Satellite Radio deals (subscription)

[DawnM]

We got a 90 day free trial with our new car purchase.

Where can I get a deal on a subscription?

 

[sherlock14]

First off, do you or a family member have XM in another vehicle?

XM does NOT clearly volunteer/promote info about combining accounts and that is why I am making this post. Read on..

An XM subscription, any of the ones offered can be pricey. A one year subscription for your XM for example can run you $100+.

Do know that if you have an existing XM radio subscription on another XM radio that you can contact XM and have them "combine" your subscriptions and you will SAVE lots and lots of $ on your subscription. As mentioned earlier, XM does NOT clearly volunteer this info about combining accounts and that is why I am making this post.

ALSO, for those guys/gals that have parents, spouse with an XM subscription for say a car or office XM system you can have your XM combined with theirs (under there account) and then you again will pay say $100 for a year of XM versus $140.00 per year. Since it is a subscription that you pay upfront, hand your Dad / Mom / spouse the $100 cash and have them "combine" your vehicles's XM radio to their account and presto you save over $40+. Of course you can also get a better monthly if you "combine" and then go with a multiple year subscriptions versus a year subscription. Your choice on how to handle a subscription. SO, in closing save lots of $ by "combining" your vehicle's XM radio account with an existing XM radio account and you will save big time!

Note: to do the combine of account call XM customer service at (800) 967-2346. You will need the XM radio's ID that you want to combine with and the XM radio's ID that you are combining to it. Also knowing their XM account number can speed things up but they can can to an XM account just by telling them an XM radio ID#.------------


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For those with a current regular, XM trial subscription.. About 1 month before your your XM subscription ends, call XM at (866) 635-2349 and when their computerized system asks you the reason for your call say CANCEL. If the system asks again, say CANCEL. Doing this will get you to XM's retention department. Tell them you wish to cancel as XM is too expensive and you are using Pandora now. They will offer you a better deal price wise at this point. IF they don't offer the $89 a year plus taxes or a better offer, tell them you might consider staying with XM if you got the $89 per year offer your friend recently got. With this the XM rep will offer you the $89 per year (actually ends up a bit more because of taxes, etc.) Also, refuse to give XM a charge card number. Tell them to bill you/send you a bill even though this will cost you an additional $2.00 which depends what state you live in. Some states do not allow XM to charge the $2.00 fee. Letting XM have your charge card number can really cause you major headaches over the long run.

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For those with a 3 month free XM subscription......

3 months from the day the dealership tech activated it. You can call XM anytime, give them your XM radio ID# and XM will talk renewal with you.

Until your 3 months actually expires you really don't want to have any XM reps fool with your account. Wait til say the day after your 3 months is up and then call XM and tell them you want to CANCEL. Don't let on that your subscription is already over. Again, repeat as often as necessary that you want to CANCEL. You will then be sent to someone at XM retention. Tell them it's to expensive for you. Tell them you will just use Pandora or regular FM. Just repeat you can not pay that much.. to expensive. Using the info I mentioned above they will offer you $89 or $99 for a year or 5 months for $25.00. REMEMBER, refuse to give XM a charge card number. Tell them to bill you/send you a bill even though this will cost you an additional $2.00 which depends what state you live in. Some states do not allow XM to charge the $2.00 fee. Letting XM have your charge card number can really cause you major headaches over the long run.

About the 3 or 5 month offers... or whatever. Problem with these offers is you have to call every few months and they push for your charge card info. They will not let you do the 3 month deals consecutively usually. If you go for the $89-99 deal it is good for a year and you don't have to keep calling them, etc. Can tell you that you will not be able to do much better or better then the $89-99 deal even if you play the hold off game. Hold off for what, you will still pay around $89-99 even with the best offer(s). Even if you went with $5.00 a month plus the fees/taxes and they let you do them consecutively this still figures out to be right up there around the $89-99 per year deal.

