Complaint Rating:

Company information:
XM Radio
California
United States

In October 2008, I activated a radio on a 3-year service plan, and paid in full by check. In May 2009, XM disabled my service, and a month later sent my account to collections showing a balance due of $163. In the intervening months, my statements (on a pre-paid account) looked as if they were created with a random number generator.

-The November '08 statement showed my payment of $307, an unexplained $401 charge for "XM Service", an unexplained credit of $339, and a balance due of $66

-The January '09 bill showed a previous balance of $68 (December added a $2 late fee), and a credit of $376.15 for "Adjustments/credits", and an amount due of $-307 (credit)

-There was no statement in February, and the March statement continued to show a credit balance of $307

-A week after the March statement, service was interrupted. My wife contacted customer service and was told there was a balance due of $41. Aggravated and anxiuos to get service reactivated, she paid the amount over the phone by credit card.

-The next day, a statement was issued showing a previous (credit) balance of $307, the recent payment of $41, a charge of $349 for "XM Service", a charge of $14.99 for "Activation fee", a $14.99 credit for "Adjustments/credits", and an amount due of $0.00. The account detail showed that the radio was now on a new 3-yr contract as of 3/18/09

-The first week of April, we added a second radio on a 2-year contract, for an amount (according to the CSR and XM's published rates) of $188 plus $14.99 activation fee.

-A week later a statement came showing the new radio and the correct charges in the detail for that radio. But the rest of the statement was hash. The service detail for the existing radio (the one with the paid 3-yr subscription) now showed a 1-yr subscription (and an amount due as if the 3-yr subscription had never existed). The account summary showed a previous balance of $262 (just 3 weeks after the second April statement showed a $0.00 balance), a new charge of $265.79 for "XM Service", an an "Adjustments/credit" of $186, and a balance due of $358.

-There was no statement for May

-The June statement showed a previous balance of $358, and an unexplained credit of $66, with a balance due of $299, and the second radio was longer listed on the account.

-I contacted Customer Service, and after a half hour of "but the bill says you owe...", I got a CSR supervisor to go over the past years statements with me, line by line. When he got to the end he agreed that not only was the account "a total mess", but that he thought we were actually owed a credit. Unfortunately, he also said that he didn't have the authority to correct the problem and that he would have to refer it to Accounting for review.

-The same day as the above phone call, a new statement was issued, showing a previous balance of $301, an "Adjustments/credits" of $172, and a new balance of $135

-A week later I was contacted be someone from Accounting, who could only say (over and over) that there was a balance due of $135. Me- "What about the canceled check I'm holding for a 3-yr subscription" - him- "You have a balance due of $135". When I insisted that he go through the past years statements with me to explain the balance, he said that he would have to transfer me to his supervisor, but that she was unavailable and would call me back within the hour.

-That was the last I heard from XM Radio . . . until I received a collections letter from CCA (XM's pet collections agency), now claiming a balance due of $163

-So as it stands, XM Radio provided me with 8-months of service. In exchange, I've paid $350, and they're attempting to collect an additional $163. That works out to almost $65 a month for a $12.95/month service.

I guess my next step is small claims court and a complaint to my State Attorney General