funseeker57

We've had our new TL for almost 3 months now and decided we enjoyed XM radio. My wife called them today because they sent us a renewal notice. At the bottom of the notice was a price of 199.00 for two years. When XM was called they said the price recently went up, even though our flier said to respond by July 26. The salesman didn't want to accept the price on the flier. After hearing this my wife told them that if this is how XM deals with customers we will forget the renewal and let it expire. The rep decided to talk to his manager. Bottom line is we got the two years for 199.00 , but be warned. You will have to find out on your own if this is how things are going to be.

rets

This sucks. The enjoyment of having XM should not be like that...

haighworld

Today, I got an automated call from XM, but their system was screwy:

<inhumanly perky voice>
"Hi, this is Janet from XM Radio, just calling to remind you that your trial XM...Hi, this is...Hi, this is...Hi, this is...Hi, this is...Hi, this is..." (and on it went)

Very amusing, with just a dash of creepy thrown in.

leeherman

I just got a letter from XM telling me to enjoy my trial. The letter included a price list that showed the same $199 for two years. The XM web site shows $215.

I'm enjoying XM enough that I'll probably subscribe when my trial lapses. I'm especially enjoying the '50s through '80s channels.

Regards,

GunnmeTaLCURA04

i dont know about you guys.. But if you have the money do it. But 199.00 for 2 years is really just $8.29 a monty.. You can just play $1.70 more, and you might save the hassle of just seen 200 at once.. its just my thinking... besides. i guess i could cancel if i wanted to or something...

JetJock

I dunno....I like XM..but I won't pay $199 up front....I'd rather pay every few months....that way if I decide their programming sucks...or the quality goes down like Direct TV did a few years ago....I won't be out 200$

Lore

My understanding is you get a prorated refund whenever you want.

anthracura

I'm not an attorney but I would argue that what you have in your hand is a firm offer that is open until July 26 at the price of $199. You have the option to accept anytime before then. Based on contract law, I believe they are REQUIRED to honor that price, unless they give you some type of notice that the offer has been rescinded prior to your acceptance. If they pull that cr*p when I plan to renew, that is the tact I will take. That is (now for the big disclaimer), unless there was something somewhere that the terms of the deal can be modified at any point prior to acceptance of the offer.

Are there any attorneys on the board that can give us a definitive answer?

A

żGotJazz?

My experience with XM was a bit different - They screwed up my billing a number of times already. I had to talk to a manager's manager until I finally found somebody who understood that I didn't care about hearing an "I'm sorry, we'll be sure to mark this in your account" (which means absolutely nothing - What does "marking this in your account" accomplish?). After explaining the situation a third time, he finally understood that I was concerned because they had a billing problem that needed to be solved if they want to be profitable.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that it's hard to become a profitable company if you don't charge your customers' credit card after they give it to you twice, then send them a nastygram or two, and then cancel their reception a few days later.

Seems to me that XM has to figure a few things out if they want to become profitable - like how to get their credit card charging system working properly.

I'm still trying to decide if I should cancel my account to make the point more visible to their management - though the final manager I was talking to today claimed that somebody from upper management at XM would be contacting me to get the details of what happened so that their problem could be fixed.

zalik22

Hi,

I recently signed up for their plan which is for 5 years, $450. You have to make the payment entirely and if you cancel, you get a prorated refund. This comes out to be $7.50 a month and the representative said if I cancel after say 10 months, I will get $450-$75 back. Also, if they lower their prices, I can just cancel and sign up for some new plan. Hope this helps somebody.

Tread

Yes, I did the cancel thing after 1 month, they prorated the service and charged me the discounted price for the 1 month, not the month to month fee, so you have no reason not to get the cheapest rate and cancel anytime and still get your money back.

Stewie

If the monthly fee also going up?

If 2 years is really going up to $215/mo, that only a buck less than paying 9.99 each month.
That's like getting a free can of Coke each month. BFD.

I'll keep my $215 and pay each month. Doesn't seem like a big enough discount to justify paying up front and dealing with the hassles of trying to get your money back later on if you want to cancel.
I guess it does protect you against price increases but I think I'll take my chances.

TXTL

If the 3 month trial expires, XM will try to charge you 14.99 to activate the service. I spoke to a manager and they waived the 14.99. Don't pay it!!! Signed up for 2 years for $199. Hope this helps...

leeherman

When did you get the $199 rate? I called this morning and told the representative about my very recently received letter with the $199 rate and they wouldn't honor it. I'll definitely subscribe, but I may not bother with the two year contract.

I like XM enough in the car that I just bought the Delphi SkyFi and home adapter. I'll have to activate it when I get home tonight. The rate for the additional receiver will be $6.99/month.

Grit

I don't get this... I got an XM radio system for my father recently. We used XMradio.com to sign him up for service, which is $9.99/month. They have an option (as mentioned in this thread) to pay in advance and get a discounted rate (eg, $199 for 2 years).

Where are the greater than $9.99 rates coming from?

Oh, just found out --> http://www.xmradio.com/activation/
---------------
Activating your new XM Radio is easy. You can activate on the XM web site for $9.99, or over the phone for $14.99.
---------------

Activate over the internet folks.

dseag2

I've had similar experience with XM billing, GotJazz. I have two Delphi Ski-Fi Radios, both with XM. When I purchased the first one I contacted XM, gave them my credit card info, and they started billing me on a monthly basis. When I purchased the second one I contacted them again for the special "family rate". They said they'd add the second one. All of a sudden, I was either being billed too much or wasn't being billed at all. I had to speak with Customer Service 3 times to get it straightened out. It was like they just couldn't get it together.

Now that I'm ready to add a THIRD XM subscription to my account, needless to say I'm pretty apprehensive. (I still have one Ski-Fi in my other car and the second hooked up at home.) You're right... they do have to get their act together if they're going to be successful.

