The Great XM Subscription Mystery - Solved!

Be careful - the $25 deal automatically converts to the full price after six months unless you call Sirius and cancel.

 

Mine kept going after the 3 months, and they've been frantically trying to get me to pay them for something I'm already getting (and not using) for free. I'll keep listening to the 6000 songs on the iPod Classic in the center storage bin, supplemented by streaming music from Pandora One. If they ever manage to turn off the satellite music, I won't even notice it's gone.

 

The key point to note here is that the XM data subscription on the Advanced is between Toyota and XM, not between you and XM. If you chose to renew the (three-year) data subscription, you go to the Toyota Entune site and pay them, not XM, and you contact Entune if there are any service issues.

On the other hand, the (three month complimentary) radio subscription is between you and XM, and you renew directly with XM if you chose. Toyota paid for the first three months, but is then no longer in the picture.

I went around and around with XM about the data subscription, and they insisted that there was no such thing as a three-year complimentary data package, and strongly implied that there was some sort of fraud going on. When I finally called Entune customer support, they clarified the relationship. The data subscription did not show up on my XM account, because I am not a party to that particular subscription; Toyota is!

Same with the Safety Connect cell phone in the Advanced. The service contract for the phone is between Toyota and Verizon Wireless, and you deal with Toyota for any issues with it, not Verizon Wireless.

 

See if you can use a temporary credit card number if/when you sign up with XM. Those buggers are tenacious.

 

When I purchased a year I said I did not want auto-renewal. Got a confirmation saying exactly the opposite: that for my "convenience" it would auto-renew. Called them immediately, and they said "no problem, we'll mail you an invoice offering renewal, near the anniversary date". At around the 11 month mark got another email saying I didn't need to do anything, it was going to auto-renew. The ONE bit of luck: I'd had to replace my credit cards a few months earlier. So after a 10 minutes chat with a VERY persistent/oily phone rep., I was out of their clutches. I think...

We're actually in a limited freeby service right now: every so often we get an email saying for the next couple of weeks about 50 channels are unlocked. It's really the worst advertisement though: do not know if it's just our more northern location, but in the car we NEVER hear a song in it's entirety, any tree or tall building and the signal breaks up.

 

FTFM

 

The best way to deal with merchants like this is to use a credit card that allows you to generate additional numbers that bill to your "real" number, but have their own credit limit and expiration date, and can be canceled any time without effecting your "real" number. Then let the merchant try to bill you: the charge will get rejected if you killed the supplemental number.

 

My solution was to ask them to send me an invoice. I then mailed payment with a personal check. No way they can charge any credit card for auto renew.

Having said that, I will call them a month before my annual subscription runs out. My decision to renew will depend on how I feel about the service 6 months from now and what kind of discount they might offer.

 

Sirius XM is old technology. I get everything Sirius XM offers and much more using my iPhone.

 

Right, through a data subscription plan the one most of the people have to pay for it.

 

I cancelled the service shortly after getting the car. I had to wait on hold for a very long time, a half hour or so if I remember correctly. If you are a potential new order I'm sure they get to your call immediately. But the menu had a "cancel service" option and that's the one I chose. The agent argued with me for a bit, but finally gave in and allowed me to cancel. I did continue to get mail and email offers for several months before they finally gave up.
I too prefer my music from my iPod. It gives me uninterrupted music with no ads, no chatter, and the selections are made by me- not some person or computer who/which thinks they know what I want to hear.

 

Primarily I listen to music via my iPod (iPhone over bluetooth, actually). But I have the Sirius XM subscription because they play stuff I don't have, but like. Or expose me to new stuff. My wife absolutely loves the Broadway channel. The problem with Pandora and other streaming audio services is that I'm not always in an area with cell phone service, or the data network is overloaded.

 

Speaking of streaming music, we tried out RDdio, and wouldn't you know it: our data consumption blew past our limit in a blink, LOL. If they could fix their software, so you could only use it on wifi, and/or set realistic caps or get warnings, I think it would be more viable. If you're scaring off customers due to data overload, there's something wrong with the business model.

 

I would ignore the letter. It's like junk e-mail. Once you acknowledge it, they know you're there.

They're not going to turn anything off. And if they do, so what. I would not pay $1 per month for that service.

Additionally, the price they are quoting you does not include any "premium" shows like Howard Stern, et al. It's just the same canned music that you can easily replicate with an iPhone.

 

I been saying this for years!
Besides, if you don't like the playlist, you can change it yourself! Lately I have been taking my LP's and converting the into M4A files for my Ipod. I just add them, delete what I am tired of, and still I have about 35 GB of tunes!
Adding tunes to a Ipod is so simple. I converted my entire CD collection into M4A years ago.
Hell, even my Iphone has 38 GB of tunes! .....

 

since getting my first taste of xm in the pip, i'm hooked to cnbc, hln, cnn, comedy central and find myself surfing the music channels rather than switching over to FM. the xm data services is handy but very limited IMO.