Sirius Satelitte Radio

Sirius customer service is god awful. Doesn’t matter who you talk to on the phone none of them know what they are talking about. I talked to 3 different people before I could get my subscription switched to a new car. Something I feel like should have been simple. When I just got another new car they told me that I couldn’t switch it over because the dealership cancelled it before I could switch it, even though I had already paid. They only reason I have it anyway is for Howard Stern but, dealing with these customer service people aren’t worth the headache to get it back.

Absolutely love it!
The selection is superb!
No commercials!
Why didn’t I get this earlier???

Really bad service. I have multiple cars and internet service as well and you cant get my bill or fix my password problem. I have spent an hour and ten minutes and counting on the phone to get a basic password reset. Used to be a big fan…

Buyer beware! The concept of sirius is great. Execution, not so much. After my free trial for buying a new car ended I received a promo mailer. 6 months for only $ 25! Awesome sign me up… Just kidding. So i call in pay my promo amount they hooked me up all seems great until the 6 months is up.
No notice what-​so-​ever and im hit with a $ 101.00 charge! Eeek for what? I call in to find out what the charge is for and i find out its only for 6 more months 4 times what i paid before.
Honestly i don’t think its worth $ 25 certainly not $ 100. So you can guess my irritation level. I call they cancel they tell me they will refund my money and the call gets dropped. Almost as if it was meant to be. I figure oh well they said its done. I get an email telling me its been cancelled and my refund is being processed… Again just kidding.
A week later and still my money is a no show. Lets call my new found friends… Yep not actually processed because the phone cut out…
My thoughts. Its not worth the future headache!

I signed up for the lifetime service for Sirius in 2005. I purchased the Sportster radio and had it a couple of years before it started to act up. I looked on youtube to find some fixes, but was now ready for a new radio.
I went out and purchased a new receiver and docking station (around $ 250). Getting the service switched over to the new receiver was the first problem. The radio displays «call this number xxx». Well when you call that number it is an endless loop of questions that gets you nowhere. Finally after about an hour I get somebody on the phone to process me. They said because it’s a new radio, I have to pay $ 75 to transfer the membership. Fine — whatever.
After I started listening to the radio I realized that a lot of channels that I had weren’t there. I thought this was a mistake and called SiriusXM back (back thru the endless circle of telephone automation). Finally get somebody — because Sirius and XM merged that means I don’t have access to all my stations that I did have EVEN THOUGH I HAD A LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP. And guess what? To get those channels I have to pay a monthly fee! I made them refund my $ 75 «transfer» fee and returned their equipment.
I am so fed up with these people. I don’t care if I have a lifetime membership and can’t listen to the radio — I will not give these people anymore of my money. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!
Oh, and good luck trying to call them — their customer service is awful (if you can even get past the circle of menus you find yourself in when calling them. I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than call them again!

This company has really questionable ethics. yesterday I was contacted because my free 3 month trial ended. I was offered a deal to pay 50 for one year. I agreed, however, today when I called to activate my radio again I was told that deal was no longer available. So they wanted me to pay 86 dollars a year instead. I declined, and cacelled my account. But I have never run into a major company like this that basically lies to try to get you to sign up. Given this experience, I dont think I would ever trust anything they say again.

Concerning the concept and execution of Sirius itself, I have no issues. However, their customer service is probably the worst I’ve ever experienced in terms of knowledge about their products and ability to not breathe directly into the phone while speaking to me. Seriously, they have linked several accounts that don’t belong to me to my account, and I don’t even have the energy to deal with them long enough to remedy this. They told me the other day I own a Maxda and a Kia. No, I don’t. I never have. I stated this over and over and they kept saying, «Would you like to cancel service for the Mazda?» Sigh. They truly suck. Horrible, horrible customer service. THE ONLY REASON THEY GET TWO STARS IS THAT I LIKE THEIR PRODUCT.

I’m a XM original. Sirius just never had and never will have the same juice as XM. XM by itself would have got a great five star review, but Sirius is just not the same. They’re essentially the same as terrestrial. The’ve stripped everything that made XM great and have two shows that can barely reach out from underneath the wreckage that is Sirius.

