SiriusXM Radio’s Customer Service Sucks Dead Bunnies
All I want to do is buy a satellite radio for my mom, that she can have in her apartment to listen to 40’s music, or whatever else she wants to listen to. I’d add it to my account, pay for it, set it up, all that. All I need is a freakin’ radio.
I’ve been trying to make it happen for TWO DAYS. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard. The website kicked me out no fewer than 6 times, kept forcing me to log back in. Then the descriptions of the radios was moderately unhelpful. Then the “customer service” person I spoke to, a guy named “John” with a accent suspiciously Indian, went through the ordering process with me and then told me my credit card number was invalid. Which is BS. Then he hung up on me.
I sent an e-mail to Sirius. They e-mailed back, we’re so sorry, call this number. So I did. And got “Megan”, who at least sounded ‘Murcan. We went through the process again. Same buffoonery with the credit card. We finally got that sorted out, I have no idea what the problem was, and all was rosy. Until the confirmation e-mail showed up and it said I had ordered a radio with a vehicle kit.
No no no no. So I tried calling again. And got “Chris”, whose accent wasn’t ‘Murcan. He got a bit testy with me. He was going to cancel the order and start over and I said no, never mind. Called the other number, where I’d spoken to “Megan”, was put on hold for awhile and then hung up on again.
Jesus Mary and Joseph. All I want to do is buy a radio for my mom so she can listen to her music at home without commercials.
And oh by the way, we went to Wal Mart in the interim, bought a radio that was listed as being suitable for home use, got it home and discovered no, it’s for a vehicle.
Why do they make it so difficult? It’s just stupid. I don’t know what to do next, except grouse.
What the heck.
Update (and elaboration): Had another lovely discussion with a fellow named “Chris”, a name his mother almost certainly did not give him. He got somewhat testy with me when after a pause of several seconds, following my giving him the order number, I asked if he was still there. I’m a bit twitchy, having been hung up on by “customer service” worker “John”. Then he said he’d cancel the order. This struck me as a remarkably bad idea, so I told him not to, never mind, I’ll call another number. Tried to call “Megan” back. Was left on hold for an interminable period, and then — wait for it — was hung up on again. Sent another e-mail. Got a call from a fellow at what turned out to be “Corporate Customer Service” after I stated in this e-mail that I did not want to talk to anyone from India anymore, there is a language problem, I can’t make them understand what I want to do. They responded — So sorry, we have no control where the calls go, customer service reps are chosen at random. Yadda yadda.
Anyway, the fellow at the corporate level actually turned out to be somewhat helpful. Between yesterday and today, a total of 4 conversations, we’ve determined that yes, they screwed up the order. And he is sending a home docking kit which should arrive immediately after, or maybe at the same time as, the radio. And he’s sending it free of charge, which is a very nice thing.
We’ll see, I guess. I won’t be here when the stuff arrives, I’m driving home starting Sunday morning. The stuff will get here Monday or Tuesday, assuming his estimate is correct.
I hope it all works out. It should work out. The difficulty involved in ordering this stuff for my mother is, however, mind-boggling. I’ve never had this much pain trying to give a company my money, and me and SiriusXM have had a relationship for over 3 years. Meaning, of course, that I’ve been sending them money for satellite radio for 3 years. This is how they treat their customers?
Maybe it was just a coincidental confluence of buffoonery. But…. jeez.
Update the Second: Oh, by the way, SiriusXM sent me an e-mail yesterday asking for feedback on my experience speaking with their “customer service” people. And I sent them feedback, oh baby, did I ever. Forgot to use the word “execrable”, though.
I’m Visiting My Mother
In Texas, hanging out with my mom. The National Community Band thing in New Orleans went well, I was able to keep a low profile and, I hope, under the conductor’s radar, in spite of the fact that my chair was right in front of him and in the first row — where the flutes sit. I don’t think he remembered me as the clueless buffoon on the bass drum last year. At least he didn’t indicate he did.
And then I drove further west to see my mom for a few days. I love my mom, but she watches CNN and Inside Edition and I’m about to slash my wrists.
Oy vey.
She just informed me she doesn’t intend to vote this year because she doesn’t know who to vote for. I kept my mouth shut. She’s old enough to make her own choices without input from me.
Right now we’re watching Anderson Cooper. Pray for me.
Recovery?
What recovery? Found by way of Instapundit.
To illustrate:
Yow.
Shamelessly stolen from Greg Mankiew’s Blog.
Only 120 days to go. Then maybe we can get to work correcting this fiasco.
Ode to Flashmob
Sabadell is a city in Catalonia, Spain. Here’s a little background on this particular flashmob:
On the 130th anniversary of the founding of Banco Sabadell we wanted to pay homage to our city by means of the campaign “Som Sabadell” (We are Sabadell) . This is the flashmob that we arranged as a final culmination with the participation of 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l’Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs.
And here’s the video. It’s stupendous.
Leeann Is Teh Awesome
In case you need to know what to do with these socially challenged mothers who leave their offspring’s dirty diapers in public restrooms for someone else to clean up, go here.
Put your drink down first.
It’s a Mandate! It’s a Tax!
More On Brett Kimberlin
Apparently Brett Kimberlin has Google Alerts set up to send him an e-mail whenever his name is mentioned somewhere on the InterTubes.
Huh.
Hello, Brett Kimberlin. How are you, Brett Kimberlin? I am fine, Brett Kimberlin. Nice weather we’re having, isn’t it, Brett Kimberlin? Why, yes, Brett Kimberlin, it is.
Do you remember that Dick Van Dyke Show episode when Buddy, Sally, Mel, Rob and Laura participated in a skit involving their singing a song whose lyrics were, “Alan Brady, Alan Brady, Alan Brady, Alan Brady”? Somebody should come up with a song that goes, “Brett Kimberlin, Brett Kimberlin, Brett Kimberlin, Brett Kimberlin.”
Maybe I just did.
Spam Spam Spam Spam
We got an e-mail here at work yesterday from “The IRS”. Because the IRS always notifies people of new programs and forms and penalties by e-mail.
Here’s a screen shot. Click to embiggen.
The IRS notifies you….
Chock full of bad grammar and punctuation errors, complete with a link to the “official site” whose URL is actually this, and I am not making this up (extraneous spaces added to avoid creating an actual link):
“http :// lovetv.novomir.com /// wp-content /uploads /Secure.php”.
This is my favorite part:
You we be released from the penalty if the taxpayer shows that the failure to meet the deadline for filling was caused by substantial reasons.
Well, okay then. I guess this stuff works on somebody, or they’d stop doing it. Anyway — we forwarded it to the accountant, who forwarded it to the IRS. Who, I’m sure, will be all over it with typical governmental bureaucratic alacrity.
My Sister-in-Law Posts Important Facebook Update
‘Cause this is important.
Aren’t you relieved? I know I am.
Medical Update
Forgot to post about the stress test. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Kind of interesting, being injected with radioactive stuff (thallium) and xrayed, then put on a treadmill, then injected with more thallium for more xrays. Had an interesting conversation with the doc and the technician about Graham-Rudman. Really.
They set up an appointment on July 10th for telling me the results and let me go home, which indicates they didn’t see anything immediately alarming.
I’ll let you know what they say, if I don’t forget to post that too. Two days after that I’ll be on the road to New Orleans for the National Community Band. I don’t think anything will interfere. If there were medical issues, they’d have let me know already. Right?
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