Rob S

I'm on my 5th 36mo lease now, all came with the trial periods. Haven't renewed passed the trial period in many years. I refuse to give a dime to any business with such low practices..

BlackOptic

Sorry to bounce topics. I am trying out the apple music 3-mo trial.

How much data streaming does Apple Music add up to? I realize it all depends how much you drive et al...

[edit; found this..."Assuming an average file size of around 6MB per song, and 3 minutes per song, you would be consuming about 20MB of data every 10 minutes. If you listen to 1 hour every day for a month, you would be consuming around 3.6GB data a month."]

David Shaw

I actually did this the last time I renewed. I started out with it just in my Audi, but my wife liked it, so I added it to her Miata. This last time, I added it to the Expedition as well. I've got them all expiring on the same day so I can deal with it once every 6 months instead of every 2 months.

I wish they'd admit that this is the rate I'm going to pay and just let me pay for it a year or two at a time, but I listen to it every day (1 hour commute each way), so I get a lot of value out of it.

Dan in St. Louis

Luckily my local NPR station has both classical and jazz HD channels in addition to the regular NPR talk channel. I "pay" them once a year to support their good work.

samsj

In the iPhone settings-> music , there is option to use high quality streaming under cellular data. Unfortunately it doesn't say what's the bitrate for the streaming, like it does in Spotify. Also you can create playlists and download them for offline listening so that you don't use up your data.

farmerjones

Do people realize there is a family plan, when you pay around $15 for the first radio and every other radio after that is $10. This pricing never changes, no "surprise up-charge" after 6 months. Very straight forward and simply on an auto renewal plan to credit card and the pricing never changes.

Yes the customer service sucks, but many of you are kinda "overblowing" your dissatisfaction I think. These special 6 months expire and then go to regular auto renewal rate....this is specifically laid out when you sign up. You might not like the pricing, but lets be fair.....they are doing exactly what they said they would do, and you should not be surprised or upset at the auto-renewal rate. If you wanted to not do this you should have cancelled at 6 months. Lets be a little fair here and give them some credit......some of these complaints are self-induced.

Everyone has a different level of enjoyment from XM. I listen to mine hours a day, 7 days a week, with programing I can not get or stream from ANY other music option out there. Their family plan pricing is simply, easy, and a good value in my opinion, but there are other choices. I have multiple family members all on my account, and we divide up the total bill by the number of radios, and the more radios the cheaper it becomes. And you can even save more if you like by a one-time payment option as well.

I couldn't be happier with XM and it's value...but if you think yo are gonna work the system every 6 months for some "special offer" to save $5 a month you are gonna get frustrated. In my opinion to buy a $50,000+ car and then complain about $5 a month charge for radio entertainment is a weak excuse, LOL.

Obsidian3K

SiriusXM Canada isn't much different, except they seem to prefer 1 or 2-year specials. I just put an entry in my calendar to remind me when it's time to fight with them.

Their business model boggles my mind. I'm happy paying $7CAD/month (which was my first post-free-period rate), but every renewal notice is 3x that, which forces me to call and threaten to cancel, only to have a CSR offer me a new deal for less than the previous deal. The end result is fine, but I would be happier (and SXM making more money from me) if the original rate just continued.

Since the business model continues, I can only imagine that it makes SXM more money from absent-minded customers than it loses them from people like me and those who just cancel outright.

kurtatx

Yeah, it's like the Comcast/Cable company of music. Meanwhile, Google Play Music or Apple Music gives you one rate.

farmerjones

Come on you guys.....you have a "special introductory" rate....it's not gonna last forever, it's right in the name! My radios average out to $11/month, and I haven't had to call and "haggle" for years. The price never changes, it's been the same for years now. You all have expectations WAY to high if you think you should be paying $5 a month for this service. If you wan't a constant payment that is competitive to Apple Music cost and that never changes and auto renews you simply can have that....your are just closing to not select those plans. If I can have a plan that doesn't cost x3 the introductory price and auto renews year after year at a low rate you can too....you just aren't selecting the right plans. Again....you are to some extent creating your own monster here all on your own and then complaining about it.....

SchwarzS6

So when I go to the Sirius web site they have $30/6 mo. or $60/12 mo introductory offer with this fine print:

"Activate a Select subscription and pay $60 for your first 12 months, a savings of 68% off the current monthly rate of $15.99, plus get free activation (an additional $15 savings). Fees and taxes apply. A credit card is required on this offer. Service will automatically renew every month thereafter and, at the beginning of your 13th month, you will be charged according to your chosen payment method at then-current rates."

So after the introductory period the price goes up to $15.99/mo + some fees and taxes.

The Sirius web site does not allow you to shop for rates and plans unless you give them your name, address and contact information. I refuse to do that because then I will get bombarded with junk. So if there is a $11/month plan which does not require you to call and argue with them once a year it sure is not obvious. The most common plans are close to $20/month with all fees and if you add a second car you get about 20% off the second car.

I really do not like the way they do business. The fact that I can sign up quickly and easily on their web site but to cancel I have to call and go through a long harangue from their sales person really rubs me the wrong way.