Sirius XM Radio review: Billed for services which never received! 58

To Whom It May Concern:

I singed up for xm radio about 3 months ago and signed for a every 3 months plan. Im on financial diet and cancelled all of my credit cards. So the credit card they tried to bill did not work. This is the beginning of my 4th month and I asked them how much will it cost me if I cancel right now. They said $38.85, I asked if I could switch to month to month so I will keep my subscription for a month then cancel it. They said I cannot do date because the beginning of the first month of the 3month plan started already. So I cannot switch to month to month and If I forget to cancel on the exact date. Its better luck again next 3 months hoping I wont forget to cancel it on the right date. Please help me, are they breaking any law with this. Something anti trust or anti lemon law. Please help me.

Sincerely Yours,
Enrique Gonzales

Two years ago I signed up for a 1 year subscription and paid for the subscription in full. Just prior to the end of that year I was activated and had to head to Iraq. I called XM radio and told them I would not be renewing because I was not going to be able to use the radio. When I returned home I called XM radio to re-activate my radio. I was informed that I had to pay a 26.60 dollars fee for two moths of service for not canceling my contract. I tried to explain I did not have contract and I paid for my service up front and I called before I was activated to advise them I would not be renewing at this time. I was told there was no record of my call and I would have to pay for the two months I did not use before I could re-activate my radio. I later found out they sent my name to a collections agency and tried to say I did not pay for services. I called the customer service department and they said there was nothing they can do unless I pay the bill for services I never received. What a joke and they succeeded in losing me as a customer and I have since had several friends leave them also. Stay away form this company there is countless stories of activity just like this all over the web. It is extortion and how they plan on keeping customer is beyond me.

I have owned my new car for 1 year. I found the free trial of XM radio worth renewing - and from the start I've had "account billing" issues. I get billed when I've already paid (and on time, I think that they think there are 5 or 6 quarters in a yearly billing cycle) But the latest issue is worse.

On Sept. 12, 2007, I was away from home when a call was logged on my caller ID. When I returned the call, the number was identified as being the COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT at Xm Radio([protected]). I held and got an agent. After going all through my account information, I was told the account was current and I should not have been called. Two days later [protected]) I was called again and answered the phone. The person identified themselves as being from Xm Collections and started a litany about the account being over-due, blah, blah, blah! I interrupted and said that there had been a call 2 days earlier and that I had spoken with "collections" and been assured that the account was fine. The person then said, let me look . . . , "oh, yes I see that" but the reason for the call is that you were late in your payment - I said "no, I wasn't, the payment was made in August, then the guy said, "let me look, (short passage of time) "oh yes I see that" but we're calling because you only paid for 3 months and the account is a 6 month account", " I said NO the account is on a 3 month cycle and has always been 3 months and I paid 3 months ON TIME" Then he apologized and hung up. (Did you notice that the stated "reason" for the call changed 4 times!?) I went to a phone in the house with caller ID and noticed that the 1st and 2nd calling numbers were different - the second [protected]) was NOT identified as an Xm corporation number when I looked it up. So I called Xm back and made a FRAUD complaint, going through all of the BS AGAIN! I got a call reference number and was told I'd get a call back in 72 hours. Today is 9-24 (10 days) and I decided to follow-up. After speaking to two others I got a supervisor who looked at my account inside and out and assured me that the account is fine and that THERE WAS NO RECORD on their call logs of ANY calls being having even been made to me. I said that I KNEW THAT the account was current! My concern was/is that it's OBVIOUS someone was making unauthorized billing calls and since the first call was from a corporate phone either someone who worked for them had made it or else someone had somehow tapped into their lines. And that the second call came from a number identified to be in the private sector - that means SOMEONE has access to their account information and is trying to get fraudulent payments - if they're doing it to me they're doing it to others. Xm doesn't seem concerned about their accounts being secure.