I called again to confirm my cancellation. The automated machine voice took my SID (account) number, then my telephone number, confirmed who I was, then asked what services I needed — with «cancel» being one of my options. I said «cancel» and the computer voice said they would transfer me to that department. So, now they know who I am and that I want to cancel… what do you think happens? I get hung up upon.
Call back. I refuse to answer the computer ladies questions this time and keep repeating «no» until the computer voice asks me if I want to stay on the line to speak to a represenative. «YES!» This time, I ask for employee ID #‘s before telling them what I want. The first rep was nice, but warned me that they won’t backdate my cancellation even though there are notes in my account that I wanted to cancel. We’ll see, I thought, as I brought the BBB website up on my computer.
The next representative, after getting her employer ID #, kept trying to blow past my requests to have my cancellation backdated to the initial date I was hung up upon and had sent the email to their «customer lack of service department» (who, in the reply to my email, told me they could not process my cancellation… nobody will call or email anybody else behind the scenes on your behalf, they want to make everything as difficult as possible until you give up). I ask her point blank if my cancellation is going to be backdated to my initial call, and she tells me no. I ask her why, if there are notes that I wanted to cancel, and she tells me the notes only say that I was transferred to the cancellation department, not that I spoke with them (can you believe it?). I ask her if that makes any sense, especially since it was the cancellation department that hung up on me, why would I be sent to the cancellation department if I wasn’t intending to cancel? She tells me there’s nothing she can do. So I tell her fine, there’s something I can do and I’ve just finished finding Sirius Sat Radio in the BBB’s database and I’m going to include her name and employer ID# in my complaint.
She instantly asks if she can put me on hold and says she’s going to ask her mgr. Twenty seconds later, my cancellation is be backdated to the date of my original call.
THEY INTENTIONALLY ATTEMPT TO OUTRIGHT STEAL YOUR MONEY AND FRUSTRATE YOU UNTIL YOU GIVE UP! DISHONEST, SHIFTY, UNETHICAL! Believe me, the benefits are not worth the hassle.

XM & Sirius have merged to become a steaming pile of mediocrity.
They have tons of station, each of which has a rotation of approximately 100 songs they play over & over. Still I enjoyed it enough (especially the commercial free aspect) to consider subscribing after the trial for my car was over. I got mail from them, enticing me with «special offers,» but figured I get around to it eventually or maybe I’d see if I’d miss it when it expired, & then subscribe if I did.
However, Saturday THEY called ME. Super. Saves me a step. I took their $ 5 /​month for 6 months deal. Including tax, they were charging me roughly $ 33. It would automatically renew, but I could call and cancel or modify my package. I gave my credit card info & was told that my membership would begin on April 5^th, the day my trial ended. Today, April 5^th, I get in the car & XM is gone.
I call & they have no record of me, my phone number, my payment, or my subscription. I hit redial to call them today, so I know it was legitimately them that called. I spent 30 minutes talking to some inexperienced girl in a call center & her slightly dumber supervisor. Both sounded foreign. The supervisor gave me a song & dance about how they have to invoice me before my subscription can renew. Invoice me? You took my CC info?! That’s like Amazon not shipping my online order till they mailed a bill! She said it must be a delay & I should wait till Friday. She gave NO explaination as to why she couldn’t locate the info. Then she tried to get me to give the CC info again. Exactly how many times should I pay for this?! FORGET IT!

