SiriusXM

[CraigP]

Just bought a new vehicle and theres that free trial with SiriusXM included.

I know about the BS they pull with raising rates on customers and what a PITA they cause when you want to cancel.

Since I have not seen topics or heard complaints recently, what is the general consensus today? Is it "worth the hassle" or should I avoid disclosing any methods of payment with them with a passion?

Thanks

 

[iaresee]

It’s not worth the money.

 

[Jeries]

I think it's great, and worth the money- even at regular price for everything which is about $130 a year...

However, I do hate the bullshit games they play. Every year, they basically negotiate with you- and play games.

They're not bad if you call to cancel, and when you do they hit you with good offers, and mail you very aggressive offers and great deals.

But I wish I paid $100 years and every year knew it was the same, instead of them playing around- it's super annoying.

I cancelled my subscription because I'm a year behind on the howard stern show and when I catch up, I'll renew...

HOWEVER- Pandora/Radio/MP3's in the car are annoying me to the point where I might take one of their 6 month offers just for music.

I found the desktop app, and phone app to be better then youtube/pandora/etc for music.

I also don't know what affect taking a 6 month plan in the short term has over future yearly rates- it's something that has scared me.

I'll take a look at what offers they're hitting me at...

2014-15 I paid $131
2015-16 $136
2016-17 $136

Money I saved not having it 17-18, 18-19, 19-2020= $400

Current offers...
6mo XM Select $29.94 (fees 36.35)
12mo XL Select $99

XM All Access looks to be 21.99 per month now- now year option $236 a year - you get sports and Howard Stern, and a great video app

I've seen 6 months as low as $5-20

I think I just talked myself out of renewing. I'll just get a few thumb drives of music.

My car is annoying because if I have 2000 songs on a drive, it only plays/shuffles between like 70 of them.

 

[6L6C]

Just bought a new vehicle and theres that free trial with SiriusXM included.

I know about the BS they pull with raising rates on customers and what a PITA they cause when you want to cancel.

Since I have not seen topics or heard complaints recently, what is the general consensus today? Is it "worth the hassel" or should I avoid disclosing any methods of payment with them with a passion?

Thanks

Had Sirius twice, canceling was a major time consuming PITA. Prepare to spend allot of time on the phone if you cancel !!
I liked (not loved) Sirius when I first had it, merging with XM was the worst IMO. Just lazy programming on a loop.

 

[skunc]

For my truck I was paying $6 a month. I had to “Renew” the special every 6 months by calling. If I forgot my bill would go to something like $24 a month without notice.

I think it's great, and worth the money- even at regular price for everything which is about $130 a year...

However, I do hate the bullshit games they play. Every year, they basically negotiate with you- and play games.

They're not bad if you call to cancel, and when you do they hit you with good offers, and mail you very aggressive offers and great deals.

But I wish I paid $100 years and every year knew it was the same, instead of them playing around- it's super annoying.

I cancelled my subscription because I'm a year behind on the howard stern show and when I catch up, I'll renew...

HOWEVER- Pandora/Radio/MP3's in the car are annoying me to the point where I might take one of their 6 month offers just for music.

I found the desktop app, and phone app to be better then youtube/pandora/etc for music.

I also don't know what affect taking a 6 month plan in the short term has over future yearly rates- it's something that has scared me.

I'll take a look at what offers they're hitting me at...

2014-15 I paid $131
2015-16 $136
2016-17 $136

Money I saved not having it 17-18, 18-19, 19-2020= $400

Current offers...
6mo XM Select $29.94 (fees 36.35)
12mo XL Select $99

XM All Access looks to be 21.99 per month now- now year option $236 a year - you get sports and Howard Stern, and a great video app

I've seen 6 months as low as $5-20

I think I just talked myself out of renewing. I'll just get a few thumb drives of music.

My car is annoying because if I have 2000 songs on a drive, it only plays/shuffles between like 70 of them.

 

[GuitarDojo]

I got 3 months free when i bought my wife's car and then they gave me a deal for 1 yr for $60 and ever since then I threaten to cancel if they don't meet or beat that price.

 

[AndyOrr]

Most subscription based companies require their customer service agents to attempt a stringent stop-save procedure. Sirius is certainly not alone in this regard. I had a friend that took a job as Customer Service Director with a national health club chain. If you entered information that you were calling to cancel, you were automatically put on a 5 minute hold regardless if anyone was available To speak to you, or not.

