What has been your experience? Our Countryman arrived without the Sirius radio activated. There is an ESN number that shows up on the display and it cycles through a message saying to contact Sirius. When we went online to the Sirius website, there was a place to activate service on a new car. However when we tried, it said that number was not found. After some phone calls, Sirius said MINI needs to activate the service. I interpret this as MINI has not yet paid Sirius for the service. Of course we could go online and set up an account with Sirius and pay for the service, but we were promised one year free service with the purchase of the car.

My experience with my Audi was the new car showed up with the Sirius service already activated. Either Audi or the dealer took care of it. Our MINI dealer says they are figuring the issue out, but since this is supposed to be "standard" why all the hassle?

What have you folks encountered?

 

Call the number on the radio display. A Sirius rep will assist you and activate your account. Switch keys(fobs) shortly after you set up your channels so that your settings will be on both keys. After your account is activated with Sirius it will be viewable on the Sirius website with the one year free subscription.

 

My Audi did not include free service so that would be a difference. Your dealership should be able to get your radio logged in to the Sirius system, so that it knows it has free initial service.

 

No need for the dealer. I just activated mine 5 days ago. Call the number that appears on the radio.

 

To be more clear, we did call Sirius after going online and were told by Sirius that MINI had to activate - which the dealer finally accomplished today. Apparently our vin and ESN were not in Sirius' system to allow activation.

 

Nice. It took them about 30 min to activate mine. Its was the 1yr free part that was an issue.

 

No dealer required for me. Just called the number on the screen, gave them the ESN.

I called Sirius when I was not near my car, so the car was not "on" to accept the activation. So, when I got home, sent a re-activation request from my home computer and it took immediately. Just make sure you car is outside...

 

I called from the parking lot of the dealer before my 2 1/2 drive home. They had me activated in about 10 mins. I even cancelled my service in the VW I traded. Weird your having problems..

 

I have a question.

I have a 2012 HT with the whole HK/mini connected/nav system in it....I can't find sirius anywhere! I thought it was supposed to come with sat radio installed. Am I doing something wrong?

 

Probably.

Not sure what a HT is, but this section is for R60's (Countrymen). Satellite radio should be under the Radio icon on the screen. If not there, I see a trip to the dealer in your future.

I've been dealing with Sirius since about 2002. They had terrible customer service then and it's gotten worse since. No one seems to know what's going on. And wait until you deal with billing and auto calls.

 

I don't see why the stereo would be dependent on model.

HT=Hardtop.

 

Might be, might not be. I'm not familiar with any but the CM (Countryman) with HK, nav, and connect. My Sirius choice shows up when I click on the radio icon. If we are all the same and you have Sirius, that's where it should be. Good luck & happy motoring.

 

Should be the same stereo as the others unless the '12's no longer give free sirius which I don't think is the case.

Just a hint:

MC - Mini Cooper Hard Top
MCS - Mini Cooper S Hardtop

you don't need to state Hard top

Michael

 

I second that, I've had three accounts since 2000 and the customer service has progressively gotten worse. Activating the R60 and taking off my R56 was a nightmare. After hanging up twice I got someone who had more than a half of brain. You would have thought I was asking them to split a ATOM.
Glad your up and running and you still have your sanity.

 

My MA activated my radio before I left the lot. That is the good news, the bad was trying to get my XM and Sirius accounts merged. They would not do it for me. I know why, that way I have to pay full price for both radios rather than get a discount on one. Really sucks!

 

I have an apt sat to check out the Sirius situation. The miniusa configurator states every mini comes with Sirius standard. If they changed that it is not visibly stated anywhere, nor was I told that....so if they forgot they need to install it.

 

I find CS for any subscription based service stinks, until renewal time. I usually buy multi-years worth of SIRIUS, TIVO, etc on a credit card that is close to expiration so I don't have to worry about trying to cancel or renew at the latest and greatest offer. The service finds me.

Michael

 

Be careful that they don't try to do what they tried on me. First they gave me the spiel about Mini needing to activate. Then they gave me other run around and finally put me on hold. After a few minutes they came back and very hurriedly said, "Okay, sorry, I am activating your 3 month free subscription." They tried to gloss over it and immediately get my billing information.

I told the guy to go back to that 3-month part. "Yes, yes, I'm activating your subscription now."

"But the deal is a free YEAR's subscription."

"I can do a free 6-month subscription, sir."

I finally lost it on the guy. Told him to put me on hold and don't come back until he has my free YEAR as is the deal. He just says, "Okay, free year."

Seems they try to screw you into a shorter free period if they can slip it by you.

I've had XM since early 2002. I have had multiple radios for nearly that entire time. In that time the service has steadily gone downhill. I have never seen a company work so hard to run off good customers. From crappy equipment to constant rate increases, to continual shuffling of channels and lienups, to the merger nightmare, to the customer service, they are the benchmark for horrible business practices.

Don't look for it to improve any time soon. My theory is that their investors know that terrestrial radio capability (not programming) will eventually catch up and they are positioning to shut XM and Sirius down. You can see this in the fact that they add new channels all the time that are simply regular terrestrial, traditional stations. They're weaning long-time customers off the expectation that they can get better programming and few or no commercials.

 

I have a '14 Paceman. No where on the radio display does it have the "SAT" option. That being said, in my documents that came with the car, I found a Sirius free 1 year subscription. I called the number, gave the operator my vin# and she confirmed that my car came equipped with the hardware to use Sirius. I activated my account for 1 year and am able to listen to Sirius through a computer/tablet/etc.

However, when I asked the dealer how I can access my free 1 year activated subscription, they want me to pay $650 for them to activate the hardware that is already in my car. F that!

 

that is about right. i had mine activated for $500, then had to pay to activate it for $100+ for the year.

the 1 year promo is not avail after jan 2014.

I commute m-f, 30 min in the morning and 45 minutes to an hour home. so kind of need it.

 

I'm glad a year free subscription came with mine!

 

Silverstate,

So.....you can't listen to SAT on the actual MINI radio? I kind of lost you there.

 

I read somewhere that the newer (2013 -2014) radio came with SAT and needed to be activate by dealer if it is an add-on option. If you check your build and it has it on it they should not charge you. They need to run your VIN number to confirm you order the SAT option.

 

I was able to call the number and have mine activated. I, too, was frustrated that the website didn't direct you to call first - just that my ESN and VIN weren't found. It took about 5 minutes. Since i wasn't in the car, I had to do the refresh thing when it was on later - that took about 5 minutes too.

We just bought a 2014 R60 this weekend, so they definitely still have the 1 year free after Jan 2014. The Sirius was listed at $465 on my car's invoice.