Onstar Experiences

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

porthole said:

From a few posts above.

Click to expand...

Sync did not work, no cell service, the only working phone system in My emergency was Onstar.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

I've been very pleased with OnStar in all my GM vehicles. I love the satellite phone for international travel - whereas we've experienced problems with cell phone roaming. I've also used the emergency call a couple of times and they've been fantastic.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

OnStar sucks until this happens..... I will be a lifetime subscriber. Their phone is overpriced and minutes expire. I don't use that. I connect my phone via bluetooth and that works very well. However, after a big rig pulled out in front of me the folks from OnStar were talking to me within seconds literally after the impact. I could not move nor reach my cell from the trauma from the crash. They were able to get an ambulance to me and get me on the way to the ER before my wife could get dressed and drive to the scene which was only about 5 miles away.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

ncc1701e said:

Sync did not work, no cell service, the only working phone system in My emergency was Onstar.

Click to expand...

I'm confused. Sync is a ford option, onstar is a gm option. Both are cell service based. The ford version using your cell phone BT'd to the radio, GM with a proprietary cell phone.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

ILH said:

I've been very pleased with OnStar in all my GM vehicles. I love the satellite phone for international travel - whereas we've experienced problems with cell phone roaming. I've also used the emergency call a couple of times and they've been fantastic.

Click to expand...

Satellite phone???

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

porthole said:

I'm confused. Sync is a ford option, onstar is a gm option. Both are cell service based. The ford version using your cell phone BT'd to the radio, GM with a proprietary cell phone.

Click to expand...

Ice took down everything electrical. For what ever reason the only service that was working was Onstar in our GMC Acadia. No regular cell phone would connect to any line. You did live it, we did and that was the way it went down. Cell and sync in My F250 were useless that day.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

I'll always keep my Onstar activated. I carry a work cell phone and a personal cell phone, so I don't have a need for the minutes, but I use everything else.

I use the heck out of the cell phone remote features. At work it's about a third of a mile walk from my office to my truck. When I get there, the truck is cool in the summer and warm in the winter (can't do that with a keyfob). At home, my truck is in my shop building and the keyfob won't work from inside the house, but Onstar starts the truck. I also use it on the way to camp grounds with the dogs, when we eat at a restaurant. I get out, lock the doors, start the truck with the keyfob, then use the phone to start it about 15 minutes later while eating. Dogs stay cool. I can honestly say I use it almost everyday.

I haven't had a wreck yet, but recently I had a tire get a big bubble in the tread and it was starting to separate. I made it to a restaurant, called Onstar, and they sent out a person to change the truck tire for me while I ate dinner. I didn't get dirty and kept on going down the road. I haven't had a wreck yet, but it's good to know it's there (like some of the other stories on this thread).

As far as the future, I hope they give us some more remote control features. Like controlling the temperature setting or maybe giving us the internal vehicle temperature remotely. Then not only could I see what the temp is in the truck, I could change it.

Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

Now they've got my account number all screwed up and my service is not working at all.

I got an email yesterday telling me that the account number I gave them over the phone (which was on the paperwork and working for the five weeks I've had the truck) is wrong and gave me a new account number that is supposed to be right.

But guess what?

Neither account number works . . . I can't log on to the APP or the website . . . and the service is deactivated.

My truck just turned over 3000 miles today.

One good thing . . . my topper finally came in and I got it installed today!



Guess I'll be spending yet another lunch hour tomorrow trying to get this Onstar messed figured out.

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

JohnD said:

Now they've got my account number all screwed up and my service is not working at all.

I got an email yesterday telling me that the account number I gave them over the phone (which was on the paperwork and working for the five weeks I've had the truck) is wrong and gave me a new account number that is supposed to be right.

But guess what?

Neither account number works . . . I can't log on to the APP or the website . . . and the service is deactivated.

My truck just turned over 3000 miles today.

One good thing . . . my topper finally came in and I got it installed today!

View attachment 32328

Guess I'll be spending yet another lunch hour tomorrow trying to get this Onstar messed figured out.

