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James announced her lawsuit against the New York City-headquartered company on Wednesday, Dec. 20 following an investigation conducted by her office that found SiriusXM makes it "extremely difficult and frustrating" for customers to cancel their subscriptions, officials said.
"Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden no one looks forward to, and when companies make it hard to cancel subscriptions, it’s illegal,” James said, adding, "Consumers should be able to cancel a subscription they no longer use or need without any issues, and companies have a legal duty to make their cancellation process easy."
According to James's office, the audio entertainment company, which has nearly 2 million subscribers in New York and 35 million in total, trains its agents to not take "no" for an answer when customers try to cancel their subscriptions.
Instead, agents will keep customers on the phone or in the chat for a "lengthy six-part conversation" that includes a series of questions and pitches for as many as five retention offers, meant to delay cancellation. When customers then decline the offers, agents will keep bombarding customers with offers until they either relent or become frustrated, according to officials from the Attorney General's Office.
In one case detailed in an affidavit submitted to the Attorney General's Office, a subscriber was kept in a chat for 40 minutes despite their clear and repeated requests to cancel. After this, the company then charged the customer anyway. When they filed a complaint, SiriusXM claimed it could not locate any cancellation request from the customer, officials said.
James's lawsuit charges that the company violated state and federal laws concerning subscriptions that renew automatically, as it does not provide subscribers with a way to cancel that is simple and easy to use, according to her office.
The lawsuit also alleges that SiriusXM engaged in fraud and deception by misleading subscribers who were looking to cancel their subscriptions.
James is now seeking full restitution for all impacted subscribers across the country, including compensation for time wasted by the lengthy cancellation process, officials said.
Additionally, James is seeking disgorgement, penalties, and costs, as well as requiring the company to implement a simpler cancellation process.
Any customers who have been affected by the company's cancellation process can file a consumer complaint online by clicking here.
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