RJ, Rivian Service is Broken

[simpsonhomer]

When my Rivian unexpectedly left me stranded with total loss of power, they towed it to Gaithersburg and told me it would be a priority ticket. It still took them two weeks just to replace the 12V battery and nothing else.

When I took it to Gaithersburg for a second repair attempt on a separate issue, they kept it there for three weeks and then returned it to me and said they were able to reproduce the problem but couldn't fix it.

I talked to another repeat customer while we were driven to Enterprise to pick up our POS rentals. He said he simply brings in his car a week later than the scheduled appointment and he would get his car back much faster because it wouldn't lot-rot for a week, which is the norm at Gaithersburg. I'll follow his lead next time.

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[DuoRivian]

The issue isn't necessarily money, but time.. it can take 12-18 months just to get all the required permits..

They had two years ago a map of proposed service centers and the large majority in the northeast are still waiting to be built out so they have had time.

 

[misterturbo]

This is a tough problem to have. Parts availability/logistics, technicians trained on and willing to work on EVs, and competition with legacy dealerships who've been in business for 50+ years.

It would be easy to justify building out a more extensive service network if there was profitability in it. Service is the largest portion of income for a dealership --Either through direct cost to the consumer for maintenance or bill back to the manufacturer for warranty work. Rivian has neither of these opportunities currently. I'd wager a guess that 95%+ of Rivians on the road right now are under warranty of some kind. Service profitability isn't going to be a thing for them for at least a few more years...

TLR; every service appointment costs them a whole bunch of money.

So, expect a slow roll out of service centers until it becomes profitable to have more of them. Or, they'll need to authorize 3rd party service centers that can receive training, equipment, and parts direct from the manufacturer to reduce their overall service costs.

Best bet right now is to just have a second car LOL.

 

[jeeden]

I know that Wassym is a software guy, but what if everyone made sure to get the questions if they are aware, what are they going to do about, etc in the AMA n Reddit today?

 

[AYAYRON]

I love my R1T. I am an early adopter, having received my truck in March of 2022. I am also a shareholder. Those things said, Rivian service is downright painful. In my current encounter, I dropped my truck at the temporary service center in Trenton, NJ eight days ago for the tonneau cover update and a comprehensive inspection.

I‘ll Spare you the details of how difficult it was just to get the status of my repair. My truck has not been taken into the shop yet. “When should I schedule a day to come pick it up? We don’t know yet. When will it go into the shop. We don’t know.” I can see the writing on the wall. When they finally look at my truck, they will find that they need a part. I will be driving this wonderful Chrysler minivan for weeks. I cannot arrange my life around an unknown pickup date. This is not the service I was promised when I purchased the vehicle and it is certainly one of the worst customer service experiences of my life.

RJ, this is fixable. It is costing company money, prestige and customers.

I went last monday to drop off the toneau cover replacement Dallas center, the appt was scheduled a month in advance, only to be told upon arrival after driving 30 miles, they don't have the parts.

Thankfully for me I was doing a few other maintenance items so I sat for 2 hours, the truck was ready and I'm re-scheduled for 6/26, they told me I could drop it off but they figured I wouldn't want to, at least Dallas got the message that accepting trucks for service when they themselves aren't ready to perform the service is NOT the way to do it, not to mention wasting money paying for rental cars for us during that downtime.

 

[Smite]

I picked up my R1S on 5/9, when I picked it up the sensor for the card reader didn’t work. Not really that big of a deal since the app works so well but the guide told me they would replace it the following week and then I got a notification saying they would come out and replace it on 6/11. Unfortunately I had to reschedule so they put me on the books for 7/23. Thankfully this isn’t serious, I knew there would be challenges but this is bordering on ridiculous.

 

[moondoggy]

They wouldn’t need to build out service so quick if they manufactured better vehicles or spent more time on inspections. Every vehicle being manufactured and needing some kind of service is not sustainable. Tesla had the same issue when the model 3 came out. Looked like blind monkeys put it together. This is not a service issue but a manufacturing and shipping problem. I don’t know of anyone that has had nothing wrong. my neighbors R1S wouldn’t ac charge his second day. My R1T has been pretty trouble free but it did come with a malfunctioning rain sensor that took two visits and some loose trim pieces. I have two more issues but I’m hesitant to complain until I have something worse. My other complaints such as the loud motors and suspension aren’t issues according to service yet they seem to have addressed those exact issues in the refresh. This is the stuff that makes me not want to buy another Rivian. Admit you have a design flaw and offer a buy out or trade to gen 1. I don’t think all of you realize yet how much value we just lost when they refreshed the gen1 vehicles so quickly after they come out. It’s not a refresh. It’s a fix for their f up.

This x100

 

[jb0063]

I was hoping Trenton would be a better experience than Brooklyn, but it’s the same.

I'm curious what your experience was with Trenton(?) I have to schedule a replacement of my coolant pump in Trenton and have been hesitant for fear of the vehicle being stuck there for weeks.

 

[evforthewin]

I love my R1T. I am an early adopter, having received my truck in March of 2022. I am also a shareholder. Those things said, Rivian service is downright painful. In my current encounter, I dropped my truck at the temporary service center in Trenton, NJ eight days ago for the tonneau cover update and a comprehensive inspection.

