Thats awesome. I got 6 months free when I tried to cancel mine. I started my 12 months free or 24 months? when I got a new car and it was included.

If they go under, my husband will cry rivers of tears. He loves his satellite radio in his car. Like a child he loves it. :)

I'm psyched for the OP - I'd like Sirius radio too... I'm being tortured in my car by the old fashioned free radio (not enough Lady Gaga!).

I'm frustrated because even though Sirius & XM merged to make "SiriusXM" their accounts are not merged yet - what that means is that my husband and I don't get a discount for having 2 cars on 1 plan (1 Sirius & 1 XM), like we did when we both had XM in our cars. My new car has Sirius built in, but if I want it, I have to pay more, because no more discount. That's not cool! SiriusXM, get it together (literally!).

Can I threaten to quit and get Madison on Alt Nation fired?

She really is the reason I stop listening to the channel certain times of the day.

If they "care about their customers", why did they recently increase their rates by $1.98? The FCC mandate related to the merger specified that they had to freeze prices for three years, but were allowed to pass on any *increase* in royalty fees. Recently the RIAA increased the royalty fee from 6% to 6.5%, which works out to an increase of about 6 cents per month for the typical customer. Somehow Sirius/XM took the 6 cents that they were allowed to charge and turned it into a $1.98 "royalty fee".

I guess that's where the payment for your new radio came from.

I just wanted to say:

Best tag ever

and we're all counting on you

Congrats to the OP for getting some good customer service out of Sirius. That seems to be an impossible feat nowadays.

How much is a new Sirius radio, anyway?

They offered me some two-year deal when I canceled a few months ago. I was tempted to tell the guy that I didn't think they'd be around in two years.

Same thing happenned to me recently. The suction cup on my windshield mount broke, and they no longer make the part to replace it.

When they told me that I needed to pay $40 for an entirely new auto kit, I told them to cancel my account because I could buy a whole new radio for that price. I ended up on the phone with a CS Manager who actually gave me a new radio to not cancel.

On another note, When I called back to activate the subscription, I found out that starting Jan 1, they will be raising their rates by $2/month to offset some fees that they will be required to pay. So, in order to avoid the predicted cancellations, they are offering an annual subscription for aboout $80 if you renew before the end of the year, which is almost half price...

"The whole satellite radio thing seems not to be working out so well, what with the merger of the two former competitors and Sirius's heavy flirtation with bankruptcy."

Don't forget that the NASDAQ has decided to start enforcing the 1.00 rule again and Sirius will be delisted soon! I'm expecting a reverse split any day now.

I hope they succeed too. First off because I own stock and would love to eventually get my money back (HA!), but also because I'm a subscriber and like the service.

I'm thinking of quitting Sirius. Maybe they'll try to retain me by offering me my old XM service back.

Mine came in my car and had like a year free. I called to cancel and they gave me six months free. Called to cancel at the end of that and they gave 3 months. I'm in month 2 of that currently. Reminds me of AOL but doesn't suck as much.

I used XM Radio for a while, in the home, online and in two cars.

Cancelled the home account because it just wasn't worth it. Never paid them for online access when it magically became chargable and recently cancelled both cars when we realized the one station we all listened too played U2 and Red Hot Chilli Peppers all day, every day.

They tried to give me free months - increase my package (and cost) and took me through the ringer before I finally got it cancelled.

@VA_White: I'll be right there with him!

I canceled because while they have hundreds of channels, each channel plays the same five songs over and over and over again - kinda like FM but not free. Satellite radio was a good idea, poorly executed.

This is a good example, but their customer service in general is still some of the worst I've ever experienced.

Interminable hold times to be told incorrect information and have to call back several times when I'm trying to UPGRADE and pay them MORE money. I finally gave up and decided that it just wasn't worth the trouble to upgrade, by the way.

@rpm773: That's why I quit. No Fred, no peace.

Apparently even Howard Stern can't keep Sirius afloat. I don't have the service and couldn't care less if it goes down the tubes.

@PunditGuy: RIP Fred, Lucy, and Ethel.

What part of "You cant cancel online they make you call" is considered "good customer service"? Disc: I'm actually an XM/Sirius customer and love it.

@VA_White: i highly doubt that satellite radio will completely go away after SiriusXM fails - there's too large a market for it, and they already have several satellites (not a cheap investment) orbiting the earth - the company might declare bankruptcy and either successfully restructure, or sell out to some firm who will rebuild the corporate image

This isn't new. My dad bought a new car with an XM radio built in, so he called to cancel on the car he traded in, and they gave him a free radio for his other pleasure car.

That's not news. Their radios are pieces of crap that break easily and are CHEAP to replace. They offered you a free one because what they really need is the revenue from your subscription. They offered it to me as well - it's their standard offer.

@Underscore_Lysdexia: I was just about to post that. :)

After being a subscriber for nearly 5 years, I quit Sirius at the beginning of 2009. The playlists had gotten awful and most of my favorite stations had disappeared.

A year of Sirius at $13 a month was $156 so I took that budget and bought an iPod. I thoroughly enjoy the iPod but I miss hearing new music as it comes along.

I plan on signing back up the first of the year to give them another try.

when I threatened to cancel last year they gave me another year at half price - and from what I have read they are still giving that offer out so unless I get the same deal again, I may be done. I loved it when it was just XM but since Sirius took over I tend to hear a lot more commercial radio tracks and a LOT of them being repeated...why pay when I can hear it for free or turn on my media player which now connects to my car as well.

