Sirius XM Fumbles On Week 2 Of NFL Season
Today I found myself having to drive during the Patriots game. Kick-off was scheduled for 4:15 PM EST. In my car I have an XM SkyDock with an iPod Touch and subscribe to the Best Of Sirius. I went to categories, Best of Sirius, and scrolled until I saw the Patriots vs. Jets on my screen. I touched the screen and was treated to one of the 1:00 games with about 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Looking at the screen again I saw that Sirius XM was directing me to channel 153 which is normally “Laugh Attack”. Upon tuning in I was not treated to the NFL game I wanted, but rather comedy. Frustrated I went back to the categories and looked again. Still the fourth quarter on channel 104, and still referring me to channel 153 for coverage.
Frustrated I called XM customer service. They were baffled about a question dealing with the “Best Of Sirius” and referred me to Sirius customer service. I hung up the phone and called Sirius customer service. Sirius’ customer service seemed just as baffled and wanted to refer me back to XM. I explained the situation and the fact that I was referred to Sirius by XM. The rep walked me through resetting my radio and about 3 other “canned” fixes (all of which I had already done), all to no avail.
To me the most frustrating aspect of this is that there were at least six “sports” channels that were empty and the company was attempting to preempt regular programming on Laugh Attack to carry the New England vs. Jets game. Doesn’t Sirius XM realize that NFL games sometimes go long? Doesn’t it make more sense to utilize “sports” channels that are otherwise empty rather than preempt running programming? Doesn’t anyone at Sirius XM bother to make sure that they are getting the games up live when they are directing subscribers to a channel?
All of this being said, the 1:00 game finally came to an end and the Patriots vs. Jets game began broadcasting (on the original channel and not channel 153 that subscribers were being sent to). The result? Patriots and Jets fans that wanted to listen to the game on the “Best Of Sirius” missed all but about 2 minutes of the first quarter. This is a major fumble. Two top tier teams in two of satellite radio’s hottest markets were essentially blacked out on The “Best Of Sirius”.
Another result. Yet another example of the glaring shortcomings of Sirius XM’s customer service. The reps themselves are working as hard as they can, but simply do not have the tools to be effective. The customer service reps are typically outsourced, and simply are not very well versed in satellite radio. The blame here rests solely on Sirius XM. Someone fumbled getting a 4:00 game onto the air, and someone has tied the hands of customer service. It is times like these that remind me that as a subscriber to both Sirius and XM I am not getting a “family plan” discount. It is times likes these that remind me I am shelling out additional money for Internet feeds on BOTH services. It is times like these that I am reminded that I have to shell out for “Best Of” on both services. So what happens now? I will go from 2 Sirius Subscriptions and One XM to one of each, and seek out a credit on my Sirius XM Internet feed for the two months it took Sirius XM to get the Android app corrected.
I am a fan of Sirius XM. If they can manage to frustrate me like this, I can’t imagine how the average consumer feels. Honestly, it is easier to schedule major surgery than to deal with Sirius XM’s customer service sometimes. I can tell you this…If an NFL player had a fumble like this he would be sitting on the bench. If Sirius XM wants to remain at the top of the audio entertainment hill they need to be the best all the way around…and that means smooth programming and top notch customer service as well as great content.
Position – Long Sirius XM Radio
So…i guess this is a forum for you to complain about SIRI customer service and technical difficulties? I can understand your frustration and concern, but this is surely not a daily or weekly occurence…so why spend the time to mention it on this site?
I haven’t ever had a problem with SIRI customer service. But if i did have an incident, i sure would use my website to complain…i would assume they will get it resolved and actually wait until i cool off to write an article about something that actually matters…like the fact that you can usually listen to NFL games with two different broadcasts…
I understand that you mention that you like SIRI, but to actually cancel the service because of one issue like this? And then feel it necessary to complain on your website? Come on…calm down and write about something important…
Ron…..
I was among the first 50,000 to subscriber to Sirius. I have been a subscriber for quite some time. Over the years customer service has been passable. The issues I bring up happen to MANY people.
They are REAL issues that happen. Will Sirius XM read this site. Sure. Does that mean something will improve because of this? Likely not. However, I can not sit back and simply ignore the poor performance on this issue.
As for calmness. I am perfectly calm. I made the decision to cancel a radio that I rarely use. I spend about 8 days per month at home and utilize the Internet feed and a Logitech to do most listening. If that third radio gets used more than 30 minutes a month I would be surprised. It has not been canceled because I simply keep forgetting. The experience today simply made me remember.
It is a combination of several things over months and years that are the source of frustration for many.
Spencer,
Fair enough…if you’ve had many other issues with SIRI, i can understand your frustration. From your article, i was under the impression that you canceled the radio today due to this one incident. I still don’t think this is the proper forum for your issues with SIRI, but i do understand that situations like this can be frustrating. I do hope someone from SIRI reads it and understands that it can’t happen in the future…
Here’s another fact:
Jets 28 – Pats 14
I’ll tune in to Broadway Joe Willy White Shoes Namath’s show this week . . . exclusively on Sirius XM.
“If an NFL player had a fumble like this he would be sitting on the bench.”
Enter Jayson Taylor Blindside Left . . .
Well Tom Brady . . take that pretty girl haircut of yours and start warming up your ass now . . Coach Savery has spoken!
Tyler
Generally love your articles…however…this one was a waste of my time! Not worthy of being trashed in print! Programming mistakes happen all the time. Unless it was a playoff game or the Super Bowl…not worth it! Just fuel to the fire!
Just Sirius….
1. Messing up the NFL after Mel went so far as to call it a staple of the service is VERY BAD.
2. How this mistake was not caught by anyone for an entire quarter is VERY BAD.
3. Customer Service having no way to inform Program Directors of an ongoing issue is VERY BAD.
4. Taking 2 Months to update the Android app so it is even usable is VERY BAD.
5. Customer Service that has their hands tied and can not really do anything is VERY BAD.
6. Having devices that are not updated is VERY BAD.
7. After everything I went through today the rep closed out the conversation trying to sell me a Stratus 6. For god’s sake. Does it really make sense to go into sales mode in this situation? Who trains these people. When they should have been in damage control mode they were trying to sell me another radio! I did not even write about that. If this adds fuel to the fire so be it. This company needs to wake up on several fronts.
I get complaints about these types of issue all of the time. I have tried to help people solve their issues many times. I work patiently with customer service and even try to bring them up to speed when they do not know what to do.
I am still perplexed why we have two services when they should have “MERGED” their programming into one service on both platforms.
Oh yea it’s MONEY,best of packages, indeed.
It’s not as simple as you may think. Much of it has to do with the existing hardware which is not interchangeable between services.
All of these issues will continue to improve over time. Last quarter churn was down, which tells us that customer satisfaction is improving.
I completely agree!
Several times over the past 3-4 years I have posted requests on the ‘other’ site to look into SXMs lack of customer service. They have always had horrible customer service. I say this as someone who has had to deal w/ them on a number of occations. A few times for radios that no longer worked and another time when the quoted me a lifetime sub price then charged my card another.
Were all issues corrected? Yes, but someone who isn’t as committed to them as myself, or Spencer, would have hung up…which I actually did, then called them back again.
This customer service issue is of more concern to me than the Stern issue simply because your ‘average non Stern listener’ trying to subscribe after a trial period or renew will get too frustrated and go back to their other options.
Get is right SXM! Your customer service (and marketing department), to quote Hoover, SUCK!!!
Just so you know:
Jets 28- NE 14
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Don’t guess the might Patriots have to worry about a perfect season this year.
J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets
Interestingly, I was cooking all day listening to various games, and when the 1 PM game did finish, the Jets / Pats game did come on, and as you said, it was late in the third quarter. Thankfully, I was interested in another game.
scuse my, “late in the first quarter”
I tuned in at 4:10 for coverage of the Jets home call, 7 minutes was left in the game currently on. By 4:15 Sirius directed me to Channel 153 ontop of my screen, I tuned in and missed just the kickoff.
10 minutes later a message came to tune back to the original channel. I did so and the Jets home coverage continued.
Worked perfectly – I guess NE just had all sorts of problems yesterday.
There may be some issues with customer service and their training, but I would never expect customer service reps to be able to have the tools at their disposal to go in the back room and change the programming around in just a few minutes. It would be total chaos. Games are broadcast late all the time on television. The fact that they even tried to offer the game on an alternative channel shows that they are able to be more responsive than any other broadcaster out there. Maybe it would be better if they hadn’t tried at all. If they hadn’t redirected you to another channel, would you have bothered to call customer service at all? I would have been frustrated too, but sometimes things happen. If you do want to help management improve the problem, narrow things down to a solution if you can think of one. My solution would be for management to never allow traffic to be redirected to another channel until it is already broadcasting on that channel. There’s no way to give customer service reps the tools to deal with a situation like this. The problem, and the solution, is in another department completely.
Nor do i expect CS to be able to hit a button to fix it. They should know who to call though.
there could not possibly a worst customer service department then these wireless phone companies with long term contracts. Verizon is the absolute pits and Altell is right behind them. So if you think SIRIXM is bad at least you have a chance to opt out. I myself am getting ready to buy my 1st sub with SIRIXM i have been loosing $ on there stock for the past 5 years and i swore that i would not get a sub till i at least broke even and at $1.10 apps i finally did. All i can say is GO SIRIXM, and to HELL with VERIZON