FastFordNut Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 Like many other owners, My car came with 6 months of "free" Sirius. Not a big fan of the hockey puck radio, but I figured I would give a try. I bought the car in January and asked about the activation rules since I wasn't going to drive the car for several months. I was told by the dealer that the subscription would run 6 months from the time I call and have them turn it on. Activation date was 6/19. On 9/19 service stopped. Using all my fingers and toes, this mathematical equation works out to be only 3 months. Called Sirius and after 30 minutes of so called "research" and "please hold", the guy tells me my subscription had expired. I was then transferred to operator #2, after another 15-20 minutes of repeating my code, password, vin and phone number, he also tells me my subscription is over. He then informs me that he couldn't help me and and the dealership would need to correct the problem. So...I take the car and all paperwork to a local dealer (not pop). They were pretty cool considering they didn't sell me the car (sold it to another dealer instead) After explaining the ordeal to him, he responded with some chin scratching and stammering. I was then handed over to a service tech for assistance. He ran an Oasis report to which he responded with an "ahaa!" and a "hmmm". My car was built in October and received by the dealer in late November. Oasis report shows the warranty was activated within a day from when they got the car. Techs theory is the dealer processed the car so it would appear as a "sold" unit which would possibly improve his chances of getting another allocation. He went on to say that the confusion with my subscription may ahve been compounded by the dealers activities. Not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. Of course, none of this resolved my radio woes, but it does show what could be a very questionable practice by a dealer and crappy customer service from a radio service. Basically I'm out 3 months of radio service and 6 weeks of warranty. The warranty part should be easy to fix. As for Sirius, No big loss. I'm not investing any more time trying to keep a service I might use only occasionally in a 4-5 month driving season. The car will soon be settling in for a long winters nap anyway. I guess I'm disappointed in their lack of effort to fix the problem which seems to be common place with many service based businesses these days. Fortunately, I seldom listen to any kind of radio while driving. The S/C and exhaust sounds are my preferred listening choice Now, to find a way to neatly remove that puck and plug the hole... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyPilot Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 Like many other owners, My car came with 6 months of "free" Sirius.Not a big fan of the hockey puck radio, but I figured I would give a try. I bought the car in January and asked about the activation rules since I wasn't going to drive the car for several months. I was told by the dealer that the subscription would run 6 months from the time I call and have them turn it on. Activation date was 6/19. On 9/19 service stopped. Using all my fingers and toes, this mathematical equation works out to be only 3 months. Called Sirius and after 30 minutes of so called "research" and "please hold", the guy tells me my subscription had expired. I was then transferred to operator #2, after another 15-20 minutes of repeating my code, password, vin and phone number, he also tells me my subscription is over. He then informs me that he couldn't help me and and the dealership would need to correct the problem. So...I take the car and all paperwork to a local dealer (not pop). They were pretty cool considering they didn't sell me the car (sold it to another dealer instead) After explaining the ordeal to him, he responded with some chin scratching and stammering. I was then handed over to a service tech for assistance. He ran an Oasis report to which he responded with an "ahaa!" and a "hmmm". My car was built in October and received by the dealer in late November. Oasis report shows the warranty was activated within a day from when they got the car. Techs theory is the dealer processed the car so it would appear as a "sold" unit which would possibly improve his chances of getting another allocation. He went on to say that the confusion with my subscription may ahve been compounded by the dealers activities. Not sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. Of course, none of this resolved my radio woes, but it does show what could be a very questionable practice by a dealer and crappy customer service from a radio service. Basically I'm out 3 months of radio service and 6 weeks of warranty. The warranty part should be easy to fix. As for Sirius, No big loss. I'm not investing any more time trying to keep a service I might use only occasionally in a 4-5 month driving season. The car will soon be settling in for a long winters nap anyway. I guess I'm disappointed in their lack of effort to fix the problem which seems to be common place with many service based businesses these days. Fortunately, I seldom listen to any kind of radio while driving. The S/C and exhaust sounds are my preferred listening choice Now, to find a way to neatly remove that puck and plug the hole... No real loss. If you are planning on a long term hold on the car you can get a lifetime subscription for $399.00 that can be transferred up to three times to new vehicles. So if you are going to keep it forever go ahead and swallow the pill and keep the puck more than a decoration of