SiriusXM Lifetime Contract, not so lifetime
 

I just moved from a '10 ES to a '16 ES.
In 2010 Sirius offered a Lifetime Contract, $399+tax and you were allowed 3 transfers at $75+tax each.
This was a no brainier at the time, I had them sign me up.
I never saw a contract, I sat in the car with my cell,turned to channel 0, gave the rep the radio ID, he gave me the options, I picked the lifetime contact and he signed me up.
It is now 6yrs later. This contract is no longer offered. And apparently they also no longer want to honor it.

I called to activate the new radio and was told the contract was no good. They only switch on after market radios not OEM, or the the event of theft. Funny, they never mentioned this when I signed up with an OEM radio. They claimed it was in the contract I never was given.

I asked for a supervisor and got the same response. He suggested I go to the web site and email the company.

I sent the email outlining my complaint and also indicated that I would consider small claims court and looking to see if there was a class action suit that I could join.

The next morning they called me and told me that they would reconnect me as a COURTESY (for the$75), but would not do it again.

It turns out that there is a class action suit being filled in San Francisco. I will join it.

Anyone else with this contract, expect issues with them.

I never went with the contract, mainly, because when I looked into it, it was not transferable. At least it wasn't for XM way back when they were two companies. This is back when it was reasonable priced. The way it is now, I can see why they wouldn't want to honor it.

I'm glad they reconnected you. I just hope you don't have ML audio in your ES if you listen to XM a lot, for music. If so, you'll realize just how compressed their format is.

I don't think a lifetime contract is even offered today.

This is exactly why I never buy lifetime contracts regardless of the product being sold.

The ML audio is just about the only option not in the car

They no longer offer the contract.

Valid point. At least I was reconnected so we're good for another few years

A buddy of mine bought a 16 ES350 yesterday and had mentioned a few weeks ago that this would be his last transfer on his lifetime contract. I will pass this along and see if he has any issues with the transfer.

Good luck to him, I hope he has an easier time than I did

I find Sirius/XM to be underhanded and deliberately confusing to their customers. It was about a year ago that I found out - from another member on here - that you could negotiate a lower monthly fee for service. I went from approximately $200.00 for 3 radios down to $75.00 by staying on the phone for an hour with their "retention" department. Sad fact is that some people out there are still paying higher fees. My opinion is that they are not an honest company and will screw you every chance they get. This "lifetime contract" is a prime example.

Are you talking annual rates? I'd like to sign up when my trial ends, but I'm not happy with their rates.

This works the same with cable and satellite TV providers, too.

Near the end of your trial period, call them and state that you wish to cancel the service. Just say that it's too expensive when they ask you why. You'll be transferred to the retention department where a slick talker will bargain with you over the rates. Just keep talking until you're comfortable with what they're offering. You can save more than half of what they ask.

To get the best offers, you might need to let your subscription expire and have an inactive subscription.

The retention offers seem to vary a bit from one time to another, but the offers that I've gotten have been 5 months for $20, 6 months for $25, and 6 months for $30.

If you use one of those offers, you need to make a note of when the new subscription expires and call them to cancel before it expires. Otherwise, your subscription will auto renew at the regular and very pricey rates, and your credit card will be charged accordingly

Also, if your radio has been inactive for a longer period of time, you are likely to be offered a 2 month free trial. The nice thing about that one (besides the fact that it is completely free) is that you don't even have to give them a credit card number, and, when the free trial expires, they just shut off your radio, instead of renewing you at the regular rates.

Absolutely.

Just a couple of days ago, I made my annual call to DIRECTV. Without any discounts, my monthly DIRECTV bill would be about $145. With the discounts that I was offered, it will be about $68 for the next 12 months. A year from now, when those discounts roll off of my account, I'll be making another call to see what they will do for me. I've been getting similar discounts from them for about 10 years.

Similar discounts are also available for service from many/most phone service providers.

I would also go 1 step further. After negotiating a new rate, have them send you a bill and pay by check. If they have your credit card, even if you do not authorize it, after 1 year they may re-up you at the higher rate. I've done this for the past couple of years and have had no problems getting the bill cut in half & then I pay by check so they can't auto-renew on a credit card.