I only use SXM now and have for years. Have SXM on all my vehicles. Never had an issue with them. Love the variety and never have to hunt for a station while traveling.
Sirius XM Radio subscription yes/no?
- OP 🔹 BullmansF250
- Start date
Had XM service long before Sirius and XM merged. With the wide variety of programming available I can always find something to entertain myself. The pricing structure is better than it used to be and dealing with customer service is easier as well although it is still a PITA to do. As long as you do not let it auto renew the price is not that bad. The send out auto renewal notices far enough in advance (maybe a bit to far) so you shouldn't get caught out.
I've never found anything on them to listen to. I use the free version of Pandora and just deal with a few commercials. Run out of skips? Just create multiple channels of the same music. LOL
I've renewed the past two years for $5/mo and $6/mo. Just takes a little patience over the phone and remember to call before your year is up to renew again.
I started with satellite radio in 2003 using XM followed by SiriusXM and had a good experience until the last 4-5 years. The cost continued to increase and is reflected with the end of year surprise of about $120, unless you catch them first. I reverted to a paper bill being mailed to me and I sent in check payment for $30-$40 for 6-months. Then the price increase to $60 for 6-months, so I cancelled about 2-years ago. They continue to send me monthly "please come back" special deals, the last one was $5 per month plus a "free" Amazon dot for home. Great deal, but the history of deceitful billing and surprise billings have ended any hope of getting me a customer again. They walked from a 15-year+ customer that always paid on-time, every time. Now I listen to Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music and Podcast. I don't get to listen to news, which I would like, but it it not worth the money or the continual billing hassles. No other company that I do business with participates in this type of deceitful billing practices. It is really sad that the leadership of SiriusXM radio has not chosen to fix their billing practices. But I guess if you can continue to F_ customers on a regular basis by catching them not looking at the bill and stay in business, then why change.
Barry, my feelings exactly. I don't mind just listening
to my Powerstroke humming.
to my Powerstroke humming.
- OP 🔹
- #28
Thank you!
- OP 🔹
- #29
Based on the replies above, I won't be doing business with them......You guys rock.
$5 is the going rate per month and they told mr $3 per month over the phone when I called to get all our vehicles on the same account and that took 20 min and a supervisor to accomplish
The headaches dealing with them is not worth it
What plan did you get? There are several options and the one I always have is the one quoted here. The platinum plan is what’s offered on ford pass and has more channels and more expensive than the basic 5 dollar promo offered now.
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Did not get anything they told me they could not combine my 3 separate radios/vehicles into one account & kept pushing the platinum plan for $5 a month so I requested to talk to a supervisor and was told they worked from home due to covid & no supervisor available but I kept repeating over and over supervisor till finally was put on hold and somebody said they were the supervisor (sounded like the same voice) and after another 10 min had the 3 vehicles/radios on a single account
Then they offered me $3 a month for the platinum plan when I kept saying no to $5 a month and that it was “just for you a supervisor plan”
Checked to make sure all vehicles were on the same account & everything was correct and then in the middle of a special one time deal I hung up on the “supervisor”
Back in 2005 I did a review of both services, they were two companies at that time. Here for those that are interested. After the review I gave the Sirius stuff to a friend and kept the XM stuff, XM also ended up sending out a boom box like Sirius did.
For many years my XM unit was still on a PR demo account and I did not pay anything. Maybe 10 years back or so it suddenly stopped working and I had to start paying, maybe it was after their merger around 2008 when they reviewed accounts. I called to set up service and got a $5 a month for 6 months plan and I have been on the same plan ever since. For a number of years I called twice a year to renew, didnt have any real issues. Finally it changed to a year long plan which is what I have now. When I call I am always pretty straight forward. I tell them I have always been on the $5 plan and I want to renew the same plan. If your not able to do this, please transfer me to retention as they can. Once in a while I get passed along, the vast majority of the time they do it straight away and I am off the phone in less than 10 minutes. They actually send me emails almost every week for this promo, so on the rare occasion they say that promo is no longer available Im ready for it! At the end of the transaction they read you all the boilerplate and ask if you agree and if they can charge the card, I always say I agree to everything except the auto renew and you can charge the card and thats that. Once they tried to auto renew when I forgot to call in and they promptly adjusted it back to the $5 plan and applied the charge to the new plan.
I love it, I still have the original head unit in my review and the boom box and I have it in the warehouse at work, I use it every day at work and its still going strong. Its not as pretty as it was in my review, but still works which is pretty good. We now have 3 accounts all at $5 per month, the head unit, my truck and the wifes car so I have to call 3 times a year. I have not been able to get them to combine into one account and keep the $5 rate. I also stream them through my phone which I use at the gym, its included in the plan. My wife is also hooked and if for some reason we had to pay full price she would most likely make me do so!
For many years my XM unit was still on a PR demo account and I did not pay anything. Maybe 10 years back or so it suddenly stopped working and I had to start paying, maybe it was after their merger around 2008 when they reviewed accounts. I called to set up service and got a $5 a month for 6 months plan and I have been on the same plan ever since. For a number of years I called twice a year to renew, didnt have any real issues. Finally it changed to a year long plan which is what I have now. When I call I am always pretty straight forward. I tell them I have always been on the $5 plan and I want to renew the same plan. If your not able to do this, please transfer me to retention as they can. Once in a while I get passed along, the vast majority of the time they do it straight away and I am off the phone in less than 10 minutes. They actually send me emails almost every week for this promo, so on the rare occasion they say that promo is no longer available Im ready for it! At the end of the transaction they read you all the boilerplate and ask if you agree and if they can charge the card, I always say I agree to everything except the auto renew and you can charge the card and thats that. Once they tried to auto renew when I forgot to call in and they promptly adjusted it back to the $5 plan and applied the charge to the new plan.
