SiriusXM ‘Trapping’ Customers in Subscriptions, Says New York Attorney General

New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused SiriusXM of trapping customers in subscriptions. Subsequently, the streaming service makes it hard for them to cancel. In a lawsuit, she claims that an investigation completed by the Office of the Attorney General found that the company puts up roadblocks, making it extremely difficult for users to voluntarily end their subscriptions.

James argues that the company maintains “deliberately long and burdensome cancellation processes.” She says it is part of an overall strategy to prevent people from canceling their subscriptions to the service. James added that the streaming services’ long wait times and convoluted processes violate federal and state law.

Customer complaints prompted the investigation. James found that many customers were forced to wait in SiriusXM’s automated system before being transferred to agents who did not accept customers’ requests to cancel their service.

NY AG Letitia James sues SiriusXM: Service made it intentionally ‘hard to cancel subscriptions’ https://t.co/kWRLxpi7j4 pic.twitter.com/Is9Nqvzpc4

— New York Post (@nypost) December 20, 2023

“Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden no one looks forward to, and when companies make it hard to cancel subscriptions, it’s illegal,” the attorney general said in a press release, as reported by The New York Post.

In turn, SiriusXM refutes customer complaints, saying that the inquiry was in 2020 when the pandemic caused its day-to-day operations to slow down. The company also revealed that plans could be canceled online quicker than with a representative.

“Like a number of consumer businesses, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription,” said Jessica Casano-Antonellis, a SiriusXM spokesperson. She added that upon receiving and reviewing the complaint, the company would defend what she calls “baseless allegations,” which mischaracterize the SiriusXM’s overall practices.

According to the lawsuit, during 2019 and 2021, more than 578,000 subscribers seeking to cancel by telephone abandoned their efforts while waiting to be connected to the live agent. However, the company maintains that in 2021, “on average, online chat agents responded to consumer messages within 36 seconds to 2.4 minutes.”

The lawsuit seeks financial penalties, including reimbursement for customers’ time online during what the attorney general called “a deliberately lengthy” cancellation process.