I also don't see the company doing very well financially in the days ahead and with the economy being what it is, one less expense is always a good thing - depending on the level of satisfaction it provides, at least.

you know your company is in a sad state when actually collecting money for your service is secondary to boosting your subscriber numbers.

i just hope you realize the only reason they offer you free service and new radios is to falsely boost their subscriber count. it is not good customer service...they'll give you the world to keep you as a customer, but see how many times you actually have to say no to actually cancel. i've been through it countless times now. I've been with XM, and now SiriusXM, for over 5 years now, and I've had to cancel countless radios (to replace them with other radios, not even because I was unhappy with the service). At first it was just mildly annoying, but now they pretty much don't take no for an answer.

although i am overall happy with the service, i called in earlier this week to cancel a radio, since I pretty much always have my iphone on me anyway, why not just use it instead? at first they wanted to offer me reduced price service to keep it active. i said no. then they offered me reduced price and a free radio. i said no again, and explained that i don't need that radio, but it's also not like i'm leaving the service either. Finally, they offered me 4 months of free service on that radio. they didn't care at all that i'm actually still using the service, and still have their online service and 2 other radios active in my wife's car and in my brother's car.

the down side is that i need to go through the same call again in about 4 months though to actually cancel. if they extend it again for free, so be it.

This is nothing new, folks. Last year I installed a Sirius radio that was broken on install. I was ticked because running the wires took time and I had to undo all of it just so I could return it. So I called Sirius to cancel my subscription and to my surprise they had me take back my radio to the store and just sent me a free one in the mail. I've been a loyal customer ever since.

@Falcon5768:

For the love of everything, YES.

@dragonfire81: Same here-made me laugh.

@Falcon5768:
Or Zeena at the Liquid Metal.
No One should be allowed to be that happy at 7 am.
ESPECIALLY on a Metal Station.

@rpm773:
And Fungus.
*goes in the corner and cries*

I got an e-mail from them today offering me a free radio and care kit. I would take it if they wouldn't charge me more to listen at home instead of my car.

@Doug81: Car kit!!

@Underscore_Lysdexia: It's not bad, but I'd have been more impressed with a tag of Why So Sirius?

This is standard operating procedure at Sirius/XM. Everyone gets this offer if the agent isn't in a bad mood or the caller isn't a jerk.

When I cancelled last week, they offered me five months for $20. If they had any stations worth listening to, I would have taken the offer, but after killing off my favorite station, Disorder, I haven't been listening much.

@TerpBE: Exactly. They care about profit. They "care" about you to the extent you pay them money. The $1.98 is a fee, which is another $1.98 of profit for them... err perhaps less money lost. Either way, it make Sirius more expensive. All businesses lie to justify rate increases. Look @ utilities that whine about consumers using too much gas, power, whatever, then after consumption goes down along with their cash flow, they raise your rates. It never ends.

I got some pretty bad customer service about 3 months ago. I had a radio stolen, and needed it deactivated, and to buy a new radio. Since my pre-paid plan was up in a month, I wanted to extend it another year.

The rep lied to me about the features on the new radio, and signed me up for the wrong plan. (I wanted 1 year without Internet radio, he gave me 3 months with Internet radio) Every time I called (after 20-30 minutes on hold), the FIRST solution every rep would jump to, was that I needed to buy a lifetime plan. The lifetime plan will fix all!

It took 3 escalations until somebody actually agreed to replace the radio, and give me the correct plan.

I've subscribed for over 6 years, and love the actual radio, but I dread the few times I have to call.

@VA_White: I would cry too, I cant stand normal radio now that I've had Sirius for a few years. Normal radio is nothing short of terrible.

Sirius wont go under, they make too much money. The problem is they have so much debt because it costs alot of money to send objects into space. Its going to take a while for them to turn it all around and make some profit but it will happen.

@hillsrovey: They cant until they phase out all the older XM radios. The systems they run on are different. Sirius's is better and they are slowly doing away with XM equipment but they have to keep supporting it until almost every old style XM radio is no longer in service...so if you want it to happen get rid of your XM radio.

@parad0x360: Oh and you can get the brains of an XM radio swapped to Sirius. Your car dealer can do it for you.

@winstonthorne: I never ran into that problem...

@AllanG54: He did his part. Before he started they had about 600k subscribers and before the buyout of XM they had around 11 million...so I'd call that a win on his part

@Underscore_Lysdexia:

The meme gods are forcing my fingers to type this... cannot.. resist.. must.. not..

I just wanted to say, good going on that free radio and 2 months of free service..

And we're all counting on you.

If my wife didn't love Howard Stern, I think we'd have cancelled it. I spent 20 minutes on hold for the honor of speaking from a guy from Bangalore who obviously had English as an 8th language. He still knew enough that after I paid my bill he could ask me if I wanted to buy another radio or pay for lifetime access. Yes, please give me lifetime access to a company that almost went bankrupt.

@rpm773: They tried to offer this and that to me too, but without the Lucy Show stations it just wasn't worth it for me. Plus those clueless Sirius DJ's they brought over just kept on talking! Now I just play MP3s. I liked satellite because there was less talk and commercials. I still miss the comedy station though :(

Satellite radio is very good for truckers and people working out in the oilfields like I was where there are no radio stations (in Alberta and Saskatchewan), but of course thats a small audience.

@gStein: While I suspect a successful restructure (and shedding old debts) would be enough to make SiriusXM profitable now, I also suspect that terrestrial competition is getting tougher. Which is to say, Internet Radio through phones have finally reached a level of stability and penetration that it is showing every sign of becoming "the next standard." Even Sirius offers an online version, which is vaguely reminiscent of AOL's bring-your-own-access plan.

I'm sure Sirius will continue to be competitive in markets without strong network penetration. But it seems to be using a vaguely outdated model at this point. Why broadcast a fixed number of channels over satellite, once you have a viable ground-based ip network which can support per-user tailored content?