Customers say XM didn't let them go without a fight

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THE WASHINGTON TIMES Former XM Satellite Radio customers say the D.C. company has made it difficult to cancel their radio subscriptions.

XM estimates that about 5,000 subscribers canceled their subscriptions in protest of the satellite radio provider's decision to suspend the shock jocks of "The Opie & Anthony Show" after the duo aired a segment last month in which a guest talked about raping Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, first lady Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth II. The show returned to XM airwaves Friday after a 30-day suspension.

Opie and Anthony fans, angered by what they describe as censorship, have saturated Internet message boards with accounts of their difficulties in canceling XM, with some going so far as to record their calls with customer service representatives and post the videos on the Web site YouTube. Others have filed formal complaints with their state attorneys general to ensure their subscriptions were canceled.

Nearly a dozen of those interviewed said they encountered hang-ups, arguments from XM representatives and unsolicited promotions when they tried to cancel their service.

Former subscriber Bill Platt placed his first call May 15, the day XM announced its suspension of the shock jocks, and was told that his radio subscriptions were canceled. The next day, he called to verify the cancellations and was told they were set to cancel May 27.

"I asked them, 'Can you please make this effective immediately?' " he said. "They agreed."

Mr. Platt, a Woodbury, N.J., resident, is one of several former subscribers who posted recordings of his calls on YouTube.

On May 17, he was told that the radios were still active and was eventually disconnected. The next day, a representative told him that his subscriptions were not canceled, but rather suspended.

He asked: "Are they, like, canceled — deactivated immediately — or are they suspended?"

"It's just only suspended," a representative responded after a pause. The representative then asked Mr. Platt whether he wished to suspend his account for a month, to which he replied, no. Then, the representative said the records revealed that it was canceled after all.