I have been a Sirius customer since they got the NFL package (2005). Now this isn’t for everyone.
1. Do you listen to music alone? If you’re an XRT, V-​103, Q-​101 or-​the– like-​loyalist, this might not be your cup of tea. The flip side is that many new releases are done on sirius as well as exclusive concert content. WIDE selections and often times, they won’t repeat songs every 2 hours. I don’t hit the music channels often. Featured channels include B.B. King’s Bluesville, Siriusly Sinatra, Willie’s Place (Nelson), Shade 45 (Eminem), Grateful Dead Channel, Radio Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffet), & E Street Radio (Bruce Springsteen). Also featured are music channels featuring each decade from the 1940’s through the 1990’s.
2. Are you a sports fan? While I enjoy the Score & AM-​1000, the sports programming is second to none if you want a national scale. They have EVERY NFL game during football season and Sirius NFL is a football fans heaven. If you think TV color guys like Tim Ryan (in my book, the most underrated color guy in sports), Soloman Wilcots, Darryl Johnston and others, you will not be disappointed (they all have shows w/​Ryan on daily from 2 – 6 PM CST). I am also a NASCAR junkie & to hear people from Dave Moody (also of MRN and normally on turn 1), legend Buddy Baker, and Claire B Lang fills another bill. Former Dale Earnhardt gas man «Chocolate» Myers also does a good show. Now, if you want all the college sports in particular, the college football package (for me it’s Florida & the SEC), you must get the Best of XM or something of the like. Other solid sports programs also are here. Select NASCAR in race car audio also happens during each race, one driver audio is selected by fans.
3. Are you a business fan? Forgot to Tivo «Mad Money», «Kudlow & Company» or the like, that problem is solved here too. CNBC, BBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, and the others are here as well– live. You want talk radio, you get your fix here. If you’re conservative leaning (like me) you get the live broadcasts of Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Mike Church, & Andrew Wilkow on Sirius Patriot. If you’re more liberal, you have Lyn Samuels, Mark Walsh and David Goodfriend among other hosts. I don’t listen to Howard 100.
4. The channels I like the most (in no order) — 124 (NFL), 128 (NASCAR), 129 (CNBC), 130 (Bloomberg), 131 (Fox), 142 (Sirius Patriot) & 120 – 121 (ESPN content). Every now & then, I might check our Martha radio, Doctor Radio & Radio Classics.
As I said, I don’t think this is for everyone. I used the 3 scenarios to more or less set the table and give you something to consider. These are the reason I have Sirius. Sadly, my radio just went on the blitz so I need to replace it. Several channels you can get online.

This is not a review about the quality of XM radio stations but you should beware when signing up for XM Radio that they will set you up for auto renewal. I purchased a one year package for a set price over the telephone. I was not told that it would be renewed automatically. When one year was up, XM sent invoices to me attempting to renew for another year. I no longer wanted the service so I wrote «please cancel» and mailed it back. Next I receive a collection letter from a collection agency stating that I am past due on my account. Both the collection agency and XM state that all accounts are auto renewed. The collection agency will also urge you to continue your subscription. After a another call to XM, XM agreed to remove the past due balance and cancel the collection. If that doesn’t happen, I will be filing a consumer complaint. No matter how much I enjoyed the service, I refuse to do business with a company that engages in unethical business practices.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooo.
I don’t get it. You pay for satellite radio because it’s supposed to mean variety… and while there is variety in the genres, there is NO variety within the actual station. They literally play the same songs over and over. We listen to them at work and it drives us crazy.

Ok, so yes XM radio can be considered a good thing when the radio stations are terrible where you live. I live in Chicago and honestly and surprisingly the radio station are horrible so I decided to get XM/​Sirius radio. Yes you get music around the clock but most of the stations regurgitate the same songs over and over and what the hell is up with all the commercials lately? There is not suppose to be commercials as far as I know it’s suppose to be «commercial free satellite radio.» My second bitch is the damn people they have working for this company. I call to change something or add something and next thing I know my whole account has been dropped (this has happened to me twice). These «helpful» customer service people don’t seem to have a clue as to what they are doing. Recently, I’ve wanted to call and cancel my internet radio because I’ve found a free one that is better than XM but I’m so worried they’ll screw my whole account up so that is why I haven’t yet, seems worth the $ 3 a month to not have to go through the bull shit of re-​starting my account again and being transferred to a minimum of 3 people while they try to figure out what happened. So in conclusion XM beats the radio stations but their customer service is sub-​par and I hope another company comes out so I can dump them all together and soon!

When I first got xm back in 2002 it was amazing… The music was fresh the on air personalities were interesting and the decades channels were just amazing. It seemed that every year XM just kept getting better. Radios were becoming portable, more channels were being added and the playlists were very deep. Over the past 2 years though the service started laying off all there quality on air talent and then last year the service was taken over by sirius. Sense the merger prices have gone up and content has gone to crap. The dance channel may have a playlist of 15 songs that you hear over and over. The decades channels seem to only play top 10 hits now and all the great on air personalities are gone. Thankfully internet radio is now useable on the go via iphone so we have a much better alternative. I say skip the monthly fees and listen to internet radio or podcasts instead and leave the stale xm and sirius sats to burn in reentry.

