For over two years, my fiance and I have had an XM Radio account in her name. During the past holiday season we bought our third and fourth XM Radio units, a Tao XM2Go and a Delphi MiFi, as well as a Delphi Roady2 Personal Audio System, all of which were purchased from their online store at xmradio.com.
Like thousands of other customers, we discovered—after going online to register the Tao XM2Go for activation—that the batteries in it and in the Delphi MiFi unit were dangerously defective and couldn't be used (the company admitted they constitute a fire hazard). I was appalled to discover the devious steps they had taken to obscure this issue, posting no warnings anywhere on the website and only informing unwitting customers after they attempt to activate the defective units. Evidently, they made the decision to allow thousands of customers to present defective holiday gifts rather than risk losing subscription revenue by doing the right thing and advising them of the defective batteries, as a reputable company would have done. Go to xmradio.com now: you won't find a single warning posted about defective equipment that could start a fire.
The company shipped the radios from their warehouse (a rep at their 800 number confirmed that); the invoice bears their logo, lists their customer service department phone number, and their email address: [email protected]. They don't dispute their culpability by referring customers to the manufacturers of the equipment; they advise customers with battery issues to call XM Radio's own 800 numbers. Those numbers proved to be funds of misinformation—one phone rep told me customers with defective batteries needed to notify the company to receive a replacement battery, while another said it would be shipped out automatically. Well, I spent half an hour on the phone and finally managed to order a replacement, but that was 5 weeks ago and I still haven't received replacements for either of the defective batteries they shipped to us. Of course, if we cancel our subscription we're cutting off our nose to spite our face because we'll then be left with hundreds of dollars worth of high-tech paperweights. I suppose that emboldened them to take this irresponsible approach. According to their own recorded phone message, this has affected thousands of customers. Real thoughtful... Happy Holidays from XM Radio.
0 comments