I had used the XM-Radio service for several years and had been satisfied. While on hold waiting to update my credit card info, I was intrigued by an advertisement for a receiver. Seeing as mine was old, I spoke to the operator about it. Based on the ad and what the operator told me about the product, I ordered it. When I received it, it was not as described. Furthermore, on the receipt it said returns were not accepted. That was never explained to me. I tried to return it anyway but XM Radio refused to stand behind their product. They said all sales were final. Yet again, they did not say that when they got me to order it. Disillusioned and in disgust, I then tried to cancel the service entirely and they became very nasty and said they would charge me an early termination fee. I said how as I was on a month-to-month plan! However another thing they didn’t tell me was that when they sent me the receiver, they put me into a year contract! I did not agree to that. I did not authorize that! The operator stated they would put these charges on my credit card. Isn’t this fraud? In the end, I have waited so much of my time with them and reading what is out there on the web makes me very skeptical that I’ll have a pleasant resolution. I only wish I had checked out XM-Radio sooner!

I work for a chevrolet dealership as a finance manager. I bought a tahoe with xm radio. I subscribed on line for three months of service, $38.00 and 14.99 activation fee. I looked at my bank account 2 days later, they charged me $610.00 for a 5 year plan. I called them to correct the problem. They said i signed up for five years and that it was my fault. I told them i needed the money refunded. They said it could take 5 days to give it back. They are located in the carabeans.
They gave me a phone number in washington dc. Not much help. They cancelled my account with xm in three minutes. I work for general motors. Em radio is a rip off. Dont give them a credit card. Your asking for trouble. They are scam artist. Cheats. Some one needs to do something about it. If you cant walk into a store and speak with someone. Dont buy xm radio.

xm Radio is negligent in their customer service department. I could go into the whole story but suffice it to say they are a company that should be sued into oblivion. The compaints I read here are an accurate portal of there standard business practices. STAY AWAY FROM xm radio.

Over the Christmas holidays I had to call XM to switch out a radio id. I lost a radio, bought another, and just switched the id’s. The operator asked me if I would be interested in purchasing their “special” deal on Sportcasters, which included 3-month service. I told her “NO WAY! I have to many radios as it is.” This operator decided that she would bump up her Christmas bonus and sent me 4 RADIOS! Then FRAUDULENTLY charged my credit card for all 4! I called XM and told them the situation. They told me I shouldn’t have signed for the radios. I explained to them that they were left on my doorstep and signing wasn’t an option. After hours of phone calls and being hung up on numerous times. I was finally told to send them back for a refund. UPS picked them up from my house and sent them back to the shop. Think my nightmare is over... not so fast! The shop not only didn’t refund me for the 4 radios. They sent me 4 new radios to replace them! And yes they added them to my account so I had to go through the process all over again of getting them removed! I was actually told that this time they would have to charge me a deactivation fee for the radios I didn’t order. Yes a supervisor also told me that. I called back and talked to another supervisor who was apologetic and told me that he would make sure I was issued a refund. No I am not holding my breath. And no I still haven’t got it. Oh and Shop XM still hasn’t sent UPS to pick up the four new radios from my house. I am considering lawsuit action and pushing a criminal investigation into XM. They fraudulently charged my credit card unauthorized and will not take it off!

Horrible, Horrible, Horrible! and what a rip off! damn
thing doesn't even get good reception. I have had the worst experience
with XM. I could write a book about my experience with them but I refuse
to waste anymore of my precious time with them. By far the most
unprofessional company I ever dealt with. I have been overcharged various
times and everytime I call customer service they tell me "it's been
fixed" only to have it happen again the following month OR the charges
still remain. I have called at least 20 times and to no dismay. Transfer
after transfer, manager after manager...nothing. They are true idiots
over there. I will never do business with them again and I will tell
everyone I know not to either. Hundreds of dollars just wasted...
Damage Resulting = hours of time dealing with them over the phone and
at least a couple of hundred dollars just wasted

We cancelled all our radios in Sept/Oct 2007. We should not owe any money. We are still getting charged 30 plus dollars. They sent this to a collections agency, and they keep calling here, and are very rude. I am not accustomed to such things. We called XM, to no avail. What else can I do?