The music I listen to can’t be found on regular radio, and it’s for that reason that I haven’t turned on the regular radio (except for sports games) since I got Sirius.
The reason I ended up with Sirius instead of XM is because Sirius offered a head unit that scrolls artist and song titles so they don’t get cut off. This may not be the case anymore but I don’t know. Although it may seem a strange reason to choose one over the other, I get really pissed off if I can’t jot down the name of an artist or song because it’s cut off. (I keep a notepad in my car for this reason.)
I think the stations parallel those on XM. I don’t think XM has any DJs, and I actually enjoy the commentary and background info the DJs give on the Pure Jazz station.
Minus one star because my signal cuts out a good amount when I’m driving in the city.

My first experience with Sirius was a few months ago while visiting my in-​laws. At the time, our car had XM and I was spoiled with all the great channels that we had available. I assumed that the reason we couldn’t find any good channels on Sirius was because we just weren’t familiar enough with the stations. No big deal.
Fast forward to present day. Our new car was totaled by an idiot driver who ran a red light and our replacement car came with Sirius instead of XM. With six months free, I figured that we could officially give them a try and see if it really is that much better than XM.
In short – no. They have less music channels and hell of a lot less variety available. They do have more news stations, so kudos for that, but on my hour commute, I want mindless music to keep me occupied.
Every time I’m in my hubby’s car, I get irritated by the lack of music choices and end up putting in a CD. I can’t remember the last time I listened to a CD in my car, since XM tends to have so much to listen to. Some of my favorite stations (i.e. the 90s, the 80s, a whole station dedicated to Houston traffic and weather, more than one generic hits station, a REAL station for emerging artists, etc.) does not have its counterpart in Sirius.
And for the final nail in the coffin, the service is a little worse. Perhaps it is because I live in Houston, but anytime I go under a bridge, the music cuts out for a few seconds. Sure that may not seem like a lot, but in Houston we have a lot of bridges. My XM never goes out unless I’m actually parked under a bridge or deep inside of a covered parking garage.
In the end, I still appreciate the six months free since the XM on my car only came for three months free, but that isn’t enough to make me a convert. If you have the option between the two and you don’t plan on only listening to news stations, XM is a much better option.

Even in the heyday of Metal, never have I heard as many stations that played such awesome Metallic goodness. If I wasn’t a fan of Howard Stern, I would subscribe to Sirius just for the rock channels alone. As it is, Howard is the innovator of innovators and is still blazing trails with no more censorship. He has put out some of the most intriguing and hilarious material since he has been freed. There are channels for virtually any music you can think of from classical to christian. I love how on my radio I can be listening to one station and put up what the other stations are playing at the same time. If regular radio did that, I might not think they suck as badly as they do.
There are several comedy channels, Rawdog and Blue Collar are uncensored, but Rawdog is hardcore dirty and Blue collar had your incidental curse word. There is also a family friendly comedy channel but I don’t really get into that one. Come NFL season they air both the home and away broadcasts of every game. I know they air Nascar races, NBA and the NHL as well. I curse the radio gods every time I have to drive my wife’s car and don’t have time to hook up my satellite unit. I can’t see driving without it ever again.

I was really excited when we got this but the honeymoon is over. I find that each of the 100+ stations is like its own Top 40 station, playing its own genre over and over, incessantly. I usually listen to First Wave, and while you might get a couple of the more obscure songs you want to hear, the rest of the day is U2 and Billy Idol… how many times can you listen to White Wedding and Rock The Cradle?
Even the comedy station played the same routines over and over. Twice a day, every day. Ugh. At least the classical station is a little better.
My friend has XM and I was amazed at the variety of their alternative music, and I didn’t hear ANY annoying DJ’s at all. If they only broadcast my husband’s football games, we would switch.
**just discovered the 70’s station, all the songs you love to hate… I love it! I feel like I’m eight again.

If you have not ventured into the world of satellite radio. now is the time. Imagine 100+ channels of commerical free listening. Anything from Reggae to Spa music can be found on Sirius. In addition Howard Stern has his own stations and is hysterical! If you are tired of the Eric and Kathy show with endless commericals, give this a try. It is the best $ 12.00 per mo I have ever spent. Now I can take the music with me wherever I go, with my Sirius Stiletto (mp3 player and sat radio combined). Try it for free on line at