SiriusXM Cancellation Class Action Claims Subscribers Faced Illegal Retention Practices

Yes. SiriusXM subscribers faced illegal retention practices designed to trap them in subscriptions they wanted to cancel. The company employed a deliberate six-part retention script—averaging 11.5 minutes on the phone or 30 minutes via online chat—and trained cancellation agents to pitch up to five retention offers before accepting a customer’s request to quit. In November 2024, a federal judge ruled that SiriusXM violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) and New York automatic renewal laws by making cancellation needlessly difficult. This wasn’t a technical violation or a minor process oversight.

SiriusXM had created a cancellation system specifically designed to prevent people from leaving. The illegal practices extended beyond just making cancellation hard. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit in December 2023, documenting how retention agents were trained not to accept “no” as an answer and to deploy increasingly aggressive offers to keep subscribers locked in. The company collected $1.36 billion in hidden “U.S. Music Royalty Fees” in 2023 alone—fees that weren’t disclosed in advertisements. Multiple class actions and regulatory actions have exposed these practices, with settlements and court rulings now forcing SiriusXM to simplify its cancellation process and comply with federal FTC rules requiring “click-to-cancel” simplicity.

How Did SiriusXM Design Its Cancellation Trap?
The Six-Part Retention Script and Its Problems
The $28 Million TCPA Robocall Settlement
How to File Claims and Who Is Eligible
The Hidden Royalty Fee Lawsuit and What It Reveals
Timeline and Deadlines for Claims
The Broader Pattern and What It Means for Subscribers

How Did SiriusXM Design Its Cancellation Trap?

SiriusXM’s cancellation process wasn’t accidental friction—it was engineered. The company implemented a detailed script that agents were trained to follow, with specific retention offers at each step. If a customer called to cancel, they wouldn’t reach a person who could simply process the request. Instead, they entered a structured script designed to take 11.5 minutes minimum on the phone. On online chat, the process stretched to 30 minutes. At each stage, the agent would present another offer: discounts, free months, or upgraded service tiers.

The script wasn’t negotiable. Agents were trained to ask for a reason for cancellation, offer a retention deal, ask a follow-up question, and present another offer. The New York Attorney General documented this process in her lawsuit, revealing that agents received training specifically instructing them not to accept “no” for an answer. This wasn’t a customer service best practice—it was a deliberate strategy to make cancellation so cumbersome that many customers would give up. Some subscribers reported that agents became hostile when they persisted in their cancellation request, or that the process was so confusing and time-consuming that they simply hung up and stayed subscribed. The federal judge’s November 2024 ruling found this approach violated the simple mechanism requirement in ROSCA, which mandates that cancellation must be as easy as signup.

The Six-Part Retention Script and Its Problems

SiriusXM’s retention script had six distinct parts, each designed to delay and discourage cancellation. The first part involved collecting information about why the customer wanted to cancel. The second offered an initial retention deal, usually a discount. When the customer declined, the script moved to a third part: asking clarifying questions to probe for reasons. The fourth part introduced a second retention offer, often featuring free months or service upgrades. The fifth part posed another objection, and the sixth presented a final offer before the agent would reluctantly process the cancellation.

The cumulative effect was predatory. Customers who simply wanted to cancel—whether due to cost, service dissatisfaction, or changed circumstances—found themselves in a prolonged negotiation they never agreed to. The time investment alone was a barrier: 11.5 minutes on the phone is a long time to spend when you’ve already decided to leave. For chat-based cancellations, the 30-minute average meant customers had to sit at their computer, waiting for responses, watching the agent present offer after offer. A customer trying to cancel before work or during a lunch break might simply give up rather than wait. This was the design intent. The judge’s ruling makes clear that SiriusXM knew this was problematic—otherwise, why engineer the system this way?.

The $28 Million TCPA Robocall Settlement

Alongside the cancellation practices lawsuit, SiriusXM settled a separate class action for $28 million related to illegal robocalls made to consumers who had requested do-not-call status. The case, Campbell v. SiriusXM Radio Inc., was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois and covers telemarketing calls made between April 27, 2019, and October 31, 2025.

