I got a phone call from a SIRIUS XM representative a week or so ago to update my contact information. Apparently, rates are going up. Again. He tried to sneak it in at the end of the conversation, but I pressed the matter and found that they will now be charging around two dollars more per month, per subscription. That’s an additional four dollars a month for the two subscriptions we have. Based on the previous rates, that almost a 20% increase! I don’t think satellite radio is worth around $25/month.

What is the increase for? According to the rep I spoke to, it’s for copyright fees imposed on them, that they previously absorbed, but have now decided to pass on to customers. This is simply the cost of doing business for them. Not only do we have phone and cable companies passing on taxes and surcharges, now the radio I listen to in the car wants to tax me!

I politely informed the representative that it is a poor business decision, because they will lose more customers because of this, which they can hardly afford in this economy. Either they can absorb a couple bucks a month like they used to, or they can lose many times that amount for each subscriber who decides enough is enough. They will likely lose us as customers and will need to refund what we’ve paid for the next three months of service – over $60! The next payment would include the fee & be around $75! Multiply that a few hundred, or thousand, times and that’s going to hurt.

That’s the real cost of doing business…