It says in the agreement MAY and UP TO, not that you'll always be hit with a $75 charge, I wasn't when I switched mine.lostcause said:
Sirius Lifetime Sub BEWARE!
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So that means that if you get an extended warranty on your receiver it will do you no good if they want to replace it with another one instead of reparing your current one unless you can get them to code your replacement with the same activation receiver numbers that your broken one has.
I can see the hackers going in and changing their receiver numbers to get free satellite radio programming particularly if one got mad because their hardware broke so soon with the lifetime subscription.
I can see the hackers going in and changing their receiver numbers to get free satellite radio programming particularly if one got mad because their hardware broke so soon with the lifetime subscription.
Seems like trolling to me. It is always your responsibility to read the fine print on everything. Don't trust what any sales drone at any store or even a CSR tells you. Read whats on the paperwork or on the companies website. This reminds me a lot of the TiVo lifetime service everyone just assumes its service forever when its really the life of the unit.
I was glad when I got XM at the very start. Not glad the rates are going up, so I will pay up and lock in. It was an XM email that told me that the ' Sirius Lifetime $499 sub is for the lifetime of a machine , not the person paying the $499. ( they will transfer the sub to a new unit as long as the defective unit is within manufacturers warranty only up to a maximum of one year )
I didnt meant to start a bashing party....sorry. This would not work for people who change cars or head units alot ( like me!)
My vote is for XM. No charge to change to when my Pioneer trunk unit got damaged.
I didnt meant to start a bashing party....sorry. This would not work for people who change cars or head units alot ( like me!)
My vote is for XM. No charge to change to when my Pioneer trunk unit got damaged.
So if its for the lifetime of the machine then that means you can sell it to someone else. I bet they got rules where the lifetime subscription is not transferrable to someone else.
How would they know you sold it? If it has a lifetime subscription there is no bill so what's the difference.
skidog said:
Good point. And you will forever get the online streaming free and any additional subs for the family plan rate.
Well at least one would be able to activate additional units for a discount on a monthly basis in case the main one goes out. Perhaps one can put the chip that identifies the broken receiver into the new one so that they could transfer the subscription to it but that would probably be illegal/against their rules.
So worst case scenario, your Sirius unit with lifetime subscription gets stolen or breaks in a couple years, you guys think you could just do an add-on subscription on the new unit you buy to replace it for the then current add-on subscription rate (currently 6.99 per month), rather than pay full price per month?
I guess that would fly, unless, Sirius has some way to tell if you are actually using your activated lifetime unit right? I mean can Sirius tell if its broken or not being used?
I guess that would fly, unless, Sirius has some way to tell if you are actually using your activated lifetime unit right? I mean can Sirius tell if its broken or not being used?
You can transfer to a diffrent receiver with the up to $75.00 fee 3 times like some said. Why are people talking about the lifetime of the machine and not the person? I could have my radio for 5 years then get a new one and pay the $75 fee and I get a new radio on my lifetime sub. I just wonder what happens when you're final receiver gets stolen then what do they do..... Other then that is seems fine to me......
Sirius would never know if the original unit was still in use if you decided to add on additional ones but one would be better off paying the $75.
I read the fineprint and they do allow 3 transfers for $75 so that's cool. (maybe they changed the rule to allow transfers on lifetimes recently- probably too many people complaining - I think a rule can be spelled out in the fine print and still be pure evil, especially when salespeople mislead customers or are misinformed themselves).
One thing is if you bought a lifetime sub now, it looks like they can still easily raise the $75 fee up in the future. And it looks like they could technically change the rule to disallow 3 transfers, but I think they would be smart enough to grandfather people in, and only change that rule on new customers.
One thing is if you bought a lifetime sub now, it looks like they can still easily raise the $75 fee up in the future. And it looks like they could technically change the rule to disallow 3 transfers, but I think they would be smart enough to grandfather people in, and only change that rule on new customers.
Lifetime subscription
I agree with the original complaint/poster. This is the most absurd example of company customer policy. It spells sneaky right from the start. Yes they do put this in their policy agreement, because they know noone reads those long and boring agreements, and that is a fact, yet why dont they put it in their commercial advertisements? Because if they did, no one would sign up for life subs, other than these dopes defending this policy, that are posting here, who in my opinion probably work for either company. It is the worst case of greed and nothing new here in America. I personally don't see how anyone in their right mind would want to pay this sum of money every month to hear the same list of songs play over and over and over and over. Yes they do repeat because I am a current subscriber. Only because my dad likes the bluegrass channel and I pay for his sub. There is so much awesome internet radio stream, that has a pallet of content far past what Sirius or XM can do, AND, it is free. Try screamer radio, or pandora. Sirius and XM are both, a big laugh to me, but gotta give kudos to em for making that almighty dollar, including my own. Just my two cents.
I agree with the original complaint/poster. This is the most absurd example of company customer policy. It spells sneaky right from the start. Yes they do put this in their policy agreement, because they know noone reads those long and boring agreements, and that is a fact, yet why dont they put it in their commercial advertisements? Because if they did, no one would sign up for life subs, other than these dopes defending this policy, that are posting here, who in my opinion probably work for either company. It is the worst case of greed and nothing new here in America. I personally don't see how anyone in their right mind would want to pay this sum of money every month to hear the same list of songs play over and over and over and over. Yes they do repeat because I am a current subscriber. Only because my dad likes the bluegrass channel and I pay for his sub. There is so much awesome internet radio stream, that has a pallet of content far past what Sirius or XM can do, AND, it is free. Try screamer radio, or pandora. Sirius and XM are both, a big laugh to me, but gotta give kudos to em for making that almighty dollar, including my own. Just my two cents.