The settlement addresses violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits telemarketing calls to consumers who have explicitly requested not to be contacted. Eligible claimants can receive up to $1,500 per approved claim if they received more than one sales call within 12 months after requesting do-not-call status. The settlement claims website, www.SXMTCPASettlement.com, opened for claims, and the deadline to file was February 19, 2026. Payments are expected to be distributed in June or July 2026, assuming the final approval hearing in the week of March 31, 2026, proceeds as scheduled. This settlement is separate from the cancellation practices issues but demonstrates a pattern: SiriusXM repeatedly violated consumer protection laws in ways that generated revenue or reduced churn.

How to File Claims and Who Is Eligible

Eligibility for the TCPA settlement is specific but straightforward. You must have received more than one telemarketing sales call from SiriusXM within a 12-month period after you had submitted a do-not-call request to the company. The settlement website provides a claim form where you enter your phone number and the dates you received calls if you have records. You don’t need receipts or detailed documentation for every call—SiriusXM’s own records can confirm the calls were made.

The deadline of February 19, 2026, has passed for the TCPA settlement, but other class actions related to the cancellation practices and the hidden royalty fees may have different claim periods. For any SiriusXM settlement, the claim process is typically free. You should never pay to file a claim, and you should be wary of third-party claim processors who charge fees. Legitimate settlement administrators, like those managing the TCPA settlement, do not charge claimants. If you received a notice in the mail about a SiriusXM settlement, follow the instructions on that notice or visit the official settlement website directly.

The Hidden Royalty Fee Lawsuit and What It Reveals

In June 2024, four Oregon residents filed a class action alleging that SiriusXM had hidden a 21.4% “U.S. Music Royalty Fee” in its billing without disclosing it in advertisements or promotional materials. The fee was added in 2009 but was never prominent in marketing or signup pages. In 2023 alone, SiriusXM collected $1.36 billion through this hidden fee. A federal judge denied SiriusXM’s motion to dismiss the case in February 2025, allowing the lawsuit to proceed to discovery and potentially trial. This hidden fee is particularly revealing about SiriusXM’s business practices.

The company knew the royalty fee made its service more expensive than advertised. Rather than build that cost into the advertised price or disclose it upfront, SiriusXM buried it in the fine print of billing. When a customer saw “$14.99/month” in an advertisement, they weren’t seeing the full price they would actually pay. The hidden fee added roughly $3.21 per month to the base price, assuming a $15 base subscription. Over the course of a year, that’s nearly $39 in undisclosed costs. For a customer on a three-year subscription, the hidden fees could exceed $110 before they cancelled.

Timeline and Deadlines for Claims

The TCPA robocall settlement had a claim deadline of February 19, 2026, which has now passed. However, other SiriusXM class actions may still have open claim periods. The New York Attorney General’s lawsuit resulted in a court ruling in November 2024 requiring SiriusXM to change its cancellation practices, but that case did not establish a separate claims process for affected subscribers. The hidden royalty fee lawsuit is still in discovery phase as of February 2025, meaning no settlement has been reached and claim deadlines have not yet been set.

Separately, the FTC issued a “click-to-cancel” rule effective January 14, 2025, requiring companies to make cancellation as simple as signup. SiriusXM was given until May 14, 2025, to comply. This means the company had to redesign its cancellation system—eliminating the six-part script and the time delays—to meet federal requirements. If you attempted to cancel SiriusXM after May 14, 2025, the process should have been significantly simpler than the version described in the court case.

The Broader Pattern and What It Means for Subscribers

The multiple lawsuits and settlements involving SiriusXM—robocalls, cancellation traps, hidden fees—reveal a company operating with systematic disregard for consumer protection laws. These weren’t isolated incidents or mistakes made by individual employees. The cancellation script was corporate policy. The hidden royalty fee was a business decision made at the company level. The robocalls continued even after customers requested do-not-call status.

Each violation generated or preserved revenue in the short term, even as it exposed the company to legal liability. The court rulings and FTC deadline have forced changes, but past subscribers who were trapped in subscriptions through these practices or who paid hidden fees deserve compensation. The TCPA settlement provided some recovery for robocall victims, and future settlements from the cancellation and hidden fee lawsuits may provide additional recovery. For current and future SiriusXM subscribers, the regulatory pressure and legal exposure have created incentives for the company to change. Whether those changes are genuine or superficial remains to be seen. What is certain is that SiriusXM built its subscriber retention through deception, and the cost to the company is now being calculated in court.

Open Settlements You Can Claim Now

Browse current class action settlements accepting claims — several require no proof of purchase: