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Gee, thanks, GM! - Onstar analog to go silent

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Comments

  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,384
    I have no argument with people who love Onstar. I understand what it represents beyond what a cell phone does.

    My problem is with them selling a technology and then dumping it leaving their customers high and dry.

    What they should have done and claimed they couldn't at the time was retrofit the cars with analog Onstar to the digital version. As it turns out with the mirror now available for any vehicle the cost would have been in the hundreds. Most folks with the older cars wouldn't bother. Would have been a good PR move on their part. At that time GM was only about moving vehicles onto the public - not any kind of customer service.
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,151
    edited April 2011
    When they went digital, because the cellphone companies and government changed, there were replacement parts to upgrade analog to digital, but it was relatively pricey. Those were for some cars that were designed near the digital appearance. And I felt that GM should have done it for free as part of a year contract at a medium price or two years.

    That's what they ended up doing in more recent years.

    >At that time GM was only about moving vehicles onto the public - not any kind of customer service.

    I believe other companies have been reluctant to replace things or parts that became outmoded. GM isn't the only company: to wit, the toyota problems of the last 8 years that they hid fairly successfully. Also there are transmissions, brake parts, engine control units that aren't working as customers should think they would.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • darkfire666darkfire666 Member Posts: 8
    i just bought my 08 chevy impala LT and it has on star i went for a week with out the system and will con tinue to do so after my 6 month free subscription runs out unless i do buy it i love the onstar system tho i dont love the price
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,151
    After the subscription runs out, they will call you on landline to see if they can get you sign up again at a reduced incentive price. Wait 2-3 weeks. Be sure that you are not set up where they automatically can bill your credit card to extend it with minimal notification to you.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • forsytheforsythe Member Posts: 2
    Actually they did retrofit soem models once it was learned that everything was going to digital. There are cars and some suvs but mostly cars that had both analog and digital systems. Claiming GM left some people high and dry makes no sense. Thats like saying the cell phone companies are leaving people high and dry because they didnt make cell phones that were older have both systems to work. Technology changes soo quickly as we all know. Everyone is trying to keep up. The mirror is a answer for everyone who likes the system but dont own a gm vehicle or do own a car with it but the system is older. If GM left people high and dry by doiong what your claiming then so did the cell phone companies, tv companies with new digital systems and people having to buy convertors. Medicine has left people high and dry coming out with new more expensive meds that make older cheaper meds obsolete. We just bought a new 2011 gm vehicle with onstar and can control it with our phone. At some point Im sure this system will be obsolete. Everything changes like the country song says.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,384
    Tell that to the people who bought the late analog systems and found that their year or two year old used car that had been sold to the new for big bucks no longer has the safety feature they chose the car for.

    GM screwed their customers. It's bad when the cable company has better customer relations. I still have a couple of old analog sets. The boxes to convert them to digital were provided for free.

    Imid makes the point aht GM is not unique in such behavior and he is correct.
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • smarty666smarty666 Member Posts: 1,503
    I received a free digital converter for my television when the televisions were switched from analog to a digital signal. There is no excuse for GM to had invest in doing something similar to those customers affected with the onstar situation.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
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  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,151
    Has anyone tried FamilyLink service from OnStar?

    I have it turned on and will try it for at least 1 month. I'd like to know what others think about it.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    What's FamilyLink? Is GM tweaking Facebook's nose a bit again?
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,151
    Since this title doesn't lend itself to extension, I started a FamilyLink discussion.

    http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f25cc77/0#MSG0

    It also can be set to give a message to certain contacts on a list at defined times each day: i.e., at 8:00 am when your student is supposed to be parked in the school lot and in the school building.

    The beta apparently was run at the last quarter of 2011. I recall getting an email message offering the service, but my car was sitting in my garage so I didn't see a benefit. Now the car is at college and summer job, so I decided to try it out for locating my car at random times during the day.

    For $3.99 per month in addition to the regular OnStar fee, it seemed like it was worth it. It is month-to-month, so I can delete the service without losing my paid year remaining for regular OnStar.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

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