Sirius Customer Care - New Channel changes.

I got off the phone tonight with a customer care agent and complained, AGAIN, about the line-up changes.I told him I'm one more Brittany Spears song away on channel 39 from emailing Mel Karmizan. He gathered all my info and when I asked about it said he compiling a HUGE list every day of dissatisfied customers and sending it to the VP of Customer Care.

The Customer Care guy tells me they've been swamped with emails and calls about the channel change and that most of the messages have been "dissatisfied". Well, no shit! Talk about an understatement!!

Anyhow, long story short, the CSR tells me he's gotten several emails in the past day to "restress to subscribers Sirius XM is taking all the complaints seriously" and starting in December Sirius XM will reverse the changes and return the channel line up. I asked him if he was shitting me and he said "No. I'm a Boombox fan myself!" We're stuck with the line-up for this month but next month it'll be back to normal!

Here's hoping it's all true! I don't think Sirius XM can afford to loose any more money this Christmas season with their shares at $.27, internet radio devices for $25, and MP3 players being super cheap. Mel's looking at nearly $5 billion he has to repay and it'll never happen by losing his old paying customers.

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Originally Posted by sansrage

I got off the phone tonight with a customer care agent and complained, AGAIN, about the line-up changes.I told him I'm one more Brittany Spears song away on channel 39 from emailing Mel Karmizan. He gathered all my info and when I asked about it said he compiling a HUGE list every day of dissatisfied customers and sending it to the VP of Customer Care.

The Customer Care guy tells me they've been swamped with emails and calls about the channel change and that most of the messages have been "dissatisfied". Well, no shit! Talk about an understatement!!

Anyhow, long story short, the CSR tells me he's gotten several emails in the past day to "restress to subscribers Sirius XM is taking all the complaints seriously" and starting in December Sirius XM will reverse the changes and return the channel line up. I asked him if he was shitting me and he said "No. I'm a Boombox fan myself!" We're stuck with the line-up for this month but next month it'll be back to normal!

Here's hoping it's all true! I don't think Sirius XM can afford to loose any more money this Christmas season with their shares at $.27, internet radio devices for $25, and MP3 players being super cheap. Mel's looking at nearly $5 billion he has to repay and it'll never happen by losing his old paying customers.

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Yeah sure it;s going back in December - you're full of shit and your debt # is way off, so if your going to make up stuff you should make it sound a little closer to reality. How could you put things back to the way they were when the overhead and people/DJ's running them have been cut. This must be the dumbest post I ever responded to.

WELL THAT WOULD BE GREAT BUT I WANT TO SEE ANEWS RELEASE MONDAY.. PEACE:thumbup:

I still am of the opinion that they cut a little too deep. I think there are about 3-4 channels that should be restored to both Sirius and XM. Overlap should absolutely be removed, but some of these niche channels are a major draw for subscribers.

From what I can tell, these channels would be:
1. Backspin or a suitable old school rap station
2. Modern Jazz channel
3. Punk channel
4. Boombox?

People are looking for things they cannot find on terrestrial radio. Cuts are needed, but so are subscribers.

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Originally Posted by sxminvestor

Yeah sure it;s going back in December - you're full of shit and your debt # is way off, so if your going to make up stuff you should make it sound a little closer to reality. How could you put things back to the way they were when the overhead and people/DJ's running them have been cut. This must be the dumbest post I ever responded to.

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Ok, SXMInvestor, I only joined up because I was seriously excited by what the Customer Service guy said. Give them a call yourself and see what they say about it before you start hurling rocks.

here's a http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/pro...111&id=9367238link for ya: (I copied the first couple paragraphs)

Sirius XM Radio posts $4.88B loss after charge
NEW YORK (AP) - Sirius XM Radio Inc. said its losses totaled $4.88 billion in the third quarter after the satellite-radio provider booked a hefty charge related to a drop in its stock.

Sirius XM was created by the combination of satellite-radio companies Sirius and XM in July. It reported results Monday after the closing bell.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the New York-based company's losses totaled $4.88 billion, or $1.93 per share, compared with losses of $120.1 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier.

For the record, shares of SIRI are now in the $.26 after close on Friday. From reading all the angry posts on this forum site I'm assuming that's from people dropping their subscriptions.

Sorry if you feel it's the dumbest post you've ever responded too....but maybe you should do the research yourself. $4.88B is CLOSE to $5 Billion.

Sansrage,

Do you think they are going to hire back the DJ's they fired to run the stations they are going to bring back? Do you think those DJ's would be willing to come back to work for a company that just canned them a month prior?

