Right. I asked about it a few years ago and they had discontinued it a few months (maybe a year) before we got our first car with a satellite radio in it. Then I did some reading and realized that it's not really a "lifetime" subscription...it's for the lifetime of a plug-n-play radio. You could then pay $75-80 to transfer it to a new radio 3 more times. There were other restrictions as well (certain channels weren't included, etc.) So...while it was a decent price and if you optimized all things, you could potentially get through about 15-18 years with the "lifetime" deal, after reading all of the fine print and the issues people had with that subscription, I wasn't so upset that we missed out on it. I'm ok calling them every 5 or 6 months and renegotiating (AKA: threatening to cancel my subscription) to get the service for $5-6/month. Takes about 5 minutes -- well worth the time investment.
Two weeks ago I "played the game" and got my same 5 months for $25. Started out saying no promos available. OK, cancel. Call transferred. Then came up with a year for over $100, nope. Then 6 months for $49, nope. No more than $5 a month. Put on hold, ok we can keep your same deal. Funny thing was I was at the Polynesian during an afternoon break, my friend laughed listening to my side of the conversation.
I'm cheap and I will definitely not pay for radio. There are just too many other options on how to listen to music in the car: regular radio, CDs, Pandora, iPhone. I am in general against subscriptions though, I also have not had cable in 7 years and have never missed it.
My contract was up last week. The credit card on file was no longer valid so my service was canceled. I realized how much I missed the talk radio stations so I called and they offered a ridiculous amount so I said no thanks, I want the 5 months for $25 which I had before. I was out on hold for about 2 minutes and was then told no problem. I was surprised how easy it was.
I've been paying $25 for 6 months on each of my 3 radios. It's a hassle to call every 6 months but I do. I just call and tell I'll renew at my current rate or they can cancel. Haven't had an issue yet. Do not put a CC on file.
We had an interesting experience with Sirius XM. My bf was lucky enough to win a car and a trip from them! We got to meet a lot of their executive and they were very interested in our experience with Sirius. We are not the subscribers they want! I don't subscribe, I only drive about 2,500 miles/year. The bf has a lifetime subscription which he uses exclusively for the internet access. I could tell they were kinda disappointed that we weren't big listeners, but on the other side of the coin, I felt they were very enthusiastic about bringing programming that was of value to the customer. The event we went to was so much fun, we got to meet a lot of the Sirius hosts and they were very nice and even chatted with us. Make sure you are signing up for their contests to add value to your subscription.
I renewed my just this past week. I took the $99 for a year deal. I had already decided when I called that was deal I would take. They had offered it last year but I held out for the 5 for $25. I figured for a few extra bucks, I wouldn't have to call them for a year.
I renewed my just this past week. I took the $99 for a year deal. I had already decided when I called that was deal I would take. They had offered it last year but I held out for the 5 for $25. I figured for a few extra bucks, I wouldn't have to call them for a year.
I did the same thing. Got tired of having to jot what day I needed to call them, then get hassled, like I did this last month. They were prepared to not give me the 6mth/$25 deal, and I was on the fencee about letting the service lapse. But we have 2 long distance vacations coming up, and I do enjoy not having to search for stations as I'm driving up and down 95.