SiriusXM is accused of “trapping consumers” by not making it easy to cancel subscriptions،
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wanted to cancel a subscription before the deadline so you wouldn't have to pay for the next month's service? What often happens is that the instructions on how to cancel a current subscription are nowhere to be found and there is no way to contact the company. And you end up paying monthly for something you don't want and/or don't use.
SiriusXM is accused of “trapping subscribers” who want to cancel their subscription
SiriusXM listing in the App Store
Canceling a free trial or paid subscription should not force the consumer to get on their knees to plead their case to the company. Yet James wrote in the complaint that SiriusXM “requires its subscribers to call or chat online with an agent to cancel a subscription, and then deliberately removes these interactions as part of its strategy to prevent subscribers from canceling.” .
The lawsuit states that “when customers decline offers, agents are trained not to take 'no' for an answer and to continue bombarding customers with questions or offers until they give in or become frustrated . » SiriusXM data cited in the court filing shows that it takes 11.5 minutes for a customer to cancel a subscription over the phone and 30 minutes to cancel online. In one situation mentioned in the complaint, a SiriusXM agent kept a subscriber in a conversation for 40 minutes “even though the subscriber had made repeated requests clearly asking to cancel their subscription.”
As part of its cancellation process, Sirius asks its live agents to present a series of renewal offers to retain the consumer as a subscriber. But when a consumer declines an offer,
or refuses to hear other offers, Sirius instructs his agents not to take “no” for an answer. Instead, agents are asked to treat each “no” simply as a request for more information! – and moving forward until the consumer accepts an offer or abandons the cancellation effort, pestering them with questions and additional information. »
Lawsuit demands SiriusXM make “full monetary restitution”
In a statement, James said: “Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden that no one looks forward to, and when companies make it difficult to cancel a subscription, it's illegal . SiriusXM responded by saying: “Like a number of consumer companies, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription and, after receiving and reviewing the complaint, we intend to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations which grossly misrepresent SiriusXM's practices.
SiriusXM has approximately 34 million subscribers, with nearly 2 million living in New York state.