Service is going downhill a bit.

[citizen]

@Donald Stanfield which SC is this? Really curious because I'm about to go back into service for the third time this year (all for minor items).

My local SC is Costa Mesa and I've unfortunately been there quite a bit (but all for minor non-drivetrain related issues). Costa Mesa gets a bad rap but I've always had great luck with them, both on not having my car sit and also getting an Enterprise Exotics loaner or Rivian loaner.

I've been to my SC twice this year and both times the service was great. My recent service was for HVAC vent not responding to touch screen control, rear display had a line going through it, and steering wheel trim peeling. All covered by warranty. I dropped my car off Friday morning and was pleasantly surprised to get a call Saturday morning to pick it up. Quickest turnaround I've ever experienced!

Hoping for a repeat w/ my latest issue (driver seat ventilation making creaking/burbling sounds).

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[Billyk24]

Better hide this thread, might make future potential R2 owners question why move forward with the purchase if service is going downhill.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

@Donald Stanfield which SC is this? Really curious because I'm about to go back into service for the third time this year (all for minor items).

My local SC is Costa Mesa and I've unfortunately been there quite a bit (but all for minor non-drivetrain related issues). Costa Mesa gets a bad rap but I've always had great luck with them, both on not having my car sit and also getting an Enterprise Exotics loaner or Rivian loaner.

I've been to my SC twice this year and both times the service was great. My recent service was for HVAC vent not responding to touch screen control, rear display had a line going through it, and steering wheel trim peeling. All covered by warranty. I dropped my car off Friday morning and was pleasantly surprised to get a call Saturday morning to pick it up. Quickest turnaround I've ever experienced!

Hoping for a repeat w/ my latest issue (driver seat ventilation making creaking/burbling sounds).

Duncan SC is the one I'm going to. I've never been there before, but it's 60 miles closer, still takes the same amount of drive time due to the route though. Although I get to stop in Asheville, one of my favorite breweries is there.

 

[citizen]

Duncan SC is the one I'm going to. I've never been there before, but it's 60 miles closer, still takes the same amount of drive time due to the route though. Although I get to stop in Asheville, one of my favorite breweries is there.

Oh nice, I've been in the area before for business. Have you stopped by the BMW Zentrum before? https://share.google/0PZsXnXnY5uLl9nYC

There's also the BMW Performance Center if you are interested. But the Zentrum is def. worth a stop.

 

[Time2Roll]

With that, I'd expect to be treated like a valued customer, not an asshole trying to get something free.

Yes and the local Rivian service may have encountered some of these entitled people recently looking to get something fixed that they caused. At some point Rivian needs to close some of the white glove service catering to people taking advantage. Try to roll with it and not feel targeted or singled out.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

Better hide this thread, might make future potential R2 owners question why move forward with the purchase if service is going downhill.

This forum's job (our job too) isn't to increase or decrease sales, I believe. I believe our job is to take care of each other by honestly sharing our experiences. I hope that will help accelerate our country's transition to efficient energy technology, and I hope Rivian thrives, but neither of those is my primary purpose for being here. I want the group's support and advice, and I reciprocate in order to help maintain the group as a supportive community.

I've read, and I believe, that people are generally about ten times more likely to share negative consumer experiences than positive ones. So every forum, including this one, is likely to be negatively biased.

***

My wife's and my service experiences aren't going downhill.

However, @Donald Stanfield had a genuinely distressing experience when trying to schedule one service visit at one service center. In relevant part, but already frustrated by AI and a non-productive mobile visit, @Donald Stanfield said, "First, they hedged about providing [a rental car], even though I have to leave my car there. Then, there was this whole spiel I had to agree to about how if the damage is deemed to be my fault, I will be responsible for the rental fee. I don't know how an electrical short is my fault, even though their tech was already out and couldn't find the problem during a mobile visit. Overall, it felt very antagonistic."

I'm not minimizing @Donald Stanfield's annoyance, which is real. But I'm also not assuming it's an overall trend. It may have been simply a recitation of Rivian's general policy, but that's enough to make us nervous if the trust level has decreased.

We will see. Thanks for sharing! Best to all!

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Yes and the local Rivian service may have encountered some of these entitled people recently looking to get something fixed that they caused. At some point Rivian needs to close some of the white glove service catering to people taking advantage. Try to roll with it and not feel targeted or singled out.

I have enough history with Rivian and Rivian service that I should be given the benefit of the doubt. If they don't have a way for their CSRs to see valued customers, they should get it.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Oh nice, I've been in the area before for business. Have you stopped by the BMW Zentrum before? https://share.google/0PZsXnXnY5uLl9nYC

There's also the BMW Performance Center if you are interested. But the Zentrum is def. worth a stop.

Thank you for sharing that. It's right up my alley. I think I will stop there if it's not too far away.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I draw a distinction between the Rivian agents who don't know me (including the AI bots and the Plymouth team) and the Rivian agents who do know me (including the customer-facing staff at our service center).

When someone's message in the app doesn't fit the in-person relationship, I ask who is writing. It's almost never anyone I've ever met. The staff in Portland, who know us pretty well, are all superb at managing Rivian's relationships with my wife and me.

***

Rivian would do well to delegate most customer interactions to the Service Centers, reserving the Plymouth staff for the technical issues at which they excel and limiting the bots to a small number of issue areas that can be safely "protocolized".

After delegating customer interactions to the Service Centers, and making sure the Service Centers have the resources to manage customer relationships, Rivian should measure whether each Service Center is satisfying customers or not, then take action accordingly.

Measuring this may be more difficult than we assume. People often complain about waiting time, when what really bugs them is "not feeling cared for" by the staff or "fear of being stranded" by a vehicle whose problem was neglected.

Best to all!