I‘ll Spare you the details of how difficult it was just to get the status of my repair. My truck has not been taken into the shop yet. “When should I schedule a day to come pick it up? We don’t know yet. When will it go into the shop. We don’t know.” I can see the writing on the wall. When they finally look at my truck, they will find that they need a part. I will be driving this wonderful Chrysler minivan for weeks. I cannot arrange my life around an unknown pickup date. This is not the service I was promised when I purchased the vehicle and it is certainly one of the worst customer service experiences of my life.

RJ, this is fixable. It is costing company money, prestige and customers.

This is a From the Top problem. Leadership has to make this a priority. With all the various issues related to engineering and assembly that are continuously manifesting, the service centers need to be a top priority.

I love many aspects of my R1S (took delivery of a pre-configured one in late March of this year) but I am already at a point where I am very doubtful I will lease or buy another Rivian. So far, I have been lucky and not had any major issues, all of mine were cosmetic but cosmetic issues straight out of the factory. Paint chips, fender to hood alignment, moldings lose or not adhered fully, rubber door trim pin on driver door that I think was busted from delivery (just found it a week ago), loud sound from the driver side passenger window when going up/down (just started randomly one day), some sort of flapping type noise coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the windshield when I get over about 65 MPH, and the list goes on. For my family, I want a larger SUV and the only options were R1S and EV9...so I went with the R1S. But I can't justify the price point given the lack of build quality, poor ride quality, and service center issues. I just hope when my lease is up in 2 years and 10 months that they have worked out these issues.

 

[Gee Bee]

Iam still waiting on a new lh mirror assy and center console that were delivered damaged during delivery.

GB

the eastvale so Calif location is larger than there needs , but it’s only investors money to burn .

 

[downranger12]

I am running a July 22 delivery and had the new toneau cover installed at the factory a year ago while I waited.
I have had good service also several times in Minneapolis. I have never been charged for anything. As mine will go out of warranty in 12000 miles, I will be able to pay 200 per hour for service. My vehicle runs perfect.
RJ has all his money going out at the service centers and nothing coming in yet. I kept my ICE truck for emergencies. The collision centers will be even worse, so drive carefully.

 

[defcon888]

Sounds like RJ and the team need to reach out to West Sacramento SC to understand how things should be run.

We have had nothing but an amazing service. Yes, there were a couple of times it was frustrating, but the SC Manager Ryan........called us pretty much every day for 3 weeks when they had our truck because of an issue.

One time he said he was about to call us and tell us the truck was ready. He decided to take it for a test drive to see. The issue arose again and let us know. Yeah, we were getting angry, but they were amazing and got it fixed. We hadn't even made our first payment, so he reached out to Rivian......and Rivian made our first payment (well, we paid and then they reimbursed us).

I have read many horror stories of the SC's........I can't speak and won't speak for those sites, but as for West Sacramento.......top notch!

 

[Sgamer]

I love my R1T. I am an early adopter, having received my truck in March of 2022. I am also a shareholder. Those things said, Rivian service is downright painful. In my current encounter, I dropped my truck at the temporary service center in Trenton, NJ eight days ago for the tonneau cover update and a comprehensive inspection.

I‘ll Spare you the details of how difficult it was just to get the status of my repair. My truck has not been taken into the shop yet. “When should I schedule a day to come pick it up? We don’t know yet. When will it go into the shop. We don’t know.” I can see the writing on the wall. When they finally look at my truck, they will find that they need a part. I will be driving this wonderful Chrysler minivan for weeks. I cannot arrange my life around an unknown pickup date. This is not the service I was promised when I purchased the vehicle and it is certainly one of the worst customer service experiences of my life.

RJ, this is fixable. It is costing company money, prestige and customers.

Completely agree. I’m also a shareholder and when they told me a service visit was 4 months out for my R1S I had to weigh whether this is a good investment. I’m not sure. And simple things like fixing navigation or sending the charging converter are sinkholes

 

[quartz]

They had two years ago a map of proposed service centers and the large majority in the northeast are still waiting to be built out so they have had time.

I agree, it shouldn't take this long to erect an SC.. on the other hand, just look at how long it took Tesla to scale their SC rollout in the early days. And they only had a single platform to contend with.

 

[Hopper]

This is a tough problem to have. Parts availability/logistics, technicians trained on and willing to work on EVs, and competition with legacy dealerships who've been in business for 50+ years.

It would be easy to justify building out a more extensive service network if there was profitability in it. Service is the largest portion of income for a dealership --Either through direct cost to the consumer for maintenance or bill back to the manufacturer for warranty work. Rivian has neither of these opportunities currently. I'd wager a guess that 95%+ of Rivians on the road right now are under warranty of some kind. Service profitability isn't going to be a thing for them for at least a few more years...

TLR; every service appointment costs them a whole bunch of money.

So, expect a slow roll out of service centers until it becomes profitable to have more of them. Or, they'll need to authorize 3rd party service centers that can receive training, equipment, and parts direct from the manufacturer to reduce their overall service costs.

Best bet right now is to just have a second car LOL.

Hi me

I'm curious what your experience was with Trenton(?) I have to schedule a replacement of my coolant pump in Trenton and have been hesitant for fear of the vehicle being stuck there for weeks.

My truck is in Trenton for a tonneau cover fix (initiated by Rivian) and a comprehensive inspection. I added a request to replace the steering wheel with an updated one due to peeling finish and a shimmy at 60 mph. Today is day number nine, and my vehicle has not yet been looked at. I asked repeatedly if I could delay delivering my R1T until they were ready to work on it and was repeatedly refused. What should have been a two day repair will probably stretch beyond two weeks. I am stuck driving a Chrysler minivan.

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