And I’ve never had a problem with them, until this past weekend…here’s the story.

As a subscriber, I’m on their e-mail list – which I like because it lets me know what’s going on in the company (I also like this from a shareholder’s point of view, as I own a few thousand shares of Sirius XM). Generally, I get these e-mails and delete them after giving them a brief scan. However, over the past weekend an e-mail came in that had the following image in it:

I took a look at this image and thought to myself, “I have a few bucks laying around, why not get a newer version of the Sportster?” My current model is the Sportster Replay, which is so old that it is no longer in production. Plus, the Replay wasn’t made with the new “universal docking” ability so I can’t buy an at-home radio or at-home kit to play my radio in the house (which is unnecessary anyway, since I have Sirius XM internet radio).

Anyway, I click on the link and go through the process of ordering on Sirius XM‘s website. It was actually an easy process…until I wound up at the payment information. Now, before I go into this part of the process, let’s remember that even though I’m a huge cheerleader for Sirius XM, I’m aware of the fact that they have a problem with revenue and that they need to raise money anyway possible (which is likely why this e-mail was sent in the first place).

I entered my credit card information on the website and I received an error message. The internet said that something was wrong with the information that I entered, so I looked over my credit card information and it was perfect. Hmmm… Time to get on the phone.

There was a surprisingly short wait time before I spoke with a gentleman whose accent made his “assistance” almost useless. However, to his great credit (and to my great desire to buy an upgraded radio), he and I worked with each other somewhat well. I told him my problem…and he immediately went to the script. I could write an entire “Unnecessary Complications” entry (or a series of entries) about how I HATE when the telephone service representatives jump right to the script, but I digress.

The gentleman took my credit card information from me over the phone and tried to process the purchase – he received the same error message. At this point, he said it would be best to try all over again and delete the two previous attempts at purchasing the radio. I agreed – seems logical, right? As the guy is going through the steps of ordering the radio he keeps saying, “Yeah!” and “Okay!” and each time he says this I say, “Okay, did the purchase go through?” And he kept saying, “No.” Seemed a little weird to me that he would be so damn happy on the phone with his exclamations when a frustrated customer is on the line…

We get to the point where I have to give him my credit card information again, which I did. He gets the same error message and says, “Well, I don’t know what the problem is, sir.” At this point I felt like saying to him, “You don’t know what the problem is?! It’s your job to know what the problem is! And if it’s not your job then it’s the job of your superior so put his ass on the phone, damn it!” However, I understand that he’s just a worker bee and that he shouldn’t be verbally destroyed for the sins of his organization. I ask what I should do and he says that I should try the request again tomorrow and maybe use a different card. Fine – it’s an annoying way to end my call, but whatever. Before I hang up, the guy tells me that he’s deleting all of the purchase requests, which I appreciated.

The next morning I wake up and I go through the process of trying to order again. The internet asks me for my credit card information so I try to use a different one. The same error message comes up. I look at my phone and I hear a voice in my head say, “No, damn it!” Instead of making the phone call, I clicked around my online account and found out that while the gentleman on the phone suggested that he deleted my previous attempts at purchasing this radio, all of the purchase attempts were still listed on my account.

At that point, defeated by an inept customer relations department at Sirius XM, I gave up my attempt to buy a new radio. Hey, Sirius XM, listen up! A long-time customer who is currently on a long-time subscription and who is also a shareholder just tried to give you money for a new radio! And your inept website and unhelpful customer relations department failed! I tried to give you money – you NEED money – and you failed!

It’s a good thing that I love the content that Sirius XM provides or I’d cancel in a heartbeat. However, other than the obvious links on this blog, I may not be heralding how great of a radio service this to people that I talk to in my daily life any more. It’s a shame, but I believe that inept service providers have to pay some type of price and Sirius XM is losing my word of mouth advertising from this mess. Way to go.

Yet, whenever I check what the online financial media is saying about Sirius XM, I always find that the loudest negative voices are spewing from the Motley Fool website. I have no problem with an analyst saying that a stock is not worth buying (at this point, unless you’re a long-term investor I wouldn’t suggest buying Sirius XM either), but the group at Motley Fool is viciously against this radio company and I can’t figure out why? Maybe a bunch of their writers got burned on the stock – who knows?

The latest article was posted up on MSNBC’s website and it talked about how Sirius XM is the worst stock of 2009. Bear in mind that 2009 isn’t even a month old yet! What bothers me, though, is the complete one-sided opinions that they put out there and the implied stance that their ideas are obviously applicable to the rest of the country. An example:

Satellite-radio competes for my ears with my Apple iPod and its dedicated car jack, my custom-burned CDs, and with a host of new mobile applications, including Ford and Microsoft’s Sync. And with other automakers experimenting with putting routers in their cars that could stream free Internet radio, Sirius’ competition for luxury dollars is increasing.

And satellite radio is very much a luxury. A past subscriber myself, I found my use waning in the months following a cross-country trip. As use fell, I found defending the monthly cost difficult — and that was before the economy cratered, when luxury spending was easier to justify.

First, just because your ears have multiple listening options, that doesn’t apply to everyone. I’m glad that you can afford a car with a dedicated jack for your iPod. I – and a great deal of Americans who are struggling in the current economy – cannot afford this luxury. Second, I’m glad that your new, expensive car has either a router or Ford/Microsoft’s Sync program. The 2000 Civic that my Mom just gave me doesn’t have those options. Neither did the 1999 Chevy Blazer that I donate to charity at the beginning of the month. Maybe the next used car that I buy will have a fancy feature or two, but again – the vast majority of Americans can’t afford these cars with all of these bells and whistles that you apparently can afford.

Need proof? Isn’t the domestic car industry in the crapper? Exactly.

It’s a shame that this writer’s cross-country trip is used as one of the driving factors in his purchase of Sirius XM. That was his dumb choice. For me – someone who drives more than two hours per day – I enjoy the variety that I get from Sirius XM. Sure, sometimes the lack of original content on Howard Stern pisses me off and yes, even with dozens and dozens of commercial-free music channels there is sometimes nothing to listen to, but that’s no different than cable television with hundreds of channels with nothing to watch!

For me, Sirius XM is the perfect companion during my daily commute and drives around the state. It’s also nice to turn it on in the office and be able to listen to commercial-free music. For some people, Sirius XM isn’t right.

However, as a shareholder I have a serious problem with Motley Fool publishing around 10 negative articles on Sirius XM this month alone. That’s ridiculous and an obvious show of bias. I wouldn’t care what Motley Fool does with their webspace, except that Google Finance uses their updates in their news feed so every few days I get another death story from these bias folks. If the rest of Sirius XM‘s investors are getting the same reports, then what does anyone expect besides a huge sell off?

If this company dies, it will be in no small part thanks to the one-sided, arrogant comments by online groups like Motley Fool.