Rivian R1T Frustration

[Electrified Outdoors]

Yes not blaming the OP at all but this makes a good point about thoroughly checking the vehicle before accepting delivery.

I don't believe there is any conspiracy on Rivians part...but they also bear responsibility for poor QC.

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[kayabusa]

I have to take delivery in a couple of weeks, I will take my time to inspect the vehicle before signing any paper. Thanks for the headsup.

 

[JamboF4]

Long story short - Posting this just for awareness... to all who hopefully don't have the unfortunate experience I've had so far.
I picked up my White R1T from Maryland and noted a delivery some door misalignments and two areas (Tailgate and Rear Drivers Corner) where my paint was bubbling up. Upon further inspection that night I discovered more areas with bubbling including the top sides of my roof in the rear, separated silver trim piece under the front bumper as well as a missing plastic screw.

Reached out to Rivian and was contacted by a Regional Manager was polite and gave me two options, replace the vehicle or have Rivian attempt to fix all of the issues. I initially considered having them repair everything but asked for a replacement. Fast forward several days and after a few conversations with my guide I'm granted shop access. I don't see much inventory the first day but wound up selecting an EL-Cap. So far so good. Pricing shown on the vehicle reflects my same pre-march increase price.

Next morning, I receive the steps email and second one stating that my vehicle is ready for delivery. I come to learn later that its already in Capitol Heights Maryland. I begin working on the steps and immediately notice that my pricing has increased to the price hike up amount... what the heck?

I reach out to my guide and the regional manager who after two days of "seeing what they could do" tells me that if I want another Rivian I won't be able to keep the preMarch pricing that I had for my current White R1T. I write to my guide saying others who have returned a vehicle before 7 days and 1k miles have been able to keep their price. She ignores my message and offers to have me return the vehicle or just have it repaired. Regional manager also apologies and tells me I can return the car, pay the now normal prices or have it repaired which now he mentions will probably take a long time. The next day Rivian sends a mobile tech with the manager of the service center who offers me rivian center cap pieces for my 20 road tires as consolation for my experience. However, he again reiterates that it will probably take a while for the body shop to address the pain issues on my car(waiting to hear that they will need to repaint the whole car). Once thats complete then he says they will address my panel issues/alignment/tailgate stamping issue. Wouldn't they fix the panel stuff first before sending it to a body shop in case they have to repaint sections?


Really getting the impression that Rivian wants me to go away, and they know I don't want to pay the higher price to get another Truck..
Overall, so far this has been a poor experience. Anyone else with pre-march pricing return their truck and get a new one at the same price structure?
Attaching few photos of this gem

Looks like you got a lemon..I’d dump it. That’s a LOT of quality issues. Imaging how many issues you might have that you CAN’T see!

 

[Fes]

The paperwork doesn’t say return and be given a new truck, it says return and receive a refund. Rivian doesn’t need to offer you access to a new truck at full price and a jump of the wait list. Any other automaker has similar policies if you decline delivery or exercise the return option if there is one. They either fix the vehicle or let you buy a new one.

I would still try hard to be given a a new truck at original pricing given that this truck should not have made it past pre-delivery inspections in the first place.

A dealer however likely would manage this issue direct with the manufacturer and have the vehicle replaced. They have the ability to correct this issue and then some to help alleviate inconvenience.

 

[Feetdry]

My compass yellow R1T should arrive by train, in about 2 weeks now. I think I need a team of inspectors to find all the defects. Anyone that already has one want to help me find any defects?

 

[DenisRL]

Wow. I've been waiting 3 1/2 years for my R1T and as i read this i wonder why. These are big red flags of a company that has no interest in building a strong brand for quality and integrity. If this is the new customer experience what happens down the road if you have a problem or even if you want to resell your Rivian with no brand/resale value.

 

[Zoidz]

Given this, Rivian could simply offer poor quality R1T/R1S to pre-price customers, with full intent of them getting rejected, then poof everyone pays the new price and no more pesky early adopters ruining todays profit margins.

Or just Dump the “Factory Seconds” on us.

Hanlon's Razor - "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

If this was a common occurrence we would hear about it a lot more often here. It's disappointing that given the obvious and admitted defects, they are not honoring original price. IMO, this firmly qualifies as stupidity on Rivian's part.

It's likely that this bad publicity on RivianForums will cost them at least one or two sales (if not more) of people that were on the fence about buying. As a shareholder, this pisses me off.

 

[COdogman]

Let's not forget that Rivian did not have to honor pre 3/1/22 pricing at all. Arguably the company would be in much better shape had they held to their decision and taken their lumps and moved on.

And I say that as someone who would have likely been priced out of buying one if they did in fact do that....

Ford has raised Lightning prices at least 4 times since they started production and they don't even think twice about it.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

This is definitely not the norm for Rivian! I have two and neither of them have these types of issues. Both of mine do have very minor issues that will be corrected by service. There is a checklist available online for when you take delivery. You don't need to hire an engineer to perform an inspection but do check that everything works. As with any vehicle if you find 4 or 5 or more issues with the vehicle you may want to consider rejecting it.

I found the delivery experience to be very similar to Tesla. Tesla still had QC issues but I am confident that Rivian wants to be different in this area.

 

[Bilbo]

Long story short - Posting this just for awareness... to all who hopefully don't have the unfortunate experience I've had so far.
I picked up my White R1T from Maryland and noted a delivery some door misalignments and two areas (Tailgate and Rear Drivers Corner) where my paint was bubbling up. Upon further inspection that night I discovered more areas with bubbling including the top sides of my roof in the rear, separated silver trim piece under the front bumper as well as a missing plastic screw.