I get calls from the collections department at XM radio [protected]) 3 times per day from callers asking for a person who used to have my phone number. I've explained this to them about a dozen times, and each time, I am assured that they will "check into it" and remove my number. They don't. Sometimes they call and just hang up. Very annoying! I've never even heard of this company until now and will never consider becoming a customer.

I found this post by searching for other complaints on the web.

Apparently I had a 24.90 charge floating around in XM after my account had been closed and it was sent to collections. I was told today that there should have been no way that I could have accessed my account online after a year and because of the delinquent balance. I paid the charge through THEIR website via my account login. Minutes later the charge appears in my online banking. I call them up and tell them that I made that payment and proceed to get a ### customer service lady who tells me it impossible that I logged in, that I made a payment, or that I received a confirmation number via e-mail. I went round and round with her for a good ten minutes on that point alone. I grabbed the confirmation number, read it to her, and told her to tell me if that was just a fictitious number sent out by an e-mail that didn't exist. She put me on hold for five minutes and came back a totally different rep. Polite, courteous, and apologetic. Where do they get off acting like a bunch snarky two year old idiots when I am holding the money? THE worst customer service I have ever encountered, and certainly the most unprofessional as well.

As long as they are sucking money out of your account, they will be your best friend. Present them with a problem on their end and they will treat you like a ###. The only good thing about the call? It wasn't someone with an fake American name speaking in poor English. Leave that to Dell and HP where you spend hours on the phone repeating yourself because that phrase isn't in their English for Dummies manual.

I purchased a new car in which XM was offered for 90 days. I wish I'd had it yanked out of my car. Once the free 90 day sample was over, they called me almost daily. My phone rang in the morning and woke us up day after day. It rang and interrupted other phone calls and activities. I won't ever purchase this service because I do not want the harrassment when and if I have to cancel.

Be wise, don't ever let them have your phone number.

your out of luck... i am an xm rep heres the cust agreement

NOTICE OF ARBITRATION AGREEMENT:

This agreement provides that all disputes between you and XM will be resolved by BINDING ARBITRATION.

You thus GIVE UP

YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend your rights under this contract (EXCEPT for matters that may be taken to SMALL CLAIMS COURT).

*Your rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR and NOT a judge or jury.

*You are entitled to a FAIR HEARING, BUT the arbitration procedures are SIMPLER AND MORE LIMITED THAN RULES APPLICABLE IN COURT.

*Arbitrator decisions are as enforceable as any court order and are subject to VERY LIMITED REVIEW BY A COURT.

FOR MORE DETAILS,

See Section 11 above.

oh listen ### all you need to do is call xm and just ask they remove you from the calling list duh common sense

you mean dont buy a GM from you. bcuz all you dealers i think sell more dope to put in these cust heads than actually selling them a car. you guys have no sense on crap and you lie to them by telling them that you will swap service over create free trial account for them when they already have an account with us so they are charged on two account bcuz of you idiots.

Yeah I gotta agree with david just because your too stupid to keep track of what you set your service to which you admitted yourself you activated online not through us. Not only that but your getting a savings of 23% on a 5 year plan. And yes we have locations in the Caribean but we also have 8 call centers in the states. Not only that but your darling company GM is going straight down the craper for the same reasons your complaining about us. Your company is one of the #1 abusers of cheap foreign labor and as a result is on the verge of economic collapse. Why don't you try calling GM's 1-800 number and see who answers the phone?

lol hey ### you gave the wrong copr number lol you pathetic. next if your radio dont work it may be defective or you may need a signal refresh out to your radio. but if you are not smart or have any idea about tech then just go to Sirius they will take every penny from you. XM does not refund ###s

I'm a xm customer service rep and I can tell you whoever you spoke with is incorrect you can change your billing cycle at any time and are just required to pay for the service you recieved up to the time of the billing cycle change and then the next cycle of service. When you cancel you are only required to pay for the service you recieved as we bill in advance no cancelation fee applies. You also can set a future deactivation date to cancel your service once the service you paid for runs out. It's unfortunate but not everyone who works for xm does their job or maybe you just spoke with a new employee whatever the case the info you received is not correct. Right now however we do require that you have a credit or debit card on file for automatic billing for anything under a year of service. Hope this helps.

