Sirius XM Radio False Charges, Horrific Customer Service Reps New York, New York

I bought a new car last year. When an xm radio rep called me in September last year before my free trial was up, I agreed to pay for one year of service that I paid in full on my credit card.

In September 2009 I called to enquire about using their online radio. I was told by the rep that my one year that I paid for included free online radio, and I was given a log in and password to use the online radio, which I haven't had a problem with until today.

Today I tried to log in to my xm radio online account and I got an error message saying that my account has been deactivated. I called xm radio to find out the reason. I spoke with four different people so I am going to separate each by paragraph to make it easier to understand.

Call 1, Person 1: The first time I called, I first updated my mailing address, which had not been updated since I paid in September 2008. The woman then told me that my service had been deactivated for non payment. She said that I had signed up for xm online in March, and at a charge of $2.99 per month I had an overdue balance of around $30. She stated that we had xm service in our car until December 16, but that the balance on our account was for the xm online.  I informed her that I hadn't signed up in March, that I hadn't even known about online radio until September 2009 when I called, and they told me then that there was no additional charge! When I explained my situation to her, her exact words were, "And how would you like me to help you today?" in a very rude tone. So, I asked to speak with a supervisor since I didn't appreciate her attitude. She then told me that she didn't have an attitude and she asked again how she could help me. I repeated that I wanted to speak with a supervisor, and she put me on hold. When she came back on the line she informed me that I would have to wait for a call back, because the supervisor was busy. At some point when I was telling her I didn't want to wait for a call back, she hung up on me.

Call 2, Person 2: I had my husband call back the second time, because I was frustrated after the first call. The genteleman he spoke to told him that we actually owed $20, and not from online radio, but because we didn't pay the correct amount when we paid in full last year.  My husband told him that he told the rep that he wanted to pay in full, and the rep charged his credit card the required amount. How is it our fault if the xm rep didn't charge us enough last year? My husband explained this to the rep, using the example that if a person walks into a store one day and buys a hat for $10, and then the store realizes he shouldve been charged $15, the store can't then go and charge the man the additional $5. If the company makes a mistake, it is their mistake and their responsibility to correct it, not the consumers. The xm rep just would not understand what my husband was saying, and kept refering to his systems, and being unable to change his systems. Then the rep looked further and found our that we have been sent collection letters to our old address, and that we would also have to pay $2 per collection letter sent. I don't understand how they sent collection letters and never called, and we kept getting xm service in our car and online! The rep then offered to remove all of the overdue balance, if we would cancel all of our services starting today. My husband refused, telling the rep that he paid for service until December 16 (which is what the lady also told me) and that he should receive all of what he paid for. My husband then asked to speak to a supervisor. He had to wait on hold for at least 10 minutes for a supervisor, because he refused to wait for a call back.

Call 2, Person 3: I spoke with the supervisor, because at this point my husband had lost his patience. The supervisor then told me what we owed around $44 past due from September! So, each person I spoke with gave me a different number, and different reason for what I owed. It seemed like I was going to have to go through the whole thing with the supervisor again (my husband and I had already been dealing with this for almost 2 hours) so I decided to see if we could just go with what person 2 had said, remove any previous balance and cancel our service effective today. When I told the supervisor this, at first he argued with me, saying that the gentleman had been given false information. I informed him that I was told that I could cancel today and have a zero balance, and that he would honor that, and finally he agreed. He transferred me to the cancellation department.

Call 2, Person 4: The lady in cancellations was the first nice person I spoke to, which was honestly a relief. She asked me all the necessary questions, even if I would stay if she offered me 5 months for $20- I said No Way! I made sure to tell her that this cancellation had to come with a zero balance at the end, and she said it would. She called me back about 20 minutes later to let me know that my account had been cancelled, with a zero balance.

I have NEVER, EVER had such terrible service with a company before. Both my husband and I felt like the reps we were talking to weren't even listening to us. They certainly didn't have their information straight. I still don't understand what happened, and I feel like we have been cheated out of a month of service, which was supposed to go until December 16, 2009. Although we did move after we signed up, we never received any phone calls about this, and our number has always been the same! When I called in September 2009 absolutely nothing was told to me about this! I don't understand how a company that treats their customers like this can survive.