SiriusXM MegaPhail
Jan. 20th, 2017 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceagleNot 100% certain what is happening with satellite radio, but at the very least, they seem to be going in the direction of headdus up the buttus... at least re: pricing/plans:
Many years ago I got a portable one for my old car, and eventually got a lifetime-subscription, so that one is fine.. but they haven't offered the lifetime plan for new customers for a while.. so that's a bad sign to begin with.
Then when I got the newer car, it came with a built-in one with a temporary free subscription, so that was convenient. Then when it came time to pay, it wasn't that bad.. around $70/year, so I went for it. Gradually it went up, 80.. 85... and I would have to call in to get the good rate. So this year I called in, and suddenly the "good" rate is $153 !! ;/ screw that! That's not even the plan I had, which was more channels and now $222 !
Incidentally.. that "basic" one doesn't even include the comedy channels anymore... which... Have Commercials! That doesn't even make sense! Why NOT include channels on a basic plan that are already supported by commercials?? it's nuts...
So then after I told the phone rep to cancel, they said they had to switch me to another department (perhaps customer retention heavies)... and proceeded to put me on hold for.... 90 minutes!.... It mighta been longer, but I just hung up after that long... In the meantime I connected to their online chat, and that person was nice albeit powerless to help.
So I'm sending off a final payment and hopefully they got the picture that I'm cutting 'em off, but I'll probably have to check back once more at least to be sure. And I can just move the old old lifetime radio into the newer car.. it'll be a smidge more hassle with its own antenna, but sure beats an unnecessary $222 luxury expense to pay for an incompetent pricing system.
rarrr!
Many years ago I got a portable one for my old car, and eventually got a lifetime-subscription, so that one is fine.. but they haven't offered the lifetime plan for new customers for a while.. so that's a bad sign to begin with.
Then when I got the newer car, it came with a built-in one with a temporary free subscription, so that was convenient. Then when it came time to pay, it wasn't that bad.. around $70/year, so I went for it. Gradually it went up, 80.. 85... and I would have to call in to get the good rate. So this year I called in, and suddenly the "good" rate is $153 !! ;/ screw that! That's not even the plan I had, which was more channels and now $222 !
Incidentally.. that "basic" one doesn't even include the comedy channels anymore... which... Have Commercials! That doesn't even make sense! Why NOT include channels on a basic plan that are already supported by commercials?? it's nuts...
So then after I told the phone rep to cancel, they said they had to switch me to another department (perhaps customer retention heavies)... and proceeded to put me on hold for.... 90 minutes!.... It mighta been longer, but I just hung up after that long... In the meantime I connected to their online chat, and that person was nice albeit powerless to help.
So I'm sending off a final payment and hopefully they got the picture that I'm cutting 'em off, but I'll probably have to check back once more at least to be sure. And I can just move the old old lifetime radio into the newer car.. it'll be a smidge more hassle with its own antenna, but sure beats an unnecessary $222 luxury expense to pay for an incompetent pricing system.
rarrr!
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no subject
Date: 2017-01-21 01:53 pm (UTC)We're still wedded to FM, although the powers that be wanted that shut down by now. But FM radios have existed since forever, consume so little battery power, are absolutely everywhere and most definitely FM is "good enough" through to "really quite excellent". The replacement will be DAB - horrendously bad quality (MP2!) low bitrate and often mono broadcasts. DAB+ is meant to happen (AAC / better quality) but that means throwing virtually all existing DAB radios into landfill. It's an utter balls-up. And they're all over priced and power-hungry devices. Very few "hi-fi" DAB systems around, most are mono portable radios intended to sit in the corner of a kitchen or something. I suppose appropriate given the broadcast quality is way inferior to FM.
But still, all free-to-air. Subscription radio is an alien concept. I'd certainly hope none of the subscription stations had commercials! It boggles my mind why people pay for subscription TV - with at least as many commercials as free-to-air stations.