I’m a Saturn gal and was crushed when I learned GM was discontinuing the line. In January of this year I purchased a 2009 Saturn AURA Hybrid, my third Saturn vehicle, and absolutely love it. XM Satellite Radio came as a three-month trial (as it does in all GM vehicles) and I admit to being hooked. XM Radio is fabulous during long road trips and I spend quite a bit of time on the road. My “new” vehicle already has 5,500 miles.
The XM people have been calling me to purchase a subscription after the trial period and last night I finally did, using the postcard mailed to me with my special radio code. Was all excited this morning and hoped to tune into CNN on the drive to work, or maybe some old school ’80s tunes but all I kept getting was “unauthorized channel”.
What?
So I called customer service and this is the short of how the conversation went:
Call Center: “You need to park your car outside facing the southern sky, set the radio to XM Channel 1, and let the car run for 15 to 20 minutes. Can I have your Radio ID to refresh the satellite signal? There’s a three-hour window to refresh it.”
Me: “Wait. I need to park the car outside, facing south and let the car run for 15 minutes?”
Call Center: “Well, yes. You can drive but if you go under power lines, underpasses and trees, it will interfere with the signal so it is best to park it toward a clear southern sky and you have a three-hour from the time I press refresh.”
Geesh, with all this technology, thought these types of things would be easy.
Needless to say, I did not park my car outside and let it run for 15 minutes. I will have to log on tomorrow morning before work to refresh the signal and hope I find a southern route free of trees on my way to the office. And I know it’ll be worth it for my CNN, ’80s station, and Blue Collar Radio, to name a few of my fave channels.