I am not calling you a liar... I am just thinking that either they were lying or something is being lost along the way.

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Originally Posted by clueless

Sansrage,

Do you think they are going to hire back the DJ's they fired to run the stations they are going to bring back? Do you think those DJ's would be willing to come back to work for a company that just canned them a month prior?

I am not calling you a liar... I am just thinking that either they were lying or something is being lost along the way.

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Look, I'm just reporting what was told to me by a Sirius Customer Care person. He claims all the response has been negative and Sirius corporate is reversing the decision and bringing back the old channels. If anyone's lying it's him and if that's how Sirius XM is trying to keep paying subscribers on through Q4 then I think they'll have more of a shit storm on their hands! I'm trying to get the word out that was said to me so if anyone is looking to dump their subscription they'll wait. But if that asswipe lied to me then I'll personally make it a point to broadcast it every where possible and cancel my 3 year subscription for 3 radios!

They might be telling the truth about it all but I doubt they'll replace all the DJ's they cut. Even if they tried to I know I wouldn't want to work for them after that.

Shit, the more I think about how Sirius XM is messing up a good thing I'm seriously considering going the MP3 player route. It'll be cheaper in the long run......or internet radio.

Add Sirius Disorder to the list. The Loft is a poor, sleepy replacement. Disorder had the best mix of music I ever heard.

I just sent this:

"To whom it may concern:

I'm contacting you to comment on the recent XMafication of Sirius programming. I was completely shocked to turn my radio on and find Sirius Disorder GONE and directed to "The Loft". Then I said I would give it a try but I really can't listen to the milksop drivel on this station and am unable to find another station that even comes close. You have divested your programming of the eclectic mix of music and programming that was Disorder and are trying to replace it with what appears to be a collision of "The Coffeehouse" and classic rock resulting in a station the sounds like wallpaper/elevator music. There is already plenty of that already on the air.

Though some of Disorder's programming didn't seem to fit well, especially recently, but overall it was a great place to hear music that you wouldn't hear elsewhere. And not much of the useless drivel that Clear Channel pumps out over and over. I was really disgusted to be listening yesterday and heard Dave Mathews on the Loft. All I can say is YUCK!!!!

I am very disappointed at this change. As a stockholder I understand the financial challenges that Sirius/XM face and can somewhat understand the probable reduction in payroll but I don't understand the dilution of the overall product. I am willing to give it some time to try to work out the financial problems that face satellite radio, but by dumbing down the programming probably won't get lots of new listeners who can get the same claptrap on "free" radio. I have two accounts and will have to see how willing to continue as a subscriber unless some of the programming improves."

Sansrage -

I apologize if I attacked, especially if you were told this by a cust service rep. It could be that they are looking at restoring a select few channels and molding both Sirius and XM's channel lineups more.

For the record, Sirius has about 900M more debt due to be financed in the next 13 months. The 4.8 billion you are referring to is the writedown of goodwill on the merger value, not new debt.

Just ridiculous how many bashers come to these sights and make things up and give false info. Anyhow, would be interested in some channels coming back and maybe they went overboard and will put a few back to soothe some listeners complaints, but they can't do many or it defeats the purpose of one of the big merger synergies.

For the record I'd like to see the Strobe & Backspin back, but if not, I still will never cancel either service I own because there isn't anything better for your $ and love all the sports across both services. Since I have both Sirius and XM subscriptions, I don't have use for Best of, but am interested in the interoperable radio that will come out in 6 months.

I just called in and spoke to a cust serv rep and she knew nothing about any new channels being added back. All she told me was that they added channels, took away others, changed names of channels and doesn't know anything else. She actually told me they added a channel and on Nov 7th and then said, Oh that happenned already. She was clueless and said she could only give her opinion and that you could e-mail your concerns and only hope you get back any channels you now miss.

She knew nothing about anything XM since the cust serv is still seperate when I asked if XM would have an ala-cart radio soon. She did not know when the cust service would be merged. I was just curious from an investor standpoint.

Almost completely useless. It appears they just use the same information posted on the web site when you ask questions.

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Originally Posted by sxminvestor

Sansrage -

I apologize if I attacked, especially if you were told this by a cust service rep. It could be that they are looking at restoring a select few channels and molding both Sirius and XM's channel lineups more.

For the record, Sirius has about 900M more debt due to be financed in the next 13 months. The 4.8 billion you are referring to is the writedown of goodwill on the merger value, not new debt.

