American Express drops SiriusXM from eligibility for its $20 per month ‘digital entertainment credit’. I’ve been using that credit for my New York Times digital subscription and for SiriusXM. However, SiriusXM charges will only be rebated through May 7th.
I’ll still get full use out of the credit, since I have a five year old daughter and the credit also covers Disney+.
But since there will be many of you that were using the credit to cover satellite radio, it seemed worth reminding that you’ll want to reconsider the purchase – but that it may be worth paying for if you press for a discount.
- I had their Platinum plan which covers all of their stations. It’s the only one that has CNBC, it turns out. And ‘regular price’ is $23.99 per month plus various taxes, fees and add-on costs.
- But nobody needs to pay that much for it. There are various introductory discounts, and they’ll extend those discounts when you threaten to cancel.
- You might be tempted to jump on their offer of $7.99++ for this plan, but even that is too much money.
- Before your “next 12 months” pricing ends, just threaten to cancel again to have it extended. I set an annual calendar reminder to do an online chat.
I just threatened to cancel again and got set up with pricing for the next 12 months. Some of you may even be getting it for less than this for all I know, but here’s my monthly cost for the top plan:
I wouldn’t pay $8 or $11 plus fees – let alone $23.99++! But I’m going to keep SiriusXM at $5 per month. Your mileage may vary – once it’s coming out of pocket again you need to consider how much it’s worth paying for and adjust accordingly.
If you’re paying more than this, just threaten to cancel. When they come back with a lower price, tell them that’s too expensive also. Then tell them that your friend Gary pays $3.99 per month and that’s the most you’re willing to pay, too.
And don’t forget to charge something else instead to your Amex Platinum card to max out on the $240 per year Digital Entertainment Credit. You can pick from Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. And for what it’s worth my New York Times access is discounted as well.
By the way, this credit is something you have to activate (enroll for) in your account. If you don’t, the statement credits won’t trigger. That’s one more way for Amex to promote breakage, since while they aren’t paying the retail cost to these vendors (they are selling access to very premium customers to these brands after all) there still may be a cost.
I got a new vehicle a 4 years ago and got the great rate for a year. About $12 with tax. Every year when I’m up for renewal I tell the. I can only pay $12 and they hope that rate. Music news and all the sports.
I have the plan right below Platinum and get CNBC (plus can stream all channels, including many not available on the car, on my phone or PC).
I did use my Amex credit to offset the Sirius/XM (3 cars and around $60 total a month). However, I also get most streaming services so simply moved my Disney+ (I use it for Hulu and ESPN+ a lot more than Disney) to my Amex Platinum. Cost is a little over $20 a month so it covers the credit. Easy solution and I’m not one to nickel and dime a provider threatening to cancel to get a cheaper rate. I can easily afford to pay so to haggle over something like that seems petty and cheap (at least to me).
Thanks Gary. Took 5-10 minutes via chat, got Music & Entertainment (includes CNBC, but not Howard Stern or Play by Play, I believe). First offer was $5.99 per month, then I agreed to $3.99 per month. No hassle whatsoever.
I have been paying 4.99 plus the taxes and fees. I assumed I had the best deal. When they first leaked out that the benefit was going away I had to go through their chat and I have been manually charging a full $20.00 on mine and my wife’s platinum card. I will do it again by May 7th. So I have built a little credit to last for a several months and AMEX has reimbursed me the full $20.
This is very hard to believe! I never knew ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY listened to CNBC!
Did they put out a notice to cardholders?
Thanks for the timely post, my bill get’s charged on the 9th!
Thanks for the tip on dealing with them via chat. By the way, am I correct in that your $3.99 fee is for one radio ??
@Carl Fredrickson “I never knew ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY listened to CNBC!”
Much more informative than listening to Fox (Out of) Business.
@Dal7910 – one car radio, yes
Pay the full price for 3 cars. Enjoy SirusXM as I am a constant channel surfer, can afford it and want them to survive, so wouldn’t cheap out on them. Moved over my Disney+/Hulu bundle to get the credit. The Amex coupon book is beyond annoying, only have 2 Amex cards (Plat and Hilton Aspire) and think about canceling the Platinum every day, but I value the lounge more than I should probably, so sticking with it for now.
Gary – been meaning to do this for a while. On an $18.99 plan for over a year. Total is $23.05 per month.
Been meaning to try this approach for a while. Finally did it today. Had a length chat with an agent (because you cannot just cancel online without speaking to someone on chat).
He offered me their “new” All Music plan for $9.99 + tax. I held out saying it was more than I wanted to spend and that I have too many subscriptions. He didn’t offer me anything better.
Wonder if I will get a retention offer via email in the next few weeks.
I got tired of the haggling and canceled it.
I’ve been paying $4.99 a month for XM for years but I have to call or chat once a year and threaten to leave until they drop it down. Now I know to ask for $3.99.
I use the Amex credit for Hulu and Peacock then use Walmart+ which includes Paramount. I think I got the low-level bundle that includes some of Disney+. My total goes like $1.88 over the $20 credit. I find Disney+ pretty worthless. I don’t actually watch that much on any of these but it’s nice once in a while when they have newer movies for free.
Frankly if it wasn’t for a rare sports event and this Amex credit I would never subscribe to any of these.
Terrible, we typically blow the full $20 on XM (2 cars plus traffic) and use P2 card for other publications. Zero need for Disney, Paramont etc and Hulu is only 99c right now.
A huge downgrade for Amex Plat
for what it’s worth, they seem to be refusing to offer the platinum plan for 3.99 at the moment. the best I could get out of them was the “music & entertainment package” for 3.99.
I asked them to cancel rather than agree to the lesser package, and they did cancel. we’ll see if there’s any attempt at retention before the end of service (may 19).