Reached out to Rivian and was contacted by a Regional Manager was polite and gave me two options, replace the vehicle or have Rivian attempt to fix all of the issues. I initially considered having them repair everything but asked for a replacement. Fast forward several days and after a few conversations with my guide I'm granted shop access. I don't see much inventory the first day but wound up selecting an EL-Cap. So far so good. Pricing shown on the vehicle reflects my same pre-march increase price.

Next morning, I receive the steps email and second one stating that my vehicle is ready for delivery. I come to learn later that its already in Capitol Heights Maryland. I begin working on the steps and immediately notice that my pricing has increased to the price hike up amount... what the heck?

I reach out to my guide and the regional manager who after two days of "seeing what they could do" tells me that if I want another Rivian I won't be able to keep the preMarch pricing that I had for my current White R1T. I write to my guide saying others who have returned a vehicle before 7 days and 1k miles have been able to keep their price. She ignores my message and offers to have me return the vehicle or just have it repaired. Regional manager also apologies and tells me I can return the car, pay the now normal prices or have it repaired which now he mentions will probably take a long time. The next day Rivian sends a mobile tech with the manager of the service center who offers me rivian center cap pieces for my 20 road tires as consolation for my experience. However, he again reiterates that it will probably take a while for the body shop to address the pain issues on my car(waiting to hear that they will need to repaint the whole car). Once thats complete then he says they will address my panel issues/alignment/tailgate stamping issue. Wouldn't they fix the panel stuff first before sending it to a body shop in case they have to repaint sections?


Really getting the impression that Rivian wants me to go away, and they know I don't want to pay the higher price to get another Truck..
Overall, so far this has been a poor experience. Anyone else with pre-march pricing return their truck and get a new one at the same price structure?
Attaching few photos of this gem

Even though I have waited 2 years and still have zero clue when mine will be ready I would have to pass on this ridiculous craftsmanship...or lack thereof. This is pathetic

 

[Riptide]

Let's not forget that Rivian did not have to honor pre 3/1/22 pricing at all. Arguably the company would be in much better shape had they held to their decision and taken their lumps and moved on.

And I say that as someone who would have likely been priced out of buying one if they did in fact do that....

Ford has raised Lightning prices at least 4 times since they started production and they don't even think twice about it.

I have to agree here.

 

[Goose]

Let's not forget that Rivian did not have to honor pre 3/1/22 pricing at all. Arguably the company would be in much better shape had they held to their decision and taken their lumps and moved on.

And I say that as someone who would have likely been priced out of buying one if they did in fact do that....

Ford has raised Lightning prices at least 4 times since they started production and they don't even think twice about it.

If Rivian held on to the original plan and forced OG reservation holders to pay the new price they probably would have tanked. Ford has increased prices on many of their vehicles the past year(s), they actually lost a sale from a friend because of it. The difference in Ford and Rivian is that Ford is established with a lot of dedicated buyers who will ONLY buy Ford.

A company doesn't HAVE to do anything except what the contract says to the letter. But, I guarantee if they go above and beyond news will spread and they will add customers because of it.

I say all of this but I still want a R1T, just waiting for interest rates to fall as the it's currently out of my budget.

 

[COdogman]

If Rivian held on to the original plan and forced OG reservation holders to pay the new price they probably would have tanked. Ford has increased prices on many of their vehicles the past year(s), they actually lost a sale from a friend because of it. The difference in Ford and Rivian is that Ford is established with a lot of dedicated buyers who will ONLY buy Ford.

A company doesn't HAVE to do anything except what the contract says to the letter. But, I guarantee if they go above and beyond news will spread and they will add customers because of it.

I say all of this but I still want a R1T, just waiting for interest rates to fall as the it's currently out of my budget.

It's a nice thought, but it doesn't always work that way. Often companies go above and beyond and it is not appreciated at all. People still find a million things to complain about and even ask for more on top of what they already do.

Or the act of going above is costing them money and hurting their bottom line. If Rivian had stuck to their decision with the higher prices I'm sure there would have been cancellations, but we honestly have no idea how many. And that would have been a temporary situation - people would have been upset and then after a couple months everyone would have moved on.

One could argue that Ford CAN do it because they have always done it and that is also why they have been successful. So keeping that in mind if we want Rivian to succeed, they probably should have done it too. They make vehicles. Vehicles are made of things that cost them money. They need to charge more than what it costs to make one or they will be gone.

 

[Goose]

It's a nice thought, but it doesn't always work that way. Often companies go above and beyond and it is not appreciated at all. People still find a million things to complain about and even ask for more on top of what they already do.

Or the act of going above is costing them money and hurting their bottom line. If Rivian had stuck to their decision with the higher prices I'm sure there would have been cancellations, but we honestly have no idea how many. And that would have been a temporary situation - people would have been upset and then after a couple months everyone would have moved on.

One could argue that Ford CAN do it because they have always done it and that is also why they have been successful. So keeping that in mind if we want Rivian to succeed, they probably should have done it too. They make vehicles. Vehicles are made of things that cost them money. They need to charge more than what it costs to make one or they will be gone.

I can't argue with anything you said, it's all completely correct. I'll just say, on a personal level, I hope they take care of the OP and get them a new Truck ASAP!

Also, this truck should have never pass QC from the factory.

 

[911.1 Guy]

They would not let me even look at the vehicle prior to paying for it, even though it was sitting on the lot.

That sounded fishy to me so I walked away. It is really too bad because I was so excited for this truck after 3 years waiting.

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