 

[MikeWilliams_R1T]

For the customer, the entire entry into the service system when you open a ticket is negative in my opinion. You have to get through a gauntlet of bad AI questions before it tries scheduling you into an already overwhelmed service center.

Franklin and Duncan are grossly overwhelmed. I refuse to deal with Atlanta. I’ve found Sheperdsville to be the most positive. They usually have parts already and have a fleet of loaners without a delivery center. That will eventually change I’m sure.

R2 is going to make this a disaster without them drastically changing their approach to service. Like Don, I’m probably trading my truck next month.
24 months of ownership and 45,000 miles. I’m writing this at 3am drinking coffee about to take my truck to the service center… again. I also live in Knoxville where we are 4 hours from 4 service centers.

I knew that walking in, but they also oversold the capabilities of mobile service. Hence my truck has been to multiple service centers 10 times in the 24 months of ownership. 3 HVAC replacements for water, 2 rear zone controller failures that nerf the truck (tow in), 1 front hub / bearing (tow in), 2 tonneau cover replacements and now a dead AC inverter. I’m really trying to stay positive and a fan. I really like my truck.

R1 drivers got a premium car and for the most part, people with the resources and patience to put up with this experience longer.

R2 is designed to go after the 4Runner/rav4 crowd. Those owners won’t put up with this service experience and it will destroy any goodwill across the customer base. I don’t see a way that R2 does not completely overwhelm the service system for Rivian.

I am hoping my appointment in Sheperdsville goes quickly today.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

This forum's job (our job too) isn't to increase or decrease sales, I believe. I believe our job is to take care of each other by honestly sharing our experiences. I hope that will help accelerate our country's transition to efficient energy technology, and I hope Rivian thrives, but neither of those is my primary purpose for being here. I want the group's support and advice, and I reciprocate in order to help maintain the group as a supportive community.

I've read, and I believe, that people are generally about ten times more likely to share negative consumer experiences than positive ones. So every forum, including this one, is likely to be negatively biased.

***

My wife's and my service experiences aren't going downhill.

However, @Donald Stanfield had a genuinely distressing experience when trying to schedule one service visit at one service center. In relevant part, but already frustrated by AI and a non-productive mobile visit, @Donald Stanfield said, "First, they hedged about providing [a rental car], even though I have to leave my car there. Then, there was this whole spiel I had to agree to about how if the damage is deemed to be my fault, I will be responsible for the rental fee. I don't know how an electrical short is my fault, even though their tech was already out and couldn't find the problem during a mobile visit. Overall, it felt very antagonistic."

I'm not minimizing @Donald Stanfield's annoyance, which is real. But I'm also not assuming it's an overall trend. It may have been simply a recitation of Rivian's general policy, but that's enough to make us nervous if the trust level has decreased.

We will see. Thanks for sharing! Best to all!

You’re right it could have been general policy but that was not the policy when I bought my first Rivian in 2022 and it’s slowly eroded to the detriment of the customer since that original policy. My first service visits a tow truck came and picked my Rivian up and handled the transportation to and from the service center.

The guy I had on the phone had to put me on hold to get approval for the rental car, which further leads me to believe that it’s no longer default policy to get one. That simply will not work for me long term with the distance to a service center. I will be in a city I’ve never been to almost 4 hours from my house without any transportation to get back home. I am not going to get my own rental for a vehicle I bought less than 2 years ago still under warranty for a 6 figure amount.

Couple this with the other thread where a few other people, including some long time members, have shared their experiences of Rivian seemingly pulling back from providing a loaner and their policy of we will give you a loaner if we feel like it, and the concerns here are real. If this is today what is my service experience going to be when I’m competing with R2s in for service?

I really do not want to buy a new car this year. My Rivian is less than 2 years old. However I’m genuinely worried that Rivian is going to expect me to arrange transportation for myself to get my vehicle serviced or stay in a hotel wasting my time for the duration of my service. That just won’t work for me. I deal with conflict and business service quality problems professionally and one thing I’ve learned is if you have to twist someone’s arm to provide you a service you feel you’re owed it’s best to find another vendor more willing to provide it.

The level of service I got from Rivian in the past beat what I could get from the BMW dealer but today I’d say BMW is winning. BMW hasn’t gotten better, but Rivian has gone down from that 2022 level. How far down will they go from here? For me in Knoxville, a loaner is the one thing that makes a service center visit work. Without it I need to be more local so I can coordinate my own transportation.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Duncan SC is the one I'm going to. I've never been there before, but it's 60 miles closer, still takes the same amount of drive time due to the route though. Although I get to stop in Asheville, one of my favorite breweries is there.

I just had my S there for service and found it to be on par with or better than previous service engagements. Certainly better than my experiences at the ATL service center in the very early days.

I got the notification that my 12V was starting to go on a Thursday afternoon and had an appointment to get it replaced the following Monday. Total time in service was less than 2 hours. Compared with the same situation that happened in San Antonio, it was a better experience.

 

[RivianRiverRat]

The wait times in Franklin have definitely gotten longer
Rivian actually touted me to the new Atlanta service center in Roswell for my last two visits (60k checkup which they discovered leaking damper and the rear bolt recall)
Both visits were orderly and proficient

 

[DaveA]

None of us should have to be on a first name basis with our SCs. Lol. Please R2...be reliable!

 

[Move]

I've actually seen an improvement in Houston with the addition of the new Katy SC. The ability to drive right inside the SC makes a bit of a positive difference. The staff also seem to be more knowledgeable, not just about the vehicles in general, but about the actual issues impacting your specific vehicle, as it appears they're doing more system reviews and diagnostics prior to my arrivals. Lastly, I've seen more loaners here in TX than in previous years, I've not had a rental with the last couple appointments and it makes all the difference. I'm hopeful that with R2 they'll be adding more loaners there.

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