SiriusXM has entered legal trouble concerning its call center account cancellation practices.
Indeed, the subscription-based satellite radio and streaming services provider faces a lawsuit accusing the company of not allowing customers to delete an account simply.
The lawsuit highlights how SiriusXM creates cancellation hurdles, such as making users speak to a virtual agent first to hear new savings offers.
It also describes such maneuvers as “deceptive business practices, unlawful service offer practices, and violations of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA).”
That Act enforces that a customer should be able to leave a service as quickly as they joined.
Moreover, according to the judge presiding over the lawsuit, SiriusXM is unlawfully leveraging “inevitable wait times that come with a live customer service agent.”
That wait comes combined with hearing save offers, which made canceling more complicated than signing up.
Reflecting on the lawsuit in a social media post, John Walter, the Founder of ProxyLink and President of the Contact Center AI Association, said:
Many companies receive cancellation requests from customer proxies like RocketMoney, Minna, and BillShark. These proxy requests are subject to the same Federal regulations that stung the contact center in this case. You can’t simply say no to them. But you can set healthy boundaries.
The petitioner now seeks “relief, restitution, and penalties.” That includes a request for a permanent injunction to stop SiriusXM from engaging in such cancellation practices.
Yet, while the petitioner does cite the ROSCA, SiriusXM can suggest – as it does in its defense – that requiring a cancellation method to be “simple” is unconstitutionally vague.
Hopefully, such challenges may help strengthen these regulations in the future, which will help governments end lock-in practices and – ultimately – improve CX.
