SiriusXM Radio is in the hot seat with New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, for allegedly intentionally making it difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions.
The suit is seeking financial penalties, including compensation for the time customers spent online, described as “a deliberately lengthy” cancellation process.
The attorney general obtained training documents teaching employees how to drag out phone cancellation requests and online chats. If subscribers explained to agents they wanted to cancel due to high fees, they would have to listen to one or more subscription offers that are more expensive than the one they initially wanted to cancel.
A statement from James’ office says forcing subscribers to endure long wait times to deter them from canceling is illegal. “Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden no one looks forward to, and when companies make it hard to cancel subscriptions, it’s illegal,” she said. “Consumers should be able to cancel a subscription they no longer use or need without any issues, and companies have a legal duty to make their cancellation process easy.”
“Like a number of consumer businesses, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription and upon receiving and reviewing the complaint, we intend to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations that grossly mischaracterize SiriusXM’s practices.”
The company claims, on average, that online chat agents respond to consumer messages within 36 seconds to 2.5 minutes.
Source: Black Enterprise
