Mr. Karmazin,
You’re satellite radio operation, SIRIUS XM, is broken.
When the people you employ to work with and for the subscribers won’t actually work with and for the subscribers, you don’t have a chance of survival.
Bad business.
Tech Support at SIRIUS XM doesn’t actually support tech.
How do I know? I’ve tried to reach them and have them actually help me receive the channels I pay for…even though I don’t actually receive them.
And yes, even though I can’t listen to the channels I want, ala carte, I’m still being billed as if I were.
Bad business.
Your Tech Support people hide behind a vast cadre of people who answer the phone in varying dialects, the least of which is English, which the vast majority of your subscribers speak.
Bad business.
Don’t believe me? Click this link to read the previous, ongoing plea for tech support and then tell me if you really believe in what you’re doing.
I wonder if Liberty Media Corp., you remember, the nice people who gave you a $530 million dollar bailout recently, I wonder if they treat people like this at DirecTV?
I wonder if their board would keep you around if they actually knew what they bought into?
I wouldn’t.
If you can actually talk to someone in Tech Support, would you ask them to fix my problem?
I would…if I could talk to them.
Thanks.
EDIT 3/24/09 – After 2 days and four calls from a corporate type, I have a solution in the works.
I’m not completely happy, how could you be, if you’d been thru what I’ve been thru the last 2+ weeks.
I am heartened by the change in modus operendi.
The ’solution’ will cost me about $72 extra dollars per year, so it’s more than livable, but the hassle and hour after hour of frustration on the phone was worth thousands of dollars if you’d paid me my going rate as a sales, customer service and marketing consultant.
Maybe SIRIUS will hire me to help them troubleshoot a few of their problems, which are many and massive, as far as customer service and websites go.
If you haven’t done so, please read the whole encounter by clicking the link. You’ll feel as bad for me as I do for them.
EDIT 3/25/09 – Still no radio.
EDIT 3/26/09 – Still no radio.
EDIT 3/27/09 – Still no radio.
EDIT 3/28/09 – Still no radio
EDIT 3/29/09 – Still no radio.
EDIT – 3/30/09 – I called the nice young lady and asked why I still had no radio, no Tracking number and no phone call.
She said someone should have called and sent a Tracking number and apologized. The apologies are starting to grow old.
She gave me the Tracking info on my new MiRGE radio, which should arrive on 4/01/09.
That will be 8 days since they agreed to send one.
Personally, I’d have made damn sure it went out that day or the next and I’ve have sent it Next Day Air or Second Day Air at the very least.
I guess when you have ten’s of millions of subscribers, you take ‘em for granted.
EDIT – 3/31/09 – Still waiting. Should arrive tomorrow.
EDIT – 4/1/09 – New MiRGE radio arrived. I’ll try to get it installed and activated ASAP.
EDIT – 4/2/09 – Can get the SIRIUS channels. No XM channels as of yet.
EDIT 4/3/09 – No change. Can’t get anyone who speaks as much English as I do and they cannot get the XM chaanels to activate. I wish you could hear these fools and the sillyass things they have me try.
EDIT – 4/4/09 – No change.
EDIT – 4/5/09 – It’s Sunday, so I have the entire day to try and get someone who speaks good English and can get the XM channels to work.
I spoke with 5-7 people today. Not one was American or had a tremendous grasp of the English language.
They have zero technical skiils to boot.
Same thing each time. Turn off the radio, unplug all the wires plug it in and I’ll send the signal and it will work.
No, it doesn’t work.
I spent 2 1/2 hours sitting in my car and 7 1/2 hours total on the phone and/or waiting for the XM channels to activate.
I’m now 28 days into this nightmare.
I should take bets on when it will end…if it ever does.
Tomorrow I call Corporate again and see if the can find someone who can make it all go away.
EDIT 4/6/09 – The nice young lady in Customer care was advised of the complete and utter inability of the Customer Service reps to get my service activated properly.
She called me back with a gentleman from the IT Dept., I think. I know his name if you need it.
He suggested I send them the radio, let him activate it and he’d send it back.
Since that was less than the ideal advice, I suggested he activate a radio and send it to me and I’d send the one I have back in the same box.
Simple and much, much better.
