Attorney General Letitia James Is Suing SiriusXM In New York State

Have you ever signed up for something, then wished you hadn't, but then never canceled because the process was a pain in the neck?

We've all been there.  We think we'll just sign up for a membership for something for a little while.  We will give it a try and see how it goes, then cancel if we decide we don't want it anymore.

Then, before we know it, we are continuing to pay for something we don't want because we tried to cancel once and it was a huge hassle.  That is the basis for a new lawsuit that is being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Attorney General Letitia James is suing SiriusXM

According to a press release from James' office, the New York Attorney General is suing the satellite radio provider for "trapping consumers in subscriptions and maintaining deliberately long and burdensome cancellation processes."  The suit alleges that Sirius forces subscribers to either call or go online to chat with agents to cancel their subscriptions and that the agents are trained to not take "no" for an answer.

“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,” - New York Attorney General, Letitia James

The lawsuit claims that SiriusXM violated state and federal laws concerning subscriptions that renew automatically and that SiriusXM engaged in fraud and deception by misleading subscribers seeking to cancel.

How long does it take to cancel?

The press release says that an investigation was opened after multiple people had reached out to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to complain.  According to SirusXM's data, it takes subscribers an average of 11.5 minutes to cancel by phone, and 30 minutes to cancel online.  However, the customer complaints claim that they were kept on the calls and chats for much longer.

What happens if the suit is successful?

James is seeking full restitution for all impacted subscribers, not just in New York State, but nationwide.  She is also seeking disgorgement, penalties, and costs, and to require SiriusXM to implement a simple and easy-to-use cancellation process.