Sirius and many others - from magazines to sports teams (season tickets) also engage in a practice known as demographic based pricing. Marketing firms do a basic demographic assessment of your household and provide an estimate of your pricing threshold before you’ll cancel. That estimate usually ends up as your new subscription or season pass rate. I think most consumers would be surprised by the difference in the prices they pay for some things compared to what their neighbors pay.
As for the question “is Sirius worth it?” I live in rural Colorado (recently evacuated twice...) with few terrestrial radio stations and very spotty cell service. One of my hobbies is backcountry 4x4 and desert mountain bike trips. Sirius reception and wide ranging programming choices are nice to have in the middle of nowhere. Except when they tried the x-rated porn channel. That was kinda weird.

 

[iaresee]

With a modern car that has a good interface for a smart phone I can’t see how it’s better than paying for Apple Music or Spotify. Only case would be perhaps you have bad cellular service. But otherwise, online streaming is superior. Tack on a podcast app if you want talk show content.

 

[ipressthebutton]

I was an original subscriber when Howard Stern moved to Sirius, I wish I would have bought a lifetime membership for $400 back then. After many years away, I've had Sirius for the last 3.5 years, it came free with a car then I renewed it for 3 years. Since I've had several free trials over the years, I get promotional emails. Whenever a better deal comes across I call them an they adjust the price. The last one I received was $2.95/month for 6 months and they renewed it for a year at that price.

I think its worth the price especially with the app and the ability to access it without the radio. I primarily listen to a handful of channels but they will do limited time channels, for example, a few weekends ago they had a Van Halen channel. My favorite channels are Phish, Grateful Dead, Beatles, Pearl Jam, Deep Tracks Howard 100/101 and Spectrum. But really enjoyed the temporary Led Zepplin, Bob Marley and Beastie Boys channels.

That being said, I am considering moving to Apple Music or Spotify just to have on-demand access to more music.

 

[CraigP]

Yeah, it seems there is nothing good out there nowadays. Even the local radio stations and television. It seems they make a 12-18 hour loop, send it and cycle through the same junk for a week or two before you hear anything new or different.

 

[ipressthebutton]

Yeah, it seems there is nothing good out there nowadays. Even the local radio stations and television. It seems they make a 12-18 hour loop, send it and cycle through the same junk for a week or two before you hear anything new or different.

If I had one complaint about Sirius this would be it, with all the music in their catalog it would be nice if they could have some channels that didn't repeat songs for days/weeks. There are some days when I get in my car in the morning, afternoon and night and the same segment of Howard is on every single time.

 

[mr_fender]

The audio quality sucked when I had the free trial in my car. Many channels sounded like 32 or 64 kbps MP3s. FM radio was night and day better sounding. Austin has some decent local stations, but I just listen to podcasts in my car mostly now.

 

[Promit]

SiriusXM is basically a garbage service. Poor (and fluctuating) audio quality, overpriced, pushy as hell about renewal/cancellation, and their DJs play the same music over and over and over again. That said, I still end up renewing from time to time at the $6/month price point because I still enjoy the occasional music discovery that comes from their occasional new or unusual music choices. I pay them off a one time use virtual credit card (mine are from a service called Privacy.com but there are others) that can't be used to bill a renewal. After service expires it takes them another two months or so to actually shut off service, so I usually use up that period before considering a renewal.

 

[mr_fender]

That's a great idea with the one time use credit card. Have to add that trick to the collection.

 

[wcfieldskx]

It's worth it to me. I pay $30 CAD every 6 months for my vehicle. I drive quite a bit. It's built in to the infotainment screen so it's convenient

 

[steadystate]

When I tried it, the audio quality sounded like the worst low bitrate mp3 imaginable. Unlistenable.

 

[Gary_B]

I've had it for years and love it. Little bit of a pain calling every year to "cancel" but in the end I pay about $7 a month. Great music choices, never had any reception issues. I'm a fan.

 

[Dave Merrill]

I'm almost never in my car anymore...

 

[iaresee]

I've had it for years and love it. Little bit of a pain calling every year to "cancel" but in the end I pay about $7 a month. Great music choices, never had any reception issues. I'm a fan.

With Spotify integration in the Tesla UI, why do you prefer SiriusXM? Sound quality alone Spotify has it beat, never mind programming choices.

 

[wcfieldskx]

It's better than a 32 or 64 kbps MP3. Sounds decent in my vehicle. Good enough for me considering I'm on the highway quite a bit, so it's a bit noisy in the vehicle anyways