New York Attorney General Letitia James is accusing radio giant SiriusXM of trapping customers in subscriptions and intentionally making it tough to cancel.
Ms. James announced the lawsuit Wednesday, claiming that an investigation found that the satellite radio firm puts up serious roadblocks to prevent customers from canceling their subscriptions. According to her, SiriusXM forces customers to talk to an agent before canceling and often draws out those conversations to extreme lengths.
She opened the probe after numerous customers complained about the complicated cancellation process.
In the announcement, Ms. James detailed one example where a customer was on the phone with Sirius for 40 minutes in an attempt to cancel. Despite the long phone conversation, the customer was still charged for the subscription, with SiriusXM saying it couldn’t locate the cancellation request.
Ms. James says the company’s obtuse process is illegal.
“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,” she said in the announcement.
The investigation found that SiriusXM workers are trained to not let customers cancel. When customers call to quit the service, they’re treated to lengthy conversations filled with numerous questions and retention offers on future subscriptions. Ms. James says this process is unnecessary and that the company can cancel a subscription in minutes.
The lawsuit seeks to force Sirius to create a simpler and more streamlined process for cancellations. Ms. James also wants restitution for customers and significant fines on Sirius for fraud.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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