Tell me about Sirius XM after $5/month deal is over

[rgG]

I am coming to the end of another SXM free three month trial. I do like having the service and I am fine with $5 month for, but I don’t want to pay more than that. I can get the $5 month for a year, but do I have to do some sort of snake dance with threatening to drop the service to keep that price?
Please school me on the in’s and outs of this, if you can.

[ztirffritz]

I subscribed to XM last February so that I could listen to Penguins games on the way home. They cancelled the season on my way home from work...

[Sarcany]

rgG wrote: I can get the $5 month for a year, but do I have to do some sort of snake dance with threatening to drop the service to keep that price?

Yes. And good luck doing it with one phone call or chat and having them apply the deal you asked for instead of an altogether different short-term deal.

I gave up on it and just canceled.

I really enjoyed having a few cable-news stations and multiple NPR choices and the comedy channels, but it wasn't worth the aggravation.

[Zoidberg]

I was only subscribed to it via a work vehicle (i.e., the car had it and the company picked up the tab) but it was cancelled during cost-cutting a few years back. The Admin who handled it said they nearly had to get the company lawyer involved because they kept charging the card after the cancellation was confirmed.

I've also anecdotally read of people who wound up cancelling the credit card that was associated with SiriusXM in order to make the cancellation stick.

Even with all that, I actually considered it again a while back, but they also did not allow for multiple devices (at least not at the time); i.e., I had to sign up each individual vehicle (no family plan) and it also did not allow for online/web browser based streaming (that was a separate charge).

I'd get it and keep it if it was $5 for vehicle & home, and $10 for a family plan. As it stands, I don't think it's worth the cost, but that's just me.

That said, I would say you'd do better with any number of streaming services online or that have apps; there are commercials but you can eschew them with a small fee and they do not have the predatory practices re/billing that Sirius does.

Some also have a multitude of types that are included under a single subscription. This group, for instance, streams with a multitude of channels under each banner with limited commercials for $7/mo, $60/yr, or $96/2 yr (that's for each of the below, and each includes (more or less) dozens of channels)

https://www.radiotunes.com/#popular
https://www.jazzradio.com/#popular
https://www.classicalradio.com/#popular
https://www.rockradio.com/#popular
https://www.zenradio.com/#popular
https://www.di.fm

[Zoidberg]

Sarcany wrote:
I really enjoyed having a few cable-news stations and multiple NPR choices and the comedy channels, but it wasn't worth the aggravation.

The thing I think we missed the most when we lost it was the comedy channels. I recall they had at least one family-friendly channel which was a go-to on many road trips back when. I nearly crashed the car the first time I heard John Mulaney's bit about the Salt & Pepper diner.

[rgG]

Yeah, I am not sure it will be worth the uptick in my BP to have to deal with their cancellation craziness.
I only want it for the car, and I don’t drive that much anymore, but for the occasional long trip, which hopefully might happen again after we get our second shots, it is nice.
I might need to figure out a prepaid card of some sort to tie it to, if I decide to try it.
I was hoping not to have to stream from my phone to get it into the car.

[cbelt3]

Never again. My music lives in my iPhone, and my iPhone lives in the wireless charger dock on the upper dash when I'm driving. I also can't drive with talk on the radio. It's too distracting because I spend too much mental energy to understand it.

[C(-)ris]

I got in on the Amazon deal, prepaid vehicle and streaming. Traded in my car and the dealership claimed the radio. XM had the balls to disconnect my service and charge my credit card for an early termination fee that exceeded the original price AND kept the prepayment even though I was still using the streaming. They said I broke the terms because I didn't have an active vehicle at that second and that I should have called them to switch radios before the dealer claimed it. WTF, that was a fun phone call.

[andypie48]

Call them just before your subscription expires and you can negotiate them down. Give them some excuse, such as fixed income or something, complain about the commercials. They will offer you a lower price. Tell them you still can't pay that, and complain about the commercials again. They can then offer you an even lower price. (2 steps down). I don't remember the exact price, but I think I pay about $71 a year.

[Will Collier]

It's not difficult at all. Just tell them the renewal is too expensive and keep saying no until they offer the $5/month deal. Set a calendar reminder for the day before it expires and repeat then. They will offer six months, but if you ask they'll extend the price to a full year.