XM Billing Question [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

KC2OSO

08-21-2006, 09:04 AM

Has this
happened to anybody?  For the last three
months, my XM has been shut off each month. 
When I call listener care, the clown on the other end says it's because
I made a switch to quarterly billing but I haven't ever done that.  I signed up for monthly billing on purpose so
if/when RnF go someplace else, I can just cancel the service and flush my
XM.  Makes me think that they just try to
flip monthly payers to quarterly to book the revenue.  I was an inch away from canceling XM but
decided that wasn’t very smart.

Crippler

08-21-2006, 10:23 AM

Haven't had that particular problem, but a similar one.I got bill in the mail for July's service.  Now, I've been on the quarterly plan since October 2004.  Apparently, my credit card (actually a debit card) suddenly decided to turn down the XM payment.  There was never a low balance that would have caused this, and my bank has no record of a denied payment.  So I buried the bill in a box of mail & didn't think about it for a little while. So I start getting calls on my cell from area code 202.  I ignored the first two or three since they didn't leave a message, but after about the sixth call, I Googled the area code.  When I found it was Washington DC, I decided to answer the next call.  So I spend 30 minutes on the phone with a young guy with the worst Spanish accent I've ever heard & give them my card number again.At the end of the conversation I ask if this will get me back on the quarterly plan & avoid any interruption in service, etc.  The guy tells me, "Oh, I can't do dat, jou hab to call another number."  I get the number, make the call, spend 30 more minutes with a woman with a horrid West Indian accent, and give all the same f'n information I just gave Pedro.  Now I just wait & hope I don't have to go through the same shit in another month.

ChimneyFish

08-21-2006, 11:33 AM

I've been paying monthly since I signed up, and I've never had a problem.(knocks on desk)

Fallon

08-21-2006, 12:09 PM

My bank has issued me two new debit/credit cards within the last few months, so that changed my experation date three times. After dealing with XM on the phone I just wait until they send me something in the mail and fill out the new info. They have the worst customer service.

Fallon

08-21-2006, 12:10 PM

Crippler wrote: So I start getting calls on my cell from area code 202. I ignored the first two or three since they didn't leave a message, but after about the sixth call, I Googled the area code. When I found it was Washington DC, I decided to answer the next call. So I spend 30 minutes on the phone with a young guy with the worst Spanish accent I've ever heard & give them my card number again.  Shit, that's who's been calling me. I've been getting calls from 202, but the messages just say my name and that it's important buisness.

MadMatt

08-21-2006, 12:29 PM

Fallon wrote: Crippler wrote: So I start getting calls on my cell from area code 202. I ignored the first two or three since they didn't leave a message, but after about the sixth call, I Googled the area code. When I found it was Washington DC, I decided to answer the next call. So I spend 30 minutes on the phone with a young guy with the worst Spanish accent I've ever heard & give them my card number again.Shit, that's who's been calling me. I've been getting calls from 202, but the messages just say my name and that it's important buisness. Remember, the IRS has a 202 area code too.  Just sayin'...

yomudder21

08-21-2006, 12:36 PM

I have the simple quarterly payment and I have never had a problem with that.  And wouldn't make more sense that XM would want montly payments on the books and not quarterly payments on the books because people who pay by month pay more?

KC2OSO

08-21-2006, 12:46 PM

yomudder21 wrote: I have the simple quarterly payment and I have never had a problem with that. And wouldn't make more sense that XM would want montly payments on the books and not quarterly payments on the books because people who pay by month pay more?  You would think...who knows. I was trying to figure out why they would shut me off three months in a row.  Nothing happened to my Amex - I pay my bills pretty much the day I get them.  My Amex doesn't expire until next year sometime.  I started the call nicely but after about 20 minutes, got irate with the person and poof - all my channels came back.

Gvac

08-21-2006, 01:05 PM

Crippler wrote: Haven't had that particular problem, but a similar one.I got bill in the mail for July's service. Now, I've been on the quarterly plan since October 2004. Apparently, my credit card (actually a debit card) suddenly decided to turn down the XM payment. There was never a low balance that would have caused this, and my bank has no record of a denied payment. So I buried the bill in a box of mail & didn't think about it for a little while. So I start getting calls on my cell from area code 202. I ignored the first two or three since they didn't leave a message, but after about the sixth call, I Googled the area code. When I found it was Washington DC, I decided to answer the next call. So I spend 30 minutes on the phone with a young guy with the worst Spanish accent I've ever heard & give them my card number again.At the end of the conversation I ask if this will get me back on the quarterly plan & avoid any interruption in service, etc. The guy tells me, "Oh, I can't do dat, jou hab to call another number." I get the number, make the call, spend 30 more minutes with a woman with a horrid West Indian accent, and give all the same f'n information I just gave Pedro. Now I just wait & hope I don't have to go through the same shit in another month. You're a brave man, Crippler.

mikeyboy

08-21-2006, 01:22 PM

yomudder21 wrote: And wouldn't make more sense that XM would want montly payments on the books and not quarterly payments on the books because people who pay by month pay more?Do the people who pay monthly pay more than the people who pay quarterly?  I was under the impression that they did not.  I know there are advantages if you lock in for mult-year commitments, but I didn't think that applied to quarterly payments as well.  I'm no accountant, but it seems to me there are a couple of reasons that quarterly payments are preferable XM if the overall amount paid by quarterly and monthly billed customers is the same.1. Time value of money - If XM bills you up front for the following three months of service, in essence they are getting payment for one month a month early and for another month 2 months early.2. In calculating subscriber base, even though you can likely get a prorated refund if you quit the service in the middle of a quarterly cycle, I'm sure that XM can count on subscribers being around for the full cycle when calculating their subscriber base.3. The administrative costs and costs paid to the credit card companies for using their services would probably be lower in billing customers on a quarterly basis rather than a monthly basis.

PapaBear

10-21-2006, 10:16 PM

You're right Mikey. I'm on quarterly, and it's the same total as monthly. Here's my problem. I moved the account from my Mother's name to mine. I gave them my check card number for billing. Every time they try to debit my account, they say the card is denied, even though the money is in the bank and no other businesses ever turn down my card.So I tell them I want to change my billing method to have it come directly out of my checking account. They say they have to send me forms to do it. I say "fine... send the forms". A few weeks later, I haven't recieved the forms. I tell them to send them again. Still... no forms. Why is so damn hard to pay my freakin' bill? I finally mailed them a check, which went through fine. But I don't want to be mailing checks. I almost NEVER use my checkbook. I don't want to do it for XM, just because they can't get their act together. Hey, XM... I want to give you my money. WHY WON'T YOU TAKE IT?

furie

10-21-2006, 10:27 PM

i pay quarterly. no problems.

Sheeplovr

10-22-2006, 05:35 AM

you can do it motnhly? i didnt even knowi do know they say as soon as you dont want xm they give you refund for what you didnt payfor so that seams finei
dont like that i dont get a reminder e-mail or somethign that says hey
your bill is up cause i only find out i paid for my xm by seeing my
bank statement

Gvac

10-22-2006, 06:45 AM

Sheeplovr wrote: you can do it motnhly? i didnt even knowi do know they say as soon as you dont want xm they give you refund for what you didnt payfor so that seams finei
dont like that i dont get a reminder e-mail or somethign that says hey
your bill is up cause i only find out i paid for my xm by seeing my
bank statement  My XM subscription gets billed monthly directly to my credit card.  I assume you can do the same with "electronic check" where they take it right out of your checking account.  It probably works out to being slightly more expensive.

Crippler

10-22-2006, 06:06 PM

You're a brave man, Crippler.  I'll admit, I was worried for a few minutes, but I asked him to put me on hold for 10 seconds.  When the on-hold volume made my ears bleed, I knew it was a legit call from XM.  That's the one thing that each call I've ever made to XM has in common.  The music is so loud it should be criminal. ps: my billing is back on target...quarterly, on the card, no interruptions, and no more calls.  No idea what caused the problem initially, but thankfully it's over.