 

[tajz90]

We go through this every year. It's so frustrating. I have to call and threaten to cancel before they start offering deals. This last time, I was offered $50 with taxes and fees for 6 months. I did NOT want to call back in six months and have to go thru the entire process again, so I asked for a year at $100. No go! I ended up canceling. 2 weeks later, I received a deal for $25 for 6 months. I took it, but realize I may be canceling AGAIN in 6 months. It's ridiculous.

 

[mousey]

Thank you for this information. I am going to call as soon as I get home from work and combine accounts.

 

[undertheradar]

First off, do you or a family member have XM in another vehicle?

XM does NOT clearly volunteer/promote info about combining accounts and that is why I am making this post. Read on..

An XM subscription, any of the ones offered can be pricey. A one year subscription for your XM for example can run you $100+.

Do know that if you have an existing XM radio subscription on another XM radio that you can contact XM and have them "combine" your subscriptions and you will SAVE lots and lots of $ on your subscription. As mentioned earlier, XM does NOT clearly volunteer this info about combining accounts and that is why I am making this post.

ALSO, for those guys/gals that have parents, spouse with an XM subscription for say a car or office XM system you can have your XM combined with theirs (under there account) and then you again will pay say $100 for a year of XM versus $140.00 per year. Since it is a subscription that you pay upfront, hand your Dad / Mom / spouse the $100 cash and have them "combine" your vehicles's XM radio to their account and presto you save over $40+. Of course you can also get a better monthly if you "combine" and then go with a multiple year subscriptions versus a year subscription. Your choice on how to handle a subscription. SO, in closing save lots of $ by "combining" your vehicle's XM radio account with an existing XM radio account and you will save big time!

Note: to do the combine of account call XM customer service at (800) 967-2346. You will need the XM radio's ID that you want to combine with and the XM radio's ID that you are combining to it. Also knowing their XM account number can speed things up but they can can to an XM account just by telling them an XM radio ID#.------------


------------------------------
For those with a current regular, XM trial subscription.. About 1 month before your your XM subscription ends, call XM at (866) 635-2349 and when their computerized system asks you the reason for your call say CANCEL. If the system asks again, say CANCEL. Doing this will get you to XM's retention department. Tell them you wish to cancel as XM is too expensive and you are using Pandora now. They will offer you a better deal price wise at this point. IF they don't offer the $89 a year plus taxes or a better offer, tell them you might consider staying with XM if you got the $89 per year offer your friend recently got. With this the XM rep will offer you the $89 per year (actually ends up a bit more because of taxes, etc.) Also, refuse to give XM a charge card number. Tell them to bill you/send you a bill even though this will cost you an additional $2.00 which depends what state you live in. Some states do not allow XM to charge the $2.00 fee. Letting XM have your charge card number can really cause you major headaches over the long run.

------------------

For those with a 3 month free XM subscription......

3 months from the day the dealership tech activated it. You can call XM anytime, give them your XM radio ID# and XM will talk renewal with you.

Until your 3 months actually expires you really don't want to have any XM reps fool with your account. Wait til say the day after your 3 months is up and then call XM and tell them you want to CANCEL. Don't let on that your subscription is already over. Again, repeat as often as necessary that you want to CANCEL. You will then be sent to someone at XM retention. Tell them it's to expensive for you. Tell them you will just use Pandora or regular FM. Just repeat you can not pay that much.. to expensive. Using the info I mentioned above they will offer you $89 or $99 for a year or 5 months for $25.00. REMEMBER, refuse to give XM a charge card number. Tell them to bill you/send you a bill even though this will cost you an additional $2.00 which depends what state you live in. Some states do not allow XM to charge the $2.00 fee. Letting XM have your charge card number can really cause you major headaches over the long run.

About the 3 or 5 month offers... or whatever. Problem with these offers is you have to call every few months and they push for your charge card info. They will not let you do the 3 month deals consecutively usually. If you go for the $89-99 deal it is good for a year and you don't have to keep calling them, etc. Can tell you that you will not be able to do much better or better then the $89-99 deal even if you play the hold off game. Hold off for what, you will still pay around $89-99 even with the best offer(s). Even if you went with $5.00 a month plus the fees/taxes and they let you do them consecutively this still figures out to be right up there around the $89-99 per year deal.