TXTL

I signed up for a 2 year agreement on June 29th. $199 + tax and they waived the $14.99 activation fee. My 3 month trial ran out on Feb 1st.

bzss7x

I extended my XM the other day and was told it had recently gone up to $215. When I told them I had a letter that stated it was $199, he instantly said "no problem". Moral to the story, just tell them you have a letter.

rets

Right. In the end, they should honor the letter if you try to sign the extended deal with them prior to their deadline.

Mindcrime

Unless they are planning on raising the montly charge, which wouldn't be a good idea, then the mutli-year plans are a waist. Why sign up for 2 years when you only save $12 a year. I continued my service after the free trial with the 3 month payment option of $29.97, rather then give them all the cash up front. There is no discount in that but it's better then having to pay every month and I would only save a $1 a month if I did pay in advance, woooopi.

Maybe now that they are up to 2 million subscribers they are getting a bit money hungry to recoop their early year losses. I would think they would want to continue growing though and the best way to do that is to sign people up for multi year plans.

TL_CLT

Are you sure you're not an attorney? That's exactly right.

Of course, if they tell you to go f*ck off, you can't recover any damages. But it's being RIGHT that counts. Right?

Of course, I am not a licensed attorney (studying for the bar), and even if I were, no advice given is intended to create an attorney/client relationship...yadda yadda yadda.

TLud

Actually, "firm offer" is a term of art defined by your state commercial code (article 2 of the UCC), which requires a signed, written promise to keep an offer open. Unfortunately, it only applies to the sale of goods (not services). In this case, there's nothing preventing them from revoking their offer. Although in theory this offer does not seem to be revoked yet (revocation not effective until received), in practice, revocation would not have to be anything significant like calling up all Acura owners personally. But hey, you might be able to convince the XM people otherwise; legal jargon tends to scare corporate peons into submission.

Sherlock

It sounds like with all these calls in that they have english speaking reps now ?? It took me 3 calls in just to get my service activated when I bought my TL in October. Could not understand one freaking word from the (eastern indian) representatives. After getting the first one to repeat herself 35 times I finally made out that she was saying my serial # for my XM unit wasn't in the system. The second one babbled about that my service isn't activated, funny, I'm sitting here listening to it. Third lady was obviously a well seasoned employee (in the good sense) and american or just very well spoken. She understood right away, and got me hooked up in less than 4 minutes, found my account in the system from my last car and had me billed and running.

Lucky for her that she did cuz it was my last straw, the other reps were driving me clear up a wall.

TL_CLT

I suppose if they wanted to revoke, they would just mail another letter.

I think you should sue them anyway.

moeronn

I reinstated my service yesterday after a bit of frustration. I was not going to sign up for any plan, did not want them directly charging my credit card and wanted to go with quarterly billing - simple enough. Well, the first person I talked to said that I could sign up for a multi-year plan and still do quarterly billing. This made no sense to me and I asked him to confirm this several times, which he did. So after much hesitation, I agreed to go with a 5 year term with quarterly invoices sent to me. This still didn't make sense to me, so I called back. My instincts were right and the first guy I talked to was full of it. Anyway, I was talking to the second person and was going to go with month-to-month with quarterly billing. Then they spring the "it's an additional $2 per paper invoice if we don't directly bill your credit card". More crap! There was no way I was going to pay them more money just to pay them money :sqntfawk: , nor was I going to let them charge my CC directly, so I said screw it all - I was going to cancel. That's when they transfered me to the Retention Department. To keep a long story for getting longer, they credited me one months fees to balance out the extra $2/invoice fee. That takes care of the first year or so, but still a royal pain in the arse.

FYI - all of these people seemed like english was their native language, so the first guy was just an idiot and not just having language difficulties.

DeathtoToasters

Does XM have a channel like Sirius has called 'Hair Nation'? It is all the big hair bands from the 80's and 90's.

Thanks

TXTL

Yes. Channel 41. Stadium and Hair Bands

SpecialFX

Just called XM two inutes ago (after reading this thread). My trial expires on 7/24. When I said I wanted the two year sub she told it was $215. I told her I had the letter from them indicating it was $199. She said "No problem". No hassle whatsoever. Very easy. Just being nice to people goes a long way. Bottom line: they're still honoring their previous offer. And they speak English very well. :P

marquis

Ugh...just went and checked the XM multi year deals....they've really cut back on their discounts to the point of not making it very worthwhile to get one. I bought my 5 year plan earlier this year when my trial period was up and it worked out to $7.48/month or about a 25% discount. Now the discount for the same plan is only 16%....ouch.

FWIW, here's the updated multi year pricing from them:



The multi-year deals are still cancellable with a pro-rated refund, but the smaller discounts really cut back on the value they used to offer.

DeathtoToasters

Has anyone actualy used both sirius and xm and found any realy differeneces?

moeronn

A couple guys in my office have SIRIUS and one real cool thing about it is you can listen to it over the net using your account. You don't need to buy one of those Delphi units and all pay the extra $6.99/mo.

Greg G

After reading this thread I decided to call up XM and get the 2yr plan now even though I just started my trial. I told them I wanted the $199 for 2yr plan and they did it - no problem. The girl I spoke with was very nice and English was clearly her first language. She told me that they where honoring the old prices for people who ask for them.

żGotJazz?

Greg - Did you make sure that your 3 month trial was tacked on to your subscription? Your expiration date should be somewhere around October 2006, not July 2006. If not, you just raised your monthly price by about $1.25/month ...

Let us know!

Greg G

They told me that the new subscription would start after my trial ends and that I would not be charged until then. I'll have to double check to be sure.

-Greg