I hope to get an email with a Tracking number sometime later today.
Until then I have no service, but I’d bet my subscription is ticking just as if I actually had what I was paying for.
I tried to get thru to Jim Meyer, VP of Operations, but he wasn’t taking calls…or not mine anyway.
How about you Mel? You available for a call. You guys have my number and you can reach me anytime from 8 am til 11 pm Central.
Call me. I’m 29 or so days into this precial brand of SIRIUS hell.
Ten’s of thousands of people are reading this post. Let’s talk about how bad you guys are.
EDIT 4/7/09 – Hi Mel. I know you’ve read the email I sent you.
But you haven’t called.
Why? Is it because you’re the CEO of a $2 billion a year company?
Don’t let that stop you, becuase your $2 billion company is losing money every month.
I’m part of the ownership group of a $100 million company that isn’t losing money every month.
I’m also a sales, marketing and customer service consultant that’s in demand every week.
Oh yeah, the replacement MiRGE radio you guys sent me today?
Well, Mel, it didn’t work. It had no XM service on it.
Even though your Engineering guy said he personally activated it before he put it in the UPS box.
Another sucky day in SIRIUSland, Mel.
Another bad day for your team.
Call me. I’ll help you help your team.
EDIT 4/8/09 – Another day down, Mel.
Day 31 I think.
Still no solution.
Another radio on the way.
Another day lost and more to come. Guaranteed.
Most ‘Reputation Management Consultants’ would tell you to call me or at least comment here, Mel.
It might make you guys look like you care.
Although, it’s been so bad for so long, you may not even be able to save your reputation.
I’ll link to an article/post that might be good for you to read:
http://www.flyteblog.com/flyte/2009/04/managing-your-online-reputation.html
EDIT 4/9/09 – Thankfully, Mel ol’ buddy, the ordeal may be over. I received a radio today that actually worked and had SIRIUS and XM programming on it.
It’s not a done deal, yet, because you guys still have to “merge” it with my account, but I’m betting you get thru that with flying colors…just like you did the other 30+ days of this mess.
It’s been nice using you guys to create the perfect case study in how to not protect your online reputation.
Thanks for being there for me Mel. It was nice to never hear from you or any other senior brass.
Good luck with that stock price thing.
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I’m right with you there, Mike. Here’s my take: http://tinyurl.com/c5qgp2
I’ll be reading,
Glenn
Hey Glenn,
Thanks for the post and for the info on Garmin.
I’m in the market for a GPS. Guess who just jumped to the front of the line ?
The corporate folks at SIRIUS XM have jumped into the fray and are well on the way to solving my dilemma with a very nice solution.
It’ll cost me a bit more in the long-term, but it’s very viable and they have been very professional.
It doesn’t in any way make up for the two weeks of hell on earth, but it’s above and beyond average.
Glad you’re there on the other end of my posts
Funny, you’re writing this. I’ve had so many problems with XM’s website this week! I won’t list it here because the list would almost as long as yours. AARGH!
Dang! I thought I was the only one, Kathy!
BTW – The print named Hay In The Loft, shown on your website, looks like you were near my house
Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment.
I have been calling Xm customer support for 2 weeks. (6calls). I subscribe yearly. Two weeks ago I lost the “Stock Ticker”. The first round of calls ended with me using profanity. I spoke to know one that can speak English. I was asked by each person I spoke for my account information. I don’t mean one or two security questions. I mean state your name then “would you please verify “all” of your account infomation”.. I now refuse. I have asked to speak directly with a supervisor and I;m told I can. To do that you need to verify your account information. You folks have no idea how mad these people have made me. Anyway, on the first round of calls I was finally told that the stock ticker data was not working. So today I called back 5 times. Each time I refused to give them all of my account information. I gave them my name and phone number. I just want to know if the stock ticker was be up and running anytime soon. Simple question ??? I think so. Can I get an answer to it ? No. Does anyone listen to the complaints. does anyone care? Can anyone speak English. I think I would settle for that.
I have felt your pain Charles. I’ll light candles and prey for you
I hear you. Got my Mirge radio, no XM service yet. And a whole lot of other issues. Which email did you use for Mel? The one I got from someone else just bounced back. Please email it to me. Thanks!