Seems like a pattern here. In NH we have a law against unfair and deceptiver trade practices. I am calling the Attorney General about this company. Here is my story.

In July I called XM to renew my service. When I found out that they were no longer offering discounted yearly contracts, I told the Customer Service Representative that I was not going to renew my service. Four months later I receive a bill for three months of service. I called and they had a record of my call back in July but no one had bothered to cancel my service.

I was bounced from representative to representative for over an hour. Finally I get to Courtney who says their records only indicated that I had called in July and wanted the same rate as last year but there was no record of a cancellation of service. The fact that the representative did not follow through is not my problem. I thought they would get it when they saw that I had in fact called and they had a note that I wanted the same rate but never renewed that I was probably telling the truth. Not so. Courtney says that in August when I got the bill I should have called and because I didn't it was now my problem. They would do nothing to correct THIER ERROR! Beware of this business. I would not trust them with my financial information, particularly automated or direct withdrawals. They have the nerve to call their customer service "listenercare." It really should be called "littledowecare."

Forced to pay for radio service for car that I have not had in close to 2 years. Only reason I paid was to protect my credit rating which is close to 800. This has now happened two times. After several faxes, emails, and more then 20 calls over the last couple of months choose to just pay these invoices ($40.85) and ($38.85) because my time is worth something. They make it extremely difficult to cancel sending me to several reps and putting you on hold a long time. Tonight it took (3) calls with 5 diff. people for 37 min. The other day it took (4) calls, 4 people and over one hour.

How do they get away with this? They will never let u speak to a supervisor and when they request you to fax your complaints they do not reply.

Someone should force them to answer customers complaints and allow consumers to speak to supervisors or managers to resolve problems. Consumers should not have to pay for service not rendered because XM Radio does not have a date when I called in to cancel service.

I rather not have Sat. Radio then to deal with XM Radio ever again. I will never to business with them, they are the worst company I have ever dealt with.

I had been an XM customer since 2005, and recently XM removed the only station we listen to. I called back in August 2008 to inquire when this particular station will be back on the air, and the customer service rep had no answer. So then I requested the mailing information to their corporate offices & I mailed in a letter stating that since they had removed the only station we listen to I wanted to cancel the service to my car. I mailed in the information mid August, and in October my service was disconnected from my car.

In the begining of December I start receiving calls from XM radio, which initially I assumed they where calling my to try to get my business back, so on Dec 23rd I called and found out they where calling my to collect $28 for services they provided from my expiration of my contact and the date they actually cut off service. I spoke to several customer service reps & finally got transferred to a supervisor Mr.Coughline in the Chicago, Il. call center who help me & said that he would submit a report to look into finding the letter I sent because they had no record of it and I would be receiving a call from them within 48 hours regarding the results, when I asked for is operator number he said it was none of my business, which I thought it was strange but since he had already helped me didn't think anything of it & hung up.

On Jan 15, I received a bill from XM radio for the amount of $545.19 for service that was activated on the 23rd of December. (the same day I called to inquire of the collection charges.) So I called the number on the bill and as soon as I would tell the customer service reps what was going on they would either hang up on me, or put me on hold then transfer me back to the same call center, after being on hold for over 2 hours, I spoke to a rep named Claude operator # 46322 from call center in Jamaica(of all places), who explained to me the reason why no one wanted to talk to my was because I had a NON-REFUNDABLE service & I wanted to cancel. I informed him that the day i called I spoke to a supervisor & he told me he would submit a report on my behalf. He then informed me that it was activated by the supervisor Mr. Coughline, and I asked why he would do this and he answered that they make commission on new accounts. So he then submitted a billing dispute report for the $545.19 and removed the original charges for the $28. and told me that the billing department will contact me regarding my dispute and I should hear from them within 3 days.

