Connect+... A Little Perspective

[teartags]

I'd be happy to pay if the music apps weren't so janky.

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[isakhnov]

If it makes anyone feel better, my Mercedes had asked $200 for a simple app connectivity on my 200K S63cp. At some point it does not matter and you pay for what you need. With Rivian, I have a simple routine that flips hotspot on the phone on when Rivian Audio connects over bluetooth - problem solved for what i needed it for.

 

[Dave711]

To be fair, they were very clear about free Connect+ being finite. The real winners are the first gen early adopters. They had the longest duration of free connectivity, free Rivian charging, extra 12V connectors, and a powered tonneau.

I have an unlimited plan but the quality of Spotify through the hotspot doesn't seam as good.

 

[NoGoingBack]

For the work around of using your phones hot spot, the auto connect not working is not a Rivian failure. I use my work phones hot spot all the time for work and if I leave it on and it’s not used it stops broadcasting and doesn’t auto connect it to anything. I have to stop the hotspot and restart it for my laptop to then automatically connect to it. So that behavior is the phones fault and not the Rivian. My Rivian always automatically connects to my garage WiFi.

As far as paying for connect+ I have never had a car before with LTE built in and never needed it, my phone was all the internet I needed in the car for streaming and navigation. Honestly I figured that is what I would do when the time came. I understood at some point we would have to pay for the internet. LTE data isn’t free after all. But I don’t know of any lte data service that you can get for $12.50 a month unlimited. That would be a deal for any smart device like a tablet or phone. So to me the service is worth it for that alone. My home internet and cell cost way more that than a month. IF it had been $30-40 a month I might not have signed up. But I think Rivian’s price is perfectly reasonable for what you get. If they had locked standard features behind a paywall then I would have been upset. I’m not going to subscribe to features. That said if they had an App Store to expand features with one time charge apps I might be in for that. There are apps I would like to have on the Rivian screen but my phone still works just fine for now.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

In rural areas such as ours, Connect+ stays connected in most of the phone "dead spots."

Very much worth it for us. Your experience may be different.

Best wishes!

 

[VSG]

Please keep in mind that we early reservation holders AND Rivian both agreed on a set purchase price set by Rivian. As with everything else purchased, Rivian had no choice but to honor that price instead of wanting to rescind its obligation and jack up higher the said set price. Rivian did us no favor, that's how the system works.

This is absolutely not true - nothing in this paragraph is true - and you're spinning a false narrative about what happened.

There was NO "set purchase price".

When you gave them money, the agreement explicitly said that the price was subject to change and that Rivian had NO obligation to sell you a vehicle and that you had NO obligation to buy a vehicle, at that price or any other. Again, it explicitly said the price was NOT fixed. Didn't you read the terms you agreed to when you gave them $1000?

Of course Rivian had a choice - they absolutely did not have to give a price break to reservation holders. They had no legal or ethical obligation to do that. Instead, they gave back way more than they should have IMO, and then kept extending the price break and allowing it to apply to new models that didn't even exist back in 2022. Yes, Rivian did us a HUGE favor, which has negatively affected their bottom line even up through this last quarter, and the very least you can do is acknowledge their generosity rather than act like the people rose up to stick it to the greedy corporation and hold them accountable.

Rivian's misstep was HOW they changed the price, and if they had done it a different way then the "customer" reaction would have been different. (I use quotes because no one was an actual customer - we all gave them money to save a spot in line to purchase a Rivian, but we didn't have deposits on a vehicle and this money was not a purchase or and agreement to purchase a vehicle.) But there will always be entitled whiney customers, as evidenced by this whole Connect+ thing which was fully disclosed from day 1, announced over and over again way ahead of time, and stated the purchase agreement; they were giving you free access for a limited time and after that they were going to charge you.

 

[waitingonanr1s]

This is absolutely not true - nothing in this paragraph is true - and you're spinning a false narrative about what happened.

There was NO "set purchase price".

