SiriusXM is being sued by the state of New York for making it too difficult for subscribers to cancel their plans. The lawsuit alleges that customers who want to cancel are forced to chat by phone or online with an agent who bombards them with questions and offers. “Sirius intentionally wastes its subscribers’ time despite having the ability to process cancellations at the click of a button,” the lawsuit says.
Attorney General Letitia James' office claims that SiriusXM's own data shows that it takes subscribers an average of 11.5 minutes to cancel by phone and 30 minutes to cancel online. The lawsuit seeks damages for affected customers as well as a $5,000 penalty to the state of New York for each violation.
“Canceling a subscription with a lengthy and frustrating process is a stressful burden that no one looks forward to, and when companies make it difficult to cancel subscriptions, it is illegal,” James said in a statement. “Consumers should be able to easily cancel a subscription they no longer use or need, and companies have a legal obligation to simplify the cancellation process.”
Apparently some people managed to endure the SiriusXM cancellation process. The company reported a decline of 336,000 subscribers to its flagship satellite radio service in the first nine months of 2023.
“It is significant that the New York Attorney General issued a press release before providing SiriusXM with a copy of the complaint,” SiriusXM spokeswoman Jessica Casano-Antonellis said in a statement. “Like a number of consumer companies, we offer customers various options for subscribing to or canceling their SiriusXM subscription, and upon receipt and review of the complaint, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless allegations that grossly misrepresent SiriusXM’s practices .”
The long-term trend away from broadcasting means SiriusXM has had to get creative about its future. Aside from the alleged cancellation gymnastics, the company has invested heavily in podcasting. It bought Stitcher in 2020 for $325 million and Conan O'Brien's production company in 2022 for $150 million, and awarded lucrative distribution deals to top podcasts Crime Junkie and Pod Save America. Additionally, last month the company unveiled its modernized new app, which looks and feels much more like Spotify.