On Jan 20, I called to inquire why I haven't received a call from the billing department, & I spoke to Lucy from cancellations department & said that the request had been submitted that morning, when I asked why was it submitted 5 days later she didn't have an answer. She then said that I should give it until the next day for them to call me.

It is now Jan23 & yes i have called again & spoke to another rep who told me that on the same day and same time I called on Jan 20th they attempted to contact me, and left me a message. ( I have yet to receive any calls or messages from them), she then told me that my report was escollated to a billing manager & I would be receiving a call back once this is all cleared up. with in 7 to 10 business days (yeah, when is this ever going to end!).

I am pretty sure that this will continue, more updates to come!

I have 3 xm radios so yesterday I decided to do the lifetime subscription for my main xm radio and do a 1 yr. subscription on one of the other radios. Since I don't use the 3 radio I canceled it. well guess what xm deleated the worng radio for the lifetime subscription so I called to tell them and they told me your 24 hrs is up and it will cost you $75.00 to put it back in active status. DONT BE SUCKED IN TO THIS XM TRAP.

I too was mistreated by XM. I paid for two year agreement upfront. One day when my service stopped, I called to renew based on a special rate advertisement for renewals. I reached an asian call center who told me in broken english that the special was only for good customers and that I was past due. I asked how I could be past due since I had paid in advance. The CSR said " you very bad customer and you must pay." I tried to reason but was repeatedly told that I was a bad customer.
My equipment I purchased is no longer usable because I refused to be extorted for the $20 and change fee she said I MUST PAY.
I miss the service but don't want to reward their predatory behavior.
I am happy they are in financial trouble. I hope I have helped by telling everyone about my negative experience.

I was sent a notification that if I did not call XM and give them my updated credit card expiration date, they would cancel my "award winning" service. I did not give them the updated card information, because I did not want the service. They charged my card any ways without the updated expiration date. To date, I have called five times to get them to reverse this charge. I have been hung up on twice, changed to different people three times and still have not been refunded the money they charged me for an entire year of service. They even asked me for my updated expiration date so they could put it in the computer. I told them no way. I demanded that my card number be removed from the computer and was assured it was. The last person I talked to told me my credit card number over the phone, so obviously it has not been removed. It has now been 10 days since I was promised that my card would be credited and it still has not been credited. I like XM's product, but their service sucks.

Unfair Trade Practice: I've been an XM radio customer for the last 4 years, and enjoying the online service for the last 3. I am taking issue with the fact that they DOWNGRADED my online bandwidth in the middle of my contract period. I had been receiving 64kbps for the last three years and was DOWNGRADED to 32kbps a couple of weeks ago. 'F' them. They want to charge another $2.99/month for 128kbps online streaming. Would anyone find it acceptable if your ISP suddenly DOWNGRADED your bandwidth in the middle of your contract? 32kbps sounds like the radio is playing over my phone. This is good economic climate to start charging people for something that used to be free with the radio subscription. I'll miss Little Steven's Underground garage, but screw XM, Siriusly.

That's not fair. Did you check with your ISP to see whats going on. All these companies are doing whatever they can to make some extra money. It aint fair.

XMRadio story: entire 2008 all I was doing is I was begging XMRadio (on my knees with tears in my eyes) PLEASE send me a NEW CHANNEL LINEUP booklet with colour in it. They said look up online (and chopped my head off), but I asked for a single piece of a colourful booklet the way they used to send in [protected]. They promised me the booklet, which never arrived. Then I started making records: Nov. 21, 2008 they state the booklet will be mailed to me. That was my second call that autumn. When I called first time (in October) they hung up on me. Nothing arrives by Christmas and I call them again. They promise with all their feet and hands on a table. Nothing arrives again. On January 24, 2009 I talked to SARAH (activity ID 1-3UDAA9N or I-3UDAA9N). The time was 7:10 to 7:16 PM on that day. Called 1-800-XM-RADIO. She promised me the final undeniale undoubtful surely arrival of my BOOKLET in just (just) 7-9 days. I waited until APRIL 9, 2009 (today) and nothing! Was I not patient enough? Oh yeah, they just canceled my XMRadio Online. Now I can listen to XMRADIO only in my car. Still got charged same $40+. Nice company that XMRADIO is. They can go to CUBA and be blood brothers with FIDEL!

