When Bad Customer Service Turns Good
Although I went through a period of time when I didn’t listen to it often enough to justify paying for it, I love XM Radio.
Last year, due to billing errors and the fact I wasn’t really listening to it that much, I decided to cancel my service. At that point, I had no intention of subscribing to XM ever again, but in December of last year I received an ad inviting me back
The ad offered service for $14.97 per quarter, per radio. Having two radios, I couldn’t pass up the offer. The ad implied the offer was good for a full year, so I called to talk to a customer service rep. After repeated assurances from her that the quarterly rate in the ad was valid for one year, I re-activated my XM account. I have a copy of that ad as well as the notes I took that day around here somewhere. When I find them, I will post them.
In January, I was billed $29.94 (2 radios x $14.97). In April, three months later, I was billed $30.08. I thought the amount was odd, but it was so close to the $29.94 amount that I thought that the increase could be attributed to taxes or something like that so I didn’t really question it. Then, just yesterday, they hit my account again. This time for $25.90.
I logged into my XM Radio account online to view my invoices. That didn’t help at all. Their system shows just three invoices for my account.
The first one, from December 7, 2006, for the billing period 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006, shows I had a $0 balance. That’s good, because I was not a customer in November of 2006.
The second one, from January 17, 2007, appears to be a “mistake”. Although it shows the statement date as 01/17/2007 online, the printed invoice states the summary is for the billing period 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006. 2005??? 2006??? The balance due on the statement shows $19.94 which is the amount I was paying back then, but why show me an invoice from a year ago?
The third one, from March 01, 2007, for the billing period 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007, shows another $0 balance.
I decided to call customer service to have them explain this new charge of $25.90, as well as the charge for $30.08 and that’s when the fun began.
I decided to record the call, because the last time I spoke with one of their customer service reps, I was mislead and ended up getting screwed. The recordings are not the greatest, but they serve their purpose.
I broke the recording into two parts, and edited out the parts where I disclose account information or when they placed me on hold. The first part is my conversation with Marie.
Marie seemed like she might be helpful, but ended up contradicted herself so many times my head began to spin.
Just over a minute and a half into the recording, she confirms my account is billed quarterly. A minute after that she re-affirms that fact but then starts talking about the monthly billing for my radios.
All I wanted was to get the same deal I had been promised. If I couldn’t have that, I wanted to cancel my account. And after several minutes and some lengthy hold times, Marie transferred me to someone else who could help me cancel my account.
Marie is the perfect example of XM Radio customer service that I have experienced over the course of the past couple years. She did nothing to make me want to remain an XM customer. She just didn’t try to save my account. She kept telling me “yes sir, that is correct”, in response to questions that needed more than a yes or no answer and she just passed me off to the next guy.
The next guy was Jared. He was great. Honestly. He really was.
He was honest and direct. How many customer service reps would admit that “the customer has no reason to believe anything they say”? He offered to put me back on the quarterly plan I was on, even though it was only a one-time offer. That would be the one-time offer that Marie said had she couldn’t honor, because it was a one-time only deal. I would have been fine with that, if it was good for the remainder of the year, not just another “one-time”. He then offered me the same “one year for $77″ offer Marie made, and I told him no, not unless they would credit the account with the amounts I have already paid.
In the end, he ended up crediting my account for the amounts I already paid, signing me up for the one year plan, and extending that “one-year” until May 2008.
Jared made it work. He saved the account. He did a great job.
As far as I am concerned this could have played out three different ways, but Jared surprised me with a fourth.
The first situation would have found me “not noticing” the billing arrangements. After the initial quarter at $29.94, they would have continued to bill me at $25.90 per month, and I would have paid $366.64 for my service from January 2007 through May 2008.
The second situation would have required them to bill me properly. After the initial quarter at $29.94, they would have billed me $19.94 per month, and by May 2008, I would have paid $289.16 for my service.
The third situation (the one I wanted) would have required them to honor their original agreement with me. After the initial quarter at $29.94, I would have been billed for three more quarters before regular billing was resumed, and I would have paid a total of $199.52 for service from January 2007 through May 2008.
Jared’s plan (the one I accepted), however, went a step above and beyond. I am still not sure how he came up with the numbers, but, he put me on the $77 for one year plan, and after crediting my account I owe them $9.91 for the remainder of one year for one radio. The second radio will be billed on the family plan for $6.99 per month, So the total I will be paying in reality for service from January 2007 through May 2008 will be $179.71.
Anyway you look at it, I saved a bundle today. I saved $120 from the regular rate I would have been charged, and $20 more than the agreement I was wanting them to uphold in the first place. They are even sending me a confirmation letter confirming the plan and the rates that apply to my account.
I have to laugh though, because they would have saved money if they had just given me the deal I was promised in the first place.