Just ridiculous how many bashers come to these sights and make things up and give false info. Anyhow, would be interested in some channels coming back and maybe they went overboard and will put a few back to soothe some listeners complaints, but they can't do many or it defeats the purpose of one of the big merger synergies.

For the record I'd like to see the Strobe & Backspin back, but if not, I still will never cancel either service I own because there isn't anything better for your $ and love all the sports across both services. Since I have both Sirius and XM subscriptions, I don't have use for Best of, but am interested in the interoperable radio that will come out in 6 months.

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Hey, that's alright! I get my feathers ruffled when someone starts talking shit about my favorite things too. I am completely hopeful they're going to restore some of the channels. Every time I click over to 39 I get pissed off again!

Hell, I wouldn't have known squat about the "rollback" for lack of better word, if I hadn't gotten all pissed off about Sirius XM playing 3 commercials in a row on 116 (which used to be Kids Stuff and NEVER played a commercial one!). THAT pissed me off royally. I'm starting to get aggrivated by commercials in general lately.....I'm paying for commercial free (unless I'm listening to talk radio, which is expected).

Maybe Sirius is trying to make everyone get the BEST OF....I don't want it. I could give two sh*ts about Oprah's channel or the Virus.

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Originally Posted by sxminvestor

I just called in and spoke to a cust serv rep and she knew nothing about any new channels being added back. All she told me was that they added channels, took away others, changed names of channels and doesn't know anything else. She actually told me they added a channel and on Nov 7th and then said, Oh that happenned already. She was clueless and said she could only give her opinion and that you could e-mail your concerns and only hope you get back any channels you now miss.

She knew nothing about anything XM since the cust serv is still seperate when I asked if XM would have an ala-cart radio soon. She did not know when the cust service would be merged. I was just curious from an investor standpoint.

Almost completely useless. It appears they just use the same information posted on the web site when you ask questions.

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doesn't surprise me. The first time I called yesterday I got connected to someone in BILLING! HAHA....and they gave me some bullshit 800-622-6200 number to call. I called back and got some dude that really was talking like he gave a shit about what happened since his favorite channels were gone too. God knows how many chumps they have working in that call center, ya know.

Call centers are generally absolutely huge, so yeah, that makes sense.

Well... my subscription was a 2 year deal instead of monthly, so I'll have it until around April. I'll be keeping an eye on things in December, but somehow I'm fairly sure there isn't going to be any turning back for them just yet.

I find it funny that the week I got my Sat radio was the first week of Punk 29 being on the air, and a few months before my 2 year subscription runs out, they cancel it. It's like it was just for me.

Regardless... I doubt it's all true, but we'll see.

Just Some FYI, Sirius XM customer service center is located in India. The CSRs are nothing more than puppets with made up American names. Well, maybe they are just a small step above talking to an automated system. They have pre made answers for everything you ask. If you ask them something that the company haven't anticipated a question about, they get utterly confused and don't know what to do or say so they will ask you to hold while they panic and seek direction from a supervisor in the call center. Another thing to keep in mind is that if it seems that they can care less about if you like the new channels or not is because they don't. They live in India chances are that 98% of them can not even afford a vehicle and have never heard satellite radio and even if they could afford it for their homes or something (which they can not) they can care less about any of the music or programming that is played, they listen to whatever they listen to over in India. So can anyone there empathize with us if they hardly got a clue about what we are calling to complain about? The Answer is again that they don't. So in conclusion I feel like is a waste of time to call unless you are going to show that you are not happy by canceling your acct. (you will get a prorated refund for the time not used) and go something better like Slacker at BestBuy or go to www.slacker.com for details. Is way better and cheaper in the long run and you can skip songs you don't like and even ban them from playing ever again. You can even make your own radio station. I already canceled my Sirius and switched to Slacker and I just love it. Try it and spread the news all over the net. Its the only way that we will be heard by Sirius XM.

I called in to complain about the changes in the Blues station, and they suggested that I listen to Outlaw Country(?). I told them that I hadn't had a favorite song come on in a week! The blues that they play are really old, and while I like that, I'd also like to hear people that I can go out and listen to live. I've got Tab Benoit, Shemekia Copeland, Sonny Landreth, Susan Tedeschi, and Irma Thomas programmed as favorites, none of which are out of mainstream blues and haven't heard any in the last week and a half. Cancelled the radio for the house as a result, and just listen to Howard in the car. My husband can only listen to Howard for so long, so we usually don't listen at home. My husband likes Bloomberg radio, which I can't take for too long, so we listen to the local NPR station.