EXACTLY what they did to me. I traded a car in and called them from the dealership to disconnect the service on the car I traded in. They CLAIM they never got a call and continued to bill me for the service on the vehicle traded in- so whomever bought the car got a year of free service. They actually opened two accounts in my name (one for each radio) I made a complaint with the customer service supervisor who assured me he would open an investigation into the matter and I NEVER recieved a response or a refund. This is the worst customer service center i have ever dealt with. I will never have an XM or Sirrus radio again just because of this. If they owe you a refund, it is like pulling teeth to get it!

Toni
Morrisville, NC

After too much time on the phone. Run-arounds, being disconnected more times then I can count I am too exhausted to go into detail my whole experience with XM Radio and trying to cancel my subscription.

I had already thought that my subscription was canceled more than a month earlier when a lay off gave me no choice but to discontinue. My 1 year subscription that I had paid ahead of time had come to an end. I asked to be canceled 10 days before the closing date. Everything should have been all set.

I even got an email from XM saying they were sorry that I was canceling. Only to find a month later that they didn't go through with the cancelling. When I called the cancelation number to again cancel, I was passed around from person to person, given the run-around and even go hung up on.

I asked to speak with someone from corporate as I wanted the balance of the bill for the time that I was all ready supposed to be canceled, removed. They gave me the telephone number [protected]. When I called that it took me a long time before a person answered. When I told the person that I had an issue with a bill for during a time that I was supposed to already have been canceled, the first time getting through the person hung up on me. The next two times I was put back into the basic customer service recording cycle.

Don't subscribe to XM Satellite Radio. Once you do you will be owned by them, it will be very difficult to end your contract! Frankly not worth aggravation!

I HAVE TRIED ON 3 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS TO CANCEL MY SERVICE AFTER I RECEIVED A BILL
SAYING THAT MY SERVICE HAD GONE UP TO $345.00 FOR THE YEAR. THEY HAD TRIED TO
CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD BUT IT DID NOT GO THROUGH (THANK GOODNESS). I WENT THROUGH THE
NORMAL CHANNELS TO CANCEL MY SERVICE, BUT AFTER BEING PLACED ON HOLD FOR OVER
AN HOUR, 2 TIMES, I TOOK IT AS XM RADIO REFUSING TO TAKE MY REQUEST TO CANCEL MY SERVICE.

ON MY THIRD ATTEMPT I SELECTED THE PROMPT FOR NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS AND AMAZINGLY GOT
RIGHT THROUGH TO SOMEONE. WHEN I STATED WHAT I WANTED SHE TOOK DOWN MY INFORMATION
AND GOT ME THROUGH TO A VERY RUDE GENTLEMAN. I WAS TOLD I HAD TO PAY MY BILL FOR THE
EXTRA MONTH THAT THEY ELECTED TO "KEEP MY SERVICE ON". I THEN ASKED TO SPEAK TO HIS
SUPERVISOR WHICH WAS JUST AS RUDE AND WAS TOLD AGAIN THAT I HAD TO PAY FOR SERVICES
THAT I HAD NOT ASKED FOR. HE JUST TOLD ME THAT MY ACCOUNT AUTOMATICALLY RENEWS EACH
YEAR AND THAT I NEEDED TO READ MY TERMS. I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD TO CALL EACH YEAR TO RENEW MY SERVICE. AS A MATTER OF FACT IT STATES, IN THE TERMS, THAT THE CHARGES ARE ONLY FOR THE PLAN THAT THE CUSTOMER AGREES TO AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SERVICE, AND I DO BELIEVE THAT
ALL SERVICES ARE PAID IN ADVANCE.

