good price on renewal, why?
I received a post card in the mail yesterday telling me that I needed to update the billing information on my account (credit card expiration date on a card) to avoid interruption of service. Why would my service be interrupted? I don't run out until April. It shouldn't need to be renewed until then and I didn't want them to auto-renew me anyway. I don't recall agreeing or opting into automatic renewal or ever being notified about automatic renewal. I have had the service for three years or longer and manually renewed until now. So I say "good," it makes my decision to leave that much easier.
I am NOT going to renew. But they better not cut my service off prior to the renewal date.
XM radio has gone WAY downhill since the merger and elimination of my favorite station. This price increase could not have come at a worse time with my own situation (feelings towards XM and the merger) and the economy the way it is for just about everyone. What are they thinking?
I have two radios and my wife and I occasionally listen to the online version. I am not paying $3 a month for something I may not use for three months and then use a lot for a few days or weeks and then don't use again for a while. At the very least they should give you like 10-20 hours a month free and then charge you $3 a month if you go over that for people that want it when they want it but hardly use it. A-holes!
I'm canceling soon!
Per my earlier comment (above), I was going to cancel and called them yesterday. I actually received a snail mail mailing with a pretty good deal for the first radio, including the online and $6.99 for the 2nd radio if I acted by 3-10 or whatever the date is around the corner where the price increase is supposed to hit.
So I called the number on the mailing and got a disconnected message. I thought, "this is Vonage, this has happened before with toll free numbers" and picked up my cell phone. Same thing, number disconnected. So they published a marketing number that is either disconnected or was a misprint. So I called the number I have used in previous calls and it worked.
I hit zero and got somebody almost right away. I told her about the offer and that I really planned on canceling if they cannot give me a steal. Well, she said that the deal on the paper was no good and before I could get mad, she said they had a better offer.
I asked a few questions. "What if I renew and you guys go under? Is my money lost, partial refund, what? She told me they are told to say that no matter what happens there will be no interruption in service. OK, whatever... so by my renewing it is taking a chance. But anything you do now days seems to be taking a chance.
So she gave me a rate of about $100 less than I paid a year ago for 1 year, 2 radios, and online access. She also merged my renewal dates, which were for some reason still about a month off. Now they will renew together, a year from today.
So, I think they are desperate and offering big deals in retention. I don't get it. They jack the rate way up and then offer discounts deeper than last year. Maybe they are hearing the feedback from those of us that are unhappy with the music changes.
I basically only listen to talk now and get my fair share of commercials. But I think the lower price is fair. I paid $12.xx broken down per month for two radios and the online. We'll give it one more year and then revisit both service and offered plans. What really saved me as a customer, since I lost my favorite station The System, was Fox News Talk. I enjoy Brian and the Judge, John Gibson, Tom Sullivan, etc, while in the car. Especially now, with all the uncertainty in the economy. I hardly ever turn on the music channels anymore. The System was so much better than Area, but seriously, I have to let it go. My psychiatrist tells me just "let it go, it isn't worth it." So, I will let it go and move on. I'll heal with time and get over the music situation. Maybe talk will help heal me up. And heck, I still have tons of MP3 CDs, playable in my car, with tons of good stuff if I want music and cannot stand whatever XM is playing.
Anybody else 99% sure they were going to cancel end up changing their mind? For me, it wasn't me being suckered into it. I've spent the last few months rediscovering talk radio since the music channels merged and found value in XM again. I really would have canceled, had they not given me a good deal, but I was sort of hoping they'd talk me into staying with a deal.
Now is the time to call for a deal with bankruptcy talk and this disturbing economy. I wouldn't renew too far ahead (3 years), but 1 year perhaps.
more like raping of XM 
