My XM data subscription lost!!!

It's been three months, so the audio part of the XM subscription expired. I went online and added a new one and


THE DATA SUBSCRIPTION IS NOW GONE!!!!


I called Sirius XM, and they say that there is no such thing as a three-year complimentary subscription, and when I added the audio subscription, the error was "corrected" by their system. The 3-year trial data subscription showed up just fine on my XM account until today. Basically, they say "tough", "what are you trying to pull", and my account has been flagged so I cannot just call another representative. They say to take it up with your dealer. Right...

I really need this for the traffic info on the Advanced package.

My next step is to contact Toyota, but who exactly? Erica Gartsbeyn a.k.a PriusTeam? The Entune help line?

HELP!!

 

I called the Toyota Entune help line, and they were VERY helpful, and confirmed that the XM data services on the Advanced (like Travel Link and NavTraffic) are a three-year complimentary plan, but the kicker is that the contract for the data services is between Toyota (Entune) and Sirius/XM, not between me and Sirius/XM, and at the end of the three-year term, I would renew my Entune subscription with Toyota if I wanted to keep it, just as I would to continue Safety Connect service. This is different from the audio plan, where after the three-month trial expires, you subscribe directly with XM for whatever audio package you want. The Entune representative says that she could see that my data subscription was in good standing, and to call back if there is any problem. She gave me a trouble ticket number to reference. Apparently it is a bit unexpected that the data service was showing up at all on my XM account page, since it is an unrelated contract between Toyota and Sirius/XM. She added that I really shouldn't have to worry about me doing something to mess up the data services by contacting Sirius/XM, since I am not an authorized party to that contract, any more than I would have any say over the cellular contract for the Safety Connect phone.

 

On the Basic trim, the traffic info goes through your phone, but on the Advanced package, it come from XM data services. On the Advanced, it is still considered to be part of your Entune subscription, with XM providing the service under contract to Toyota/Entune.

 

Everyone can decide for themselves what features are worth what, but getting the integrated traffic overlays on the map are worth something to me, and I plan to continue the Entune subscription that covers that. I like the remote charge management and vehicle locator, so that may get me to keep Safety Connect. The movie tickets, gasoline prices, and music features are rather useless to me, but I am probably stuck with them given how Toyota bundles tings.

 

I just wanted to confirm that while the data services no longer show up on my XM account web page, that the services are still working just fine, just as the Entune customer support rep said would be the case. Unlike with the XM service reps (who treated me like I was trying to scam them), the Entune rep was courteous, knowledgeable, and helpful.

 

My phone service has a call rejection feature to deal with annoyances like that. Assuming that their caller id number was consistent.

I know Sirius/XM is in bad financial straits, but it is Marketing 101 that annoying even customers you lose is a very bad idea, due to the person sharing their negative experience with lots of people (as is the case here).

 

You mean that you didn't also get the caller-id number? "Toll-free Calling" is the name info that is derived from the number. Most caller id units display both the number and name, but the name may be something generic, as in this case.

 

So the number on the CID from XM was garbage (I know the name was)? The caller id number is set by the end user when using a PBX type phone system such as is used by businesses, and they can set it to anything they want. What some scumbags do is set to a nonsense value like "123", to get around people who reject calls that have no caller id info.