kph3

I purchaed the 100 minute special from Onstar for $19.99. I had a Moto V551 linked to my car that I loved, but I lost it. Now, I am back to using my V400...so I purchased some Onstar minutes to try that out.

Anyway, I have only used the Onstar phone a few times and when I went to use it yesterday, it said that I was out of minutes and contacted Onstar to purchase more. I questioned the rep as I have probably only used it about 5 times and maybe used 30 minutes in total. She said she could not see the detail. I asked that a detail be mailed to me and she said she couldn't do that either. She incinuated that my spouse or children used the mintues. I told her that my 12, 11 and 7 year olds don't drive, and my wife doesn't know how to use the phone feature. I asked that she check into it for me and she said there was nothing to do and asked how many new minutes I wanted to purchase. I told her it was a rip off and that I wasn't going to use that feature anymore.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

Fabvsix

My OnStar works GREAT ! Of course I don't "nit pick" about my min.....etc......GREAT system otherwise......

bluemule

So far, my OnStar experience has been good. I also purchased the 100 minute special. When that was done, the OnStar representative extended the expiration date for the original 30 minutes provided with the vehicle, and I believe my remaining minutes accurately reflect my usage, which has been rather limited. I've not received a statement.

427

My minutes seem to be very accurate. I check it once in a while via the voice activated OnStar system.
Say: UNITS
It will ask: Verify or Add?
Say: VERIFY
It will then give you the remaining minutes.

headersplus

Well - I keep getting phone calls from some bill collector asking for a 'Victor' (not my name!). I called OnStar customer care & they told me they would change my number. By the way - I didn't even know the number since the calls began a day or so after I bought the car. Anyway I still get calls so i don't even answer the Onstar calls anymore. I've never given the number out to anyone (I still don't know the number as my Onstar material just arrived in the mail and i haven't read it yet.)

It just for emergencies since i have my cell phone pared.

msu79gt82

Hey fab, I wouldn't call getting ripped off for over half my minutes (at $19.99 per 100) "nit-picking"

If I were kph3, I'd look into it further - in my opinin the answer he got from OnStar is unacceptable!

Fabvsix

msu79:
I agree, but remember its how you ask is how they give....
I do know that OnStar is SLOW at getting your account set up and billing was slow in the beggining. They had a hard time combining two accounts into one as I was already subscribed with my RL and when I bought the MDX they were all confused.....Adding my partner was even more complicated......Now they have it right but it took some calls and persistance......Now when I call:
They know me, service me and respect me........

kph3

I was very nice when I called. Only after she shot me down on each request did I get pissed. If they are offering a service to replace your cell phone, how can they not give you a statement. How would you feel if your regular cell phone provider didn't give you a statement and you were just supposed to assume that they were charging you correctly or rolling over your unused Cingular minutes correctly. Just paying without confirmation doesn't make sense. How many times has your cell bill been wrong...mine several. Maybe I am just not that trusting, but as many times as I have had billing problems...and not just with cell phones, I think it is ridiculous that they offer this service and expect customers to just take their word for it.

I have had the car since March...my account has been set up for some time....that shouldn't be a problem here.

I don't nit-pick, I just don't like getting screwed.

headersplus

thanks for this info.

worked great

stevejfrank

I've had the onstar minutes disappear also. OnStar has added the 100 minutes I bought three times.

Finally today they said that the dealers need to do some sort of reflash of the onstar system. So I called the dealer. They knew nothing about it obviously. After an hour someone called me and said that within the next 30 days that they will be receiving a laptop that will allow them to reflash the onstar system and that they would call me.

Onstar said that they would not recharge the minutes until I was able to get it reflashed.

Just FYI.

kph3

Thanks for the info....let me know what happens.

stevejfrank

Just wanted to let you know that I had my Onstar updated per my post a few weeks ago and all seems well. The minutes haven't disappeared yet. In fact I called Onstar to complain and they gave me another 100 minutes. I guess this means that I'll have to renew my subscription.

Steve

vp911

Yep, the TSB was put out to fix the issue. I personally have added the onstar device to my verizon family plan. It works well, but since I have a bluetooth phone I am thinking about just getting rid of the onstar with verizon service. I don't know if I will renew the onstar service come the end of my 1 year trial or not.

Rich in NC

It don't think it is an uncommon experience to lose minutes on Onstar. I had 30 never used it and went to 0. Onstar gave me 30 more and said there is a hardware problem that needs to be fixed. I understand there is a TSB for it?

RL_Cruizin

TSB-028 addressed this problem. If the battery dies, your minutes reset to zero. If you're having this problem, have the dealer apply TSB 05-028.

bmac

Yes, I have. If you had previously purchased Onstar minutes and your car lost all power -- no matter for how long -- you will lose all your minutes. The minutes are stored in memory within the car. No power equals no memory.

When I talked to onstar it dawned on me that my problem may have been related to a dead battery. When the representative heard that, he talked to his supervisor and they reinstalled at no charge my hundred minutes. And now Acura has just admitted that this is a problem and if you haven't already you will soon receive a letter telling you to bring your car in for an update that supposedly will solve this.

kph3

Thanks for the posts. I still haven't received my letter eventhough my VIN is in the range. When I get a chance, I will get it into the dealer and see if I can get my minutes reinstalled.

R J Poseidon 6

Has any1 found out if that's true about received calls not counting as units?

I haven't tried it but some1 mentioned it on another thread...

P.S. My OnStar minutes have always been accurate & worked fantastic.

Gator33

I activated my onstar a week ago. Made a couple short calls on the 30 complimentary minutes and decided to do the 100-minute, $20 special. All of the 130 minutes have disappeared on two occasions in this one week.

The second time this happened the rep was trying to figure out what happened. She suspected that I had done something wrong, like not properly ending the call by pressing the phone button again. Then suddenly she exclaimed, "Oh, you have an Acura RL! There is a recall for the Onstar system for that car."

I guess flashing the system will be another thing to take care of on the next oil change.

I must say, however, that each time this happened, Onstar was very nice about the situation and re-downloaded the full minutes back into my car.

I got this service for two reasons: 1. I don't want to get a cell phone, but want to be cool and make calls from the car anyway and... 2. Onstar supposedly can locate your car if it gets stolen.

Has anyone had any experience with the stolen vehicle recovery capability? Does it really work?

vp911

Yeah - except any smart theif who is going to take it to a chop shop will just rip off the antenna when stealing it

JNagol

OnStar Rip Off I had the same problem with onstar : purchased the 19.99 extra 100 minutes in adition to the 30 minuts that came with the new car. (Not an Accura) Made two phone calls ( about 2 minutes each ) OnStar said the minutes were "gone" ...used. Yet, they could not tell me when they were used. They could tell me when they billed me for the extra pre-paid 100 minutes. I am very suspect of this service. With pre-paid they give you NO statements. Calling OnStar support , I got the run around. I escalated the call to that person's supervisor and alo got the run around. You won't hear those phone calls on their Radio commercials. LOL OnStar emergengy servicce maybe, but OnStar cellular is a Rip off.

bmac

If your car was serviced where the electrical system was disconnected for what ever reason than the minutes, which are stored in memory in your car, were lost. Onstar will replace those minutes if you do a good job of convincing them that the car was serviced recently.

Onstar does not have access to any call detail. Why that is also surprises me but one answer may be that this is an outsourced service provided by Verizon so possibly Verizon stores the call detail.