Really? No, Sirius-ly??

So, back in March 2011, I was supposed to get a 6-month "FREE*" trial of Sirius Satellite Radio with my VW Golf. Unfortunately, some Bozo activated the receiver while it sat on the car lot...by the time I bought the car, the subscription was expired.

After contacting Sirius XM about this, they finally offered to give me a 3-month "FREE*" trial. After getting that concession from Sirius, I contacted the car dealer and asked they shell out some dough to cover another 3 months...which they did in the form of a $55 Sirius Gift Card.

Shortly after the Gift Card arrived, I attempted to redeem the card via the Sirius website; seemed simple enough but Sirius couldn't handle simple apparently. So I call the "Customer Care" number and speak with someone with a very thick accent. After explaining the whole situation, I finally get through to him and he applies the card. At that time, the monthly fee was $14.95 which gave me 3 months with some extra leftover. By my math, that gave me signal until October. I purposely asked for the monthly plan so the gift card would cover just over 3-months.

Anyway, once that was sorted out I parsed through the bazillion radio channels and programmed 12 into the car-radio presets (and it took a long time to fill 12 presets). Basically, I added NPR, BBC News, a few rock channels, a sports channel and I can't remember the others.

On the first few long drives to the coast, I listened to several of the channels and frankly wasn't impressed with either the audio quality or the reception. I was losing signal frequently throughout the coast range near Alsea and Waldport. Eventually, I stopped using the service.

In late September, while stuck in traffic on the I-205, I pressed the satellite radio button only to find out my presets were gone and I was only receiving the "Preview Channel" (just like when I bought the car)...naturally I thought "Oh, my Gift Card ran out". Yes and No. Apparently, Sirius automatically renews their plans, however, since I did not give them a credit card number (GO ME!) they just shut my receiver off...BUT, they still renewed my plan AND sent me a past due notice.

I wonder what the overseas "Customer Service" representative didn't understand about my request when I redeemed the card, and shouldn't he have informed me that plan may auto-renew? From what I've read, this isn't the first time this has happened, in fact Sirius XM got in trouble for this in Florida. If you've stumbled upon this blog while searching for feedback on Sirius XM, please consider the M.O. of Sirius before subscribing.