Onstar is crap....

[Number 3]

Originally Posted by justincase_2008

so why not build it to be under the cars skin and not the eye sore shark fin it is now? But i understnad his complaint. Onstar uses verizon for its calls and it has happened were my phone works but onstar cant get a hold of the car...

On the Corvette, it is in the mirrors. But as I understand it, the antennae can't be below sheetmetal. Remember the original antennae? It was on the rear backglass or on some SUVs it was on the rear quarter glass. So it could be moved from the sharkfin, but it like every other detail, costs more $$ to move it. Every expensive car has some type of sharkfin, not sure why some people complain about it on the Camaro. It's just part of the technology.

And you guys are correct, OnStar doesn't call for an accident, it calls on A/B deployment.

[pennor]

Originally Posted by Murph0408

i did my free year but that's it. all i ever used it for was the GPS where you call them and tell them where you want to go. which i did kinda like but then they told me how expensive it was to keep, and i realized

"hmm for that money i can buy a great GPS, once, instead of their ridiculous yearly bill"

AGREE 100%
On my first trip I decided to test out Onstar turn-by-turn against my $99 GPS. Of course I knew where I was headed and didn't need either. Here's what happened. . .

I found the resort in the GPS and entered it in. Then I called Onstar and asked them for directions to the same resort. They couldn't find it and put me on hold for 7 minutes while they called the resort to get an address. He came back on and told me he could only get me to the nearest town 12 miles away. I said, "OK, I can get there from that point", because I knew where I was going. I told my GPS to avoid Interstates because I wanted to take a route over the mountains and not through the cities. The GPS obliged. Onstar would not do it, and after 30 miles gave up and told me to turn left on a forest service road that would get me there, but in the winter would take me into a snow drift and leave me stranded. After trying for 15 miles to get me to make a "safe and legal" U-turn back to that forest service road, I requested a new route from Onstar at which point it told me 3 times that it couldn't make a connection and gave up completely.

Turn-by-turn sure doesn't seem to be worth the money. I doubt that I'll keep it once the free trial is over.

[timcat4843]

I will never own another Corvette without OnStar.
It's on my 08 coupe and I love it.
I like having a guardian angel riding with me.

[RPO_Z28]

Originally Posted by timcat4843

I will never own another Corvette without OnStar.
It's on my 08 coupe and I love it.
I like having a guardian angel riding with me.

In a crash, built-in vehicle sensors automatically alert an OnStar Advisor and relay
critical details
An Emergency Advisor is immediately connected into your vehicle to see if you need help
Even if you’re hurt and can’t respond, the Advisor knows your exact location through GPS technology and can direct emergency responders to
the scene
The Advisor also provides critical crash data to the responders so they are better prepared to treat you when they arrive at
the scene

Automatic Crash Response allows us to send help right to you — even if you can’t ask for it — This can help save your life.

[BilJ]

OP - just curious, but did you accept the four months of free service or turn it down? BTW, I am very happy with my Onstar service and would not want to be without it.

[JuanT]

I change my radio and I din't get GPS because Onstar
I use it, I like it, I keep it
Just me if you don't like it don't keep it
Did you acept the 4 months free? i so WHY

[Stormyone]

People's experiences with Onstar vary, my experience has been excellent, so for me it is not crap and I'll be keeping it... Generalizations tend to be misleading...

[usmcjlp]

Wow it looks like the GM die hards want to pile on anyone who has a complaint. I agree completely. Onstar is absolutely worthless. I live in the DC area and their directions are always the worst possible route. Operators were always very slow. They also caused me to almost have a severe wreck.

Here are the details. I was driving to Maryland at 5:30am on a rainy morning. I requested routing to avoid major highways because traffic in the beltway is always bad. They sent me the routing. I was cruising at about 60 mph on a 2 lane black top road. It was still dark and there was no street lighting. All of a sudden the blacktop became a dirt road. There was about a 4 inch drop from the pavement to the dirt. Remember it was raining, car immediately went into a tail slide. There was a ditch on one side of the road and a tree line on the other. I managed to get the car stopped. The gravel from the dirt road chewed up my rocker panels and gills. My engine bay looked like I had been baja racing. When I immediately called onstar to let them know what had happened, they told me to call back later no one was available to help me. GM would be better off offering a built in nav option. I have owned other vehicles with nav systems and garmin units, this system is the worst by far. No other system has ever put me in a situation like that! I will never use it again.

