XM Customer Service afternoon

[Amos Magliocco]

I called XM at 12:19 PM (according to their own records) attempting to disconnect my subscription to the Responder package. I was transferred five times, told that the "cancellation department" was the only group who could terminate my account. But after each transfer, I was dumped back into the general customer service queue where after hold times of around ten minutes each I was told, yet again, that the "cancellation department" was what I needed. I talked with both American and Indian representatives, and I talked to one supervisor who gave me a 219 phone number and said I'd have to call myself. This turned out to be Barons (the manufacturer of the Wx-Worx box and data provider) and they had no idea why XM thought that they could perform any actions on my XM account.

So I started over. Finally, I reached someone who seemed to know what he was talking about, but of course he also could not disconnect my service. He transferred me again, and at long last I talked to the "cancellation department."

Here's the important part of this post: 800-998-7900 is the direct line to the deeply secretive XM cancellation department. I used about 75 cell phone minutes to get that number, so hopefully posting it here will save others some time. I'll be investigating any and all alternatives to XM for 2007.

 

[Edward Ballou]

If you would have put in there that they offered you 1000 more hours of service free, I would have sworn you were talking about AOL.

Thanks for taking the time and posting the number though, I'm sure people will appreciate it.

 

[Rob Herman]

Strange how you don't have that much trouble when you want your account activated. Thanks for taking the time to post this. They'll probably change the number now.

 

[beaudodson]

If you would have put in there that they offered you 1000 more hours of service free, I would have sworn you were talking about AOL.

Thanks for taking the time and posting the number though, I'm sure people will appreciate it.
[/b]

Trying to cancel AOL is harder than getting a private meeting with the President.

Thanks for the phone number - I shall record that one!

 

[fplowman]

Thank you Amos for all your hard work.. lol

I called the # you provided.. The lady kindly disconnected my service gave me a refund for unused services and it took about 3 - 4 minutes.. All is good. Thanks again for the heads up.

 

[PeteMcConnell]

Sounds like the run around I got the other day trying to cancel Nextel, and other times I've needed customer service from Dell. On t.v. the commercials show happy go lucky people who speak the English language fluently. It's all babble and red tape when you get them on the phone and blow your whole lunch break at work(or cell phone minutes as we have seen mentioned as well).

 

[fplowman]

Just tried the # supplied by Amos again today and was disconnected ( so they say) it was so quick i was in disbelief.

Did it all in about 3 minutes..

 

[John Wetter]

I'll be investigating any and all alternatives to XM for 2007.

After the last couple years of chasing with my cell setup and seeing what the SPrint coverage map is going to look like when combined with Alltel, I think Cell coverage is close enough now to make the XM prices/performance bad enough to make the switch, IMHO.

-John

 

[Doug Raflik]

I think I may have figured out the reason some people are not getting charged the reactivating charge and some are in the spring.

I called to deactivate today and I said I needed to deactivate "FOR THE WINTER". The lady said "OK I will put you on the end of season package so you will not get charged the reactivating fee when you sign back up"

So maybe it is in how you tell them to deactivate you. If someone else still needs to deactivate this year, maybe they can ask for the end of season deal so they don't get charged the reactivating fee.

Doug Raflik

 

[fplowman]

Ok so as we can read above on October 31st I had contacted XM at the # provided and had my service disconnected.

The lady says (foreign accent ) ok sir, we have you set to be deactivated at the end of November. I then said no Mam can you please disconnect me now? I will not need the service for November. She said yes I will do that... I was suspectful because of her initial attempt to string me out another month and her weak confidence when I asked her to please disconnect me prior to November's service.

Well when checking my bank account today.. Whatta ya know???
They hit my card for another 49.99. So i had to call again and they said they will refund and it may take 72 hours.. So ok.. Well see

Just a heads up... So goes life.

 

[Mickey Ptak]

Well when checking my bank account today.. Whatta ya know???
They hit my card for another 49.99. So i had to call again and they said they will refund and it may take 72 hours.. So ok.. Well see

Just a heads up... So goes life.

They did the same thing to me in June and I never got the refund (I heard the same "72 hours" crap as you did Fred). So I called back for the FOURTH time and told them to forget the refund and shut the system off at the end of July. Well let me put it this way I got July, August, and September free. They never billed me for those months and my system was still activated.

Now they have the unit as a regular audio unit and not the WxWorks. So they are only charging me $7 per month, but now I don’t have service.

I would not hold my breath on that refund without a fight Fred. XM customer service is piss poor.

Mick

 

[Gene Moore]

One more note on XM/WXWorx stuff. Last week we had a front come through and there was a chance of severe, so I loaded up the vehicle early in the morning just in case. Anyway, when I brought up the cell phone and WXWork to see if all was working correctly the WXWorx-Threatnet did not come up. The screen showed I had a lock on a good signal, but no data coming down. The box where it shows what service I should be getting (Responder in the spring) was blank. A few months ago I had switched to the less expensive Marine-Fisherman package (no requirement to carry pole and worms). I had tested this package out when I switched service so I was surprised it was not working, especially when my Mastercard statement was showing -$29.95 a month. Calling the regular number lead me to the usual runaround, then I finally got someone that said "we now have a special department for weather." I was told to call 256-319-9679. I reached a young lady that immediately understood my problem and she stated "when the unit if off for an extended period (like a month) you get dropped from the system." She then reactivated the signal and I was getting data in about 10 minutes. I guess all's well that ends well, turns out there were no storms to miss. That said, I have an uneasy feeling about paying that monthly fee and being disconnected

.

So, my suggestion is to check out your system in advance if you've been off-line for a while, especially for a cold season event where it's been an extended period since you brought the equipment up.

Gene Moore

 

[PeteMcConnell]

I have found that it's a crapshoot with xm's customer service. You either get someone that knows what they're doing or you don't, which basically means that their customer service is poor. It's like an epidemic in our country now. Good customer service is hard to come by. As long as a company can get you to buy their product that's all they care about. You're on your own after that.