Sirius Customer Support - A Tale of Woe

First let me start off by saying that I have been a Sirius subscriber for over 5 years, and love the service. I have also used customer support a few times before for minor billing issues with no problems.

That being said, I now must vent about my experience this week.

I was visiting the Sirius website this past Tuesday evening (5/5) when I noticed that there is a sale for 50% off some of the radios, including the Stiletto 100. I decided that I would take the plunge and add an additional subscription with a Stiletto. I began the required online forms and all went well until the time came for checkout. After inputing my credit card info and hitting "submit", the site seemed to lag for a good minute and a half before bringing up a credit card error. At this point I put in a different credit card with the same result (keeping in mind that I know for a fact that there are no problems with either of these cards). To ensure that my order was going through, or to give them credit card info over the phone if needed, I called customer support. After speaking to customer support, the rep assured me that the order had indeed gone through and everything was all set.

Now at this point keep in mind that I also requested and paid for overnight delivery because I am going away this weekend and would like the radio for my trip. I assumed that three business days would be enough time to process/ship this item.

Now flash forward to yesterday (5/6). First thing in the morning, (8:00 am EST) I went online to check my account to see what the status of the order and get a confirmation number. Imagine my surprise when the order was listed but the status was listed as "Ready for check out". At this point I called customer service to see what was going. What happened after this first call boggles the mind. Throughout the day I called at least eight times, each time being told that the account system was undergoing maintenance and that my account information could not be accessed. I was also asked each time to call back in either 30 minutes or 1 hour. (which I did). Finally at 5:00 pm I was able to get someone who could access my account. The result? My order in fact was never placed and to make matters worse customer service was not sure if my card(s) were ever charged and advised me to check with my card companies and call back to place the order.

At the point I told her to forget it, I went online to TSS Radio, placed an order, and according to UPS tracking, my Stiletto should be in my hands shortly.

Sirius - great product, but they really need to work on their customer service.

This is the major problem with outsourcing. You never get people that are WELL trained in the exact system you are calling about, they are only moderately trained in all systems they work with. Unfortunately, this is the way that the majority of US companies provide their customer disservice. It is annoying to say the least.

As a shareholder, I would like to appologize to you. I am glad you are happy with the service, but I too have been frustrated many times with customer service (mine with XM though).

Thank you for supporting one of SiriusBuzz.com's sponsors through your purchase with TSS Radio though.

I am not just saying this because they are a sponsor. They are indeed great. As I was reading your story, all that came to my mind was that you should have called TSS in the first place. Then at the end it is exactly what you did.

Thank you for your kind words.

TSS Radio is a wonderful source of everything Sirius, I have also used them in the past when I picked up my outdoor antenna. The only reason I did not go directly to TSS this time was because of the sale on the main Sirius site. I did end up paying more through TSS Radio, but the speed and customer service was so worth it!

BTW I have had my new radio since 11:00 am this morning and everything is great!

:D