Sirius radio will not activate
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 5
Likes: 5
From: Austin, TX
2018 CLS 550
Sirius radio will not activate
It's my first post, and my first Benz.. love it. I transferred my existing Sirius subscription to the Benz, but am unable to activate the service. I've spoken to several Sirius reps, done the refresh signal probably a dozen times, did the soft reset on the system, did the hard reset (removed fuses), no success yet. Took it to the dealership yesterday, they called and said it's a hardware issue - a problem with the tuner (hadn't noticed any other issues with the radio/COMAND system). Today they call and tell me they're replacing the antenna as well. I don't think it's a hardware issue at all, but I'll take the new tuner and antenna anyway. I really think something is wrong with the way my subscription or account is setup at Sirius, although obviously when I call them they say everything looks fine. I bought the Benz used, and I don't think the trial service was setup. (I did the service transfer in the dealership parking lot right as I bought the car). I really think that something went wrong with that transfer, or maybe the trial service IS active and the two service types don't work together...anyway. Has anyone had this situation? Any other advice?
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 5
Likes: 5
From: Austin, TX
2018 CLS 550
Update.
It's Monday, 7PM, I took the car in last Thursday morning. They replaced the entire radio and antenna last week, and have spent two full days trying to get it working with the help of a Sirius "engineer." That guys says there's a block on my account, but the Sirius website says my account is PIF and active through March, 2022. It worked great in my previous car using the same account. Service guy said it can take 24 hours for the Sirius system to update, but I told him I want my car back tomorrow with or without satellite radio. If it still isn't working (again, new radio, new antenna) I'll cancel my account and try to convince the dealer to give me trial access for a year.
It's Monday, 7PM, I took the car in last Thursday morning. They replaced the entire radio and antenna last week, and have spent two full days trying to get it working with the help of a Sirius "engineer." That guys says there's a block on my account, but the Sirius website says my account is PIF and active through March, 2022. It worked great in my previous car using the same account. Service guy said it can take 24 hours for the Sirius system to update, but I told him I want my car back tomorrow with or without satellite radio. If it still isn't working (again, new radio, new antenna) I'll cancel my account and try to convince the dealer to give me trial access for a year.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 5
Likes: 5
From: Austin, TX
2018 CLS 550
Thought I'd post a follow-up.. I finally have working satellite radio. The Sirius phone support center had no clue how to deal with this. I suspected a problem with my account, and I was right. I've been calling them for two weeks, each time I have to go through the entire background of this problem. Their solution, 100% of the time, was to send a refresh signal, even though I just finished telling them that this has been tried dozens of times. I know they're following a script, but I specifically asked them to close my account and create me a brand new account and they either didn't understand, or were unable to do that for me.
I wanted to go sign up online, using a completely different name, address, phone, email, etc.. but the problem was I needed an ESN that wasn't attached to an account. So I bought a Sirius radio on ebay, then called Sirius and had them change my first account to the ESN to the new ebay radio. In doing so, they "unattached" the ESN for my car radio from the first account. Then I went ahead and signed up online for a brand new account using a fake name, etc and used the ESN from my car - and within five minutes it was working.
I wanted to go sign up online, using a completely different name, address, phone, email, etc.. but the problem was I needed an ESN that wasn't attached to an account. So I bought a Sirius radio on ebay, then called Sirius and had them change my first account to the ESN to the new ebay radio. In doing so, they "unattached" the ESN for my car radio from the first account. Then I went ahead and signed up online for a brand new account using a fake name, etc and used the ESN from my car - and within five minutes it was working.
Super Member
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 606
Likes: 88
From: North Cali
2005 SL500, 2015 CLS400
That's the problem with most of the service departments - they're lacking experience and all they can do is follow the script / instructions. For the customers that means plenty of frustration, because most of the time involves weeks at the dealership and $$$ wasted on parts...
Newbie
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
2018 GLE 43 AMG
Thank you so much for posting this! We are having exactly the same problem! Did exactly what you did, spoke to Sirius a dozen times, refreshed, took car back to dealer. Gave up and canceled the sirius, but due to special deal purchased, we still have it till the end of the year. Going to try what you did and see if I can transfer the deal to my other car and then re-sign up the Benz. Keeping fingers crossed that it works.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 5
Likes: 5
From: Austin, TX
2018 CLS 550
A big part of the struggle was that they simply would not create a new account for me.. They lied several times and said they had, and of course the service didn't work. Maybe it's a hassle for them, and since their system is saying that "all is good" with the account, they figure here's another dumb customer who doesn't understand how their system works.
I eventually called and got a supervisor to deal with it, and even he was kind of chuckling as I'm telling him that the account isn't working (because his system says otherwise, and it doesn't make any sense to them that an "account" could "not work."). But he did it, and now it works great. Anyway, I ended up getting refunded for what I paid for the second subscription, plus my prior credit, and got all-access for a year for about $95 plus fees (about $115 total IIRC). Plus I got the new system from MB under warranty..!
I eventually called and got a supervisor to deal with it, and even he was kind of chuckling as I'm telling him that the account isn't working (because his system says otherwise, and it doesn't make any sense to them that an "account" could "not work."). But he did it, and now it works great. Anyway, I ended up getting refunded for what I paid for the second subscription, plus my prior credit, and got all-access for a year for about $95 plus fees (about $115 total IIRC). Plus I got the new system from MB under warranty..!
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