NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general filed suit Wednesday against SiriusXM, accusing the satellite radio and streaming service of making it intentionally difficult for its customers to cancel their subscriptions.
Attorney General Latitia James’ office said an investigation into complaints from customers found that SiriusXM forced subscribers to wait in an automated system before often lengthy interactions with agents who were trained in ways to avoid accepting a request to cancel service.
“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 statement.
The company disputed the claims, arguing that many of the lengthy interaction times cited in the lawsuit were based on a 2020 inquiry and were caused in part by the effects of the pandemic on their operations. The company said many of its plans can be canceled with a simple click of a button online.
I sold my car that had a satellite enabled radio and bought a car that didn’t. I actually wanted to keep my subscription but change it to a streaming only plan. I tried at least 3 times to get that set up and each time I thought we were good it turned out that we weren’t. I eventually got fed up enough to cancel my sub outright. I get an email every day with a new deal for a streaming only plan but there’s no way I’ll go back after that experience.