XM Radio

So my trial period has ended. I’m getting emails, snail mail and repeated phone calls from them. I have politely informed them I’m not interested. Apparently they don’t understand English. Does anyone know their physical location? If they are close enough I may have to explain it in person.

 

They eventually stopped contacting me. Super annoying though.

 

XM is super aggressive on solicitation. If you subscribe, they use very high pressure tactics on the phone to prevent you from leaving. I like you get a signal in remote places but the quality of XM has always sucked IMHO.

 

They are very annoying. I tried canceling my service and I had to talk to 4 different people to get it canceled and on the phone for over an hour. Will never give them my money again.

 

I was subscribed for a long time. I got an occasional email or letter, but they don't bother me too bad anymore. You can get them down to $5 a month which is worth not listening to ads IMO but I don't have a radio anymore

 

My wife is in love with the Garth Channel so I'm stuck with it til he passes. You can unsubscribe from the emails and throw away the snail mail with the rest of the junk.

 

Tell them your address changed, block their #, set the emails up as spam. Done

I also wish I could delete AM/XM so there is only FM/BT... less buttons to push on the steering wheel for a change.

 

They never give up. I have the radio in my truck, plus a radio in the house. I still get emails to activate a radio that hasn't even existed in at least 8 years when it got dropped on concrete and had to be replaced.

I like XM, had it for years, but they can be a pain to deal with in some ways. These days they have an auto renewal for what is frankly a ludicrous price, every year. So, every time I renew I set a reminder in my calendar, I call them up before the current contract ends, and easily negotiate a very reasonable price. Latest renewal the new price was about $35 a month for the two radios, got it back down to $15 and change a month, less than a dollar more than last year. That's worth it to me for what I get from it.

On the positive side, the people I deal with every year are always nice and get the job done quickly with minimal fuss, this year I didn't even have to speak to anybody, did it in a chat on the website.

 

LOL - My wife and I have had XM on our cars for a LONG time (since 2002 or 2003 I believe)....I've never thought of asking for a discount! We do the auto renewal I assume - we do not pay monthly so I assume it is a yearly fee (I actually do not know - uggh). I will call/chat tomorrow and ask for a reduction - why not - ..THANKS!

 

I think it's now a yearly rate divided by 12 and charged each month? At least that's what I have been doing. I have paid for a full year at once a few times, I think when I have gotten new vehicles and they offered a deal for the first year of subscription after the trial period. You can almost always get a rate reduction in my experience, at least at renewal time. I just tell them the truth, I love the product, but it's only worth a certain amount to me.

 

Thanks - I actually will have to get the account info from my wife - I have ZERO idea what it even costs now...I remember when I set it up - I don't think it was much at all...but that was almost 20 yers ago - LOL. I actually don't think my wife even uses XM in her car anymore...I like talk radio and I travel around in rural areas with poor AM reception - so I use it. I know my wife has it on in our house - she has it play on our Alexas (we have 5-6 of those - I ASSUME it is one account for all of them)...I'm NOT SURE if she pays for that extra to have it on the Alexas or not. My kids - and my wife - probably don't even need XM as they use Apple Music in their vehicles - my oldest daughter (off at college) uses another music source (Spotify) though she shares our Apple Account (and I think has XM in her vehicle too). Again not sure why she likes Spotify when she has Apple Music, but she's a good kid and it's a nominal fee (I think). I don't like change - and on the few occasions when I get in her vehicle I like the fact I can put it on the Bluegrass Channel (65) and be done...though I'm the only one that likes Bluegrass...HA!

 

I just paid $60 for a year and got a free Echo. I only to a few stations but it comes in handy on long trips. I get emails all the time offering special rates.

 

That’s what I’ve done in the past. I just tell them I only have so much time to listen to it, so it’s not worth the cost for me. I did the $60 for the year last time. $5 a month seems reasonable, so I was okay with that. I haven’t renewed this time yet. Still debating, but I get some kind of offer by email every day and something in the mail every couple of weeks.

 

I read in a post in this forum where you can unplug the xm antenna from the radio and it won’t show up in the menu or scrolling through the audio modes.
I have not tried it but I’d like to do this.

I find AM to be more useful.


Wonder how low they’d go, if you said “I’ll pay $40 for the year, take it or leave it. “

 

Its been the same with me, they must keep the postal service in business. These people don't give up. I don't pay much attention to a radio anyways, plus where i live the sirusXM service constantly drops out...its worse than fm.

 

Just block them. Spam for email and blocked number on your iphone.

G.

 

I've had XM since 2006. I like the no commercials and all. It's great for trips. I have a handful of rock and country stations I like to listen to and don't use much else that they have. I was a Howard Stern fan but never listen to him anymore. I renewed in June on the Jeep for a year of XM select for like $80 total, $60 plus the music royalty fees.
I just call them up and say the full price is too much and I want to cancel they always come up with a deal to keep me.
Now I guess I'm in a trial in the Tacoma they keep sending me emails about my trial and to confirm the email that's not the same as the account I already have.. so far I've ignored them. I figure when the trial is out I'll transfer the paid service to the Taco if I don't get the Jeep sold before that.

 

I find xm radio great and use it all the time, especially for sports. There are also some great oldies stations such as Deep Tracks, plus a nice mix of Canadian radio stations. Sure you can get a lot of the same content on various internet apps, but it is great out in the back country where there’s either no, or inconsistent mobile phone signals. For the $6/month I pay for all access, I consider it a bargain.

 

XM offered free on line streaming for the month of May. I signed up and when May ended, they offered me three more months of free streaming. No credit card, don't even have to give them your information. I took that too. I was streaming at home, on my Android phone, and connecting my phone to the BT in my Tundra.

In early June I bought my used 2019 Tacoma. To my surprise, they offered me a trial on the Tacoma. Since it was used, I didn't even think that was going to happen. Both free trials are going to end on Sept. 1, and I think I'll see what they offer in the way of a streaming deal.

XM reception is iffy in some areas. One of which is a few blocks from my house. Trees with a lot of leaves seem to block the satellite signal. Also from a friend of mine who is a broadcast engineer, the fidelity of the satellite system is not very good. I think he said that it's actually a mono signal, not stereo. One big advantage of streaming is that I can listen anywhere I have Internet connectivity, including in the Tacoma. Also, with the Android or Windows app, there is way more flexibility. I can pause music, skip a song, and I think repeat a song.

Anyway, if I can get a $5.00/month streaming deal, I'll sign up. Since I like classic (1930-about 1980) Country Music, it's XM/Pandora or I Heart Radio since no one on broadcast radio plays that now.

 

I agree there are lots of apps on your phone that could replace it but some of the places I've gone camping even in Pennsylvania are not well covered by cellular data. It's nice in those cases.