Can't imagine a worse car-buying experience

[Boo23]

Denver had my R1S twice, best service I’ve experienced with any manufacturer. One person’s “rush job” is another’s efficient.

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[Bristlecone]

That’s why I was surprised, I’ve always heard good things about Denver SC. This was not an efficient experience.

 

[iBang]

27 months after pre-order, 6 months after locked configuration, went with my wife to take delivery of our R1S at the Denver Service Center. Person who handled the paperwork and the car introduction acted like he had to get to an urgent appointment. Total rush job. Impatient, rude, uninformative, couldn't bear to go over anything slowly, cursory explanation of everything, acted like I was a total pain when I started to inspect the exterior ("you've got 7 days to reject it."). He pushed us out of there in like 20 minutes and acted peeved that it took that long. And, he had the gall to insist that Rivians don't have a vampire drain issue. Hey Denver, you've got a problem.

Go ahead and give him your honest (bad) review when Rivian send you the survey email. This survey is what the company uses for employee performance review. This is how to weed out unwilling, inadequate employees from the company.

 

[R.I.P.]

Move along. Move along. Others want one too, move along.

 

[Autolycus]

Sounds unpleasant. Definitely give that feedback in the survey you'll get. Be honest, fair, and specific. That's the only way Rivian can address it.

I also agree that you lack imagination if the title of this thread is true. Traditional car buying experience is pretty terrible, and I would prefer what you described to what we went through last time my wife got a car -- which was still mild by traditional experience standards.

 

[defcon888]

Our experience with the West Sacramento SC was amazing. Our guide (can't remember her name) took her time with us.....especially my OCD wife. They allocated an hour and I think we took 90 minutes, no complaints from the guide.

If you are up to it, write a nice, polite email to the SC manager and let them know of your experience. Make sure you use the "sandwich" method. This means just like a sandwich you start with the bread......e.g. compliments of what was great. Then you move to the meat...e.g. issue/complaints and then end it with more bread e.g. reiterate what was great and add some additional niceties and then thank them.

If you wrote a "My experience from hell" will set the tone of defense from the SC.

 

[defcon888]

Sounds unpleasant. Definitely give that feedback in the survey you'll get. Be honest, fair, and specific. That's the only way Rivian can address it.

I also agree that you lack imagination if the title of this thread is true. Traditional car buying experience is pretty terrible, and I would prefer what you described to what we went through last time my wife got a car -- which was still mild by traditional experience standards.

The only bad part of our Rivian purchasing experience was that our guide (email, phone) wasn't familiar with how we wanted to finance the vehicle. We let the manager of the service center and suggested that maybe some remedial training would help.

 

[runningdenver]

Opposite experience in Denver. In fact, I’d say Denver definitely has their act together compared to some other SC’s., if not the top SC in the country, as I’ve followed this forum for 4 years. I’ll admit, purchasing a Rivian is a different horse compared to traditional dealership model. It’s a bit , take-it-or-leave-it., but don’t take it if you don’t like it.

I’ll be at the Denver SC tomorrow morning for the first time for a service issue in 14 months bc my camp speaker won’t release when I play @COdogman’s favorite Vanilla Ice song, “Ice Ice Baby”.

Very similar. My pickup at Denver last December was great. Very smooth, not rushed. No issues. And I also dropped my vehicle off at the service center today to fix an issue (one of the door handles doesn't 'pop out' - even though it does lock / unlock). Very easy to drop off, and they gave me a $300 uber credit which is more than enough to get me home, and then back. All smooth sailing so far.

I'm sorry you got a sh$tty employee. That sucks. But fortunately that doesn't seem to be the norm here in Denver. Hopefully your next experience mirrors ours.

 

[mkg3]

This is such a hard thing. because people have very different expectations.

Some what Kidd Gove treatment with red carpet, others just want to sign and go. Most are in between.

The thing I appreciate the most, regardless of the people interactions, is avoiding the entire haggling and talk with the "finance manager" about all the ups and extras after the price has been agreed to, even if one is paying in full.

So no matter how bad one might experience, I argue that it is an order of magnitude batter than buying through a dealers...

 

[GlennReb]

My purchase experience here in Chicago was great as well. Fast and easy with a through run thru of my R1S. Maybe the guy was having a bad day, but still, when purchasing an 80k vehicle I think you expect a higher level of service. Sorry you were dissatisfied with your experience. I'd buy another Rivian in a heart beat.

 

[Ecupip]

I am sorry you didn't enjoy it. However, it sounds lovely to me. I've never been a fan of the time it takes to purchase a vehicle or house. Some people naturally prefer a more drawn-out process because of the dollar amount. To me buying a car should be like picking up any product off the shelf.

 

[Deacon]

27 months after pre-order, 6 months after locked configuration, went with my wife to take delivery of our R1S at the Denver Service Center. Person who handled the paperwork and the car introduction acted like he had to get to an urgent appointment. Total rush job. Impatient, rude, uninformative, couldn't bear to go over anything slowly, cursory explanation of everything, acted like I was a total pain when I started to inspect the exterior ("you've got 7 days to reject it."). He pushed us out of there in like 20 minutes and acted peeved that it took that long. And, he had the gall to insist that Rivians don't have a vampire drain issue. Hey Denver, you've got a problem.

My experience was nothing like that. The guy who delivered my truck spent about 2 hours with me going over everything and then went on a test drive with me. Best car buying experience I ever had.

 

[Ohm Boy]

My wife and I have taken delivery of an R1T and an R1S at the Denver SC, with two different people. Both experiences were simply excellent and both people were wonderful, took the time needed, and never rushed. Sorry yours was not a good experience.

 

[Redline]

The guys at the Minneapolis SC are really, really great. The one bad part of my delivery was that it was the last day of the qtr. He just didn’t have the time to do a full delivery with us. I knew almost everything about the car so it was ok, but if I wasn’t as knowledgeable it would be tough.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

Rivian is my second worst car delivery process. This was mostly due to it being the early days where there was so many disconnects in the process.

The worst was when company they contracted out to wanted to me to do an oath statement on a bible. I refused and I think they internally contacted the company to straighten it out.

When I did pick up my Rivian there was bird poop on it, and when I pointed it out the delivery specialist just shrugged. I could have forced the issue, but I was surprised that they weren't more proactive about it.

My worst experience was taking delivery of my Tesla Model 3P. It was so bad in terms of fit/finish that they should not have wasted my time. I did take delivery, but only after 3 hours of abusing their detailer and them owing me a fix for body alignment issue.

I don't really think of a taking delivery of an online order as a car buying experience. A traditional car buying experience is a game so losing the game is a bad car buying experience.

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