I’m sure the one I used has been changed Selin. It didn’t do me near as much good as a well read blog
Man does this hit the nail on the head I gave up after one day of this crap. Held on the phone for 1 hour 35 minutes transfered 5 times and ended up where I began with nothing but wasted time what a bunch of crap
Bought a new car with XM and tried to transfer my Sirius subscription to it. And, I thought my experience was a one-off until I read this. After having plenty of time to think through the merger, it is a horrible and badly broken mess. I was a huge supporter of Sirius/XM but no more.
At the end of last year, I called to turn off my XM service for financial reasons and spoke to someone who I would have guessed to be American. I called today, and it was like being in a foreign country. I decided that I would not reactivate my service after calling 3 times and dealing with 4 people who obviously had no grasp of the English language.
I experienced all of the above trying to buy a sirius radio and to subscribe….Many days and many foreign countries later finally got someone who actually knew how to help me (a person with very little tech knowledge.. then) and got the radio and subscribed.
Since I haven’t had any problems ….that I’d recognize perhaps…you would have to break off my arm to get my subscription back.
their awful website, bad customer service, lack of advertising….I’m amazed the company has survived…If they ever get it together and run it like a customer oriented…company..and try to attract more than the 20 to 45 crowd this stock will be golden.
I tried to find out why the Big Ten sports channel was discontinued, spoke with three different who spoke little english and thirty minutes of being on hold still did not have the answer. Decided to call corportate operator transferred me to xm extension and was put on hold saying all corporate customer service was busy then after being on hold forever it rang two times and then I was disconnected! This happened to me three times – sad that you can’t even talk with a person in the corporate office!!
Well, I am glad to know that I am not the only person that had problems with customer service. I had to call 6 different times, in order to get someone that I could understand my question. On three occasions I asked the representatives why they could not understand me, and they all said that my phone was cutting in and out, but I was on a land line so I have a feeling that is what they are told to say in case of any language barriers.
I had purchased the Stiletto 2 and was having trouble with the activation, which is the reason behind my obsessive phone calls. I had no idea what to expect from the Stiletto 2, but it was discouraging to learn after I had purchased it that I would also have to purchase a home docking unit and a vehicle unit, since the only time that you can get radio is when you are wearing the headphones or it is one of the docks. Did I mention that when you wear the headphones you have to be in a wide open space with no obstructions????
Before I wasted anymore of my time figuring out everything else I need to buy in order to make any use of the Stiletto, I packed it back in the box and headed to Best Buy to return it. On the way back I called customer service to let them know that I was upset. They initial customer representative barely spoke English (no surprise), but when I told her I wanted my money back for the activation fee and subscription, she then connected me to a very well-spoken representative who encouraged me to continue with them. She even went as far as to offer 6 months free service and a free radio and vehicle unit.
I declined. In the 3-4 yrs. that I have owned an I-pod I have not had so many problems with it as compared to the 3-4 hours I have owned a Sirius radio.
I know I wrote quite a bit, but I needed to vent. Thank you
Glad you stopped by and relieved a little frustration Mariana.
I’m so mad at these idiots, I have given up even trying to call the “listener care center” or lack thereof. I was on-line looking for Mel’s e-mail so I could share my frustration and I found this instead. Not a resolution to my problem (or others), but at least I could laugh a little after a very frustrating experience with a totally incompetent company.
I feel your pain Kathy!
Try googling their New York address and phone number and call the corporate office. I’d start by asking for whoever is in charge of helping pissed off clients
Wow, This is rich!!
What a read and an experience for you. Not surprised as in my due diligence of possibly getting sat radio, I foound an F BBB rating, many blogs of peed off customers with some real horror stories. You are by far the most patient that I’ve read.
I will never waste my money on this pathetic service was my final decision.
BTW if you go to message boards, you will see a lot of investors read: gamblers) who have been buying this stock for years and suffered massive losses. Yet when you try to discuss and ask questions why they are investment-stupid or write about these experiences, all they do is call you a basher, to go away and even make up stories about why someone would post a negative on a company/stock they love.
These gamblers mentality seem to mimick the CSR mentality.
Good luck, you’ll need it if/when you try and disconnect the service…from what I’ve read.
