Annual Sirius XM Dance

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow What do you consider the anniversary date. We have a plan that it says online that the last payment date was 1/24/2019 and the next payment due date is 1/24/2020. It shows the plan end date as 1/24/2020. Is that the date I should call or should I call on 1/23? We have a good rate for All Access (first year we had this car) and am not sure I will get that but would like to get it as low as possible.

In our case it would be 1/24. They begin sending renewal notices before then and last year charged the full renewal price before I called. I simply say “please cancel” and when they ask, “I’m happy to renew at the same price as last year”. It has worked so far. I am prepared to cancel if they don’t agree.

[Dtail]

I was paying 158 for a year for 1 car and was ready to do the dance.
However with no negotiating, they stated their new deal is for $7.78 charge each month which translates to ~$94 yearly.
I am not sure why they just offered this deal upfront, but nevertheless took the deal with no dancing.
Works for me.

[COcheesehead]

I have a 4 hour drive 4 times a month and I was really enjoying the year long free trial. I listened to music a bit, but spent most of the time on the financial or medical stations. When it ended I wondered if I should renew, instead I went in search of an alternative and found it … for free.
I use the Apple Podcast app and have downloaded dozens of podcasts on the subjects I enjoy. When I tire of them, I switch to music on my iPhone.
Problem solved.

[kyzymurgist]

Anyone else opt for the lifetime subscription? If I remember correctly, the cost was $600 in 2005. At the time it seemed like it would pay off in 5 years.

But I didn't anticipate the huge discounts that would soon be available as XM started struggling. I had some regrets when my friends were paying $49/year and it looked like they might go under.

But 14 years later and still driving the same car, it worked out OK. At least I avoided the dreaded renegotiations every 6 or 12 months.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail I was paying 158 for a year for 1 car and was ready to do the dance. However with no negotiating, they stated their new deal is for $7.78 charge each month which translates to ~$94 yearly. I am not sure why they just offered this deal upfront, but nevertheless took the deal with no dancing. Works for me.

So thought I was good, then see a $30 monthly charge.
Called them up and obliterated them and stated I have them on a recorded line that they agreed to a 7.78 monthly charge.
A senior manager got on the line and offered an even better $82 for the year paid in one shot.
Accepted the offer. Done.

[ATX78701]

I left the XM Sirius dance floor in spring of this year. Tired of the dance and not in the car that much anymore w*rking from home. With the phone and all of the music CDs I’ve loaded into the radio memory, I have plenty of options.

[Z3Dreamer]

Because of this thread, I researched Sirius costs. Years ago, we had Sirius on a new car for some trial period and the service was good. Dumped it when the trial period was up.

Their website is full of FREE or heavily discounted trial period costs. I did an online chat with some Sirius person to get the real undiscounted, full prices. Including royalty fees and taxes, you are looking at $28 per month per car. I understand you can fight them once a year or once every six months but I don't like that game.

So, for 3 cars the full price is roughly $84 per month.

I have Plex on my home NAS with the app on my cell phone, a paid Pandora subscription, unlimited data on my phone and a flash drive with hundreds of songs for when I am out of cell phone range. Seems like this is a small fraction of the Sirius cost.

No thanks, Sirius. Maybe if I enjoyed the "I'm going to cancel game" and I spent way more time in the car.

[Sittinginthesun]

My wife laughs at me on the phone with Sirius every 6 months. Best way to the lowest rate is to tell the first CSR I am calling to cancel due to cost. They put me through to retention department and I reject their first two offers. Eventually we get to the rate I will accept which is about $25 for 6 months. Rinse and repeat with 2 cars every 6 months.

[braumeister]

Every now and then, someone falls through the cracks. I've done the cancel/renew dance with them in the past, but their subscriber database system isn't perfect.

When I got my last new car it came (naturally) with a complimentary Sirius/XM subscription. My understanding was that it was supposed to be for either 3 or 6 months, never knew which. However, the salesman who handed over the keys never mentioned it, and I never received anything from Sirius.

I'm still enjoying the full subscription now, 20 months later. Still haven't heard from them, and I don't plan to contact anyone to ask about it.

[Car-Guy]

So I just renewed the XM service on one of my cars... I had a small credit so after the dance is was only $15 more for 6 months... Ok, so they sent me a bill (since I refuse to give them my credit card #). Then this Sunday they sent me an email reminding me that my bill is due. Then I got the bill in the mail on Monday. So I bought a money order while still at the Post Office and dropped the payment in the mail. Then last night (Thursday) I got a phone call telling me they still haven't received payment. I told them I just got the %$8#&^ bill in the mail on Monday and paid it immediately. I'm sure the mail is slow with all the holidays but give me a break and get off my back. I told them one more email or phone call and I'm cancelling. I may cancel anyway.

