Archive for February, 2009

(My Tweets from yesterday)

• 08:39 is thinking about the ton of work that has to get done tonight before going to bed and driving to Orlando tomorrow morning at 645 AM.
• 12:06 is impressed with the new mobile MySpace interface.
• 14:33 wants to find some excuse to go home early, but has a 400 PM meeting. It is going to a long night kiddies.
• 17:00 is proving that if a company outsources to idiots in India and they piss him off he WILL find the corporate number & get free stuff. BOOYAH
• 23:27 has documented what spurred his last Facebook/Twitter update. Read and learn kids: tinyurl.com/siriusxm-drama
• 04:17 is still awake… and has to be on the road 2.5 hours. Ug.

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So about six months ago I bought my badass new Ford Mustang GT. One of the perks that came with it was a Sirius satellite radio with six months of free service.

For those of you doing math right now – yes, the service expired about a week ago.

Shannon really enjoyed the service (when she’d borrow the car) so I was entertaining the idea of buying a second radio and paying for her to get Sirius, too. Thus, today I picked up the phone and called Sirius XM’s sales number…

And immediately got connected to India.

The first time, I got as far as “Hello” when the phone line died at their end. So I called back. The second guy was nice enough, but what frustrates me about outsourced calls isn’t that the employees in other countries can’t speak English; the guy on the phone did perfectly fine. It’s that the employees don’t understand the tone and subtlety of language… call it “lost in translation.”

So after going in circles for a bit – I was set to pay $13 a month for my service, $7 for Shannon’s (for three months at once – $21) and with the prepaid promo, $10 for Shannon’s new radio. Plus tax: about $50 total.

The Indian sales guy put me on hold to calculate shipping (I had pointed out that the website offered it for free) and… wait for it… wait for it… the call disconnected.

I’d wasted almost 45 minutes at this point TRYING TO SPEND MONEY WITH SIRIUS XM. I called back – and this time asked immediately for a supervisor. After ten minutes, I finally got to speak to the manager on duty who (through the magic of activation fees and other hidden costs) increased the price for the same options I had requested on the last call to over $80.

I explained (getting pissed off) that I was given a different price on the last call. His answer? If I want to say money, I should just buy a lifetime subscription for $400. I pointed out that Sirius XM is looking to file bankruptcy, so a “lifetime” subscription may last all of six months. I told him I appreciated his time – and hung up.

After dialing the number about five more times, I learned that the only call center I could get to was in India.

With the obvious failure of the Sirius XM sales force, it is REALLY easy to see why they are on the verge of bankruptcy.

So now I was really frustrated. I wanted to buy something. I wanted to pay money for it. I just wanted it for a fair price. (I’ve omitted details about price changes and other elements that would drag this post out forever… but trust me. I had every reason to be as pissed as I was.)

I immediately hopped online, and after about fifteen minutes of digging I found the phone number for the corporate offices of Sirius XM in New York.

For those wondering, the number for the Sirius XM corporate office is (212) 584-5100.

After presenting my case, the receptionist transferred me to the corporate sales office. Another half an hour later:

• I was charged $6.74 – a shipping charge plus $.01… the cost of Shannon’s new radio.
• Shannon’s first month is free.
• I was comp’d my first month back – plus a discount on my second month.

I went from paying $80 to $7.

MORAL OF THE STORY: It’s your money kids. Spend it based on your standards… not some stranger’s in India.

Last tidbit before I go to bed. It seems that the Star Trek experience in Vegas is returning…

http://scifiwire.com/2009/02/confirmed-new-contract-to-keep-star-trek-the-experience-alive-in-vegas.php