New Yorkers no longer have to speak or chat with a live SiriusXM agent to cancel their subscription after a court ruling found the company violated a federal law.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Friday that SiriusXM’s “burdensome cancellation process” does not comply with the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which protects consumers from being charged online fees without their consent.
“No one should have to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription, and any company that forces customers to jump through unnecessary hoops to cancel their subscription is breaking the law,” James said in a written statement Friday .
Here’s what you need to know.
What were the AG investigation’s findings on SiriusXM?
After hundreds of consumers contacted the Attorney General’s Office and other agencies about their problems canceling Sirius XM subscriptions, the agency opened an investigation into the company.
The AG’s office found that Sirius that subscribers cancel.
This process involves a lengthy six-part conversation with a series of questions and as many as five retention offers, all to delay the cancellation, the AG’s office said. When customers reject the offers, the company trains its agents not to take ‘no’ for an answer and to continue bombarding customers with questions or offers, making the process difficult and frustrating.
According to SiriusXM’s own data, it takes subscribers an average of 11.5 minutes to cancel by phone and 30 minutes to cancel online, the AG’s office said, but for many subscribers it takes much longer — often requiring more than 20 minutes wait before connecting with an online chat agent.
However, the company can cancel a customer’s subscription with the simple click of a button or even allow customers to do so themselves, the study found.
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What was the outcome of the lawsuit against SiriusXM?
SiriusXM will have to change its cancellation procedures in New York as a result of the court ruling, ensuring an easy method of canceling subscriptions for its customers. Customers also no longer need to speak or chat with a live agent to cancel their subscription.
SiriusXM said in a written statement Friday that the company will comply with the FTC’s Click to Cancel rule — which will make it easier for consumers to cancel recurring subscriptions — when it goes into effect, but plans to appeal against the court’s ruling regarding technical violations found in this decision.
“New York initiated this case last year alleging that “SiriusXM continues to engage in repeated and persistent fraud and illegality.” Today we know, and New York State knows, that this is not true,” the SiriusXM statement said. “Yesterday, the Court dismissed nearly all charges against SiriusXM and found that SiriusXM’s policies were neither misleading nor deceptive.
“Most importantly, the Court found that SiriusXM had demonstrated through “an abundance of material … that they have repeatedly taken steps to avoid creating such an atmosphere of fraud or deceit.” Although the Court found some technical violations of a federal statute, it did not find that SiriusXM ever deceived anyone or committed fraud.”
Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network’s New York Connect team, focusing on scams and recall-related topics. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Contact ebarnes@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: SiriusXM’s cancellation process violates federal law and New York court rules
