XM:
Good Radio
Lousy Customer Service
By D.W.
I have previously owned and enjoyed an XM radio but their lousy
customer service was a real turn off for me. One bad service call is
unfortunate, two are a coincidence, but eight consecutive bad
service calls signal a systemic management failure.
Afterwards, I
decided that I couldn’t do business with a company that disrespects
its customers. And I would advise anyone who is considering
purchasing XM to avoid a hassle and rethink buying one.
I will admit that I enjoyed the programming for the radio which
covered every type of music I can think of. I was able to easily
match my music with my mood and I didn’t need a CD library to do it.
Of course, an IPOD can now take care of that but then I would not
always be able to listen the new stuff like I would on my XM radio.
I enjoy listening to techno and dance music, a bad habit I picked up
after living three years in Europe. Radio stations playing this
music are rare outside of New York City, so XM was the best choice
for this genre. I could also listen to channels for every type of
jazz available and a channel dedicated to Blue Grass and unsigned
Country Groups not available on local stations.
Unfortunately, the satellite reception was spotty at times and this
is unacceptable for music that I am paying for. Apparently there are
plenty of other people who have experienced similar problems with
their XM radios.
Although at first, this was an issue with
technology but it eventually became a customer service problem. And
for $12 a month the technology and the service should be perfect, no
exceptions.
On the technical side, my problems with XM started out with spotty
reception. Bad weather would often block the signal and a decent
sized rain cloud would also do the same, leaving me very annoyed.
And for some strange reason, I could not get a signal throughout the
entire city of Austin Texas. How do you travel through a whole city
without service; that is just mind boggling?
I can’t believe that they are
not aware of the lack of coverage in a city so close to them. They
certainly have the investment capital available to fix all of these
technical issues so why don’t they just fix the problem and be done
with it?
On the customer service side, when I bought my first radio I paid
for a year of service. Six months later I bought another one under a
family plan and paid that for six months at a discounted price. My
first radio broke down in about 11 months so I decided not to renew
the contract on that radio but maintain the service on the second
one.
And then well before I could call to cancel the service for the
first radio, I checked my credit card bill and found a charge from
XM that I didn’t authorize. I called them and discovered that they
automatically charged me for another year of service on my first
radio at full price and for another six months on my second radio at
the discounted family rate.
Initially, I assumed that the solution to this problem ought to be
simple enough.
However, after I discussed it with about 15 customer service
representatives, it appeared to me that most of them seemed to lack
the basic comprehension skills that any adult should have. I told
them to cancel the service on the first radio and to continue
service on the second one for another six month at full price since
I didn’t qualify for the family plan anymore.
All the XM customer service representative had to do was add the $3
a month extra to cover the difference in price between the family
plan and the regular plan to my bill. Now keep in mind that they had
already charged me, so once they did this they could then refund me
the remaining amount from the original charge for the first radio.
Now does this sound like a real complicated transaction that only an
accountant could handle?
Well it took me about four months and five service calls per hour
just to get my money refunded.
The funny thing is that I spoke to a manager each time and they kept
giving me the same lame excuse that they didn’t have the authority
to refund me the money. Frustrated, I kept asking, “Well, who does,
and just put me in contact with this person and let’s get it
straightened out. “
To add perspective to this situation, it didn’t take me nearly as
much effort to get my pay problems straightened out with the United
States Army. And come to think of it, XM’s bureaucracy rivals the
worst of governmental agencies; the IRS was easier to deal with than
these second rate clowns.
What is even worse is that it took me two calls just to cancel
service on the second radio at the end of the six month billing
period. I was so fed up that I simply couldn’t stand this nonsense
anymore. And I had to get the bank issuing the credit card involved
to settle the payment issue.
To make matters worse, each time I called I had to explain the whole
situation all over again to the customer service representative
because they apparently don’t keep any records or histories of their
calls or they can’t access them. Is it just me or does this company
have some management problems here?
My sincere recommendation is that if you are thinking about XM,
think again!
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