Wow! Every year including last it has been a fight despite being a customer since 2005 to get any kind of a deal. Usually have to start online then phone in and plan on an hour to be shuffled off finally to the “ customer retention specialist” after I threaten to cancel my subscriptions. And then and only then do I get a deal.

Today was different. Hours on the website said phone support was available but upon calling found out they were closed so I went online for a online chat. Miracle of all miracles, after only one time I said no to the first offer the rep gave me the same deal I had last year, $4.99 per car per month together with Internet streaming. No argument, no transfers, last year it took well over an hour, today start to finish less than twenty minutes, all online.

Twelve bucks a month for two cars I can live with.

I used to go through the same with them every year, until about 2 years ago. Too much talking and celebrity “DJ’s” now, at least for my liking.

Basically just been using Apple Music and Radio for a while now. I can stream an album I want to listen to and when it finishes, it just streams music from bands of a similar genre so it’s basically like a radio station of music I want to hear without having people talking every few songs.

Can still skip songs if something unappealing plays too.

The last time I renewed I was able to do everything online...no phone call and no threatening to cancel unless they offered to continue with the "promo" rate. All in $6.48 a month for basic.

I've been using Audacy on my phone to stream music for free over the bluetooth on my car stereo.

When I bought my car three years ago it came with a 12 month free subscription to SiriusXM. I found that, at least on the music channels I was interested in, they had a somewhat limited play list. So after not a lot of time, content started repeating. After reading some of the stories here on SF about Sirius, I decided it wasn't worth subjecting myself to that level of hassle, so I never converted it to a paid subscription. I still occasionally get crap in the mail about how I really need to re-subscribe to get all their great content. Don't think so.

quote:

Originally posted by Twist:
I used to go through the same with them every year, until about 2 years ago. Too much talking and celebrity “DJ’s” now, at least for my liking.

Basically just been using Apple Music and Radio for a while now. I can stream an album I want to listen to and when it finishes, it just streams music from bands of a similar genre so it’sive basically like a radio station of music I want to hear without having people talking every few songs.

Can still skip songs if something unappealing plays too.

Too many dead zones around here for streaming despite being about in the middle and about thirty miles from Detroit, Lansing, Flint and Ann Arbor. I can go about five or six miles from here and my cell drops out, Sprint/T-Mobile service so I’m kind of stuck. ATT, Verizon was no better, they all suck.

Terrestrial radio, one FM station local, they are like the major market stations in this area, if you like that song stay tuned, it’ll probably be back on in two hours. AM, well if I can catch a friend’s R&B show Monday afternoons, another one on Friday evening on a Ypsilanti station, that would be about three hours of listening only. 740 out of Canada plays a variety of music but reception is spotty here. Big thing here is now 80’s and 90’s music, I understand that this is what is now considered “oldies” but I ignored it then and still do today. My big four on Sirius is 40’s, 50’s,60’s and Underground Garage.

I did the annual dance using live chat last time and it was the easiest yet.

I never found anything I liked when I had a free trial.

I listen to nothing but my Audible books while I am in my truck.

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
When I bought my car three years ago it came with a 12 month free subscription to SiriusXM. ... After reading some of the stories here on SF about Sirius, I decided it wasn't worth subjecting myself to that level of hassle, ...

This ^^^^^ is why I never even activated my free sub. Didn't want to get hooked into that stupidity. Every time I start rethinking it, another thread comes along to remind me. It just happened again

quote:

Originally posted by Kilroy2721:
I never found anything I liked when I had a free trial.

I listen to nothing but my Audible books while I am in my truck.

Same, and I keep getting emails about how they've "turned on my XM radio!" with a whole bunch of shit I don't care about. Let's see what I have in my emails...

Disney PRIDE channel
The Prince channel
The 2pac channel
Carribbean-American heritage month channel
Andy Cohen's PRIDE channel

About a month ago, it was all "We're celebrating black people" channels.

Podcasts streamed from my phone, or Youtube music via the Musi app. That's all I bother with anymore, all forms of radio suck once you get used to being able to listen to exactly what you want to on demand.

Yes, their “special channels” suck especially when they would pre-empt programming on a regular channel that had nothing to do with that featured artist’s genre, like the time they hijacked the 40’s Channel for 30 days and made it twenty four hours of Billy Joel. Apparently enough of us regular listeners ripped into their programming director’s a** enough to make an impression. Now they only change that channel to holiday music,that I can tolerate.

When you contact them, say these magic words:
Apple Car Play.
You will soon have your deal.

I should've cancelled my subscription last year, I barely did any distance driving, which is when I run out of podcasts to listen to, I'll switch to satellite radio....smh.

I just have the streaming app on my phone and run it to the radio in my cars through Bluetooth.

After my trial subscription, I did the cancel/retention dance a few times. But, they would only extend for 5 months. I don't know why, but they were stuck on 5 months.

The dance got old pretty quick. So, the last time, I told the rep that I would only extend if they agreed to a one year term. Nope. "5 months is all we can do."

I said, I'm not having this same exact conversation every 5 months. They would not budge, so I cancelled.

I have the Signal sent to the wife’s Suburban than I stream to my truck and my company truck.

I mainly listen to Gus Lloyd on the Catholic channel in the morning. Then switch to Lithium or to the Grateful Dead Channel which I wish they would play more studio stuff.
I am currently at the $4.99 a month thing. Hopefully it will not be a pain to renew.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I've been using Audacy on my phone to stream music for free over the bluetooth on my car stereo.

Thanks great app!! Sirius can kiss my grits. What a pain they were to get away from.

I played the game with them back in April and told them I was done renewing every year and to cancel my subscription. Got a lifetime deal at $5.99 a month.

I may end up cancelling even that down the road because we also have Spotify and I like it far better than Sirius.

Shoot, I'm probably the only guy here that likes Sirius. I like the oldies stations, some country and listen to Fox occasionally. Funny reading about the dead zones. I've never had one no matter where I am. What's up with that?

When my subscription is up I call them to cancel and after a bit I end up paying $65 a year for my truck. Looks like I could be doing better though.

quote:

Originally posted by Bassamatic:
Shoot, I'm probably the only guy here that likes Sirius. I like the oldies stations, some country and listen to Fox occasionally.

I don't think it's don't like Sirius so much as don't care to play the renewal game with them every year. I know that's the show-stopper for me. I'm just not going there with them.

You want to charge me $X/month or year? Fine. I expect that to be the price untill the service is terminated or you announce a fee increase.

None of the services to which we subscribe play the games Sirius does.