Sirius Sucks

Falkie2013 · November 11, 2013, 10:37:11 AM

Here's the place to tell your Sirius XM horror stories.
Service interruptions, failure to refund, etc.

DanTSX · November 11, 2013, 11:47:04 AM

I enjoyed my three subscriptions with Sirius over the past 10 years of so.

I only canceled for various changes in my listening habits brought upon by work changes.

I never had reception problems and used both built-in car, mobile, and residential recievers.

I found the content to be thoughtful, enjoyable, and diverse.

Only gripe was a little bit too much audio compression on talk stations, but if I turned up all of my box fans on high, I could barely notice it.

I never steamed sat radio. Only used the recievers, which is the intent of the service.

karios8 · November 11, 2013, 01:23:11 PM

My favorite show is no longer on Sirius so that REALLY sucks but I do enjoy the commercial free rock stations in the car

LemurCat · November 11, 2013, 03:24:53 PM

XM subscriber since 2002, I enjoy it immediately. I have three receivers and streaming internet on my account. I have one car stereo head unit, one home boombox unit (an old Roady 2), and a portable handset. The only time I have reception issues with these is if I'm driving in an area with insufficient terrestial signal repeaters. I usually stream XM (no, I won't call it Sirius) on an iPhone or iPad. The Listener Inactivity cut off can be annoying, but I can only imagine how much worse it would be for those who were paying for their cellular data NOT having a warning. I haven't experienced any of the issues Mr. Bell has complained about. I can't help think a good many of these issues - Listen Inactivity cut off aside and some of the idiosyncracies of their streaming application aside - are more due to the location of the listeners and not the XM platform.

Yes, the customer service is notoriously terrible. And there is no excuse for that.

DanTSX · November 11, 2013, 03:29:12 PM

Quote from: LemurCat on November 11, 2013, 03:24:53 PM
XM subscriber since 2002, I enjoy it immediately. I have three receivers and streaming internet on my account. I have one car stereo head unit, one home boombox unit (an old Roady 2), and a portable handset. The only time I have reception issues with these is if I'm driving in an area with insufficient terrestial signal repeaters. I usually stream XM (no, I won't call it Sirius) on an iPhone or iPad. The Listener Inactivity cut off can be annoying, but I can only imagine how much worse it would be for those who were paying for their cellular data NOT having a warning. I haven't experienced any of the issues Mr. Bell has complained about. I can't help think a good many of these issues - Listen Inactivity cut off aside and some of the idiosyncracies of their streaming application aside - are more due to the location of the listeners and not the XM platform.

Yes, the customer service is notoriously terrible. And there is no excuse for that.

The fee trial people that Art complained were dropping, were people too cheap to get a real sat receiver. It's not like they are expensive either. That's like quitting a radio station in Phoenix because the stream listeners can heart you in Vancouver. Meanwhile all the people with an am radio hear fine.

The streaming is a bonus feature. Not SXM's normal content.

Snowdoggie · November 11, 2013, 03:33:37 PM

I've had my Siruis subscription since 2003. I have one in each car now.

I'll probably keep it even though what they did to Art sucked.

Terrestrial radio where I live sucks even more. Nothing but the same syndicated right wing political talk and endless sports talk on 20 different stations. My cars have satellite radio and a plug for the iPod. I don't even think the AM band works anymore.

KLIF even dumped Coast to Coast a few years ago along with their local daytime shows. Now they run the same syndicated stuff every station in the country runs. I remember AM DXing when I was a kid. Listening to far off clear channel stations late at night. Hearing what stations in other states have to offer. Now there is no there is no point in that. Stations on the other side of the country run the same shows you get locally. Terrestrial radio is dead.

LemurCat · November 11, 2013, 03:42:30 PM

I'm keeping mine regardless. Being a hockey fan, it's the best thing going radio wise, and the music content is fantastic. Honestly, I don't blame Sirius or Art for what happened. It's just a deal that didn't work out. Perhaps Art should have vetted his listener base a little better before making promises he couldn't keep in regards to subscriptions and callers, and maybe Sirius should have been a little more forthright with their technology limitations. But I can't help but wonder ... if Stern and O&A can pull it off not problem, why can't Art? Ahh well, mysteries of the universe.

Guess it's back to the West Coast hockey games for me. I won't go out of my way to stream a show online.

Kolchak · November 11, 2013, 04:09:13 PM

I've had an XM subscription before the merger with Sirius. It's still going strong. I have a receiver in the car and home, and everything comes in crystal clear. Art's never sounded better - it was like he was in the room.

I've used the streaming a grand total of 5 times (because I have receivers), but there were never any drops. Dark Matter was the only talk show I listened to, and I'm sad things turned out this way, but I'm still keeping my subscription to listen to commercial free music and news. It's well worth the money.

Morgus · November 12, 2013, 01:43:15 AM

Quote from: Falkie2013 on November 11, 2013, 10:37:11 AM
Here's the place to tell your Sirius XM horror stories.

the big horror story tonight is Sirus/XM is playing live c2cam on channel 104 in place of Art Bell's Dark Matter...

area51drone · November 12, 2013, 01:53:53 AM

You guys with multiple receivers - do you have to pay a subscription on each device? Or is it just one subscription plus a little bit more for another device?

Mind Flayer Monk · November 12, 2013, 01:56:37 AM

+$8 for each extra device

b_dubb · November 12, 2013, 12:02:51 PM

Quote from: Morgus on November 12, 2013, 01:43:15 AM
the big horror story tonight is Sirus/XM is playing live c2cam on channel 104 in place of Art Bell's Dark Matter...

brutal

I canceled my scrip. I never liked the Sirius iPhone App. It was klunky and you couldn't really save the content. Two thumbs down.

Wintermute · November 12, 2013, 01:22:44 PM

I was an XM subscriber from 2001 - 2003 while I traveled for work quite a bit. I had a very cheap receiver and a couple of magnetic antennas. Never had an issue until I was in a metro area in between concrete buildings and under over-passes.

When I bought my last vehicle in 2012, SiriusXM was free for a year. Surprisingly, I listened to it about 50% of the time. I heard Art Bell was coming back. I let my subscription lapse purposely in order to get a better deal out of them. I did get a very good deal out of them for a 6mo extension and Internet free streaming. Honestly my wife uses it more than I do... 50's and 60's channels.

I have had very few problems. Network errors on the Andriod app now and again, but it was a connectivity issue. And then their programming schedule is never very solid... never know what is on.

Odds are very good that I will not re-up even if Art Bell comes back to XM. Again I'll see what kind of deal they make me but I just don't see the value.