I love it, I still have the original head unit in my review and the boom box and I have it in the warehouse at work, I use it every day at work and its still going strong. Its not as pretty as it was in my review, but still works which is pretty good. We now have 3 accounts all at $5 per month, the head unit, my truck and the wifes car so I have to call 3 times a year. I have not been able to get them to combine into one account and keep the $5 rate. I also stream them through my phone which I use at the gym, its included in the plan. My wife is also hooked and if for some reason we had to pay full price she would most likely make me do so!
Here's the way I see the options:
- Do business with a company (Sirius) that you have to pester to keep your price reasonable, or risk it going to $20/month, which is absurd. Meanwhile you get pretty bad audio quality (because sending data from satellites is expensive it's highly compressed) and still have the potential for it to drop out (satellite coverage isn't 100%, especially in the mountains).
- Yes, I'm also salty because of how terrible they were around the time my trial was expiring and how many times they contacted me by phone and by mail, which also means IMO they are a scummy company that doesn't deserve business.
- Pay a much more constant, reasonable price that you don't have to negotiate for in the form of any internet-based streaming service (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music, etc) and use Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. Can download music for entirely offline listening at high quality and no risk of drop-outs.
- My personal choice, and a good one if you're a bit nerdy, is purchase the bare MP3's from your web store of choice (I'm still partial to iTunes) and put them in a self-hosted Plex server. Now you own your music, can still stream it or download it for offline listening, and if the service goes away you can take your music with you.
Had it since 2007 or so in multiple vehicles. Need it for Patriot 125, which is probably 80% of my listening in the truck. The streaming is nice setup on our Yamaha receiver, we listen to Yacht Rock and a lot of the streaming-only seasonal station on the patio in the summer. Every year I ask for the promotional 1 year rate to prevent me from cancelling, which is usually nearly half-off, you just have go through he 15 minutes of hassle annually.
I have Sirus on 2 different vehicles and have been using them for years. In fact, I just renewed the subscription on my wifes vehicle.
It's a bit of a PITA but to me it's worth it. Things you have to remember. You will be getting an annual rate and when it expires it will renew at the full retail price. You will get notified by them about a month before it expires/renews.
When it is renewal time, here is where it becomes a bit of a PITA, a day or two before it expires I call in to renew the subscription, this is actually how it went down earlier this week.
They tell me it will cost $325 a year, (for the Platinum plan) I tell them this is too much I need a better rate, they say let me see if we have any promotions, they come back and say how about $107 a year and I agree and we are done. This has happened every year for the past 10 plus years. If you let it auto renew you will pay full MSRP but if you call, you will get a better deal.
Worse case and I have never had to do this but one of my buddies has is they don't come down to your pricepoint and you tell them to cancel your subscription. This will usually get them to their lowest price but if it is not what you want, cancel it. Within a day or two you will start getting offers for great deals.
To me, $9.00 a month is worth it. No commercials literally 100's of channels, can get most every College Football game and all Pro Football games (which is great to listen to if on the road).
You can get lesser plans for less money, the Platinum is the most expensive plan.
It's a bit of a PITA but to me it's worth it. Things you have to remember. You will be getting an annual rate and when it expires it will renew at the full retail price. You will get notified by them about a month before it expires/renews.
When it is renewal time, here is where it becomes a bit of a PITA, a day or two before it expires I call in to renew the subscription, this is actually how it went down earlier this week.
They tell me it will cost $325 a year, (for the Platinum plan) I tell them this is too much I need a better rate, they say let me see if we have any promotions, they come back and say how about $107 a year and I agree and we are done. This has happened every year for the past 10 plus years. If you let it auto renew you will pay full MSRP but if you call, you will get a better deal.
Worse case and I have never had to do this but one of my buddies has is they don't come down to your pricepoint and you tell them to cancel your subscription. This will usually get them to their lowest price but if it is not what you want, cancel it. Within a day or two you will start getting offers for great deals.
To me, $9.00 a month is worth it. No commercials literally 100's of channels, can get most every College Football game and all Pro Football games (which is great to listen to if on the road).
You can get lesser plans for less money, the Platinum is the most expensive plan.
I have it it's not bad I also have the life time unit at the house so I just tell them when I need to renew I will just use the life time unit on the truck and cancel the other stuff and I get it for like 35 bucks for the year again so it works for me
- Oct 26, 2020
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- 2021 Tremor 6.7L Lariat Ultimate / Lariat Black
- 2023 Corvette C8 Stingray R
I pretended I wanted to cancel mine using their on-line chat. It took about 10 minutes of back and forth, and they agreed to lower the price back down to the $4.99 per month I was paying for the first year. I never called anyone and never waited on hold. I did the same thing on my wife's Explorer ST, so they do not seem to care, as long as you stay on as a subscriber.
EDIT: I did this after my year was up and they had already charged me the higher fee for one month. They reversed the higher price and applied it to my balance, so you do not have to contact them before your year is up.
- Sep 26, 2021
- 2,753
- 6,995
- Navy 68
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- Ranger 620VS, ATAK 120
I appreciate the creative ways people deal with this company to get the desired results, if it's that important to listen, then creativity is what it takes to get a fair deal from this outfit. For me, I believe in a fair deal for everyone without tricks to the unknowing individual who gets charged more so others can work their deals. I find this a despicable practice. Not for me.
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