Sirius Satellite confusion at the Dealer?

[Pauly]

I picked up my new 2007 X3 at my dealer last night - the delivery process was a bit dis-organized as far as deliveries go, but I am quite pleased with the car so the actual process was secondary to me.

I seemed to know more about this car than my sales person and the service dept.!

I had the Sirius Satellite option installed, with a prior arrangement at a discount (supposedly?) and was told by the parts dept. when I called 3 weeks ago that the Sirius Satellite package included one year of subscription programming. When I tried to verify my 1 year subscription before I left, nobody knew the definitive answer (my salesperson did not know, the finance manager said no it wasn't and a service guy said yes it was; nothing like a consensus.)

So I just left and figured I would call Sirius today and get an answer.

I called Sirius this morning and I was told, that based on my ESN number from the Sirius display on my dash, that I only had a 3 month subscription?

I mentioned that all the BMW dealers and after market providers I talked to were selling their units and advertising them as 1year free programming.

I was told that my dealer did not sign up for that program and that they were only signed up for the 3 month free program.

Well I am not happy as I could have bought the Sirius system for CHEAPER than what I paid my dealer and received a one year free subscription.

I have a call in to my dealer to work this out - I thought people should know what is going on with this "supposed" one year free programming with the purchase of a new BMW with satellite installed - 1 year free is not always the case.

I am also guessing the Shark Fin is also incorrectly wired as per SIB 65 30 06 - we shall see when I finally try to activate the satellite radio...................

BB

[Rick in Prescott]

You bought a 40k plus car..... and you're worried about 9 months of Sirius programming at 12.99 a month?
It's fair to be a little upset about it and it doesn't suprise me that no one knew but hey,,,,you got a really nice BMW and 100 dollars of Sirius programming shouldn't be to big of an issue.
I bought my Sirius kit from a dealer for 300 dollars. Installed it myself in 45 minutes and went ahead and added it to my already existing account. I pay by the year and get a month free by doing so. Maybe you should go that way.
Good luck on your new X3, congrats!!!
PS you should already be able to listen to the one "setup" channel. If your antenna is hooked up correctly you should be able to know before you try to activate the receiver.

[noncom23]

Congrats and Welcome.

[Pauly]

Originally Posted by Rick in Prescott

You bought a 40k plus car..... and you're worried about 9 months of Sirius programming at 12.99 a month?
It's fair to be a little upset about it and it doesn't suprise me that no one knew but hey,,,,you got a really nice BMW and 100 dollars of Sirius programming shouldn't be to big of an issue.
I bought my Sirius kit from a dealer for 300 dollars. Installed it myself in 45 minutes and went ahead and added it to my already existing account. I pay by the year and get a month free by doing so. Maybe you should go that way.
Good luck on your new X3, congrats!!!
PS you should already be able to listen to the one "setup" channel. If your antenna is hooked up correctly you should be able to know before you try to activate the receiver.

Rick:

You are right - the money is inconsequential, but the principal matters to me. When I base a decison on what I believe to be true - I get a little ticked when I find that I was misled, intentional or not.

I am sure the dealer and I will work it out one way or the other, I am not trying to whine here -just trying to point out that there is some misinfomation out there regarding Sirius packaging offered through BMW dealers and for buyers to beware.

The car is great - I am so glad I ordered the Sports Package, a decision I made at the last minute because I really wanted the sport seats - I was really worried about it being too harsh of a ride - but it rides much much better than I imagined it would with the sport suspension - it is extremely comfortable in my opinion and I drove over some rough roads to get home last night.

No problem with transmission shifting either, as some have complained about the 2 gear lag - in the non sport driving mode. The gear changes are quite smooth and I don't detect the lag that others have discussed when the car transitions from 2 gear when stopped.

All in all I am quite impresssed!

So how do I access the setup channel to see if indeed my antenna is hooked up correctly? I don't see anything in the Sirius manual regarding this.

Thanks,

BB

[Rick in Prescott]

Once you have the receiver installed, just turn on the stereo and push the "mode" button until you see "Sirius". The display should read "acquiring". That should last for a few minutes as the receiver downloads the channel information. It should then go to the setup channel on its own.

[Pauly]

Originally Posted by Rick in Prescott

Once you have the receiver installed, just turn on the stereo and push the "mode" button until you see "Sirius". The display should read "acquiring". That should last for a few minutes as the receiver downloads the channel information. It should then go to the setup channel on its own.

So the receiver will download channel info and go to setup even though there is no activated account associated with the unit?

BB

[Tom G.]

Originally Posted by Pauly

So the receiver will download channel info and go to setup even though there is no activated account associated with the unit?

BB

The receiver will not DL anything other than the preview channel (Chan 184) until activated.

[Pauly]

Originally Posted by Tom G.

The receiver will not DL anything other than the preview channel (Chan 184) until activated.

Ok, thanks Tom!

By the way - I went to the Sirius website instead of contacting Sirius by phone again and accessed the new user signup area. I went through the registration process and using my Sirius Receiver ID number it recognized the BMW 1 year prepaid subscription provided by BMW.

Problem solved.

Why the customer service rep could not do this is a mystery?

BB

[Tom G.]

Originally Posted by Pauly

I picked up my new 2007 X3 at my dealer last night - the delivery process was a bit dis-organized as far as deliveries go, but I am quite pleased with the car so the actual process was secondary to me.

I seemed to know more about this car than my sales person and the service dept.!

I had the Sirius Satellite option installed, with a prior arrangement at a discount (supposedly?) and was told by the parts dept. when I called 3 weeks ago that the Sirius Satellite package included one year of subscription programming. When I tried to verify my 1 year subscription before I left, nobody knew the definitive answer (my salesperson did not know, the finance manager said no it wasn't and a service guy said yes it was; nothing like a consensus.)

So I just left and figured I would call Sirius today and get an answer.

I called Sirius this morning and I was told, that based on my ESN number from the Sirius display on my dash, that I only had a 3 month subscription?

I mentioned that all the BMW dealers and after market providers I talked to were selling their units and advertising them as 1year free programming.

I was told that my dealer did not sign up for that program and that they were only signed up for the 3 month free program.

Well I am not happy as I could have bought the Sirius system for CHEAPER than what I paid my dealer and received a one year free subscription.

I have a call in to my dealer to work this out - I thought people should know what is going on with this "supposed" one year free programming with the purchase of a new BMW with satellite installed - 1 year free is not always the case.

I am also guessing the Shark Fin is also incorrectly wired as per SIB 65 30 06 - we shall see when I finally try to activate the satellite radio...................

BB

This is been happening a lot lately, as long as your receiver part number is ending in 377 - you get 1 year of programming included. You paid for the programming, it's not "free".

We have a document that explains this in detail that will help in your case, email me directly and I'll help you out.

[acattaneo]

If you miss the Setup signal when installing your new service you can log onto your Sirius account , find your SN and from there you can select the option to resend the activation signal ( Internet Kick Start)
I just had to go through this with one of my other new radios.