We were only able to get our other cars discounted AFTER paying full price the first car. There was zero negotiation room on that point.

 

[Muushka]

Oh Sherlock, I wish I had this info before last month. My husband received Sirus (same as XM, right?) on his car and we were able to get the subscription for 6 months for $30. BUT I gave them my CC number. Ugh. Fingers crossed that when I go to cancel in July they will cancel.

Thank you for all of this info!

 

[nluvwithdisney]

What if I have XM radio already through satellite tv? Will they still offer some sort of discount if I decide to cancel?

 

[DawnM]

Thank you.

What subscription is the $89 one? Is it full access, music only, or the middle tier?

This is our first XM radio so nothing else to combine.

Dawn

 

[Jules123]

I have had it for for a couple of years now. I got the 5 months for $25 deal last time I called. I just call right before my subscription is up and tell them I want to cancel. I have gotten 6 months for $25 a couple times, but normally it us 5/$25. I pre-purchase a Sirius gift card and use it for payment. I've never given them my credit card info.

 

[Jimsig]

I will have to go through this again soon. Last time they gave me a rate think it was the $89 a year rate and I asked them about the 6 months for $25I had heard of. They said as I had heard of it they could honor it. if I ahd not said anything not sure they would have offered it.

 

[Jimsig]

I pre-purchase a Sirius gift card and use it for payment. I've never given them my credit card info.

Hmmm I wonder if Target or BJ's, has those save even more if I get a lower rate. I'll have to check

 

[sherlock14]

Thank you.

What subscription is the $89 one? Is it full access, music only, or the middle tier?

This is our first XM radio so nothing else to combine.

Dawn

Dawn, I believe the plan is their "Select Package". Do a Google search using the words Sirius Select and you will see links that you can click on to see what the offering is. I cannot post links as I am new to this forum.

 

[sherlock14]

We were only able to get our other cars discounted AFTER paying full price the first car. There was zero negotiation room on that point.

Much depends on your bargaining skills...

 

[undertheradar]

Much depends on your bargaining skills...

Seriously? 3 calls and the same corporate line every time. Not buying it!

 

[xlsm]

We got a new car in January with the free 3 months of xm...they called US about two weeks later and offered us the full year for $3/month. We took it.

I never thought I would want to pay for radio, but I love it.

 

[tinkerbell615]

I love reading how you all bargain to get better deals. We received a free year when we purchased our new minivan. The subscription is not up until August, but I am already figuring out how to get great rates. I am going to have to share this with my DS and DDIL. I think they just paid quite a bit for theirs. I am sure they gave them their credit card number. Can you tell them not to automatically use that for renewal?

 

[JanaDee]

I love reading how you all bargain to get better deals. We received a free year when we purchased our new minivan. The subscription is not up until August, but I am already figuring out how to get great rates. I am going to have to share this with my DS and DDIL. I think they just paid quite a bit for theirs. I am sure they gave them their credit card number. Can you tell them not to automatically use that for renewal?

No, by giving them your credit card info, you are agreeing for them to use the card for auto-renewal.

I have to call today for renewal/cancellation and I am dreading it.

 

[DawnM]

Good to know. Hopefully I will be offered the same.

We got a new car in January with the free 3 months of xm...they called US about two weeks later and offered us the full year for $3/month. We took it.

I never thought I would want to pay for radio, but I love it.

 

[tinkerbell615]

No, by giving them your credit card info, you are agreeing for them to use the card for auto-renewal.

I have to call today for renewal/cancellation and I am dreading it.

Thanks! I am going to make sure to tell them this tonight.

 

[Chelley00]

I let mine expire and didn't renew, and 2 weeks later we got a letter with a 6 months for $25 offer.