I'm doing a little test with my XM Radio Subscription.
I'm canceling it.
I have nothing against XM. They have a great programming selection - Ethel, Fred, and Lucy (uh..get it?) are my three favorite channels. Good diverse playlists, unobtrusive personalities, and decent imagine.
And while my early-generation equipment purchased in 2003 doesn't allow me to listen to the channels at the highest fidelity (when I listen via DirecTV through my stereo speakers, it sounds much, much better), my decision to cancel has nothing to do with the XM service.
I simply don't listen to it much anymore.
With gas prices soaring, and life simply becoming more expensive, I'd love to find a way to shave an obvious $100 off of my monthly expenses, curtailing discretionary expenses. XM would save me $15 per month, I believe. And while this expense is one of my tax write offs, I'd rather simply not spend the cash than spend it and receive some of it back around tax time.
My test with XM, however, is seeing how long it takes them to respond to my email request to cancel. Nowhere on their website is there a big red "cancel now" button (that would be an obviously bad decision to have one). But there's also no small hyperlink to cancel through a few clicks. No section in the FAQ about canceling. No direct email box for cancellations. Just ambiguous options that route my question to...who knows? Customer Service? Account Services, perhaps?
What's odd is that I haven't even received acknowledgment of the fact that I emailed them. Usually companies have an immediate bounce back email mentioning that an email was received and will be responded to, regardless of the subject.
I have heard that XM makes it quite difficult to cancel, just like what AOL was doing back when their model involved subscriptions.
If I don't hear from them today or tomorrow, I'll try giving them a ring. My gut tells me I'm going to have to take another active step in this process by calling them, going through a phone tree, and probably getting frustrated along the way.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Canceling My XM Radio
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4 comments:
XM sucks!!! Trying to cancel that service is the hardest thing to do. I had to scream at a countless numbers of people just to get it canceled. I hate them and will never ever ever ever ever be a member again.
Why don't you try calling them? Its very easy to cancel with a rep over the phone, I've done it before.
Most of the time they'll even throw in a few free months just to convince you not to cancel on the spot. Either that or they'll offer you a 50% discount.
Actually, they have already emailed me back - probably about 30 hours after I emailed them. They sent an offer for 3 months at $3.99, then resuming my regular rate, but also explained the bits of info they will need if I still elected to cancel (which I did). I emailed them back earlier, and will report when they acknowledge my cancellation. I might have underestimated their customer service!
There's a lot of complaints googling for "xmradio cancel" Apparently this company wants you to keep the subscription. Oddly enough same deal with Sirius. I hope they have changed their practices by now,and I wish you luck.
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