I AM VERY UPSET THAT XM THINKS THAT THEY CAN CONTINUE TO BILL CUSTOMERS FOR SERVICES THAT THEY DO NOT WANT AND MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTACT THEM. I HAVE NOW RECEIVED A
COLLECTION LETTER AND I AM FILING A DISPUTE BUT I DO NOT THINK IT WILL DO ANY GOOD.

01/11/10
We have a similar situation. More than a year ago, I contacted XM to start a subscription for two radios. Our original 1-year payment was placed on a credit card that has since expired. We decided not to renew our service so there was no reason to contact XM – so I thought. My service ended in December.

I am now being contacted by rude representatives from a "collection agency" for $28.00 for the last month's service. They claim I owe for the month of November 2009. I stated I never authorized anyone to continue the service. They claim it is part of their terms as stated online. Bills will automatically renew when you have a credit card on file.

I never received a bill directly from XM for the $28.00. My first notice for the $28.00 was from this collection agency.

I’ve contacted XM customer service twice today. Both times the representative eventually hung up on me. I only tried to explain my situation – there were never any harsh words. They know their practice is not ethical.

I've had the exact same experiences as everyone here. I had not official contract with XM, but had their service for years. My fees were billed automatically to a credit card number and I honestly didn't even really know how much they were. I grew tired of the service after discovering I could get music just as good streamed to my Blackberry -- so I stopped using it. Then, my credit card number changed, the service stopped, and I didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward 8 or 9 months (but who really knows when the service stopped working, I almost never used it) -- I just opened a bill from a collection agency! XM bills in advance and I had no contract -- so why do they think they are legally entitled to bill me for service I never received? I've also never received a bill from them -- just a collection notice.

So... the consensus is... they suck.

I canceled my XM radio service on 12-28-09 and was told when I called that my credit card would be credited within7-10 days.

To date - 3-10-10 I have no credit. I have called them over and over and repeatedly get told that my credit is processing - then I was told there was a problem and the credit would be forthcoming. Still not receiving it I called again - they credited me - but to my XM account, not to my credit card.

How are they allowed to operate like this?

I hope everyone reads these comments - no one would ever do business with them.

XM Radio Called me with an offer for 3 months after the compimentary period ran out on a new vehicle. I agreed to the 3 month trial period and paid the amount owed . At the end of the 3 month offer they automatically extended with no call or notice and sent me a bill. I refused to pay for service I did not want. The amount has been sent to a collection agency who refused to discuss, so I called XM. After spending an hour or so on the phone they refused to recall the charges. I didn't even know that the service was being provided that they were charging me for. This is only a portion of what I have been through. DON'T FALL FOR THE NICE PHONE CALL YOU RECVIEVE AFTER YOUR PROMOTION PERIOD ENDS ON A NEW VEHICLE, IT IS A TRAP.

This isn't just an XM thing. Any time you give a company your credit card as collateral for a service with recurrent fees, especially when it is a free or a promotional price offering, the burden becomes yours to call them at the end of the promotional date to cancel the service. They are not obligated to call you to renew at the end of the promotional period because it is considered a recurrent billing.

Here is what I do to avoid that: The bank I have my credit card with has a feature called "virtual card." You can log into your account and generate a credit card number, of which you can specify the dollar limit and expiration date. If I want to take advantage of a subscription based offer, I use one of these virtual card numbers. At the end of the promotional period the virtual card is then expired (since you put that end date on the card), and any liberties the company may try and take with the card after that point will come back "DECLINED."

If there is no contract and they try to go to collections, my virtual card's expiration date showed my intent to discontinue service at the conclusion of the promotional period.

Alternatively, when you are initially signing up for a service that includes an automatic renewal without notification of cancellation, send your letter of cancellation effective (end of current subscription date) and include it with your sign-up paperwork. That way you're covered in case you forget.

