[MBrown1003]

At the end of the one-year complimentary subscription to Sirius on my last car (E90 M3), I called Sirius to look into extending it for the two years remaining on the lease.

The person on the phone attempted to railroad me into a 5-year plan, which was ridiculous since I was only going to have the car for two more years. I resented his "presumptive close" approach, and asked to speak to someone else. I complained, and renewed for two years.

Reviewing my recent AmEx charges, they AUTOMATICALLY renewed the subscription for two more years (on a car I no longer have) to the tune of $294. I will be calling them today to attempt to resolve it, but beware!

[HoustonEaDo]

That's the way they do it -- they "auto" renew unless you call in and talk to them....just went through the same thing with my renewal. I got an email and snail-mail alerting me about the renewal ahead of time though -- it said they would auto-renew unless I called in....

Did you cancel the subscription on the car you no longer have -- they definitely shouldn't have renewed that one if you did.

[MBrown1003]

I didn't cancel it because I had only signed up for two years, and didn't expect the auto-renewal.

[vdubturbo]

I'm just annoyed that the 1 year comp service doesn't include some of the basic music channels I normally listen to. I find it odd they'd omit music channels. I could understand some of the more premium programming.

[HoustonEaDo]

Originally Posted by MBrown1003

I didn't cancel it because I had only signed up for two years, and didn't expect the auto-renewal.

I didn't expect it either, but I didn't read the customer agreement (who does) which clearly states it will be auto-renewed unless you call in...my lesson learned

[MBrown1003]

Further update: my initial call was about 40 minutes and involved three different reps, with a hold for each. The best the credit person could do was to pro-rate the remaining balance and credit it to my account. I asked for someone who could arrange a refund to my credit card of the full amount. She transferred me again (that would have been the third rep), but I had a meeting, so I hung up.

I called back later and spent another 10 minutes or so on hold and gave up. Next, I called AmEx. In less than seven minutes, I explained the situation, the guy found the transaction, and established a dispute with Sirius.

[Krash7172]

They are crooks. I have to go through this on a regular basis. I handle a fleet of leased company vehicles. Once, my credit card expired during the lease. I figured they wouldn't renew without a valid credit card. They billed it to one of my employees credit cards! Shouldn't that be illegal???

Best advice: call them shortly before your lease ends and tell them you want to cancel when you turn in the vehicle and do not auto-renew. They will tell you that they will do as you wish but I still don't trust them. Watch your credit card statement.

[MBrown1003]

http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/XM+Radio

Interesting reading. They only post the most recent 750 negative comments.

[Krash7172]

We declined service on a couple of cars after the trial period expired. I recently got notice of a "complementary" period of service and they reactivated the radio without permission. Now I have to monitor all possible credit cards to see if they will try to get me again with an unauthorized renewal. I will not be so nice this time.