SiriusXM will make it easier to cancel subscriptions in New York after Judge Rules Company’s practices violated federal law

SiriusXM will overhaul New York’s subscription cancellation process to make it quicker and easier after a judge found the company violated the law by failing to provide “easy mechanisms” for cancellation.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank ruled that SiriusXM violated the federal Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act of 2010 because the company’s cancellation process forces subscribers to repeatedly listen to loyalty offers before canceling. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued SiriusXM in December, accusing the company of “trapping consumers” with subscriptions and “intentionally maintaining long and cumbersome cancellation processes.”

More of diversity

However, the judge rejected James’ claim in the lawsuit that SiriusXM committed fraud and deception by misleading subscribers who wanted to cancel their accounts.

In a statement, SiriusXM said: “New York initiated this case last year alleging that ‘SiriusXM has continued to engage in repeated and persistent fraud and illegality.'” Today we know, and New York State knows, that this is not the case true. Yesterday, the court dismissed almost all of the charges against SiriusXM, finding that SiriusXM’s policies were neither deceptive nor deceptive. Most importantly, the court ruled that SiriusXM has demonstrated through “a wealth of material … that it has repeatedly taken steps to avoid creating such an atmosphere of fraud or deception.”

The company’s statement continued: “Although the court found some technical violations of a federal law, it did not conclude that SiriusXM ever deceived anyone or committed fraud.” SiriusXM intends to appeal the court’s decision regarding to appeal these technical violations.”

SiriusXM said it will also adhere to the FTC’s recently adopted “click-to-cancel” rule, which requires services to “make it as easy for consumers to cancel their registration as it is to sign up.” (The FTC rule is being challenged in court by cable industry trade group NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, the Electronic Security Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.)

“We sued SiriusXM to protect people’s wallets, and now SiriusXM must simplify its cancellation process and stop taking advantage of New Yorkers,” in a statement released on Friday.

When it filed the lawsuit last year, the New York AG’s office said it had opened an investigation into SiriusXM after “hundreds” of consumers filed complaints that they could not cancel their subscriptions. According to SiriusXM data cited in the lawsuit, it took subscribers an average of 11.5 minutes to cancel by phone and 30 minutes to cancel online. According to SiriusXM, many of the statistics cited in the attorney general’s lawsuit were exaggerated and, based on the 2020 period examined by the state, exacerbated by the impact of the COVID pandemic. In 2021, SiriusXM’s online chat agents responded to consumer messages within 36 seconds to 2.4 minutes on average, the company said.

The best of diversity

Sign up for Variety’s newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.