OK, so i just called, I have a lifetime sub. in 1 car and a new car with a free sub just about to end. I was inquiring on transferring the lifetime to the new car when the free sub ends for the new car. The first customer service type guy says that I can't transfer UNLESS the unit is damaged and in need of replacement, with a $75 transfer fee. So then i got transferred to the billing dept. customer service and she said that I can transfer up to 3 times with a $75 charge each time, no stipulations about damaged units or anything like that. So i'll probably just transfer my lifetime to the new car when that free sub ends and deal with regular radio in the other car or use an ipod. I guess i could always say that my original unit is damaged and needs to be transferred to the new car unit, how would they know the difference anyway! But i feel everyone's pain, it does seem like they're out to make a buck however they can!
I usually side with the providers, but a $500 lifetime sub should be allowed to be transfered to a new radio no questions asked.
If they want to play games, then take the $500 lifetime subscription and break it down into a regular pre-paid subsciption for 3.5years or whatever when the customer wants to swap receivers.
If they want to play games, then take the $500 lifetime subscription and break it down into a regular pre-paid subsciption for 3.5years or whatever when the customer wants to swap receivers.
Sirius gives you 3 non-warranty-related transfers to new radios with a lifetime subscription. I don't know how XM has it set up. With Sirius, I have a lifetime subscription and all I did was call them and tell them I needed to transfer it to a new radio as I no longer had the other one (traded the car in on another). Just gave them the SID# and it was up and going.
I have had sirius lifetime since the beginning. I was told I could change the lifetime subscription up to three times and did it once. I purchased a polk home rack mount radio and transfered my lifetime to it. My car is now a second radio.
The "official" terms for subscriptions (last time I checked) were the following:
- A lifetime subscription *cannot* be transferred to any other receiver if it's associated with a factory receiver (part of the factory equipment installed by the car manufacturer or dealer). The exception to this is if the unit is found to be defective at some point and is replaced under warranty, then the subscription is transferred to the replacement equipment (of same type/model) for free.
- A lifetime subscription *can* be transferred if it's associated with non-factory equipment (such as a "plug and play" unit purchased retail) up to 3 times. There is a $75 fee for each transfer. As with a "factory" unit, if the unit is found to be defective and replaced under warranty the transfer is done for free.
- Any non-lifetime subscription can be transferred to any receiver at any time, any number of times. There is a $15 fee for each transfer.
As with anything else, YMMV and probably depends on which rep you talk to and possibly what kind of mood they're in, how nice you are to them, what the situation is, etc. They can tell whether or not it's a factory receiver, make, model, etc as soon as they enter the ESN into their system.
Most "lifetime" things are not meant for *your* lifetime. A business has to make money, and they're not going to make any money if everyone buys a lifetime subscription and then never pays anything else again. If they did this they would quickly not be in business anymore.
I agree that they should note the terms more clearly, but it's in the terms of service which you've agreed to so there's not much that can be done legally. When you sign up for and pay for the service, you're agreeing to the terms of service. There's no way they can force you to read it, but at the same time it's your responsibility to read the terms of service whether you actually want to or not. If you don't actually read the terms of service before agreeing to them it's not the fault of the company, and in the end it's your problem...not theirs. SiriusXM isn't the only company that does stuff like this, and I'm sure they won't be the last. When's the last time you read your cell phone terms of service? Or your Voice over IP terms of service? Probably never for most people...and they do the same type of crap.
- A lifetime subscription *cannot* be transferred to any other receiver if it's associated with a factory receiver (part of the factory equipment installed by the car manufacturer or dealer). The exception to this is if the unit is found to be defective at some point and is replaced under warranty, then the subscription is transferred to the replacement equipment (of same type/model) for free.
- A lifetime subscription *can* be transferred if it's associated with non-factory equipment (such as a "plug and play" unit purchased retail) up to 3 times. There is a $75 fee for each transfer. As with a "factory" unit, if the unit is found to be defective and replaced under warranty the transfer is done for free.
- Any non-lifetime subscription can be transferred to any receiver at any time, any number of times. There is a $15 fee for each transfer.
As with anything else, YMMV and probably depends on which rep you talk to and possibly what kind of mood they're in, how nice you are to them, what the situation is, etc. They can tell whether or not it's a factory receiver, make, model, etc as soon as they enter the ESN into their system.
Most "lifetime" things are not meant for *your* lifetime. A business has to make money, and they're not going to make any money if everyone buys a lifetime subscription and then never pays anything else again. If they did this they would quickly not be in business anymore.
I agree that they should note the terms more clearly, but it's in the terms of service which you've agreed to so there's not much that can be done legally. When you sign up for and pay for the service, you're agreeing to the terms of service. There's no way they can force you to read it, but at the same time it's your responsibility to read the terms of service whether you actually want to or not. If you don't actually read the terms of service before agreeing to them it's not the fault of the company, and in the end it's your problem...not theirs. SiriusXM isn't the only company that does stuff like this, and I'm sure they won't be the last. When's the last time you read your cell phone terms of service? Or your Voice over IP terms of service? Probably never for most people...and they do the same type of crap.
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I'm still shocked and half irritated that people would just assume its for THEIR lifetime. Of course it's for the lifetime of the product...I didn't have to read any fine print to figure that one out. I saw "lifetime subscription" and instantly assumed that it was for however long the product lasts. If the unit lasts 15 years, then good deal for the customer. If it lasts 3 years, then its a worse deal. None the less sirius/xm can't control how careful you are with your radio or if it happens to break. People also resell their radio with a lifetime subscription on it already for a decent chunk of change, sometimes pretty close to what they got the plan for so in that case sirius/xm definetly loses out. Silly people.
