A Beautiful Disaster — Rivian Is Not Ready for Prime Time

[PaythePiper]

Your are lucky with that Ford. Ford has had the most recalls total of any manufacturer in the last 3 years. I had my Expedition sit at the dealer for 20 days to fix the dreaded EcoBoost cam phaser issue that I told them on day 1 was the issue. There was little to no communication throughout the process. It's not just Rivian that is having serious sevice issues although they have been pretty accommodating to me when I was very clear on what I expected them to do to fix my '22 R1T's issues.

Gen 3 Raptor. And it was awesome. Thing took some licks. I just wasn’t driving it much so decided to sell before values tanked. It was my first ford and first raptor. I’d buy again.

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[MountainBikeDude]

Just cracks me up with some comments: my Rivian has been in the shop 72 times, but hey they were nice and Rivian is the best I’ve ever owned!!! GTFO with that crap. Like CoDogman. Your Rivian was in the shop for 6 days? Bro my 4 Toyotas over 30 years together weren’t in the shop 6 days lol

Not discounting the fact that Rivian can do better at some of its service centres, fortunately, it's not the case at all of them.

To your Toyota comment, I considered a 4Runner before learning of Rivian, problem was, every Toyota on offer was a 2010 slapped with a 2020+ model year. Nothing new, nothing to justify spending 75k on for 10 year old drivetrain that can't find a cruising gear on an incline. It can't help but be reliable, Toyota gave up on innovating and pushing boundaries 20 years ago.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

What I never understand about these thread is they still own the vehicle and there a lot of these threads. If I had any of these issues with my T I'd be out. Carvana will give me what they'll give me and I'll go get something else.

Complaining on a Rivian Forum is just as much a wasted effort as trying to wish Rivian to do better on a Rivian forum. Rivian is doing their thing on their strategy with their timelines and no forum post is going to change that. At this point it's R2 and that's probably #1-10 on the priority list with other items getting a normal amount of focus. Improving service is not at the top of the list, period. Listen to RJ, it's something on the list, but not the top......That's R2.

If you're that unhappy, please just get rid of the car and save yourself the aggravation. It's a freaking vehicle, come back when they get it right.

Exactly. I'm one of the biggest Rivian cheerleaders here, but if my car was sitting in service for multiple months, I'd ask for a buyback after two and file a claim for lemon law long before 5 months of issues. Whining on here isn't going to solve or help anything. We all have to decide how much crap we want to deal with out of any aspect of our lives, and cut out the things that no longer serve us.

 

[Rivdog]

You can’t discount everyone else’s anecdotes while simultaneously proclaiming the value of your own.

Rivian has put out some lemons, yes. The vast majority are not. Subaru is (was?) known for reliability and I’ve had that thing in the shop for numerous warranty issues, including a new transmission - 2020 Ascent, one of a huge number that needed a full new transmission due to a recall. Look at basically any Toyota truck built since 2023 - engines(!!!!) and brakes (also !!!!). Oh, and the difference between those examples and Rivian is that at least the issue with your Rivian is one-off rather than one that affects every vehicle built for several months at a time.

It ain’t just Rivian.

 

[Schroederhc]

100k, 100k, I have big balls 100k. I'll bet when you were a kid you got your ass beat every day. 100k

 

[Riviot]

100k, 100k, I have big balls 100k. I'll bet when you were a kid you got your ass beat every day. 100k

Catchy tune!

Another anecdote: 61k miles over 3+ years and I'm very happy. I've taken my SC-wait-time lickings a few times, but it's still worlds beyond the trash I've seen and dealt with at legacy auto locations. Seattle is a phenomenal SC! I'll happily deal with them over the other options.

Last anecdote: 2010s Honda CR-V shot a rod within a couple hundred miles of the power-train warranty expiring, cruising down the interstate to pre-deployment training. So reliability is subjective.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I had the privilege of working in the Veterans Health Administration system during most of the 2010's. As a union member, I worked with others in a medium-size multi-specialty VA facility in the Northwestern USA.

One of our more thoughtful union colleagues was the switchboard operator/scheduler who said, "Every time there's a problem that affects incoming phone calls, the bosses do something to make the telephone tree more complicated. By the time the Veterans get to me, they're almost all furious."

She continued, "When they start out furious, I have to spend several minutes listening and making sure they feel heard. Then they calm down and we can work to solve the problem together."