Click to expand...

Great looking topper. Is it an A.R.E.? I had an A.R.E. On 2 different trucks had it for 12 years before the fiver and was able to sell it for $400 nice tops. I had Onstar trial when I bought my new truck although I never really used I didn't have any trouble with them. Since I bought my truck in January and knew I would not be using it until April or May I called and asked them if they could delay the start of the service while they where not able too the agent did extend the service for 6 months which I thought was nice.

I hope you get it worked out. BTW I really love the color of your truck. I let myself get talked into another black truck when I bought mine. Black looks great when clean but they are a pain to keep clean. I call it the rain maker...wash it and it is gaurenteed to rain within 24 hours.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

JohnD said:

Now they've got my account number all screwed up and my service is not working at all.

I got an email yesterday telling me that the account number I gave them over the phone (which was on the paperwork and working for the five weeks I've had the truck) is wrong and gave me a new account number that is supposed to be right.

Click to expand...

Wonder if the Colorado On-Star people are stopping by the pot shop on the way to work.

John did you get the 6 free months of On-Star and 300 minutes? That's what came with my truck. I haven't had any problems so far but I haven't tried to buy minutes yet either, need to do that pretty soon so the minutes I have left will roll over.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

I have the Ford Sync that does not cost me anything, but I have to renew my account free of charge every year. I get weather, traffic, phone usage and etc and It is fantastic and I even down load my routing in Mapquest to Ford Sync for GPS routing free of charge. I thought OnStar was similar. What is it they are charging for?

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

Kbvols said:

Great looking topper. Is it an A.R.E.? I had an A.R.E. On 2 different trucks had it for 12 years before the fiver and was able to sell it for $400 nice tops. I had Onstar trial when I bought my new truck although I never really used I didn't have any trouble with them. Since I bought my truck in January and knew I would not be using it until April or May I called and asked them if they could delay the start of the service while they where not able too the agent did extend the service for 6 months which I thought was nice.

I hope you get it worked out. BTW I really love the color of your truck. I let myself get talked into another black truck when I bought mine. Black looks great when clean but they are a pain to keep clean. I call it the rain maker...wash it and it is gaurenteed to rain within 24 hours.

Click to expand...

The topper is a Ranch . . . it has a removable front window, fully carpeted (both of these options were free), twin lock handles, and a plastic molded cover over the top of the tailgate (my old truck had that rubber flap on the topper door that wore the paint off of the tailgate down to bare metal), and LED interior and rear brake lights.

I was looking at the Leer toppers, which had a more rounded and sleek look to them, but would have cost about $500 more for roughly the same topper (needed to save that $500 plus a few more $$ for the license plates in a couple of weeks ).

I love the color of the new truck as well.

Ironically, it is the same color as my previous truck, which just happened to be a coincidence as I purchased the new truck right off the lot and it just happened to be the one that had what I was looking for.

Whe were actually hoping to get a dark or charcoal gray.

As for the Onstar, it is the free trial with the $300 minutes for $10.

It was trying to pay them the $10 for the minutes that started all of this nonsense in the first place!

Maybe I can get an extra free six months out of them after this is straightened out.

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

I double check my Ford Sync account in Ford provide a 3 year complimentary service free of charge and then charges $60/year after that. The service is well worth renewing and offers the following services; and I believe OnStar provides similar services. The downloading of Mapquest to either Ford Sync or OnStar is well worth it because I can add via's and route to avoid illegal roads and low underpasses for pulling a large trailer. I must say it took me some time to learn how to properly use the service. The dealers do provide training on how to best use it--- at least Ford requires the dealers to provide the instructions and would think GM has the same requirement of its dealers.

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

OK . . . today I finally got it all straightened out and was able to log on and get the app going again and my Onstar service reactivated!

Just locked my doors with the app and my new truck has 3,999 miles on it as it sits in my driveway at this moment . . .

Onstar gave me two free months on top of the six month free with the purchase of a brand new truck, but really it is only one month since I lost a month without service.

At the end of the free trial, somehow I doubt that I'll pay for the monthly service as I already have a GPS unit, and the Onstar will still work when I press the blue button on the rear view mirror (although they'll probably ask me for a credit card number before they send out the rescue helicopter just hope I am able to reach my wallet! ), even if I don't pay for the monthly service.

Time will tell . . .

My new 2015 Chevy truck:

Re: Onstar's customer service leaves a lot to be desired . . .

This is not an Onstar bash, just news.
Recent MVA in California that had an onstar activation that sent the troops to two very different incorrect locations.

Kudos to the LEO that cracked an "I" account password and do a "find my iPhone" to locate an injured woman.

Very cool rescue.

http://www.policeone.com/police-her...op-uses-iPad-to-find-woman-trapped-in-ravine/

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

My daughters BIL and SIL took there children to Disney in fl during August. At the hotel she started her car with the remote, put the key on the seat while she put the 1 year old I. His car seat. After she buckled him in she shut his door and the car locked. She called onstar to unlock the car. Her subscription had expired by less than a month. They refused to unlock the car. Her husband got a credit card out of his wallet and tried to pay to renew. The operator refused to take payment and unlock the car. The police arrived and identified himself to the operator with name rank and badge number, operator still refused! The fire department arrived shortly after the car shut off and broke the window out of the car to rescue the baby. Mom was frantic and very upset. What kind of emergency service won't take a payment to do there job in an emergency!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

123camper said:

My daughters BIL and SIL took there children to Disney in fl during August. At the hotel she started her car with the remote, put the key on the seat while she put the 1 year old I. His car seat. After she buckled him in she shut his door and the car locked. She called onstar to unlock the car. Her subscription had expired by less than a month. They refused to unlock the car. Her husband got a credit card out of his wallet and tried to pay to renew. The operator refused to take payment and unlock the car. The police arrived and identified himself to the operator with name rank and badge number, operator still refused! The fire department arrived shortly after the car shut off and broke the window out of the car to rescue the baby. Mom was frantic and very upset. What kind of emergency service won't take a payment to do there job in an emergency!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Before we jump out the window bash GM, lets make sure we have all the facts. If I was the operator and had the ability, I would unlock the doors as the reasonable thing to do. However, lets keep in mind that we are dealing with an operator who may have limited resources to do so. It could be possible that the account was deleted from her computer and to reactivate the account would take more effort than the operator had the ability to do. In other words when an account is deactivated, it takes some effort to re-activate. The lesson to be learned is resources like OnSTar cost money to operate and if you want it, renew it before an emergency happens.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

123camper said:

My daughters BIL and SIL took there children to Disney in fl during August. At the hotel she started her car with the remote, put the key on the seat while she put the 1 year old I. His car seat. After she buckled him in she shut his door and the car locked. She called onstar to unlock the car. Her subscription had expired by less than a month. They refused to unlock the car. Her husband got a credit card out of his wallet and tried to pay to renew. The operator refused to take payment and unlock the car. The police arrived and identified himself to the operator with name rank and badge number, operator still refused! The fire department arrived shortly after the car shut off and broke the window out of the car to rescue the baby. Mom was frantic and very upset. What kind of emergency service won't take a payment to do there job in an emergency!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I would curious as to how the car door locked automatically.
And I have to ask, did they check the drivers door?


My wife did that many years ago when our daughter was 6-8 months old when dropping her off at daycare. Granted it was pouring and she was trying to get to work.
PD was called and they were not able to slim Jim the doors.

I was called at work, and when she got done explaining to me in a panic what happened I spoke with one of the PD's and asked him to try the drivers door.

Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

Funny, to remote start both of our GM vehicles, you have to first LOCK the doors with the key fob before doing a remote start with the key fob. When we travel, we both carry a set of keys for the vehicle.

Don't want to get caught with your pants down, sign up for annual automatic renewal.

Re: Onstar sucks . . . anyone with me?

I kept the basic onstar service without the extras. I like being able to lock and unlock the doors from anywhere with my cell phone etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk