I have a new Honda Civic Hybrid. I read and saw with my own eyes engraved on the radio installed in the car; "XM READY." On this car's radio along with all the buttons that come with most cars that have radios there is a button for labeled "XM/AUX" AND right above the buttons it has written " (XM READY)"
I asked the guy who was showing me the car what that means. He told me that the car is ready to have XM Radio which is a subscription service you can order. It is great. You get 100% radio/music/news whatever you like. There are no commercials.
In the Quick Start booklet that came with the car it states also that this is available but it does not go into great detail about anything. This booklet is mostly focusing on the use of a hybrid auto.
I called the Service Dept. At the Dealer where I purchased the car about 6 months after I took the car home. The service guy that I had already come to know fairly well told me; "yeah, all you have to do is have the company start your service, I am sure. Call them up."
I called up XM Radio and the Rep was very helpful. She thought with all that I told her (the same things i stated above) that the car should be able to have the service once I punch in a code. We tried for 45 minutes to see if we could get this started and we were never able to. She suggested i go back to the dealer.
This time I asked the Manager and he told me; "no, it is not able to take XM Radio until you have the equipment installed. This cost around $1200." I was shocked. I asked him why does it have a button for XM Radio and right above this button say; " (XM Radio Ready)?" He said he had no idea.
I called XM Radio back, gave thanks to the rep who helped me and told her that it is not ready to take XM Radio. I had to have the equipment installed. She asked, does it have the special antenna on top of the car? I said yes a small black and removable antenna. I asked what that was for before I purchased the car and the salesperson told me it has to do with XM Radio.
I called Honda Automobile in Torrance, California. The man in Customer Complaints said he had no idea about what I was talking about. He seemed very uninterested to do anything. I asked if I could file a complaint. He said yea, but nothing will happen. I said, how do you know that. He said nothing and asked for my information and complaint.
It is now about 6 months since I called Honda and filed that complaint and I have not heard anything. I think this is so misleading. Why would they clearly put a permanent decal in nice writing stating that the car is XM Radio Ready, have an XM Radio button, the Service Rep tell me it is XM Radio Ready and all I needed to do is call the XM Radio Company. The sales guy who sold me the car told me it was XM ready. I assumed that it had this $1200-$1500 equipment installed.
This large, successful, and foreign company should be grateful to this country for what the US has given them. Why would they want to mislead, or at the very least, not be clear about what the radio in the car is capable of performing the second I turn the key???
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