I'm Having billing problems to with XM .the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. Its a crap outfit.
I hope ill get the problem straight but by the looks of this Complaint board its probably a lost cause and i'll get screwed out of my 300 bucks.
JP Pennsylvania

Unethical Billing and Hard to Cancel Service
First called back in Dec. 2009 to cancel the radio. They said they will give me 3 Months free. I told them I really don’t want it, but they would give it to me any way.
Called Back in Feb, called XM Radio [protected] to cancel both radios.
Thought the madder was done, but in April I had a $75.00 charge on my credit card. I Disputed that charge a credit was given back and then came back saying you only charged $17.50. Again thought the matter was done, but not,
Received a bill in the mail on 6/24/10 Statement Date. Account summary for billing period 04/26/2010 – 06/24/2010 for $75.00. Keep on mind, I had canceled and could not even use the radio. No signal. Called back why am I still getting charge for service when I can’t use it or want the radio?
On 06/30/10 called back about my bill. She said she would take care of it, and disregard that bill. There will be no charge and balance would be $0.00. If this madder wasn’t taken care of. I would have to call the District Attorney Office and report XM.
Thinking this madder was taken care of. On 07/10/10 I received a letter dated July 6, 2010. From their collection agency. Past Due Balance for $75.00.
6 Months latter and still dealing with this company in trying to get my account canceled.
When there is a Class Action Suit against XM Satellite Radio. Include me in.

When I first learned that XM was threatening collection action over amounts I did not owe, I made several calls to both XM and their collections agency without success. I faxed and mailed XM and their fake collection agency a letter disputing the amount, filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/ and filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Protection Agency https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/. The FTC does not respond to individual complaints, but tracks patterns and will respond if enough people complain. If you'll notice on the BBB site, literally thousands and thousands of people have filed complaints against XM.

The phone calls from the fake collection agency stopped immediately. Today I got a notice from the BBB that XM realized their "billing error" and that my account balance is now zero. I am posting this so everyone knows that you do have options and do not have to pay XM for fear of harm to your credit rating.

Here is my experience in an email I sent to XM today. I will be canceling ASAP and trying to get my $627.88 back!

I am writing to report the TERRIBLE service (if you can call it service) that I received from XM regarding a billing issue that I am having. As of the writing of this email this issue has yet to be resolved and I was told 26.5 hrs ago it would be taken care of in 24 hrs.

I found that I am being overcharged for my 3 yr XM Everything Plus Best of Sirius Subscription and called to resolve the issue. So far I have paid $627.88 for a subscription that cost me $511.40.

I called on 9/21/2010 around 8:20am EST and spoke to a women, explained my situation to her, had to tell her the payments I made (she couldn’t see these?) then was put on hold and after 2 minutes disconnected.

I called right back and got Dean at Station 931 on the phone. I spent 25 minutes on the phone with Dean trying to get this situation resolved and he was absolutely NO HELP to me at all. He asked me 4 times to tell him the days and amounts that I paid, then I could hear him trying to add the amounts together (I didn’t want to be put on hold because I knew I’d just be disconnected again) to try to see if what I was telling him was true. He could not seem to add together $105.74 + $105.70 + $209.28 + $103.58 + $103.58 to get to $627.88 nor did he understand that this is GREATER THAN $511.40. I asked repeatedly to be forwarded to a supervisor and he refused saying “she is taking her own calls”. He did NOTHING to resolve this issue on the phone and said he needed to submit a problem report regarding my account. And then he GUARANTEED me I would receive a call within 24 hrs regarding the resolution to this issue. Again, its 26.5 hrs later and no resolution. I also asked him to remove my credit card from my account and change me to Invoice Billing and he did not do that.

I was a Sirius subscriber until Feb 2010 when I purchased a 2010 Toyota Prius that came with XM. Subscribing to XM was the BIGGEST mistake I have ever made. Your customer service is HORRIBLE, the people you speak to on the phone are complete idiots and I am still out $116.48.

Any thoughts on how we should resolve this issue? Beside canceling and going back to Sirius?

NEVER NEVER NEVER deal with XM, they are AWFUL! They put a bogus account into collections and I am so furious. Never again.