Classic Crappy Marketing Ploy

XM satellite radio is the latest company to offer to "serve me better" by dicking me around.

Yesterday, I received a letter from Joe Zarella, Chief Service Officer, Sirius XM Radio. It begins positively enough: "Because you are a valued customer and you enjoy listening to XM Radio online, we are offering you a special opportunity to continue to listen online at no cost..."

Oh great! A special opportunity! Listening online! Nice! "At no cost"! Great!

"...if you renew your radio subscription now with one of our longer-term plans."

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Then the serious dicking around begins:

On March 11,2009, the XM Radio Online listening platform will be upgraded to a higher quality digital audio and no longer included as a part of a base subscription at no charge. If you renew now, you can continue to listen online, at your home or office, FREE for the length of term you choose-but only if you act quickly.

Zarella lures me in with "upgraded to a higher quality digital audio" and then drops the hammer: online listening, which had been free, will now cost me.

And, gee, I can avoid this new fee for something I was getting for free if I just agree to a longer commitment to XM than I had before!

So, let me sum up: I get degraded service and I lock myself into that service for an extended period of time.

What crap.

Instead of inspiring me to lock into XM's service contract, I think I'll just lock myself out entirely and move on to other less crappy options.

You can read the whole crappy pitch in this PDF file.