Please, stay away from sirius for your own sanity (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

I was a BIG sirius supporter, I liked the product, I liked that clearchannel has nothing to do with them.

I've been a subscriber since January, happy as a clam. I move to denver, change jobs, times are tight and I don't hae a lot of extra cash. What do they do? they accidently bill my account 125 bucks for a full year subscription instead of one month. Whatever, I call them, fairly angry but they credit it back to my account.. of course it takes 30 days and I'm without that 100 bucks for that 30 days, when I need it the most

After the credit came through I called back and cancelled, I can't afford to go through that again because of their screwups.

Tonight I'm looking over my CC statement, and what do I see? a charge from sirius for 119 bucks. WWWWWWWTF!
I call them, same routine, sorry we messed up, this never happens, yadda yadda, we'll credit it back. I'm not even a customer lady, WTF are you doing???

So in summary, sirius, good product, horrid billing department.

 

[Jeffrey D Smith]

Well... in that case people should avoid satalite radio altogether, I believe I already told you in another post that XM radio did the same thing to me.

I was able to work something out, it took three calls, but I finally got rewarded for watching them like a hawk. (Half off for the remainder of the year)

Just like any product or service, you need to make sure you are being billed correctly.

 

[Philip_G]

they have made no concessions at all. I was surprised when I cancelled and no offers were made, no wonder sirius has been in financial hot water.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Actually, Sirius is NOT in financial hot water. They have been in the past, but so has XM, and every other company at one point or another. Sirius cleared nearly ALL of their debt two months ago. And I'm sure their billing department is just fine. Almost every company that has a service that I have used has billed me incorrectly at one point or another. Sprint has billed me incorrectly almost every invoice they sent me for the first 6 months or so of service. So don't knock a service for something that happens on rare occasions.

Sprint's billing, or AOL's on the other hand, does not have occasional scewups. I have seen websites that list hundreds of them, with a small percentage being reported, and there are some large clas-action suits against the company as well.

I still can't wait to get Sirius!!

 

[Michelle Schmid]

Wow. I should discontinue my perfectly good satellite service because you received a couple of erroneous bills? No way! That would be insane. Besides, if that were how I did everything, I wouldn't have satellite TV, heat, lights, water, Internet service, or, really, anything at all. I don't know of any company yet who hasn't billed me incorrectly at one time or another. That's why I check bank statements, credit card statements, and bills every time I get one. People do make mistakes.

If you called them, and they corrected the errors, I really don't see the problem. They didn't hassle you or refuse to fix the mistake! Sure, the timing of the situation was bad--but when is it ever good?

I was surprised when I cancelled and no offers were made

Really? You called them up, and instead of being pleasant in order to work toward a happy concession, you were instantly "fairly angry" and threw fits, and you are surprised they didn't beg you to stay?

 

[Jed M]

Sirius is NOT in financial hot water. They have been in the past, but so has XM, and every other company at one point or another. Sirius cleared nearly ALL of their debt two months ago.

I think that is way over simplifying things. Sirius is not supposed to make ANY money until the 3rd quarter of 2005. A lot can happen in two profitless years. Investors can get impatient, economy can go down, something better comes along, etc. I like the outlook of Sirius (and XM) but I wouldn't feel comfortable investing my life savings in them like I would with Coca-Cola, McDonalds, or 3M.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

If times are tight, maybe you should stick with free radio.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Think of all the internet sites that had 3 or 4 or more profitless years, like Yahoo, Amazon.com Buy.com and many many more, that are NOW rolling in the dough. I think most start-ups lose money the first couple years, but once Sirius hav established a large customre base, they will become profitable, I'm sure. They are well on their way to that goal with the Here2Anywhere. In the last few months they increased subsrciptions by 60%.

 

[Philip_G]

If times are tight, maybe you should stick with free radio.

this comment is out of line. Maybe times were tight because of a new job, and a move halfway across the country.

 

[Jed M]

In the last few months they increased subsrciptions by 60%.

These types of statistics are meaningless. Nevada is the fastest growing state but that doesn't mean more people are moving here than anywhere else. Its just when you start with 10 it only takes 10 more to claim you have grown by 100%. XM gained more subscribers in the last year than Sirius, but percentage wise Sirius did better since they are starting with a much smaller number.

Like I said, I would like to see both succeed. Competition is good for the consumer.

 

[Michelle Schmid]

Really? I didn't know you were split in on the conversation. Another non reader, you'll note I called back several weeks later to cancel.

Funny, I didn't know you were in charge of my sanity. Yet your topic header clearly states that in order to preserve mine I should stay away from a fine product. Go figure.

No, I read you. Didn't have to be in on the conversation. Unless you radically changed your tone from talking with them to typing here, I got it right. The first time you called the company you stated you were "fairly angry." Then as soon as you received your credit (see? I read) you canceled because of their "screw ups." Even though they'd made one error (at that time) and then fixed it, you canceled anyway because of "screw ups." I'm sorry, but I'm still not surprised they didn't offer you any incentive. Why should they? Is that why you're really angry? Because times are tight and you didn't get freebies for a billing error?

All new businesses are expected to run in the red for the first two years. It's highly unusual if they don't. In addition, I don't consider clear channel to be a bonus, regardless of finances. In fact, I'm happier that they don't have them as a backer, and I hope they never do.

Want to talk about "sheer volume" backers in the automotive industry? OK, Sirius now has Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler-Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, Monaco Coach Corp.(recreational vehicles), Nissan, Volvo, Winnebago, and even Hertz rental vehicles signed up to offer Sirius in various models. Hardly a small line-up, with some of the finest (and far-reaching) auto manufacturers in the world included.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but I'm going to continue to subscribe. If they bill me erroneously, I'll call them up, explain the situation, and since it sounds like they're perfectly willing to correct their mistakes, keep enjoying clear channel-, obnoxious DJ-, and never-ending commercial-free radio.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I HIGHLY suggest the bickering end.

Enough of the underhanded comments.

Thank You.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

I was going to post about Sirius's Backers as well, but Michelle beat me to it. By comparison, XM will be available in 60 car brands by years end. Sirius will be available in 40 car brands. Not quite as many as XM, but 40 is still a lot, IMHO. Also, Sirius has more than one fourth the number of subs that XM has, so if they double, they will be up to one half. They didn't start out with 10 subs. Sirius also was launched over a year later than XM, so it is to be expected that they are behind in subscriber accounts. I wonder if XM had over 100,000 subscribers at the end of their first year.

 

[Jed M]

Joshua, I believe you missed my point, but regardless this is not a debate for me. I want to see both succeed because it will push each company to strive to be better. I am happy with my XM and I have no intention of switching, but that doesn't mean I am against Sirius in any way; enjoy your new system.