And further, "In an eight-hour shift, I probably spend four hours calming the Veterans down. That means I only have the other four hours to solve the Veterans' problems. It would be SO much more efficient if they staffed up with enough human beings so the Veterans didn't all get upset in the first place!"

***

I don't know if @Spazz27 needs to learn how to advocate more calmly for the service he needs -- but I'm pretty confident Rivian, and especially Miami SC, needs to learn how to reach out more effectively and make people like @Spazz27 feel cared for.

I'm grateful for @swflor's thoughtful explanation of the productive interactions @swflor has had with multiple Service Centers. Mine have been much narrower (one pickup at Gaithersburg, everything else at Portland), but they have also been uniformly positive and respectful.

Hoping everyone gets good outcomes out of this storytelling thread. Best wishes to all!

 

[Schroederhc]

Catchy tune!

Another anecdote: 61k miles over 3+ years and I'm very happy. I've taken my SC-wait-time lickings a few times, but it's still worlds beyond the trash I've seen and dealt with at legacy auto locations. Seattle is a phenomenal SC! I'll happily deal with them over the other options.

Last anecdote: 2010s Honda CR-V shot a rod within a couple hundred miles of the power-train warranty expiring, cruising down the interstate to pre-deployment training. So reliability is subjective.

Go Army!

 

[godfodder0901]

Go Army!

Go Navy! Beat Army!

But my fellow C-H-I-E-F @Riviot is a Coastie.

 

[Riviot]

Go Army!

Thanks for the sentiment! But alas, the Navy has paid my bills for half my career, we should be called the Navy Guard but #Reimbursablebillets4life #OCOorbust

Also, go Bulls!

 

[Schroederhc]

Go Navy! Beat Army!

But my fellow C-H-I-E-F @Riviot is a Coastie.

Well hell no need to apologize!

 

[PaythePiper]

Not discounting the fact that Rivian can do better at some of its service centres, fortunately, it's not the case at all of them.

To your Toyota comment, I considered a 4Runner before learning of Rivian, problem was, every Toyota on offer was a 2010 slapped with a 2020+ model year. Nothing new, nothing to justify spending 75k on for 10 year old drivetrain that can't find a cruising gear on an incline. It can't help but be reliable, Toyota gave up on innovating and pushing boundaries 20 years ago.

Oh trust me, I’ve left the Toyota cult, but you can’t deny the cost of ownership. But yeah, they don’t update much over the years. That new tundra pushed me to a raptor and my first ford

 

[CANCERDOC]

It does sound like the OP is having a lousy service experience. Here is what I find puzzling about the rant. The OP claims his vehicle has been in service 5 of 13 months. That sounds terrible. And those other service experiences had better communication presumably. But this one had the vehicle in service one week with few updates (but apparently not zero as he learned the clacking noise was a drive unit in need of calibration) and is now apparently flailing his arms trying to get in contact with Rivian as if this is a new thing he’s never had to do before (remember this is a vehicle that has required 5 months in the shop previous for other issues presumably). That just doesn’t make sense to me. If I had my vehicle in the shop for five of thirteen months, I’d be a pro at communicating with the service dept at that service center. And not whining about it on the forum.

This is my second Rivian. Combined my Rivians have been in service for perhaps 2-1/2 to 3 months out of the past year. That’s a looong time. And there were sometimes periods where I didn’t know what was going on. But every time I texted support in the app or called Rivian, they replied within a reasonable timeframe, within hours if during business hours or the next morning if in the evening and I was able to get a callback too. Is this the most unreliable vehicle I’ve ever owned? Yes. But after so many service appts across four different service centers here in SoCal, I feel like I’m a pro contacting them to communicate.

 

[Discover]

I responded appropriately to being ignored after trusting them with a $100K+ vehicle.

My dad's URUS went to the shop after 3 weeks of ownership for a left headlight failure. It sat there for well over a month, during which they called once (after more than a week in) to say they had to order a new headlight from Italy which will take another week or so. Three weeks later, they called saying the car is 'ready' and asked to schedule a delivery. Then, it took them another 5-6 days to delivery it back to his house. During that time, he had an Audi Q8 (V6 engine) as a loaner. Mind you, that's a ~$350K vehicle.

 

[lefkonj]

Sorry about your issues but do you have a list of what they were and how they were not resolved?

My Gen1 R1S was pretty much problem free for 2 years. My few interactions with service have been fine, not stellar but all good.

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