Anybody else's XM trial end today?

[prberg]

My XM is back online. Didn't call in. Weird. But since it is XM..... Nothing surprises me. They probably hacked my finances somehow. Watch your credit cards!

Mine is back on as well. But as EVLover said in a previous post, it sounds like Nissan contacted XM and got our initial trial period extended. Maybe they did that to make it easier to mange (if all the cars are extended they don't have to track when individual trial periods are supported to start and stop?)

-Peter

 

[lonndoggie]

My Leaf never had the trial period operational. Checked it again to see if the trial magically activated, as some reported--it hadn't. So, After almost two months of ownership, I called yesterday to get it activated.

Without prompting, the very nice lady gave me six months, traffic, and whatever else was originally supposed to come with it. W00t!

After reading some of the later posts in this thread as a how-to, I called Nissan CS first to see what they had to say. They gave me the number to call (888.465.8528) and told me to have my VIN and radio ID ready. Did so, got activated while I waited on the call (I was in the car) to assure it worked. Very nice.

If the person I was talking to was a non-native speaker in a call center around the world, color me impressed.

 

[oakwcj]

I got a letter SiriusXM today informing me that my dead radio is alive. This refers to a radio that died about two years ago. The letter said that I would get access to 60 channels from August 30-September 12, with an option to get XM Select for an additional 5 months for $25. On a hunch, I went out to my LEAF and, sure enough, those 60 channels are now active. I then went to the SiriusXM website and was informed that the radio in my LEAF has a three-month free trial ending on November 23, 2011. This is after I made one call in June when my first free trial ended after a few weeks and they refused to extend it. I assume that all the LEAF radios will have the 60 XM channels through September 12, but YMMV.

 

[TomT]

Two years ago???

This refers to a radio that died about two years ago.

 

[oakwcj]

Two years ago???

This refers to a radio that died about two years ago.

Yep. They sent it to me free after its ancestor died. This one lived two months, but it's immortal in the XM database. They make really high quality hardware.

I sent a refresh signal to my LEAF radio and it now is back to the XM Select and Traffic that we all started off with. XM works in mysterious ways.

 

[JPWhite]

I purchased a plan prior to expiry. But I have to say that XM/Sirius's pricing plans are way too numerous, complicated, and mostly a rip off.

I discovered that their 'mostly music' plan matched by presets perfectly. BUT you can't get traffic data with a cheaper plan, you have to have XM select or better. In the end I decided I hardly ever used the traffic data anyhow, and Google have much more traffic data anyway on my android phone so I went with the cheaper plan plus internet streaming. Now I can stream my XM at work or on my phone. Internet streaming costs the same as Pandora One, so at least they are competitive there.

 

[johnr]

I just received a call from Sirius XM. They told me my original trial was probably 90 days, then they said it seemed what happens is they give you two 90-day trials back-to-back, but for whatever reason my second 90-day trial was supposed to start in August but it didn't activate. So they activated it for me today, and convinced me to sign up for an additional 6 months at $5 a month to start when the trial ends. Well, you have to turn the radio on to XM channel 1 and leave it there for a few minutes to give it a chance to receive the activation signal, and now I've got all my channels again. But I am kinda disappointed after enjoying the clarity of music piped in from my ipod, the XM transmission sounds rather compressed. I might reconsider paying even $5 a month for this.

 

[DarkStar]

Still receiving my free XM trial as of today. My 6 month anniversary is on the 25th so I'll keep everyone posted!

 

[TomT]

My 6 month anniversary came and went on the first of September and it is still working...

Still receiving my free XM trial as of today. My 6 month anniversary is on the 25th so I'll keep everyone posted!

 

[smkettner]

OK so my XM worked for about 3 weeks back in May and shut down along with the rest of everybody.

So yesterday (four months later) XM calls me at home. I am kinda anoyed that they have my home phone number. I told them about the poor trial period and my dissappointment. Then she goes on to say their records show I got the car in August and that XM has been working since then. I reiterated how the initial dissappointment in MAY put a bad taste in me about the service. She made no offer to make it right. Tried the XM just for giggles, not working. :roll:

Why can't they just get it right. Why not send me an activation number good for 30 day or 180 days and a pricing plan sheet if I should want to continue. If it was good and I had any time to find a favorite channel maybe I could have found some value in the service.

XM has now made my list.

 

[walterbays]

Is anyone in San Diego getting useful information from the XM traffic feature?

Based on some descriptions from people in LA I had thought this would be the feature worth paying for after the trial subscription ended. But so far (4 months) it hasn't done me any good at all. I can see the green lines along highways that I know are moving freely. I often see the yellow bars along areas of the road that I already know will be stuck at that time of day. I've been stuck in several unexpected traffic jams, including a couple of really bad ones. And XM hasn't given me the slightest warning of them. Just the same green bars. I had expected the NAV system to give me verbal alerts of traffic and propose detours. Or at least I had expected to see red bars and incident icons when I checked the map. But no, nothing. By contrast if I look on any of the traffic web sites like sigalert.com I always see the problem areas before I drive there and get stuck.

So, are there some special settings you have to enable to get the traffic feature to really work? Or is it just that their data sources are just no good in the San Diego area?

Thanks.

 

[JPWhite]

Based on some descriptions from people in LA I had thought this would be the feature worth paying for after the trial subscription ended.

I'm not in San Diego, but having talked with Sirius the traffic feed is only available on the top 2 or 3 premium plans. The plan I signed up for (Mostly Music) is not able to have the traffic data as an add-on.

Getting traffic is therefore expensive :-(

 

[redLEAF]

Is anyone in San Diego getting useful information from the XM traffic feature?

Based on some descriptions from people in LA I had thought this would be the feature worth paying for after the trial subscription ended. But so far (4 months) it hasn't done me any good at all. I can see the green lines along highways that I know are moving freely. I often see the yellow bars along areas of the road that I already know will be stuck at that time of day. I've been stuck in several unexpected traffic jams, including a couple of really bad ones. And XM hasn't given me the slightest warning of them. Just the same green bars. I had expected the NAV system to give me verbal alerts of traffic and propose detours. Or at least I had expected to see red bars and incident icons when I checked the map. But no, nothing. By contrast if I look on any of the traffic web sites like sigalert.com I always see the problem areas before I drive there and get stuck.

So, are there some special settings you have to enable to get the traffic feature to really work? Or is it just that their data sources are just no good in the San Diego area?

Thanks.

I have (had) the Sirius traffic feature (Sirius merged with XM a while back) in my '09 VW Routan and I'm sure it's very similar if not the same service 'piced separately' feature on the LEAF -- when going on the tollways around Chicago as well as other metro areas (on our trip south last year through Atlanta) I noticed that it would actually drive the NAV routing crazy -- constantly saying something like 'recalculating due to traffic' and at times getting you off the main highway for a 'quicker' detour -- if you didn't heed its warning it would simply change your ETA. So do you have a route selected or are you simply switching to the NAV screen? I doubt if it will work simply switching on the NAV; try putting in your work commute or select go home when appropriate and see what prompts you get. As (at least to me) I really didn't see the value add (I use the traffic/weather reports on either local radio or the metro city ones on Sirius) I dropped it. As our (eventual) LEAF will be not be used much going downtown I doubt I'll keep the traffic option as well as there isn't enough EVSE infrastructure to take it to the next metro area that it covers -- I've found the portable hand-held GPS units with live traffic seem to allways perform better but that has more to do with their own update process, etc. done by each mfg. As I recall it doesn't cost much extra (depneds on what plan you sign up for) but then if it doesn't provide enough value versus other means to get traffic info it's worth dropping.

 

[thankyouOB]

the problem with their traffic thing, is that unlike sigalert.com, it doesnt segregate the HOV lanes.
so it really is not that useful.

 

[WAM]

In June, I reported in this thread that my "3 month free trial" for Sirius XM ended only 3 weeks after I picked up the car in May.
I called the number on the radio (not the one reported in this thread) and was told I had only 30 days.
After that, I just plugged in my iPod and forgot about XM.
Near the end of September, I got a call from XM asking how I'm enjoying my Leaf and my "free XM trial".
I explained to them about how my "free trial" stopped working after only 3 weeks.
According to their computer, I had a trial until October 14th.
Since they are in the marketing department, they really couldn't help but said they would TRY to pass along the info. to the proper dept.
Meanwhile, I get a marketing call EVERY DAY from a different person at XM trying to sell me the 6 month for $4.99 per month deal.
I explain to each one I haven't HAD my free trial yet so I'm not paying for anything.
Finally, I file an online help ticket with XM and managed to get a 3 month free trial that runs from Oct - Jan.
1 or 2 more calls from the marketing dept. came through after that, but they've finally stopped.
Based on this experience, I am NOT a fan of XM and would be HIGHLY unlikely to become a paid subscriber.
Now I have the trial again, I'm reminded that the music is interrupted by DJ's and adverts for XM's other stations and services.
I think I'll go back to the iPod when the trial is over!

 

[thankyouOB]

does navigation work without XM?
I get that you lose the traffic overlay.

 

[EricBayArea]

does navigation work without XM?
I get that you lose the traffic overlay.

Nav works but not the traffic overlay.

 

[pjoseph]

Android has outstanding Navigation / Traffic features.

Streaming alternatives include Pandora, Spotify & Slacker radio.

And Sirius XM called me at least 50 times at home (from the call logs) before my trial ended. Never left a message. Their subscription plan choices are obtuse. And it is very hard to cancel (quick google search). i refuse to do business with these blood sucking leeches.

Rhetoric question. Really, Nissan. Why did you go with Sirius XM in a futuristic car?

 

[lc96]

Is there a way to get rid of the XM presets in the radio system?

 

[JPWhite]

does navigation work without XM?
I get that you lose the traffic overlay.

Nav works but not the traffic overlay.

Also just because you have XM doesn't mean you'll have traffic overlay. Only the most expensive XM plans include traffic.

When you do have traffic it only covers major interstates and a few primary routes. Maps on Android has traffic for minor city streets as well as the more traveled routes.