When you gave them money, the agreement explicitly said that the price was subject to change and that Rivian had NO obligation to sell you a vehicle and that you had NO obligation to buy a vehicle, at that price or any other. Again, it explicitly said the price was NOT fixed. Didn't you read the terms you agreed to when you gave them $1000?

Of course Rivian had a choice - they absolutely did not have to give a price break to reservation holders. They had no legal or ethical obligation to do that. Instead, they gave back way more than they should have IMO, and then kept extending the price break and allowing it to apply to new models that didn't even exist back in 2022. Yes, Rivian did us a HUGE favor, which has negatively affected their bottom line even up through this last quarter, and the very least you can do is acknowledge their generosity rather than act like the people rose up to stick it to the greedy corporation and hold them accountable.

Rivian's misstep was HOW they changed the price, and if they had done it a different way then the "customer" reaction would have been different. (I use quotes because no one was an actual customer - we all gave them money to save a spot in line to purchase a Rivian, but we didn't have deposits on a vehicle and this money was not a purchase or and agreement to purchase a vehicle.) But there will always be entitled whiney customers, as evidenced by this whole Connect+ thing which was fully disclosed from day 1, announced over and over again way ahead of time, and stated the purchase agreement; they were giving you free access for a limited time and after that they were going to charge you.

You're 100% correct here - there was not set price agreed to by Rivian and pre-order holders - it was always subject to change at any time. Of course they didn't read the terms. All of this "uproar" about connect + is coming from people who chose not to read anything - otherwise they would have seen it clearly communicated.

 

[bigsky]

When I placed the deposit for my Rivian, and configured it, the price was spelled out clearly as far as I can recall. And funny, that's what I ended up paying. Would not have paid a penny more. Only disreputable manufacturers, merchants play the bait-and-switch game and do not honor their stated prices.

That Rivian was perhaps not smart enough or business savvy enough to presumably undersell its vehicles to us is of little to no concern to me, not even a figment of my imagination. I could not care less if I tried.

What I have READ about Connect+ and still have not tried it because my R1S's been out of commission since early September, indicates that one of the big deals is streaming apple whatever the hell it is called or the other streaming apps. I could not care less about either of them, either.

Will see what I need and if this service is worth it to me when the time comes, but $5 a month more than what Tesla charges me for my Premium Connectivity on my Teslas is shaping up to be a nonstarter.

 

[emoore]

When I placed the deposit for my Rivian, and configured it, the price was spelled out clearly as far as I can recall. And funny, that's what I ended up paying. Would not have paid a penny more. Only disreputable manufacturers, merchants play the bait-and-switch game and do not honor their stated prices.

That Rivian was perhaps not smart enough or business savvy enough to presumably undersell its vehicles to us is of little to no concern to me, not even a figment of my imagination. I could not care less if I tried.

What I have READ about Connect+ and still have not tried it because my R1S's been out of commission since early September, indicates that one of the big deals is streaming apple whatever the hell it is called or the other streaming apps. I could not care less about either of them, either.

Will see what I need and if this service is worth it to me when the time comes, but $5 a month more than what Tesla charges me for my Premium Connectivity on my Teslas is shaping up to be a nonstarter.

Ok cool. Then don't subscribe. You'll still have the same vehicle you paid for.

 

[dradam]

When I signed my initial binding agreement with Rivian, it was clear in the contract that the price of the vehicle might go up prior to purchase. As all of us know, they stood by the pre-march pricing for pre-order holders, even though they did not have to. Pretty remarkable frankly.
They told us ahead that eventually we would be paying for connectivity. No surprise here. And based on other manufacturers, their price is reasonable.

At the moment I’m waiting to decide upon connect plus because oddly enough, my Verizon unlimited plan seems to have better coverage Than the AT&T service. I’m waiting to see how casting goes before I make a final decision. So far, with tethering. The audio at least for me is just fine.

 

[bigsky]

Paying for connectivity seems only fair. What Rivian wants for it in my view is not. If Tesla, my other point of reference, does it for $10 a month...

