Sirius XM selling customer info to telemarketers

wickerbill

Active Member
Jan 20, 2009
291
37
28
Tulsa, OK
So I have been getting quite a few calls over the past six months from companies calling to try and sell me a car warranty on my wife's car and some for the same year and model that my sister drives. I was wondering how they were able to link my wife's car to my cell phone, which is not listed in any directories. When we register our vehicles with the state, they do not request a phone number so they didn't get it from them. I was also really curious how they somehow linked my cell phone number to my sister's car.

Then I realized the connection. Both my wife's vehicle and my sister's are both on my Sirius XM account. Sirius XM also has my cell phone number. So I went to the sirius XM website and sure enough their privacy, or lack of privacy, policy clearly states they share your data with third parties to offer you stuff they think you might be interested in. Because everybody is dying to get an unsolicited call from a shady car warranty company.

http://www.siriusxm.com/pdf/siriusxm_privacypolicy_eng.pdf

Now I just need to figure out how to get these assholes in NYC to stop selling my data to these shady companies. Is it not enough that I keep paying their ever increasing subscription fees so now they have to sell my number and other info too?
 

hyson

Forum Jerk
Oct 19, 2008
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A while back when I was trying to swap radios between my (then) Jeep and my wife's (then) Focus, Sirius somehow magically knew what sort of vehicle their radios were in. I know I didn't tell them nor had to write that down anywhere to register the radios.

I was pretty horrified by that knowledge and asked them how they knew what sort of vehicle the radios were in. IIRC, the rep said something to the affect that each vehicle has a unique identifier that the radio picks up and beams back HQ. It was a while ago so I'm sure I'm not explaining it correctly.

But the moral of the my story at least is that SiriusXM may be delving more into your person info than you may realize. This story above reemphasizes that, too.
 

blueneon36

Active Member
Mar 10, 2009
880
156
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Pittsburgh
That's why I have only given Sirius my home phone and address information.

If you ever receive "Pre-Sort Standard" Mail (usually says that in the little box on the top right hand side of the envelope), then most all of it is junk mail. Only open it if it says something like "Important Tax Documentation" or "Time Sensitive Material Enclosed".

My aunt works for USPS. Thats how I know. Proceed with throwing out mail at your own discretion. :agree:

My home phone is for collection calls and solicitation calls only.

I don't owe anyone money, but Charles, Robert, Tanya, and Bruce do. No matter how many times I tell these telemarketers that I have only had this phone number for 6 months, I still manage to get multiple phone calls looking for payment.

My Cell Phone is only for folks who I feel deserve to have it. I would never give it out to a company. Ever. For any reason.
 

sjb4

Member
Oct 12, 2008
161
11
18
Just got the same phone call trying to sell me a car warranty today. Was trying to figure out how they knew the car and had cell phone #. I thought it was the dealership. Now I suspect its Sirius.
 
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Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
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A while back when I was trying to swap radios between my (then) Jeep and my wife's (then) Focus, Sirius somehow magically knew what sort of vehicle their radios were in. I know I didn't tell them nor had to write that down anywhere to register the radios.

I was pretty horrified by that knowledge and asked them how they knew what sort of vehicle the radios were in. IIRC, the rep said something to the affect that each vehicle has a unique identifier that the radio picks up and beams back HQ. It was a while ago so I'm sure I'm not explaining it correctly.

But the moral of the my story at least is that SiriusXM may be delving more into your person info than you may realize. This story above reemphasizes that, too.

I'm sure the ESN (or whatever they're called) numbers do correspond somehow to the type of radio. I remember my first radio, a Sportster Replay started with a lot of 0's. The number was something like 00000XXXXX whereas the X's were all different digits.

The Ford radios might all start with something like 1292, the Hondas might all start 1319, etc...I don't know, those are all completely random, but you get the drift.

And yeah, as people continue to ditch their home phones en masse, they'll realize why they had one...it's a great number to give the various registration forms. Plus, if anyone has tenants, they're a great group of people to give the landline.
 
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hyson

Forum Jerk
Oct 19, 2008
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I'm sure the ESN (or whatever they're called) numbers do correspond somehow to the type of radio. I remember my first radio, a Sportster Replay started with a lot of 0's. The number was something like 00000XXXXX whereas the X's were all different digits.

The Ford radios might all start with something like 1292, the Hondas might all start 1319, etc...I don't know, those are all completely random, but you get the drift.

And yeah, as people continue to ditch their home phones en masse, they'll realize why they had one...it's a great number to give the various registration forms. Plus, if anyone has tenants, they're a great group of people to give the landline.

These weren't factory OEM sat radios. I had Plug 'n Play units in both vehicles.

There's no way Sirius should/could have known what sort of vehicle their radios were in. I wonder what other sort of information there were gathering.
 

Vols44

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2008
1,228
143
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Another situation where I'm glad my landline is history. Sirius doesn't have my cell or any of the important email addresses. Send it to me by mail and let my company generate revenue.
 

no1hedberg

Member
Oct 13, 2008
335
19
18
West Virginia
Actually it is illegal for companies to make solicitation calls to any cellular telephone number, because of the airtime charges to the person receiving the calls. You shouldn't, but if you do get a solicitation call on your cell phone, answer the call, then tell the caller that you need their name, as well as the name of the company they represent so that you can report them to your state attorney general. I promise you won't hear from them again. Also be sure to register your home phone on the national do not call registry at donotcall.gov. And don't fall for the bs emails asking to add your cell phone numbers to a do not call list. There is no such thing. They are phishing for numbers. The law already protects cell phones.
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
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It also helps if your particular phone and/or service has call blocking. Which also works nicely for wrong numbers, psycho ex-girlfriends and old 'FWBs' with the woman (I'm guessing) that had my number before.