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Sirius XM’s Customers Crowdsource Their Response to Channel Changes
There’s a disturbance among listeners of North America’s satellite radio service. Last Tuesday, without warning, monopoly 
satellite radio provider, Sirius XM, pulled BBC Radio 1 from its channel line-up, replacing programming with an info-loop explaining they were “making way for a new channel.” Devotees of Radio 1 were not happy.
Why did Sirius XM do this? Who asked them to make way for a new channel? and why didn’t they advise listeners before the switch went into effect? Reasonably, former listeners expect answers to these questions – after all, Sirius XM is a subscriber based service. Surely, unlike commercial radio, which is answerable to advertisers, Sirius XM should be answerable to its subscribers – but alas, no such luck. The company is providing no answers or transparency over the decision – and transparency is surely fundamental to good customer care.
But good customer care can be hard to find. It seems that some large companies feel this function can be served merely by rapid-fire responses to customer complaints. Expedience over substance. I suspect most organizations have metrics over which they take pride, measuring, for example, how quickly they respond to customer complaints. But as Sirius XM is currently demonstrating – they cannot pride themselves over effective resolution or customer satisfaction, at least, not in this case. If companies don’t level with their unhappy customers, they run the risk of replacing customer care, with customer abatement.
Today’s customer is empowered. Social networking is once again proving its strength, while providing insight into Sirius XM’s disregard for a motivated core of listeners. Within hours of BBC Radio 1 going off-air in the USA and Canada, a Facebook page was set up, with the unambiguous intent to “Get BBC Radio 1 Back on Sirius XM.” The link was posted to Sirius XM’s Facebook page, and quickly started notching up “Likes.” Six days later, over 3,500 people (and counting), have signed up – and an activist base of angry Radio 1 fans is sharing strategies for the channel’s return.
Post Continues: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/08/sirius-xms-upset-customers-crowd-sourcing-response-channel/