I too will see how connectivity works using my cell, but if too much of a hassle, will definitely sign up for Rivian service. No matter what the network carrier is, worth keeping in mind that at least in my tri-state area there are expansive connectivity dead zones regardless of carrier.

 

[ixolib3]

If it makes anyone feel better, my Mercedes had asked $200 for a simple app connectivity on my 200K S63cp. At some point it does not matter and you pay for what you need. With Rivian, I have a simple routine that flips hotspot on the phone on when Rivian Audio connects over bluetooth - problem solved for what i needed it for.

Can you explain how to get the "simple routine" to work? Thanks in advance.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It is all about supply and demand. Rivian supplies Internet data service, Rivian now demands $150.
It is up to everybody to decide for herself/himself how useful and necessary it is. I myself still have not had a chance to evaluate it, but I hear that one thing that this service provides is native streaming of those music apps. I have Amazon Music Unlimited, and it is becoming clear to me that Alexa no longer might be able to stream that music, either without the Internet service premium. And my Alexa Song Quiz game might be gone too!
Will have to decide if BT, cell hotspot, whatever else does the job at least adequately and whether or not that effort will end up costing more than paying Rivian.

Please keep in mind that we early reservation holders AND Rivian both agreed on a set purchase price set by Rivian. As with everything else purchased, Rivian had no choice but to honor that price instead of wanting to rescind its obligation and jack up higher the said set price. Rivian did us no favor, that's how the system works.

Nothing wrong at all with questioning petty charges and feeling nickel-and-dimed. Many out there are very picky and very selective about where to spend money, however gazillions much or little, and on what instead of tacitly accepting every new charge under the sun, however small, as a given. And there are great $ benefits being so .

When I placed the deposit for my Rivian, and configured it, the price was spelled out clearly as far as I can recall. And funny, that's what I ended up paying. Would not have paid a penny more. Only disreputable manufacturers, merchants play the bait-and-switch game and do not honor their stated prices.

That Rivian was perhaps not smart enough or business savvy enough to presumably undersell its vehicles to us is of little to no concern to me, not even a figment of my imagination. I could not care less if I tried.

What I have READ about Connect+ and still have not tried it because my R1S's been out of commission since early September, indicates that one of the big deals is streaming apple whatever the hell it is called or the other streaming apps. I could not care less about either of them, either.

Will see what I need and if this service is worth it to me when the time comes, but $5 a month more than what Tesla charges me for my Premium Connectivity on my Teslas is shaping up to be a nonstarter.

It’s 12 dollars a month if you pay yearly so about the same as your Tesla. Also most preorder contracts are subject to pricing and availability changes. Rivian’s was no exception and they DID NOT have to honor the pre order pricing. The fact that they did was remarkable especially considering the pandemic and supply chain issues.

If you wouldn’t have paid “a penny more” than you did it sounds like your truck was too close to the top of your budget and you probably shouldn’t have bought it. When I buy things I separate them into two categories: needs and wants.

Any vehicle at this price point, unless it’s a specific vehicle for a purpose like a big diesel truck for hauling, is a want. As such I only spend the amount of money on these that I wouldn’t miss or impact my financial future. I don’t compromise investments or sound financial decisions to fund wants.

Since I’m able to do this and stick to it I don’t have to count pennies to throw an extra 150 into something in the want category should I decide I want it. If I were you I’d start with a cheaper car, that way you can pay for incidentals like internet connectivity without being so concerned over it. Think of how many hotspots you could buy driving a base Tacoma.

 

[SteveInBend]

Taking a cue from BMW, Rivian could give away the Internet connection and just charge $12.99/mo to use the antenna.

 

[bigsky]

Will have to look into the yearly price, then. Thanks.
I would not have paid a penny more out of principle, not budget constraints. You are making a lot of assumptions. Everybody may have a different opinion on what a need or a want is.

Whether a need or a want, the key is to always stick to the true golden rule: live within your means, pay cash-->no loans, no debt. So liberating!

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