Sirius customer service not out of this world.

by WyldKard on February 21, 2007

It wasn’t long ago that I started having issues with my Sirius Sportster R. First, getting a signal became more difficult, and then I’d randomly lose connection to the antenna. I wasn’t sure if this was a software issue, an internal hardware problem, or simply an issue with the antenna, but the whole affair became frustrating enough that I’ve considered dropping my Sirius subscription.

I called Sirius up today and had to go through a voice-prompted technical support wizard before I could talk to a real person. After waiting on hold for a few minutes, someone picked up the phone and breathed into the handset, right before they hung up on me. Annoyed, I called Sirius up again, having to go through the same set of voice prompts and telling the Sirius computer, again, that my problem was not with the screen but with the audio, and that yes I was getting an error message, and that no, its simple recommended adjustments did not help me with my problem. I waited on hold for another few minutes, and finally was able to speak to someone.

I asked them if they could give me a more convenient phone number to bypass the technical support wizard in case we got disconnected. The answer was no, without saying no, as the support person hesitated and asked me what my problem was. As if the problem I had with my Sportster R had any bearing on my problems with Sirius’ crappy telephone tech support.

We proceeded to go through the basics, and after suggesting I wiggle the cable and otherwise manipulate the antenna connector on the Sportster R dock, and verify that the pins on the dock and the unit itself were not loose, the technical support operator determined that the problem was clearly with my antenna, claming that “the fiber optics can break”. Nevermind that the antenna cable wasn’t altered, or bent, after installation, so such breakage was highly unlikely. Nevertheless, since I bought the unit in October, I was still covered under the one-year warranty, so I was kindly given the number for Sirius’ warranty department.

My next phone call resulted in a prompt to input my account number. I didn’t have my account number on hand, so I was hoping for a prompt to talk to a person directly, or input other identifying information. No dice, as apparently the account number is absolutely necessary. I looked it up my signing into my Sirius account on their web site, and called back. I got through rather quickly, but the warranty call operator couldn’t verify who I was, because looking up my address, name, and phone number did not show anything on their end. They input the SID number from my Sportster R, and again, nothing. I was put on hold twice, and I explained to them that the information they were requesting was the same as on my account page when I logged in earlier. So, technically, it was in their systems somewhere.

I was ultimately asked to print out a copy of my account page and fax it to them to verify that I was, indeed, a subscriber. Why they couldn’t look this up themselves, since I got it off their Sirius web site, I do not know. Suffice to say, I wa sthen told that after receiving the fax, it would likely take a day or so before it was routed to the right people for verification. I asked who to send the fax to, and the operator gave me her first name. Somehow, even with a name on the attention line, it would take 24 hours to move the incoming fax from the machine to the desk of the operator I was talking to. I was told to call back tomorrow and explain the problem to whichever operator I spoke to. Apparently, the attention line didn’t matter after all.

I’m still tempted to cancel Sirius, especially after having to deal with their phone nonsense, but I’d like to get my antenna replaced for free if at all possible, in case some sucker out there wants to buy a used Sportster R for the couple dollars it’s worth. I’ve thrown around the idea of buying a nicer receiver, like one of the Stiletto portable units, but at this point, I don’t anticipate Sirius giving me any special deals. Not to mention, even their discounted deals are usually worse than what one can find on eBay or Froogle.

Considering that Sirius and XM are complaining about competition from the iPod to justify their proposed merger, I don’t see how they can hope to increase, or even maintain, their customer base unless their service is better. If my problems ended with crappy hardware or a poorly engineered antenna, that would be understandable, but an inability to quickly address my problems is unacceptable.

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