[Stormyone]

What is a GM diehard? No one is taking issue with a person making a complaint, thus far in this thread people have suggested that there is more to the story than we have heard so far.... Just because a few people have had problems with Onstar does not mean that everyone thinks the system is crap... That's how I am reading it....

[FenwickHockey65]

And you guys do realize that a lot of OnStar features may become free in the near future...

[raqball]

I personally can care less about OnStar... It's WAY overpriced IMHO.... As soon as my BlueStar module get here, the OnStar module will go into permanent storage never to be used again unless I sell or trade the car...

[turboguy327]

Originally Posted by raqball

I personally can care less about OnStar... It's WAY overpriced IMHO.... As soon as my BlueStar module get here, the OnStar module will go into permanent storage never to be used again unless I sell or trade the car...

What exactly is BlueStar?? Is it like onstar but free or something??

[ajs69cam]

Sorry guys but I've got to come to Onstar defense --

Last holiday we were at the coast when my Camaro had a flat-- No tire place open
because it was sunday and also a 3 day weekend --Got in contact with a rep
from onstar and told them that I was over 200 miles away from home and I needed my tire
fixed. They found a mobil tire changer that was 10 miles away -- Great Right--

Not really -- He puts the donut tire ( 2lt/rs ) on and I asked if he would fix my tire
because I could'nt drive that far on the donut--He said that if I would follow him
about 20 miles away there's an O'Reilly's Auto Store where he could plug the tire.
There was a screw in the middle of the tire -- We needed to put air into the tire so
from O'Reilly's we go another 5 miles to a gas station for some air-- Also the Interstate
for home was right there!! The guy NEVER asked for payment -- So before he was about to leave I
told him that I had to make a phone call -- I got back in contact with Onstar and told
them what this gentleman on done for us and that he should not only get paid for changing
the donut but that he should also get paid for fixing the tire-- After about 5 minutes for the rep
to talk to his supervisor and also checking the distance that we had traveled from one point
to where we where the supervisor came on and asked for the repairman.
Onstar thanked him for going beyond and above his duties and would get pay him for his services.
I then thanked both of them and we were on our way--

By the way, I had renewed my subscription several months earlier--

Enjoy your ride AJ

[SchwarzerDrache]

Originally Posted by usmcjlp

Wow it looks like the GM die hards want to pile on anyone who has a complaint. I agree completely. Onstar is absolutely worthless. I live in the DC area and their directions are always the worst possible route. Operators were always very slow. They also caused me to almost have a severe wreck.

Here are the details. I was driving to Maryland at 5:30am on a rainy morning. I requested routing to avoid major highways because traffic in the beltway is always bad. They sent me the routing. I was cruising at about 60 mph on a 2 lane black top road. It was still dark and there was no street lighting. All of a sudden the blacktop became a dirt road. There was about a 4 inch drop from the pavement to the dirt. Remember it was raining, car immediately went into a tail slide. There was a ditch on one side of the road and a tree line on the other. I managed to get the car stopped. The gravel from the dirt road chewed up my rocker panels and gills. My engine bay looked like I had been baja racing. When I immediately called onstar to let them know what had happened, they told me to call back later no one was available to help me. GM would be better off offering a built in nav option. I have owned other vehicles with nav systems and garmin units, this system is the worst by far. No other system has ever put me in a situation like that! I will never use it again.

So it was Onstar's fault you drove 60 MPH off the road? You are always responsible for paying attention to where you are driving.

Have you ever used a GPS that took you on a weird route? I have. Garmin, Tom Tom and Onstar included. Hell, my Infiniti Nav sometimes takes me in a circle around the destination.