XM X’d Out

They say that writing while angry is a good thing; that the emotions flow and the words jump from the screen and poke the reader in the eye. Right now I feel like I have been poked in the eye and other less convenient places by a very unwelcome assailant.

And it all started with an otherwise very friendly phone call.

I have been a subscriber to XM Satellite radio almost from day one. It is a great service with one glaring exception. As far as the programming they provide is concerned I have nothing but praise. But when I called to change my plan – actually disconnect a radio that I am no longer using – all that goodness went right down an especially nasty drain.

Three years ago I extended my plan on three radios to three years. The price was right and at the time it was well worth it. That is no longer the case. I can’t afford to spend that kind of money – over $900.00 – on a convenience that we don’t use as often as we once did. In the course of talking to “Listener Care,” the woman mentioned that the card on file had expired. Fair enough, I was going to redo a modified subscription and its well to get that out of the way.

By the time I had talked to another woman and gotten an arrangement that was more fitting, the card I had given was charged an auto-renewal for $916.00; another three years! Wait a second, let me repeat that. They charged me nearly a thousand dollars without one word indicating that they were renewing the very subscription I was calling to change – and now cancel.

Would you be furious? Would you feel as though this big company reached into your account and robbed you? I did, and someone had to pull me off the ceiling.

We have a credo in radio: make one listener happy and he will tell ten people; make one listener unhappy and he will tell one-hundred, who will tell another one-thousand! This is a great way to ruin a business, especially one that is struggling to get off the ground. Satellite Radio may have a 21st Century name, but it has yet to make a dime. Practices like this will keep it steeped in red.

My problem was taken care of, sort of, with a few more phone calls and a little restraint. But I am still surprised and annoyed that it came to this. I promised the account supervisor that I will wait until I am sure there was no charge placed on my card before I make a final decision about severing my long-time relationship with XM.

Trapped in limbo is the merger between the two satellite radio providers. In the balance could be the very existence of this medium. After this morning I’m not at all sure there is a future in, “the future of radio.”