jstaneff

The car came with 6 free months of Sirius radio. I did not sign up. That was in November. Now in late April I have received two letters from MB telling me what a wonderful thing it is that I should sign up for, and last Saturday a letter came from Sirius welcoming me to their product. The letter was dated 28-Mar.

In effect, since I didn't sign up, they took it upon themselves to sign me up anyway, AND, they didn't tell me about it for a month. WTF?

So I called to complain. They promised they'd give me $10 off when I renew. Well, I may never renew, hence I'll probably never see that "free" month.

Regardless of their product's intrinsic qualities, the company sucks, big time.

(I had planned to sign up for use this summer when I do a lot of cross-mountain driving and the satellite radio would be nice to have. I'm at least a month early on that, and won't see the free month, so I feel cheated!)

Beware: that free service comes with unwritten terms. You will get it at their option if you don't sign up right away.

Awful company to deal with.

Ps: using a bluetooth phone to setup Sirius is a non-starter. I had to get a wireless home phone to make a second call since the bluetooth took over and wouldn't let the radio work. Arrrgh!

oblu

You sure that you're not maybe a one-off case in that regard?

No idea if the company sucks or not, but seems like you're getting worked up over something that might just be a mistake. And free's free, so I don't see the big issue.

One word of warning; the sat signal in both my car and my wife's cuts in and out in several places over the pass on I90. No experience with HWY2 yet; but any place there are tall trees, coverage is spotty.

We still have it though because I have one or two stations I like, but I would be lying if I didn't mention I let my trial lapse in hopes that the retention dept would contact me and offer me a better deal.

dalazernet

From someone who joined Sirius back when it was first available in NJ by installing the first ever Kenwood sirius tuner, etc etc etc -- I can honestly say that Sirius (as a company) tends to be a little absent minded, but overall the service is fantastic. The free 6 months must be activated within a certain amount of time, else it goes "poof"... so perhaps this is why it got activated for you...

I wouldn't fret over something so trivial TBH. Give it a try, see how you like it -- I honestly can't live without it... as I've been a listener for approx 5 years (maybe more as I can't remember!)...

Peace,
- Eric

jstaneff

Maybe I am worked up over nothing. I don't believe "it's free". Someone got some money somewhere to make this happen. Free doesn't just happen.

I talked to two different service reps, and one made the effort to get a supervisor involved. Nada. So maybe they don't suck, but it's a close imitation. ;-) My complaint (and it is that) is that the business practice is very poor from a customer perspective. Maybe someone at Sirius feels that if you don't actually use it they'll "sign you up" so the free period clears the books? Somewhere that should have been written out. To my knowledge it wasn't.

Thanks for the tip on I-90. I'm going to be heading over Friday and that should be interesting. I've received radio signal from Seattle all the way to West Nelson Siding and if Sirius doesn't do that well, then what's the use?

dalazernet

Yeah -- All I have to say is, throughout my life of accounts/tuners/cars with Sirius.. I now have a username that has been added on to 4 times with numbers, extra letters, etc etc as they wouldn't let me keep a username each time *grrr*... Either way.

As far as the satellite dropping the signal, its a bit flakey in some areas. I rarely have a problem with it on most roads, but Rt 280 here in Jersey *YIKES*... every darn overpass I lose the signal for a brief moment... It rarely irritates me when listening to music, but its more annoying when I lose talk radio or something like that because I'm missing entire words/phrases and losing the convo.

Either way, enjoy -- I know you'll like it. At least it doesn't stink like XM Radio when the signal drops -- on that, it gets a hiss/static sound (and no, I'm not talking FM modded setups -- all of them seem to do that)... Sirius just goes blank and IMHO silence is golden.

- Eric

amdeutsch

In this case it was included in the MSRP, way down in the trenches when MB set the pricing.

havacgar

Not sure how anyone drives any distance without Sat Rad, I have had both and they both have a ton of commercials on every channel except music stations....

chilledbenz

My salesman was kind enough to let me know that at the end of the six free months they will start charging you unless you call them and let them know you don't want the service anymore. If I remember right he said I will receive something in the mail telling me that my free subscription is coming due, but I doubt I will. I will be keeping tabs on it though, so far my experience with Sirius radio has been awful.

RLE

<<The car came with 6 free months of Sirius radio. I did not sign up. That was in November. Now in late April I have received two letters from MB telling me what a wonderful thing it is that I should sign up for, and last Saturday a letter came from Sirius welcoming me to their product. The letter was dated 28-Mar. In effect, since I didn't sign up, they took it upon themselves to sign me up anyway, AND, they didn't tell me about it for a month. WTF?>>

Interesting. I didn't activate mine for more that two months after delivery.

What I have found is that I don't listen to commercial broadcast radio any more. No more talk radio, no more commercials. Eureka!

Hazemonster

Had Sirius for 5 years now...wouldn't be without it.

$12 per month is WELL worth it!

KHill

+1

Have had it since 2002 and wouldn't have a car with out it.

oblu

Unless they grabbed a CC from you, there's nothing for them to collect money from. The dealer didn't get one from me.

Mine just shut off at the end of 6mo ... and they already have my wife's car on the account so they could've kept charging my card.

wingless

With no more innane banter in the vehicle, then that need is now satisfied on-line?

jstaneff

Hopefully not whilst driving!

chilledbenz

If your a AAA Auto Club Member you can get it for half price, $6.99 a month, I have friends getting XM for $4.99 a month because they called up and haggled. I looked into this before I actually had Sirius, but now after four months of service I can say that even $4.99 isn't worth it. Guess there will always be someone who hates it and someone who loves it.

dalazernet

Umm... *BASHES HEAD AGAINST WALL*... I've been a AAA Plus member forever and never knew about this... I've been paying $12.95 a month for 5+ yrs like a schmuck... Although, I just logged into their site and I don't see anything about a monthly rate discount -- only a free month of service and 20% off radios and accessories...

- Eric

Txhurdle

Small Hint: Voice Control works with Sirius as well.
'STATION 90's ALTERNATIVE' and it jumps to 24.
'STATION THE PULSE' and it jumps to 9.
'STATION DFW HOUSTON TRAFFIC' and it jumps to 154. Neat little trick.

blastit

thanks for the heads up. i just got the car a few weeks ago so i have a ways to go before my free subscription runs out. i could see sirius pulling something like this though. i dont know if i will keep this service the only station i really like is area33 and maybe a couple of the hip hop stations. everything else seems like a waste to me.

RLE

<<With no more inane banter in the vehicle, then that need is now satisfied on-line?>.

There be PLENTY of inane banter right here.

chilledbenz

I just double checked its possible it was a one time offer as its not in the current magazine they send out now and your right theres nothing listed on their site, only thing I could find is 50% off Sirius on Hertz rentals so it may have been a misprint. Call up Sirius though and see if they can give you a better deal, like I mentioned above my friend has XM and haggled a bit and got four different radios at $4.99 each, a family plan I think is what they called it.

Saks_C350_Sport

Have had XM in 2 of my vehicles since XM came out. LOVE satellite radio but prefer XM. Wish we had the option but even Sirius is better than BROADCAST !!!!!!!!

airbusman

If you do decide to try Sirius Radio, use a credit card and chnage the number after a month.

I had a heck of a time stopping a charge on an auto renewal with them.

In my experience, they renewed my subscription at the highest rate.

Be careful.

Caperone

Happy to see that I'm not the only weirdo who never cared about activing it!