Complaint Rating:

I wish someone would have told me, "Don't buy XM Radio" last year. I post this for anyone considering purchasing their service.

The company has:

1. Charged me for service after notification that I had sold the radio six months earlier

2. Refused to allow me to speak to a customer service supervisor regarding my dispute

3. Promised a call back on my complaint and failed to follow through

4. Forced me to call through on their toll-free number and then sit on hold in order to cancel my account

5. Informed me they would be billing me until I proved that I had cancelled the service, even though the cancellation went via a form on their website of which a copy is NOT provided to the customer

It all started during the summer of 2005 when I bought and installed an XM radio in my vehicle. I then sold the car in January and contacted XM in February to notify them I no longer had the radio.

XM refused to cancel my service and refund the remaining portion of the year. I was sent an email telling me that I could switch the service to a new radio for the remainder of the year.

Months later, I received a telemarketing recorded message that XM had important information for me. I was surprised because I no longer had the service. Or so I thought.

I attempted to call their 800 service, but gave up after waiting more than 15 minutes on hold. I sent an email telling them that I had cancelled the service, but received an email back that I had to call them direct.

I called and spoke with some surly Customer Service Rep named Angie (employee number 38191) about my account. She attempted to sell me on buying another radio and I told her I just wanted the account cancelled. She snapped at me that she was merely trying to help me keep my account. No, she was trying to prevent a cancellation. She kept me on the phone for 10 minutes trying to sell me on keeping the service.

She then informed me that XM would be charging me an additional $12.97 for the amount used that month. I told her no, that I informed them I no longer had the service back in February. She said because the request came in on a web form, SHE COULDN'T SEE MY MESSAGE, so until I "proved" I had cancelled, she was charging me, even though I hadn't authorized the charge. She said only supervisors could see my email.

I demanded to speak to a supervisor. I was told I could not. I said, "Either don't charge me the $12.97, pull my email form, or let me talk to a supervisor."

This stellar employee actually said to me, "If we took our customers at their word, XM wouldn't make any money."

I can bet where she learned this charming attitude -- probably direct from the management of XM Radio. She told me -- repeatedly -- that a supervisor would call me within 48 hours to discuss the dispute.

I never received the call.

There is no way to contact anyone in charge, no method to dispute charges, and zero customer service at XM. To me, this smacks of fraud. Sirius is obviously the way to go.