[JP.mpls]

My friend has a lifetime account. He claims it isn't offered anymore, and he got it for $300 when they first started to offer this service.

My new car doesn't have a CD player, but it has the Android Auto application. I use Google Maps for navigating in the car, and it interrupts the music. I don't like that.

I have my CD collection burned and saved on my laptop. I have all of those songs saved onto a USB memory stick, and it plays flawlessly in the car. It it awesome.

That being said, Sirius XM radio just offered me 3 months free, and I took it.

JP

[grasshopper]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8XaGxvuFOU

Our new ride with Android Auto no more stepping on my toes.

[Z3Dreamer]

Has anything changed in the last year?

Bought a car and am enjoying my free 90 day trial. Sirius works well with my car stereo. Much good content. Streaming outside of car works. Streaming includes podcasts and a bunch of other goodies - I have yet to explore most of these features.

2 negatives: 1) Having to call and do the dance every 3 to 6 to 12 months. 2) Without a dance, the monthly cost is $16.99 plus fees and taxes for Select. Or $21.99 plus fees and taxes per month for All Access. Not worth it for the little driving I do.

I do have an unlimited cell phone plan so I can stream Plex, Pandora, etc. And I have a flash drive with tons of the bad music that I love.

Again, is the annual dance still the same?

[G8tr]

Just renewed my XM for a full year at $5 a month, plus received a free echo dot

[Jerry1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by G8tr Just renewed my XM for a full year at $5 a month, plus received a free echo dot

I didn’t get the dot, but I signed up for a year for $60. I’ll keep signing up if I can get it for that. I like it, but I’m not spending more than $5. With that and the $10 I pay for Amazon music. That’s about the same as a CD per month. That’s about all I want to spend on music. Especially since I do pretty well with Pandora for free.

[jazz4cash]

Man, I am getting screwed big time. I'm paying $26/mo and my renewal is due soon. I hardly do any driving anymore but I justify it since it is accessible on my phone and laptop. I don't plan to go without XM but I might drop it for a few months until they offer me a better price.

[Aerides]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z3Dreamer Again, is the annual dance still the same?

I did the dance recently and it was much quicker. Far less sales pitch. Now, I'm very to the point. I basically said I want $5 a month including the app for 1 year or cancel me now (because if I cancel, that's what the email will offer that they will send in 3 days).

Was over and done with in a few minutes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Man, I am getting screwed big time. I'm paying $26/mo and my renewal is due soon. I hardly do any driving anymore but I justify it since it is accessible on my phone and laptop. I don't plan to go without XM but I might drop it for a few months until they offer me a better price.

Call them today. You can get your existing plan adjusted. They won't offer you anything good until you cancel otherwise. And you have to call to cancel so you have nothing to lose.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Man, I am getting screwed big time. I'm paying $26/mo and my renewal is due soon. I hardly do any driving anymore but I justify it since it is accessible on my phone and laptop. I don't plan to go without XM but I might drop it for a few months until they offer me a better price.

They love you! But this is what people pay if they don't stay on top of things. Generally speaking I hate companies that charge good customers more because they are good customers. Unfortunately that is getting much more common.

[statsman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Man, I am getting screwed big time. I'm paying $26/mo and my renewal is due soon. I hardly do any driving anymore but I justify it since it is accessible on my phone and laptop. I don't plan to go without XM but I might drop it for a few months until they offer me a better price.

We dropped XM back in the Summer of 2019 when they wouldn't offer much in the way of a discount. Within a couple of weeks of cancelling, our XM account showed we had a $60/yr promo, which we opted for. Although the Royalty fees, which seem to be rising yearly, are now a bit over 21% of the base cost.

When I went to cancel again last summer, mainly because we were driving even less than usual due to COVID-19 regulations shutting down most businesses and entertainment, their phone automated system actually offered up a renewal at the $60/yr cost. We opted for that, knowing I would be doing some driving for groceries and household goods (and little did I know, several trips for medical services). Didn't have to talk to a sales rep at all.

What I don't know is if they'll do this again come this Summer. We still have some shutdowns/restrictions due to COVID-19, and a lot of people are still working from home.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash Man, I am getting screwed big time. I'm paying $26/mo and my renewal is due soon. I hardly do any driving anymore but I justify it since it is accessible on my phone and laptop. I don't plan to go without XM but I might drop it for a few months until they offer me a better price.

You won't have to. As a matter of fact, you could call today to cancel you plan and they will fix you up w/ a new rate. There really isn't a contract per se, and there isn't technically a "renewal" (they will just increase the price to market rate after whatever promo you signed up for expires). They have always made it easy to get a lower rate.