Sirius XM Hit With a New Class Action Lawsuit
The suit includes, “All persons who are and/or were residents of the state of California and who have paid for XM Everything-Lifetime NavTraffic and/or Lifetime XM Radio Service subscriptions and whose rights thereto have not been honored by Defendants, including:
(1) Any and all such persons who purchased said lifetime subscriptions in conjunction with NavTraffic or XM Radio and as to whom said Defendants refused and/or failed to provide either or both such services and/or did so only on condition additional and/or further fees be paid for either or both NavTraffic and/or radio services;
(2) Any and all such persons who were informed that said lifetime subscription could not be and/or would not be honored in any fashion and who paid additional fees to receive continuing radio services and/or who surrendered any right to continue receiving said services; and/or,
(3) Any and all such persons who were informed that said lifetime subscription could not be and/or would not be honored in any fashion and who surrendered any right to NavTraffic services and/or who paid additional sums to continue receiving such services.
b. All persons who have paid for XM Everything-Lifetime Nav Traffic and/or Lifetime XM Radio Service subscriptions and whose rights
thereto have not been honored by Defendants, including:
(l) Any and all such persons who purchased said lifetime subscriptions in conjunction with Nav Traffic or XM Radio and as to whom said Defendants refused and/or failed to provide either or both such services and/or did so only on condition additional and/or further fees be paid for either or both NavTraffic and/or radio services;
(2) Any and all such persons who were informed that said lifetime subscription could not be and/or would not be honored in any fashion and who paid additional fees to receive continuing radio services and/or who surrendered any right to continue receiving said services; and/or,
(3) Any and all such persons who were informed that said lifetime subscription could not be and/or would not be honored in any fashion and who surrendered any right to NavTraffic services and/or who paid additional sums to continue receiving such services.
The allegations include the following:
ALLEGATIONS PERTAINING To STEVE & JANICE BUTTRESS
On or about November 2007, STEVE and JANICE BUTTRESS became 9 subscribers of XM SATELLITE Radio and XM SATELLITE RADIO’s NavTraffic service (90 day free trial) and shortly thereafter, in or about February 2008, 11 purchased a one year subscription to both services. On or about January 2009, said Plaintiffs entered into a contract with XM SATELLITE RADIO whereby Defendant agreed to provide services under “XM Everything-Lifetime XM Everything” which included XM satellite radio. The terms of said agreement were set forth in a written agreement provided by XM SATELLITE RADIO referred to as a “Customer Agreement”. Plaintiffs are informed and believe, and based thereon allege, that the terms of said Customer Agreement were as set forth in Exhibit 1 hereto. The written agreement was accepted by STEVE and JANICE BUTTRESS and by Defendant according to the terms in said agreement. Said agreement was supported by consideration in that Plaintiffs paid the required subscription and billing fees and Defendant promised, covenanted and agreed to provide the services required thereby for the lifetime of the radio for which said subscription was obtained or until said Plaintiffs might choose to cancel said subscription. Plaintiffs, STEVE and JANICE BUTTRESS’ NavTraffic subscription was then renewed for successive one-year periods in February of 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Thereafter, in or about January 2011, said Plaintiffs lost service to XM RADIO’s radio service, although NavTraffic continued to be received. As a result Plaintiffs contacted Defendant and were informed that the company was experiencing a “computer glitch.” Said Defendant gave instructions to re-authorize Plaintiffs’ radio so as to resume said service. Although Plaintiffs made several attempts to reconnect to said service by following the instructions the Defendants’ employees had given them, they were unsuccessful in restoring said service.
Plaintiffs were then referred to a representative from what Defendant represented was its “special department” which had been established to deal with “problem cases” relating to a new billing software system XM RADIO had installed. Said representative informed Plaintiffs that the Defendant’s new software system could not accommodate the lifetime subscription for which Plaintiffs had paid concurrently with the NavTraffic Subscription and that the only way to fix the subscriptions at that time was to temporarily place XM Radio service on a three-year status. Plaintiffs agreed thereto in reliance upon the representations said Defendant’s representative gave them by which she assured them this was a temporary problem that would be resolved and that their lifetime subscription would be reinstated once the computer problem was resolved.
Plaintiffs had no reason not to believe Defendant’s representations, did believe them, and did rely thereon. Said reliance on the representations of Defendant was reasonable. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiffs received an email from Defendant purporting to confirm their new arrangement, but said communication did not comport with the representations and explanations said Defendant’s representative had given to Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs therefore contacted Defendant to protest Defendant’s attempts to change the agreement and was informed that the lifetime service had been cancelled, the three-year plan was permanent, and no further change could be made so as to restore lifetime status.
By said conduct, Defendant has breached, and continues to breach, said Customer Agreement in that it has failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to provide the agreed upon services.
As a direct and proximate result of said breaches, Plaintiffs, STEVE AND JANICE BUTTRESS, and all those similarly situated, have incurred damages in that they have had to pay for the services they have been provided, in that they have suffered the loss of and cancellation of lifetime and XM Radio services, and in that they face the prospect of future payments to continue receiving said radio services. In compliance with the terms of the Customer Agreement, Plaintiffs sent the required notice of claim and request for informal resolution of this matter to Defendant on or about July 27,2011, a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 2.
At no time did Defendants respond thereto. A true and correct copy of a Statement of Claim, together with a demand for arbitration (a true and correct copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 3, was thereafter sent to Defendant and to the American Arbitration Association on January 25,2012. Defendant then failed and refused to pay the fees to the American Arbitration Association that were required of it under the Customer Agreement and otherwise failed and refused to participate in any such arbitration. As a result thereof, the American Arbitration Association dismissed said arbitration and Defendant has waived any and all rights to compel and or require any such arbitration.
Essentially it appears, by the complaints of the plaintiffs that there was a lack of customer service on the part of Sirius XM, and that the company did not handle the situation in a manner that was satisfactory to the customer. As yet there is no response from Sirius XM. How an issue like this reaches the levels it did are mind boggling.
Unfortunately, this is typical of how Sirius does business.
The merger made things even worse by ruining the infrastructure that XM had in place.
Sirius-XM should be the subject of a RICO prosecution.
BaBaBooey! Your take on Sirius is well documented. Nothing that comes from you will be a surprise.
I have heard stories of the same behavior happening from other people with lifetime subscriptions that they’ve paid $500. for, only to be charged a $150. changeover fee when they purchase a new car. They seem hell bent on seeing just how far they can push their customers, before they break and cancel their subscriptions, then try to lure them back with a better deal. Here’s a clue: Pay for better educated customer services representatives, and offer better deals on your service for long time customers i.e.( longer than two years ) Loyalty should be rewarded, not exploited.
ABB…
You have heard bs. I have several life time subscriptions. The company stipulated clearly when I bought that I could change my tuner three times for a fee of $75 plus taxes. I did two times for one of my sirius tuners in the house during the period of EIGHT years. So, I did pay for the TWO changes about $160 with taxes. Now, you can imagine how much it would have cost to pay for eight years of subscrisption in a normal scenario.
Speaking about class action suits. These are the worst lawsuits that exist because they are created for lawyers. Your compensation is laughable whereas lawyers stand to make millions like it was in the previuos sirius xm case when attorneys were paid $13M and plaintifs,as they say in New York, got bupkis. This is a standard outcome for the overwhelming majority of class actions suits, in particular in cases like this. Not worth a second of anybody’s attention with the value equal to or lower than nose picking.
The truth is somwhere in the middle. Satellite radio can be had for $50 per year. Your 8 years has cost about $82.50 per year thus far.
The customer service surrounding many issues with Sirius XM is deplorable!
The fact that SXM did not even respond to the arbitration that they require is laughable. How can something be allowed to progress to the point where a class action lawsuit gets involved? This issue could have been resolved MONTHS prior to the likely statisfaction of both parties.
Sirius -XM has always had shady practices. When I first purchased my Sirius radio system. They denied the rebate stating I didn’t send in the UPC code (which I did). I couldn’t send it again because they wouldn’t accept the copy I kept for my records. At a dinner party, they told 7 other people the same thing. After I complained, they sent me the rebate. Fast forward 5 years, I convert from an annual membership with Sirius to lifetime. Two months later, I purchase a new Honda with XM, they refused to allow me to transfer my lifetime membership, stating its two separate companies. Every DJ, channel and paperwork state Sirius-XM and they tell me two separate companies??!!! I’ve been told they trade as one company on the NYSE, so what gives? They are shady and this fraud, I am hoping for a class action in this matter so I can join. Any info, I would love to hear….
Someone needs to start a class action lawsuit v. Sirius XM relating to account cancelation. Has anyone out there ever tried to shut off a radio? Buy a new car, you can add a radio in 2 minutes, to remove the old radio it takes at least 1 hour of hold time, shuffling between departments etc. This is done on purpose hoping the consumer will grow tired and go away thus allowing billing to continue. When it comes to canceling a radio, Sirius XM is the worst on the planet and its not by accident.
I’m having the same problem with them and i paid the whole 450 for a lifetime membership cant switch it over to xm now!
Adam, I am in the same boat as you. I paid $400-500 in 2007. When I signed up over the phone for lifetime XM, the representative told me I could transfer it 3 times. Never did they say anything about not being able to transfer it from car to caror even tell me about a transfer fee. Now with a Sirus radio in my new car they are telling me I can’t transfer because the technology is different and their computers won’t talk to each other. I told the rep to write my information on a piece of paper and hand carry it over to the Sirus people and have them enter it into their system. Additionally I told the rep this is like buying a Mercury and going to the Ford dealership only to have them tell me they can’t change the oil. After demanding to talk to a manager and waiting 30 minutes on hold, He told me that I could not transfer my XM lifetime account at all. If there is a class action lawsuit, sign me up.
We purchased 3 radio’s with XM and bought lifetime on 2 of them. I would pay to be part of a class action lawsuit. The combination of XM and Sirius eliminated all competition and drove the rates of satelite radio far too expensive. Sirius didn’t provide the services we expected and obsoleted the Lifetime program.
This happend to me in Iowa. I purchased a lifetime subscription for XM radio on 3/11/2010. I just tried to chance to a different radio and they would not honor their prior commitment. I talked to a manager and was only able to get a 1 time transfer.
I hate companies that lie to you.
actually if you read the terms and conditions with the lifetime subscriptions it clearly states its for the lifetime of the radio…not your lifetime. if its portable you can transfer it up to 3 times for 75 you can not transfer from vehicle to vehicle which is clearly stated in the terms and conditions you agree to when you sign up for the service….something seems off about this and i dont think this person is saying everything right. people blame siriusxm for bad customer service however its more like people just dont read terms and conditions for things they sign up for….
I had the displeasure of talking to XM yesterday because the portable radio I bought directly through XM failed for the 7th time in 2 years. Each time I have to fight to get Listener Care to help me or transfer me to their supervisors, Warranty department or the actual Tech Support department. In two cases, I believe Listener Care was pretending to be the supervisor and the tech support department. In almost every case Listener Care refuses to transfer me or help me unless I pay $70 or $75 to activate the Warranty Replacement radio they sent me. I can understand that cost if the problems with the radio were caused by me but after 7 radios and 6 car kit power adapters at no point have I created or been responsible for problems that cause the radio or car kit to fail. Which also means at no point should I or anyone pay to activate a Replacement radios sent out to me by XM to remedy the defective product. It is sad that in the past two years I have had 7 replacement radios and 4 replacement car kits (I paid for two of the car kits myself) for the XM-MP3i portable radio that has numerous defeats that, in a less than six months period, cause it to fail. My latest, frustrating conversation with them was yesterday when my 4 day old Replacement radio needed to be reactivated because it was missing stations. At no point should I pay the additional $70 or $75 activation charges from Listener Care to get assistance. Hence, at no point should I or anyone else normally feel mentally beat-up by time they finish any support related conversation with XM Listener Care department especially when if you can get in contact with the right department such as the actual Warranty or the Tech Support department those staff response and behavior is completely different from Listener Care. In the past year I have wished I did not pay for the Lifetime subscription because of the business practices of XM and their Listener Care department.
Below is list of problems I’ve had with XM in five, maybe nine, years I have been with them.
– Charged me full price for one Lifetime subscription without crediting me from my previous subscription as they did on my second Lifetime subscription.
– Took close to a year to get a refund for being over charged.
– Non-stop problems, as well as hideous customer service practices, from Lister Care trying to charge me or tell me I’m out of warranty when the radio does not last long enough to live out the warranty.
– Poor reliability of replacement radios
– Failure to refund or offer customers a long term solution when the product is proven to be a repeated defect
– Failure to prove consistent response in every department
Do you find it strange that you needed 7 radios? Do you think that is typical?
I was told I was to pay a 75 dollar fee to transfer my service. Then they told me now that my subscription was on the radio. It was not on the radio and they transferred it once. Now they are saying it was never transferred and I am no longer allowed to have lifetime rights
Do you have an proof of the original lifetime purchase? Simply contact their Facebook advanced support and they will take care of it right away.
all I have is the brochure they sent me.
Any they have no record of your transfer or the $75 fee you were charged? You could always take your radio id number and have them look up the history on it.
Sirius just contacted me and apologized for what happened and not only will they honor the contract, they are sending me a free radio. Wonderful news…
Glad to hear it. Thank you for taking the time to report back.
XM -Lifetime, not yours the radios’ I’m looking for a copy of the XM Everything agreement in print if anyone has one it would be appreciated.
There were 3 levels of Lifetime. The Basic which was only the Radio, Everything that included online listing, and there was one higher level that included Howard Stern. At the time there were 3rd party apps or programs that enabled the online listening.
I didn’t care about Howard so I went with the middle plan because I listen at work.
As for moving radios, Here is what I was lead to believe was the deal.
The XM Lifetime was for the radio, to change radios it would cost 75 dollars for each move unless it was stolen and you had a police report.
You were allowed 4 moves under that plan at 75 bucks a move.
XM was very sneaky by not sending out a copy of the agreement. All I have is my credit card statement showing payment and a thank you email.
I bought a lifetime subscription back in 09 on our 04 Tahoe, with the agreement that I could transfer the services as needed and at no cost. I transferred it one time to our 10 Ford Flex (not without a huge run around), and subscribed to their travel link service as well. All was great, traded our 10 Flex for an 11 Flex, wanted to transfer all services to the current car and sxm would not do it and subsequently canceled all my services including my lifetime subscription. After going round and round with multiple reps and a rude manager they told me nothing could be done because my account had been canceled WITHOUT my permission. Trying to be agreeable but highly pissed, I asked if they could simply comp me a year of services at no cost, or bill me the transfer fee, NOPE. Couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. Done with SXM.
I would like to start a new class action suit against them for charging my credit card repeatedly after I have called and told then not to do so. I recorded the phone calls and documented all correspondence with them. The service sucks too. Anyone like to join in?