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Researched by Alex Jarvis
Last updated: 11/07/2008

Or something like that.

The Commission approved the controversial merger last night on a 3-2 party-line vote. The nation's only two satellite radio operators have agreed to abide by several voluntarily conditions:

• Consumers will be able to purchase small a la carte packages.
• Third parties will be allowed to design and sell their own receivers.
• Sirius-XM will soon rollout an interoperable receiver that can receive signals from both companies.
• 4% of the new conglomerate's channels will be reserved for public interest programming.
• No price hikes for three years.

The two Democratic Commissioners were receptive to a merger, but voted against the deal after the companies refused to offer strong consumer protections.

"I was hoping to forge a bipartisan solution that would offer consumers more diversity in programming, better price protection, greater choices among innovative devices and real competition with digital radio," Adelstein declared. "Instead, it appears they're going to get a monopoly with window dressing. We missed a great opportunity to reach a bipartisan agreement that would have benefited the American people."

Last week, Adelstein told reporters that he'd back the proposed union if the two parties honored a six-year price cap, include digital radio in all tuners, and "make one-quarter of their satellite capacity available for public interest and minority programming."

Both Sirius and XM received their satellite radio licenses from the FCC in 1997 under the condition that they never merge.

Satellite Radio Merger Approved [Washington Post]
Report: FCC set to approve XM Radio-Sirius merger (updated) [Ars Technica]
PREVIOUSLY: XM-Sirius Merger Will Double Monthly Prices?

Mel Karmazin
Chief Executive Officer
Sirius Satellite Radio
1221 Avenue of the Americas, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10020
Phone: (212) 584-5100
Fax: (212) 584-5200

I have been a Sirius subscriber since December 2005. I added a second receiver to my subscription in 2007 (account # [redacted]).

I own two Sirius Stratus Dock & Play receivers (model# SV3TK1).

The adhesive backing that ships with these models that allows customers to mount the dock to their dashboard or windshield each failed within 1 - 3 months of my radio purchases.

I have tried every store-bought solution to re-affix my Sirius Stratus radios, including double-sided tape, crazy glue, and mounting putty. None have been effective.

I am unwilling to drill holes in my vehicle dashboards, affecting the resale value of my cars, to mount my Sirius radios, which I typically upgrade every 12 - 24 months.

I have been unable to enjoy my Sirius Stratus radios or my Sirius subscription for more than four months on one radio (ESN [redacted]) and two months on another (ESN [redacted]).

On April 14th, I contacted Sirius to inquire about shipping me a replacement adhesive backing. While the backing that shipped with my radios did fail within 1 -3 months, it did allow me to enjoy my Sirius Stratus radio and Sirius subscription in the mean time.

I contacted the Sirius sales department at 1-888-539-7474. The Hispanic female who answered my call was barely intelligible and I was unable to communicate to her exactly what I needed, even using words such as "tape", "adhesive", "backing", and "vehicle mount". Eventually I asked for the "parts department" and I was instructed to call 1-800-869-5187.

I called 1-800-869-5187 and dialed the prompt for technical support. The computer system asked me for my phone number, which I entered, but then the system prompted me to make a payment on my zero ($0) balance and gave me no other options. I dialed 0 several times and was able to reach a customer support representative, who placed me on hold and then I was disconnected.

I called 1-888-539-7474 back and was disconnected while holding for a representative.

I called 1-888-539-7474 a third time. Explaining exactly what I needed a third time, I was instructed to call 1-800-422-7142.

I called 1-800-422-7142 and spoke with Robert. He informed me that Sirius does not stock tape and even though the vehicle mount was included with my Sirius Stratus radios, it is not covered under warranty and could not be replaced.

This experience was very frustrating.

As a long-time Sirius subscriber, I would appreciate it if Sirius would kindly ship me two replacement adhesive backings for my Sirius Stratus Dock & Play radios, replace the vehicle dock part, or replace the radios completely. Please ship two of them to my home address below.

