sgp99

I received several emails and letters from XM Radio that my 1 year subscription was about to expire. Instead of renewing online, I called them to negotiate the price. Several Forum members have given some very good advice on how to get a lower price. At first the customer rep gave me the standard renewal rate of $142.45 per year. When I told her that I was not willing to pay that price she came back with a 3 year rate with 9 months free. I told her that I was only interested in a 1 year renewal and that I had a much lower price from Sirius on one of my other cars. She asked how much and I told her $79.00. She came back with a $77.00 rate for 1 year. There was also a $21.50 "royalty fee" that they say everyone has to pay (sounds like BS). I got this down to $11.78. My total was $88.78 for a new 1 year subscription.

My only other problem was that they have an automatic renewal at the then current rate after my 1 year expires. I tried to get this eliminated, but was not successful. I will just mark it on my calendar to call them 1 month ahead of my expiration in 2011 and renogotiate the price.

DUMAN

watch out for them. i did the same and now they have no record and are saying i short paid my bill. there billing is by far the worst i have seen. so far this year i have spent more then 3 hours on the phone with them.

i am canceling all my XM radios. 2 of my 3 vehicles.

BostonJoel

I had them send me out a physical invoice in the mail and I paid by check...same $88.78.
They do not have my credit card number so there will be no automatic renewal. If I dont like the billed price next year, I willl let it expire un-renewed. Not that important to me.

griff99

I have heard a lot of people on here complain about canceling XM, but I have never had a problem. I canceled after my first 3 months for free, and then last year they sent me a discount code good for 6 months at ~$24, this year it was 5 months for ~$20, and I had to pay a royalty fee of a couple of dollars.

Ounce

I had pretty much the same thing happen, except the girl sold me the royalty fee at $11.78 without starting at $21.50.

I told her I wanted them to send me an invoice, instead of doing the credit card over the phone. She said it'd cost $2 to send the invoice. I said okay. When the invoice came, everything was as it should be, except I was not charged an invoicing fee.

This was back on April 6, as the 3 month trial period had ended on March 24.


oz

LarryMJones

I called Sirius to disconnect when I got my Vette in Dec 2007.

They asked if they could place it on inactive status with no billing. I agreeded in case I got another Sirius equipped vehicle. Activated my XM for the Vette and was very happy. The inactive status apparently helped them show more subscriptions for the stock merger with XM, so they really wanted me to stay as an inactive "subscriber"


Then after a couple of years discovered they had started billing me for the sirius again after a one year hold on inactive, without notifying me. I only had XM equipped vehicles but the billing included the inactive Sirius reciever. I just didn't catch it on the credit card statement.

When I caught it they refused to refund the money they had billed my GM card, so I reevaluated my need to have Sat radio in my 2 hobby cars that sit 99% of the time in my garage.

Now I enjoy my 6 disc cd, and surface radio again. And XM/Sirius lost my 3 XM vehicles.

And as soon as the XM/Sirius stock gets back near the $1.90 I paid for it, I will no longer be a stock holder either. They are really sleeezy to deal with, and don't let them have access to your credit card.

LJ

sgp99

Asking for an invoice and paying by check is a great idea. That will certainly eliminate the automatic renewal.

Top_Fuel

That's actually an improvement in service. Usually they give you NO reminder that your subscription is expiring...and you are automatically renewed and THEN they send you a bill.

I don't care how you pay...check, credit card, etc... ALWAYS call them within a week of your expiration date and either...
Many of the nightmare stories result from people who forget their expiration date and take no action. That's just asking for trouble. Hint: Just because you think you aren't on "auto-renew" doesn't mean they won't renew your account and send you a bill.


By the way...I'm so paranoid I won't send these guys a personal check. Do you really want these clowns having your checking account routing number?!?! Pay with a money order or a one-time use secure credit card number.

mikesul

Pay by cashiers check, don't send them one of yours.

Y2K3CL-S

or postal money order.

sun_bill1974

My free trial will end at the end of this month, and I've already received 5 phones calls and 3 letters in the mail. These people are so damn persistent, and won't take no for an answer...I keep explaining to them my stock radio system does not have the best sound quality with the there cable radio, and I don't drive the car often enough to subscribe. I really hope this past weekend will be the last time I speak to them, at this point its almost harassment...why can't they understand, we'll call you if my situation changes

Guppies

I went thru hellnback last year when they charged over $1.4K for my renewal. Ultimately had to go thru my bank to get it removed. I had purposedly given them a temp card issued by the bank for a one time only transaction, advised them it was only good for that transaction and they still tried to auto renew this year - they got a surprise when the charge was not honored. In any even, spent the $$ on PAL, they can have their $189/year POS and BS service.

sun_bill1974

Can someone explain to me why an "automatic renewal" is even legal?
People have enough responsibilities in there lives, the last thing they need is to bookmark a date 1-3 years in the future to cancel a contract that technically should have expired. If my contract is up, it should be up to me to renew, not XM Radio. I find its the same situation with gym membership...

3L337 C6

My renewal expires next month - I was going to cancel since my iphone gets pandora radio anyway - a far better deal considering I actually have heard of the music that is playing on it, sound quality isn't as good though.
I wonder if the 88 dollar threshold is solid - maybe we can get it even lower.

hall757

If the provision was in the original contract (and it is) and you agreed to it (and you had to) then automatic renewal is absolutely permitted.

I tend to go for the lifetime subscriptions. Did so with sirius in my other car five years ago. Now that radio is "paid for". Did the same with three different TiVos. Have not decided if I'll go with an XM subscription on my vette. There is still time on the radio prepaid by the previous owner. I have a PAL on order to plug in my iPod when the XM goes dark.

sun_bill1974

Your right, because if I sign and agree, than I'm bound to those terms, but, the way they explained it was "automatic renewal" is standard with all there contracts, and there's no way to get around that....
where's the option for the consumer than? One of the many reasons I don't subscribe. Hey, if its a lifetime necessity for you, then you made the right decision....its not for me.

C-INRED

I too have cancelled multiple times without a problem. However, I have always used a paper billing or temporary credit card, called about two weeks in advance to cancel, and have asked for a name, confirmation number, etc.

sun_bill1974

Why do people have to go through these measures to not get over billed? ?

ZBEE 062

Great advice and just in time! I had a call this afternoon from XM Radio offering a 5 month extension of my 3 month initial free subscription for about $5/month. I followed your advice and asked for a invoice.
Still getting use to having the 7/24 Elvis, E Street channels etc available, I guess it will get old after a while.

Bat Man

If you guys use Citibank, just give them a "virtual number" as your CC. It's good for 1 use. So after that, they can't recharge it.