an option you probably shouldn't have gotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdwaterHotrod Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 even if you renew for a 1yr you can call sirius & have the suspend the service at any time & then call them back in the spring & have them reactivate it for free to finish out the subscription. This was an inside tip from my dealer since he knew I was putting the car in storage for the winter after just gettng it in November Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 even if you renew for a 1yr you can call sirius & have the suspend the service at any time & then call them back in the spring & have them reactivate it for free to finish out the subscription. This was an inside tip from my dealer since he knew I was putting the car in storage for the winter after just gettng it in November GREAT TIP!! Thanks Coldy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXPcustom Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 My car came with the radio service activated I never called or anything. Was this the case with any of you guys, never received any notices in the mail either its been on for two months now I wont do anything till its turned off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 My car came with the radio service activated I never called or anything. Was this the case with any of you guys, never received any notices in the mail either its been on for two months now I wont do anything till its turned off. Same here. I didn't do a thing - was working when I picked it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXPcustom Posted September 26, 2007 Report Share Posted September 26, 2007 Just an FYI although it is a bit unethical. If you know you are not going to be driving your car for 3 months or more park your car and do not turn it on for at least three months. After parking the car for winter or storage call Sirius and cancel your sub. After three months they will stop transmitting the signal that terminates your service and your Sirius should still be active. I have heard a recent update in the hardware has made this exploit obselete. Once again it is unethical and technically stealing but I just wanted to point this out to Sirius owners. I am not going to do this because its unethical but I used to work in the satelite industry and this was discovered with the earlier Sirius recievers. I thought it would be neat to know as an FYI. Mods delete this post if its inapropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdwaterHotrod Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 This is a rumor & not true EXPCustom. it will automatically expire & when you turn it on it will check your rececivers number before any programing will be allowed to work. just call them or wait out the mail for the renewal, mine came & that's what I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXPcustom Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 This is a rumor & not true EXPCustom. it will automatically expire & when you turn it on it will check your rececivers number before any programing will be allowed to work. just call them or wait out the mail for the renewal, mine came & that's what I did. They way it worked before was that they would transmit the expired receiver number through the satelite signal for a period of 90 days then to conserve bandwidth would stop transmitting the expired signal after 90 days. Now from what I have read there is some new security feature built in its some sort of acronym GSL or something that supposedly prevents this. You have to remember with a satelite receiver you can only receive data you can not transmit data back to the satelite. The bandwidth of the satelite signal made it impractical to resend expirey of service messages for more than 90 days.It had to specifically transmit your receiver number through the sat signal, This is how the original exploit worked. The early 90 day trick was confirmed to work by many people on the older receivers. BTW this is stealing and I would not condone this behavior I will be buying a lifetime sub I just was putting the information out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 I let the Sirius subscription run out in my F-150 last year (because I really didn't care for it anyways). It still doesn't work if I try to turn it on. Is that what you were talking about? Would it just start working again after 3 months?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXPcustom Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 I let the Sirius subscription run out in my F-150 last year (because I really didn't care for it anyways). It still doesn't work if I try to turn it on. Is that what you were talking about? Would it just start working again after 3 months?? Let me explain it. If you have your reciever on and called Sirius to cancel(or did not turn it off prior to expiration of service) the radio it receives the sat signal and gets turned off permanantley till you call, pay and they resend a activation signal. The way the old tricked worked was you turned off the radion called and canceled. If your receiver is turned off it cant receive the signal that cancels the service. After three months its safe to turn the radion on and it will still be activated. Once again just to point out this is technically steallingI am just putting out there so everyone knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 ahhh, i see now. wonder if it still works ..... not that anyone should try it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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