According to XM, the 06 RL XM radio I bought last week in Florida is already registered to a Michael Sheehan (any of you guys know a Michael Sheehan that only kept an RL for only 4 months?). As a result, XM won't put the radio in my account.

Now this would not be bad as the other guy has paid for the service but there's a catch. Sometimes the XM plays and sometimes it stays on the demo channel. It's close to a 50/50 thing. I'm going to call the Lexus dealer who sold me the car to contact the former owner and hopefully will get it straightened out.

Here's my question: If it already has a contract in place, why does it sometimes not play?

 

My XM Roady does something like that, in a way.

When I bought it and activated it, all was fine. Some 6 months or so later, XM added some channels. Up until then, I listened to "Top Tracks" more than most other channels. One of the added channels was "Big Tracks," which I also like.

Now, if I shut it down with it on Big Tracks, when I get in the car next time, it's on the demo channel...but after a few seconds, I can press one of the other presets and it works fine. If I leave it tuned to any other channel, it's fine.

It's almost like the thing just needs to be re-flashed to know that channel 48 is supposed to be there, but it's not a big enough annoyance for me to bother calling them.

 

I had a similar situation when I bought my 2005 RL. It was a certified pre-owned car with 12,000 miles and still had 6 months left on the 1 year of free XM. However, I was able to call and get the account switched to my name. I had the name of the previous owner from the dealership (and actually all of the documentation from when he bought the car originally, financing paperwork and all) - XM switched the name and address on the account to my information, and when the 1 year was up I renewed with my credit card for the $77 rate + Nav Traffic. Try calling back and getting a different customer service rep and explain the change of ownership of the car. If you get resistance ask to speak to a manager. They can take care of this.

 

Here is a tip from another thread. Try an "Activation Refresh". Go to the xm website at www.refresh.xmradio.com. You will need your radio ID for this, which you can get from Channel 0.