoddy bait and switch, shame on you XM. There was no mention that I would be eligible for only the inferior stream if I took them up on their offer. Lies of ommision won't help their business flourish. It's telling that the 32K bit "basic" stream isn't even offered on their web site. It's sad that that the poor quality internet streaming is reserved for their loyal customers.