PS Make sure you cancel your credit card first.
A copy of my letter to Mel.
To whom it may concern,
I received a new sirius radio for Christmas. The FM extender antenna was damaged. I called on Dec. 26th and talked to Tech Support. They said they would send one to me free of charge and it would arrive in about two weeks. It is now January 22nd. I do not have the antenna. The antenna was never sent out. The antenna was never put on backorder to be sent when it came in. Your tech support person is now telling me that I will have to call back again next week to see if they have the antenna in stock again. So here I am with this brand new radion that has not worked for over a month. Sirius can’t get me one. Sirius can’t put in a back order and it is my problem to call you back to check and see if maybe the antenna will arrive next week. If it does not arrive then I fully expect to have to call you again in a week to see if I can use my new radio. This is a customer service nightmare. Your VP of the customer service department should get out of the big office and find out what is really happening in the company. American companies today have lost sight of the consumer and sooner or later it will come back to bite you in the butt. My account number/ phone is ***********.
I have forwarded this to investor relations as well in hope that it will get to corporate headquarters and not just to the guy in India that is supposed to be taking care of the problems so the big wigs can keep thier heads buried in the sand. Thanks for listening. T
I just fixed my problem. I let my subscription run out. I was with them 3 years. But XM hasn’t turned it off. Not my problem. I hope they want to talk to my customer support staff…me
I feel your pain, had a similar experience today with the barely fluent foreigners and butchers of the English language that XM uses for customer service. Called XM corporate and talked to Lauren about my issues (she seemed to care less). They have been charging me for a car sold 2 years ago on an automatic renewal. I should check my Visa statement more closely. Have (had) two other accounts with them, cancelled both. They clearly are a failing company and I wish them the speediest Corporate disentregration possible, They deserve it. Might want to try and get some management in there that has a clue.
I’m with you guys, but it’s not tech support that’s my problem, it’s the fact that I was convinced to buy a lifetime SIRIUS subscription on a leased vehicle, with the promise of the ability to transfer it to other leased vehicles up to three times at no charge.
Guess what? That’s not true at all.
In fact, when I called to stop the service on my OEM radio, I was told that they could not turn it off – EVER! Also, was told that I should have read the terms and conditions, not listened to their sales representative.
They also told me that the terms were read to me and they have it on tape. I asked them to produce that, since I would never have agreed to buy a lifetime subscription that I could only use for two more years, before I turned in my leased vehicle. They can’t do that, since it never happened.
My new vehicle (exactly the same make & model as the old one) now has XM, so they can’t /won’t help me. The very nice, non-English speaking customer service representatives are all very sorry that they can’t help me.
I should have just continued as a monthly customer, as I was from the inception of SIRIUS, since it would have saved me over $100. Oh, and by the way, NEVER ask for refund, b/c apparently their software is unable to process a refund. Money only seems to go into this company, but they are not using it to hire anyone who actually can or wants to actually help customers.
These Idiots shut off my service 10 days before the due date on the BILL..for $24.00 kept calling no results. got mel Karmazin ex asst. at 202-380-4000..press option 2 then type in karm. Been leaving message every day.. We need to contact the Clark Howard
( consumer advocate ) who has a national radio show and a consumer tv show on CNN.He loves things like this he hates poor customer service…HE WILL get an answer..just Google Clark Howard. I did and a producer of his is going to get back to me Tuesday.National media attention will wake these assholes up that they cant treat their customers this way..PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO CALL CLARK HOWARD….LETS HURT THEM WHERE THEY HATE IT THE MOST…NEGATIVE NATIONAL ATTENTION !!!
I’m still receiving XM for free. My phone has been ringing off the hook. I cancelled the credit card that they got paid with. I have them on “my” ignore button. For years I did without XM/Sirus. Who needs them now. Good luck folks. Remember no good deed goes un punished.
I listen mostly to XM152 most of the day. They can’t seem to get any of the programs on that station right. I’ve also called Cust. Svc. and wasn’t treated like a customer or given any service. It’s so funny how they always ask what is supposed to be on the station….duh, you run it you tell me. Still monthly…thank god! When the my cell contract runs out I think an iphone is in my future. Maybe AT&T will do something when I call about dropped calls.