This message was edited by Crippler on 10-22-06 @ 10:08 PM

JoeYaDeadHomey

10-22-2006, 07:09 PM

WORST WORST WORST ENGLISH SKILLS EVER! my name is john smith (sounds like a drunk apu from the quickie mart) they always talk some nonesense, but they just have awful people answering phones, not just at xm but everywhere. im glad people want to work, but wtf?@  SPEAK ENGLISH!!!

PaulF

10-22-2006, 07:35 PM

Had the same issue of getting my XM shut off --was supposed to be on quarterly. The problems started when I replaced my broken Roady2 with a Tao unit earlier this year. It took a couple of calls to get the Tao activated and in the process, the rep had made some other unrequested changes to my account.I had made close to a dozen calls over a few months trying to pay the bill prior to it getting cut off, and then a few more after. Eventually, I got hung on by a Customer Service supervisor, when I questioned if the rep I had just talked to had actually taken the payment and corrected my account.  I was calling back to cancel my service when he called me back and apologized. After I got off the phone the second time, I gave it a couple of hours, but my radio still didn't come back on. It turns out I was right about the rep still screwing up. It was the Friday before Labor Day and I was running around to clients like crazy, so I didn't have anymore time to waste making calls to XM.At close to 10pm that night, I emailed E.Lo since he does seem to be very responsive to listeners. I wasn't expecting to hear anything until the following Tuesday, but to my surprise, I got a response from him at 9am the following morning (Saturday of Labor Day weekend) telling me he would get this handled. Later that day, I got a call from a manager in Customer Service, though she thought I just couldn't log in to listen online. I explained what was going on and she said she would call me back. Less than an hour later, she did call me back, my radio was active, and surprise, surprise, the last year's worth of invoices was now showing up, though they were all dated 8/27/2006.My brother wanted to get XM recently, so I picked up an Inno about a week and half ago really cheap, and gave him the Tao. I activated the Inno with no problem online and it appear the activation fee and the additional quarterly fee had been charged to my card on file. To my surprise, yesterday, I get two invoices in the mail. One for the normal quarterly fee and a second one for the quarterly fee plus the Inno activation and fee. I once again, I can't make the payment online. I guess E.Lo's getting another email.I feel bad for him actually, because he does put a lot of work into programming and does listen to what the customers want, but his work is crapped on by poor customer service department.

Fallon

10-22-2006, 07:44 PM

I do it monthly. My bank changed my credit card experation date twice within a month (they made upgrades) so I had to call XM to tell them my info, for whatever reason they didn't take it. So I got something in the mail, so I just sent them a check with my new info written on it as well. Had to do that twice before they started getting it back from my card again.Their tech support sucks, I hate having to call them. 

This message was edited by Fallon on 10-22-06 @ 11:44 PM

BYOBKenobi

10-24-2006, 05:01 PM

I pay for 1 year at a time and the second time I paid up I got a bill for about... oh... 4 units when I only have one.  I called and just screamed like a lunatic until I was transfered to someone who's native language was english and they squared it away.It's amazing how everyone would be fine treating the customer service reps like they would like to be treated in return, but that you get better service by being a total cock sucker.I called Sprint PCS to find out when my agreement was up because I was going to switch providers for no real reason.  Turns out they re-upped me without telling me when I lost a phone and replaced it by going through my warantee.  "I'm sorry Mr. Kenobi, there's nothing we can do.  You were fully aware of this when it happened.  It was your mistake, but thank you for choosing Sprint PCS."That's how much I got for being polite.  Then I flipped the fuck out and all of a sudden for the same price I'm paying now I get about 2,000 more minutes, 500 free txts a month, nights and weekends starting at 6pm, and on and on and on.  It's like the whole world is set up to fuck people who take it gracefully and back down to the assholes.