# Free Service



## ratoren (Dec 28, 2005)

So I tried cancelling my XM service yet again, and for the second time they gave me 3 months of free service. I had to talk to about 3 levels of customer service, and was really prepared to cancel, but its hard to turn down 3 more months for free (this is the second time I have gotten the 3 months free). Only problem is I have to remember to call back in a little less than 3 months to cancel (on my work Outlook calender), or they start charging their normal high rates. 

I guess they need the customer count more than the money.


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## barracudacx2 (Nov 5, 2007)

I canceled 6 months ago, today i turn on my radio randomly and it still works.. I checked my statements and I have not been getting charged. called sirius and they said my acct is canceled and they did not know why radio still working. I am going to leave it tuned to demo channel for a few days and see if it gets a kill signal..


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

There is really no reason to worry about the radio getting the "kill" signal. When it's taken off your account, they send the kill signal, but they may not send it again for days, weeks, or months. The radio has no ability to "uplink" back to SXM, so they will have no ways to know if it's still working or not. They won't start billing you just because you radio is still working.


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## max1 (Aug 12, 2005)

This happened to me as well. I cancelled about a year ago or so. I put in the storage room and i still have service now for at least a year. I have the black portable boombox. I am just going to run it untill they figure it out. In fact with the merger i am getting a stronger signal.Could that be the reason why i am getting a stronger signal? Now i am getting strong signal in all of the rooms except for the basement.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

The merger itself has nothing to do with signal strength since your old Sirius radio only receives signals from the original satellites. Only newer hybrid radios can receive from both Sirius and XM satellites. However, Sirius did put a up a new satellite (FM5) that went live in September. Unlike the existing three birds that follow a 24-hour cycle in an elliptical path orbit, FM5 is stationary and can provide more consistent reception. 

As for them "finding out" that your radio is still active, they won't. What they will do is periodic "housekeeping" where they send kill signals for deactivated radios. You never know when this will happen, but when it does, if your radio is on, it will quit working and revert back to receiving only the test channel. I bought a used radio on eBay like this and it worked for about six months before it got hit. I then, of course, added it to my account to continue using it.


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## max1 (Aug 12, 2005)

Hey, Rodney, Rats!! looks like they just figured out i was getting service. I enjoyed it while i had it for about year. It now says call to subscribe. I dont think i will right now. I just got an I Pod Touch so i can listen to all sorts of music for free. One question i do have if I get the Sirius XM App do i have to subscribe to regular sirius or can i just get the app and get the stations. This is my first I pod and i love it. Next purchase will be the I Phone. Max.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Yep, you just never know when you'll get that "housecleaning" kill signal!

as for the iPhone app, I believe you do have to have a Sirius account with online listening to use it. I can't say for certain because I don't have an iPhone; I have an HTC TouchPro2 and an app called C-ApiSRO. It does require me to login to my Sirius online listening account (and enter the Captcha code), so I am assuming that the iPhone app is similar. Maybe someone who has the iPhone app can can chime in.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

ratoren said:


> So I tried cancelling my XM service yet again, and for the second time they gave me 3 months of free service. I had to talk to about 3 levels of customer service, and was really prepared to cancel, but its hard to turn down 3 more months for free (this is the second time I have gotten the 3 months free). Only problem is I have to remember to call back in a little less than 3 months to cancel (on my work Outlook calender), or they start charging their normal high rates.
> 
> I guess they need the customer count more than the money.


Not really. Customer count doesn't really help them. They are hoping that after your free service expires that you will continue paying. It's as simple as that.

BTW, if you like the service, why are you canceling? Can you really not afford the >50 cents per day? I can understand canceling if you are out of work and every non-necessity has to be cut, but other than that, is 50 cents a day worth having to spend a half hour or more on the phone with 3 different levels of customer service every 3 months just to try to save another 50 cents a day for another 3 more months?

EDIT: Oops. I just realized that I responded to a 4 month old post that was bumped by someone "trying to get 5 posts".


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

cartrivision said:


> Can you really not afford the >50 cents per day? I can understand canceling if you are out of work and every non-necessity has to be cut


It's only radio, cartrivision. It's rather rude to question someone for spending or not spending money on a luxury item.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

tcusta00 said:


> It's only radio, cartrivision. It's rather rude to question someone for spending or not spending money on a luxury item.


Yes, it's only radio, and it's a luxury, but he evidently likes it, so I find nothing rude about asking someone how something that they like isn't worth fitty cents a day.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

cartrivision said:


> Yes, it's only radio, and it's a luxury, but he evidently likes it, so I find nothing rude about asking someone how something that they like isn't worth fitty cents a day.


You said "Can you really not afford the >50 cents per day?" It's his money and none of your business. I think that's extraordinarily rude.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

I canceled mine because it is an unnecessary luxury to me. 

$15 here, $20 there, $10 here, starts adding up every month. 

In today's economy, every little bit helps.


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

When my 2 year sub ends next year I won't renew for 2 reasons:

The new pricing is a gouge and shouldn't have been allowed per their promise not to raise rates for 3 years if the merger was approved.

That "music licensing fee" is another scam to get more money out of people under the guise of not raising the rates. What's next, passing along an "employee health insurance charge" to subs as a separate line item??

Actually, I'm looking forward to Sonic Tap in less than 2 weeks on DirecTV!! No irksome DJ's, no jingles, no interruptions in the music at all just like the existing Sonic Tap Spanish Music channels already on DirecTV. And better still, no extra charge.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

cartrivision said:


> Yes, it's only radio, and it's a luxury, but he evidently likes it, so I find nothing rude about asking someone how something that they like isn't worth fitty cents a day.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And I still think that my comment was entirely appropriate and that there was nothing rude about it, so I guess that's where this one ends.

BTW, I thought that your insertion of yourself into this discussion was extremely rude. Please stop being so rude.


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## MoMo (Dec 20, 2006)

I too think it was rude.


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