A year ago we signed up for Sirrius/XM when they offered a year of service for $100. Well, the audio quality just isn't great, so was planning to cancel it.

So, I got an email for them saying they couldn't charge my CC for the yearly renewal, please update my info. I got a new CC last summer, so I thought, good, I don't have to bother calling them. Today I got a rather unpleasant email from them that they renewed my subscription and I'm on the hook for $204. Dang..

Grabbed my cell and gave them a call. First off, there is no option in there menu to simply cancel. I finally got a real person on the phone and told them I want to cancel. The first question is "why do you want to cancel"? Told them I didn't like the audio quality. Then they launch into all the other options for continued service. Each time I said, "no I want to cancel". Then I get transferred to another person and the process starts all over again. Talked with 4 different people, finally got transferred to 'billing'. And guess what, first thing they say is, "why do you want to cancel", then the pitch again about all the other wonderful options. They finally relented and cancelled the subscription, then wait... I get the the question, "how do I want to pay for the last month since it was renewed". Wanted to tell them to pound sand, but said to send me an invoice (about $10). I had a situation like this with a cellular provider and they ended up sending the dispute to a collection outfit. So, I'll just pay it.

And, BTW, I was on the phone for over an hour... Jeez

 

Sounds so typical of subscription based companies today. Sirius was great until they merged with XM. I had Sirius back in 2007. Liked it but the audio quality was awful. Still I had no issues cancelling it. In fact I didn't have to do anything, my subscription ran out and I simply didn't renew. No trouble at all.

 

Ya, guess things have changed recently. They said I signed up for auto-renew, but I don't remember doing that. As you can see from my OP, they are now very aggressive..

 

The xm radio customer service is the worst. Heaven forbid you decide to cancel. It's a 30-40 phone call followed by a disconnect and an additional cal. Hate the company.

 

I had it free for a year (2012 purchase) and never used it. I got calls for over a year trying to get me to sign up after the free year. Price went down each call...but I just didn't want it.

 

Know when I called....they transfered me like 5 times...did not want to hear say cancel....
They offered me lower rates...than free 3 more months....
They then they said OK...canceled...
I unplugged the radio...didn't use it...(had 2, one was hardwired, one portable)
3 months later...
Got a bill marked overdue...I had gone online and removed my creditcard billing data....
Called them back...they said I had agreed we to 3 months free, then an auto renew for a year at a discount...fought for about a week...
This was about 2 years ago....
About a year ago xm/sirrirus settled with most states for "deceptive" actions..including what they tried with me...guess it was what they did to lots of folks....

 

I have a lifetime subscription tied to an original Sirius Sportster. When that unit dies, I don't plan on replacing it. I figure with the amount I would would save on monthly subscription fees, I can just up the data plan on my phone and use Pandora or Itunes radio

 

Interesting, I never thought the quality was bad; however, I don't use it in the Mini, only in my SUV, and I really listen to only couple stations, Electric Area, Octane and Howard Stern.

 

with HD radio I find no use for PAY radio. And back in the day of dial up internet , trying to cancel AOHELL , wow, I mean you just had to get mean and nasty with them.

 

Being able to drive 10+ hrs, one station is nice...and data on a cell is NOT 100% perfect...
So satalite, even with iffy quality does have a place...
But dealing with sirirus/xm is like playing with snakes....you are going to get bit eventually...
Feeling lucky?!
I was a use for about 5 years...and they were jerks, billed me, etc after I canceled....as I stated above, they are dishonest at best, and settled with many states due to their actions...
Issue is, they did not change....

 

Get T-Mobile and you don't have to up your data. They offer unlimited free music streaming. I only have a 1gb plan and stream Pandora for a few hours a day, but it doesn't factor into my data usage. That and they also have no contracts, I can up my data for one month, then turn it back down. I switched from Verizon at the end of 2013 and have been so happy with them. They are truly a breath of fresh air.

 

I enjoyed my Sirius XM subscription for a while until I got sick of the repetition in airtime that I thought they were supposed to be immune to. Sure, there are no commercials, but they still fall into the endless loop of overplayed singles and lack of variety. For $15 a month, they have no excuse for this, when I now pay $10 a month and have access to a nearly infinite supply of full albums with Spotify. When I was going through a more difficult financial time, the card I had on XM's account didn't have sufficient funds to cover a bill so I just cancelled it when they tried to call and collect, after offering me a "discount" of course. Years later, I still get junk mail from them, offering me things like a 6 months for $25 or something, and then of course, every other month, they "activate" all their old user accounts for free for a week, which I never make use of being that I don't have my receiver hooked up anymore. I will say however, XM is nice in limited doses every now and then, when renting a car that has free satellite service.

 

I recall my wife having a bit of trouble canceling, and they did keep calling/emailing trying to get her back but I put a sd micro card in her car with gigs of music she likes. Seems like a simple solution. I've got 2 USB sticks filled with music, never cared for Sirius as I am my own DJ.

 

Since my original post, SiriusXM calls me twice a day, everyday. The first time they called, I answered and told them not interested, do not call me back. I looked up the BBB to see if they are accredited and could complain. Nope, they are not. No surprise there..

 

Here are the many complaints on consumer affairs regarding Sirius xm radio

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/home_...cs/sirius.html

 

Wow, that is enlightening reading!

I don't have Sirius/SM in my MCS (I have the H/K system with HD radio, which sounds great), but my wife's car has it and for some reason, she likes it. I think the audio quality is terrible: It sounds like they're playing highly-compressed MP3s -- in fact, it sounds a lot like the old RealAudio compressed files which were popular before MP3s, full of nasty artifacts.

 

Have to comment but I will say upfront, I have neither a 2nd gen mini or sirrius/xm. However, my friend does have Sirrius and it has awful sound quality. Even worse than Pandora (mobile).

 

I got 12 months Sirrius with the Mini. After 9 months I purchased a Ford Fusion for my son and it was supposed to get 6 months of Sirrius. After 6 weeks in the Ford the service stopped - no reason but they thought it was out of the demo time so they turned it off. It was right about the time they started contacting me about the extending the Mini. When the salesperson would call I would demand they also turn on the remaining four and a half months they owed me on the Ford. They only called twice and hung up on me both times.

For my money they already owe me. I will never give them anything until they make it right with me.

 

I just signed up for a free 2 month trial....I feel like I might have made a huge mistake giving them my phone number

 

The bigger mistake is giving them your credit card number. They will automatically renew whether you want it or not. As you can see from previous posts, it's quite the experience to cancel.

 

My husbands Mazda has it.
My Mini doesn't.

We often drive from Texas to Florida in the Mazda (18hrs 1 way) and there are stretches of nothing so the sat radio comes in handy. But they play the same things often so it gets old.
I can't wait to cancel it. We only keep it because the lack of stations here in bumland.

 

for those of you that where not around when SAT radio came about, the deal from the FCC was as follows, they issued licenses to XM and Sirius with the stipulation they would NEVER EVER MERGE .

 

Good thing they didn't require one for the 2 month trial

 

I have had it XM / Sirsus for years and I like commerial free music. I cancel every 6 months and they always offer 6 months for 19.95. For as little as $3-4 a month it's agreat deal.
Oh and Howard Stern is a pig. Just saying. I have him blocked for all my cars.

 

I loved my Sirius and had it for 10 years, I just let it go a few months ago. Streaming music, news, NPR and entertainment is easier, but the data is killing me on AT@T

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer