XM subscription pricing

Ok let's be music snobs now I'm sure you have impeccable taste and what everyone else likes (Stern, etc) is all garbage. lol

 

I am nearing the end of my free 3-month trial and have enjoyed the basic XM.

Today, I called 1-866/408-2096 and when they confirmed the $142.45 annual price on the invoice I received in the mail, I mentioned the $77 promotion which they said was available. The kicker was that on top of the $77 is the artist's royalty fee (over $11) plus Florida taxes and fees which will add approximately $20 to the $77. Considering that I use my Prius for mostly short trips in town and the fact that several stations I would listen to are not provided (MSNBC, Fox Business, etc.) and that the NFL is only available as part of a pricey "Best of Sirius" add on, I decided to just let it expire. I was warned that if I changed my mind, I should contact them prior to the expiration of my 3-month trial to avoid an activation fee.

Just thought I would pass this on for the benefit of others - watch the extra fees!

 

Perhaps you've paid for a traffic warning/assistance feature for your Garmin (I don't know how they work it), but the factory NAV doesn't have such a feature. If you want that information, you'll have to add a service. The built-in and available service is provided by XM, so you just need to determine its value to you.

Thanks for the info. I let my subscription expire, and when I called to get the $77/year deal, I only paid the "royalty fee" -- no other activation fees or charges.

 

You can net the Royality fee and invoice fee to less than $0 if you give them your credit card to leave on file.
No $2 invoice fee and a $12.95 discount I think to leave card.
Just means you need to call back at renewal time or shortly there after and get a new deal or cancel service.

 

Has anyone bought the lifetime subscription? I heard $399 for the XM everything plan but the question is will XM be around as long as my car

 

My trial subscription has been expired for several weeks now and I chose not to continue based on the cost...

Just got a call from the "promo center" (1-877-224-8720) and here's what they offered:

6 months xm-everything, $14 activation fee waived, $34.52 tax included. That works out to about $5.75 per month.

This doesn't sound too bad... I'm tempted...

Update:
Well - it must be my day. After thinking it over, I decided the $34.52 / 6 month deal was good, called xm to sign up and before I could get the deal out of my mouth, they offered me $23.05 / 5 months (all fees included)! That averages out to $4.61 per month.

 

Not bad at all.

It beats the $77 I paid for 12 months.

 

That's a great price. At $5.75/month itax included, suggest you go for it.

 

It's a gamble for sure, whether XM will be around in a few years. There is always the chance too that your electronics will get messed up right after warranty expires, and the Sat radio will no longer work. Or that, heaven forbids, your car gets totalled, or that you want to trade it for a 2015 Prius! The "lifetime" is the radio's lifetime, not yours or the car's. The lifetime might even end if they have to replace your NAV unit and the radio ID changes.

 

Although I dont need talk radio, or anything fancy. What hooked me is Classic/Golden Radio, Broadway, and Cinemagic. Hopefully I can get the $77 fee. Cause I really enjoy the extra stations, besides my FM ones.

 

My trial subscription ended Sept. 23rd and I have not had a call from XM until this afternoon. They offered me six months for $4.99/month and no activation fee. They said the total will come to $32.80 for the six month period and it included all fees.
I had not planned on subscribing to the service, but this price seems a little more reasonable than those in their earlier renewal mailings. I may take advantage of it.

 

I can see the prices for a trucker or someone who spends considerable time in thier car, but most people go to work and back home when they have time to listen to the radio. I just don't see the benfit for such a crazy price. I guess if you have absolutely nothing worth listening to on regular radio, it would be one thing...

But I'm getting commercials on XM just not as long "yet".

I resent such a fee when I am the only one that benifits.

At least when I pay my cable or internet bill the whole family gets to benefit at the same time.

Its just not a good value for the dollar unless its really valuable to you... and its not to me.

I think they should just offer an honest price and it would take off.... but because of their greed to ask for so much "unless you know better", I don't trust them and I don't like their business tactics.

Seems they need a change of management.

 

They are losing money faster than Obama. XM may be the next bailout.

My complementary subscription ends in about a month. If I go without missing it for a month or two, I wont ever subscribe. Unless it is something reasonable like $20 a year, which is about what its worth.

 

Yep.. but I wonder who's gonna bailout Obama?.....
The tax payers are broke from bailing out everybody else?

Too bad we don't have tons of oil wells... oh yea.. we do!
But Obama doesn't own them yet.

 

mine expires in 3 days and I haven't heard anythign from XM, no letters, no phone calls. Hopefully the dealer forgot to register mine when it sold :rockon:

 

Mine is to expire on 11/4 so I called today (the standard phone number 800-408-2096) and asked for the $77 special. They immediately said yes. They did not mention the music royalty fee at all and I confirmed at $77/ yr.

 

Their customer service is some of the worst that I have experienced in years. They are a sinking ship. There is a reason they are a penny stock.

 

I feel like an idiot (no comments please) my trial runs out next month and I just agreed to a l year "everything" subscription for $142.25 paid by credit card on line. I didn't even know this thread was here until it was to late. Well live and learn.

I guess I can just keep it for a year and if there still in business try to get a better deal, or not renew.

 

IMO, the reason they are almost out of business is the high price.

All the hardware and software is already in place and they get "zip" if someone doesn't sign up. Thousands upon thousands of cars and trucks are running around with the ability to pick up their signal but decline and so they get nothing.

Normally lowering the price for a service means you have to hire more people to serve the extra people that will be drawn. So with most businesses, its always a balance of higher price with less customers, or lower price with more customers and so more legwork and overhead expenses.

But this service takes no effort on their part to sign up everyone on the planet if they wanted?

Isn't this about like receiving info from gps satellites?
The info is sent whether any one receives it or not?

If they gave an honest price, there would be almost no declines for service and it would become a norm, then at some later date they could entertain the idea of higher prices.

They are trying to recover all of their startup cost too soon. Any business goes in the hole the first few years, but they don't get the message.

If I'm going to pay big bucks I don't expect any commercials either.. but I get that too. Why should I pay to listen to commercials?

They are trying to make money on both ends like the cable companies.

They have to first get their foot in the door and then get completely "in" the door before they can call themselves a norm and so raise the price.

Heck if they got a mere five bucks from every satellite radio in the world they would have more money than they knew what to do with but instead they try to make all their money from a few rather than lower the price and make it from many with no extra effort on their end... few companies have the luxury to make such a choice without extra overhead.