I also ask you to consider crediting my Sirius subscription service for the three months I have been unable to enjoy my Sirius Stratus radio or subscription due to your products defects and as a gesture of good will following my poor customer service experience.

As someone who regularly makes technology recommendations to friends and family, your response or lack thereof may impact whether or not I recommend Sirius satellite radio to them in the future, let alone maintain my subscription. Some of them CC'd on this email, in addition to popular consumer product and technology publications.

I look forward to your response by week's end, Friday, April 18th. I can be reached on my cell phone at [redacted} or by email at [redacted].

Sincerely,

Hayden [redacted]
[contact info redacted]

CC:
James E. Meyer
President, Operations and Sales

Scott Greenstein
President, Entertainment and Sports

Jim Collins
Vice President, Corporate Communications

BBB of Metro NY Complaint # 6313789
Fax: (212) 477-4912

Georgia Governors Office of Consumer Affairs
Fax: (404) 651-9018

The Consumerist
tips@theconsumerist.com
Engadget
Gizmodo

The letter was a success. Two days later, two people from Sirius contacted Hayden. One overnighted him the replacement adhesive backing, for free. The other offered him 3-months free service.

Corporate email address format: [first initial of first name][last name]@siriusradio.com
CEO Mel Karmazin - mkarmazin@siriusradio.com
James E. Meyes President, Operations and Sales - jmeyer@siriusradio.com
Scott Greenstein President, Entertainment and Sports - sgreenstein@siriusradio.com

Mel Karmazin
Chief Executive Officer
Sirius Satellite Radio
1221 Avenue of the Americas, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10020
Phone: (212) 584-5100
Fax: (212) 584-5200

This is strictly confidential, but all the paperwork is signed and ready to go, and XM has fully acquired Sirius Radio. Come May, there will be a substantial price increase for XM Radio, as it will, in June or so, host all the Sirius channels. It would be best to simply extend your XM plan as we will honor your current contract price per month before we begin hosting the Sirius stations.

According to the saleswoman, SIRIUS charges Best Buy $55 for the $50 gift card. This could be a clever SIRIUS ploy to drive customers to their own website while subjecting Best Buy to ridicule. Can anyone offer a better explanation?

SIRIUS - $50 Gift Card for SIRIUS Satellite Radio [BestBuy.com]
SIRIUS $50 Pre-Paid Subscription Card [SIRIUS]

A loyal Howard Stern fan, Marc followed Stern to Sirius in January of 2006. He bought a $500 lifetime subscription—which, like Tivo's old "lifetime" subscriptions, refers more to the lifespan of the devices than to your own. Still, Marc quickly grew to love what Sirius has to offer, and bought additional products, each with their own monthly subscriptions. He was and is, in short, the perfect customer. And then the credit card number they had on file expired, and Sirius canceled all of his accounts at the same time.

The nice Sirius customer service agent explains that my entire account has been closed. All four service plans. But, there is Good News, because she can turn my radios back on. When I get home, I find that none of the home radios are working. I also get an email confirming a $399 purchase of another lifetime subscription. And, I can not log into my account.

What surprises us most about this is how little regard Sirius has for someone who's clearly an ideal customer: loyal, an advocate of the product, does repeat business. Why ruin that? Shouldn't their customer management software be flashing a big red alarm at Sirius HQ right about now?

Sirius' corporate number is 212-584-5100, and their President of Sales & Operations is James E. Meyer. We suggest you "kick this up to Corporate" on your side and stop waiting for their day-to-day reps to deal with it. Also check out our "Be a Customer Service Ninja" post on how to seek executive-level assistance when customer service falls short.

Read this if you are thinking about buying a Sirius Lifetime Subscription [Sirius Canceled My Lifetime]

We don't currently find ourselves in a position to speak intelligently on the topic of which satellite radio service sucks more, but we do appreciate Mel's, uh, frankness.. —MEGHANN MARCO

Sirius Satellite Radio Boss: 'We Suck Less!' [Fox News]

"It's no different than what you'd hear from a group of adults having a conversation," insists Wayne Perry, president of SiCap industries. He's right there: if you've ever accidentally mistaken your pepper spray for your nasal spray, you'll know that loudly screaming "FUCK!" is probably the more restrained reaction.

The spot aired on the Howard Stern channels, where "listeners already expected some tasteful profanity." Also, descriptions of how Howard would like to yank out Kim Basinger's vocal chords so she'll shut up long enough to fellate him.

Sirius: 1st ad with 4-letter word [New York Daily News]

Rebates are scams. Rebates are scams. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that rebates are scams.

David L. wrote us, looking for help. He ordered a Sirius Starmate Replay Radio from Costco.com, lured by the promise of a $50 rebate. Needless to say, after 9 months of chasing that 50 bucks back, Sirius still hasn't given it to him.

Unfortunately, we really don't have much help to give. David, you are likely never going to see that rebate. Rebate houses are structured so purposely convoluted that getting a rebate back will almost always require Herculean endurance, even if (by random chance in the godless universe of customer service) you somehow manage to satisfy all of their arcane requirements.

This is a reminder: rebates should never be taken into account when you buy something, unless the rebate is either so absolutely amazing you just have to give it a shot and are willing to fight to the death for it. Otherwise, you need to treat rebates like lending money to a friend: don't part with money you can't afford to lose. Only, in this case, you're lending money to your worst enemy.

David's email, after the jump.

Last December, in preparation for the arrival of Howard Stern and a great rebate offer, I purchased a Sirius Starmate Replay radio from Costco.com. The wonderful folks on the FatWallet forums pointed me in the direction of a $50 rebate form (housed directly on Sirius.com servers) that very explicitly states that, although units purchased at Costco were not eligible for a rebate, units purchased on Costco.com were indeed eligible for the $50. Please see the attached pdf of the rebate form.

I submitted it on December 24 (well ahead of the 1/31 deadline) and had the rebate rejected on 2/27 due to "Non compliance — offer good only at participating retailers). I was given a deadline of April 9 to resubmit the form. I resubmitted the form and heard nothing. A CSR in May informed me that I was still in non-compliance, because purchases at Costco were not eligible. When I patiently explained that I ordered it from Costco.com, which was specifically permitted on the rebate form, he told me to send the materials to a special "resubmit address" and it would be taken care of.

Having heard nothing by mid June I called again, was told the same thing, then given a special fax number to send all my documents. I faxed the original rebate form and heard nothing again. August 9 rolled around and I sent a perturbed e-mail to Sirius and received a response that said, in part:

Please note receivers purchased from BJ's, Costco, Sam's Club, Target
and Wal-Mart are not eligible for this offer. This includes their
online counterparts.

I spoke with a CSR who said she had no record of receiving my fax and asked me to fax it again and e-mail it, which I did on August 9.

Finally, on August 23 I received another response informing me that receivers purchased at Costco were not eligible.

My last two e-mails (8/23 and 9/19) have received no response.

If only I could get through to Howard, I'm sure this would be resolved instantly.

I asked the installers where they were going to install the satellite antenna because I had done my homework and found that the antenna needs a good line of sight to the satellites and should be put either on the roof or on the trunk deck for convertibles, which my Saab is. They told me they always install them on the dash by the windshield and that it works perfectly from that location. I questioned that and explained that Sirius recommends putting it outside the car for proper reception but they adamantly informed me that they had installed thousands of antennas over the past two years and the dash was fine for "perfect" reception. They also told me that the antenna cable provided in the Sirius kit I purchased would not reach all the way to the trunk so they really had no choice but to put it on the dash. I left to get something to eat and leave them to their work with any uneasy feeling about the antenna location but there was nothing further I could do at that point as they were going to install it on the dash or not at all.

It gets worse and worse and worse, until a "free" installation of his satellite radio system ends up costing him over two hundred bones. One fascinating thing about the complaint is how James Kendrick, clearly more on the ball than the Best Buy technicians who installed his system, goes through so many pains even in retrospect to meet Best Buy in the middle and be as happy with his service as he clearly wanted to be going in. When you are this fair and balanced and still end up pissed, you just know you got screwed.