Connect+ is Here

[Cycliste]

Can anyone tell us the vision?

Mine is 20/20, corrected

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[bd5400]

I don’t post often, but I really don’t understand all the Rivian apologists on here. Sure you’d expect them on a Rivian forum, but damn do you guys drink the koolaid.

I have both a 22’ R1T and a 23’ R1S. I’m not happy with the corporate decisions. RJ was a good guy with good plans but the investment community has damaged this company like they do every other.

There has been a lot of over promise under deliver counter to what RJ used to say. Is THIS that, No. But forcing everyone to start the trial immediately on the same date prior to updates going out. That’s wrong, and you reading this are wrong for supporting it. If the update was out and they gave everyone a month to download the update and start the trial after the update was complete…that would be acceptable. I don’t see the value in the current offering, but at least it wouldn’t be such a lowball tactic to improve metrics for the investors instead of care about the customers…yes I have a few thousand shares as well. Was offered the pre IPO but that was another scam, bought below $15.

Rivian, the current penny chasing tactics will not make you a long term player. Be better.

This, along with many other posts in this thread, is an insane over reaction to a few days of a free trial. October 15th is 63 days away so there’s even a few days of buffer built in.

It’s not that serious. Go outside. Touch some grass. Enjoy nature.

 

[MavsLee]

We go to Canada a few times a year, Free LTE is a huge benefit, will miss that

 

[Ripped]

I'm willing to look at the features, to see if it's something I want, or need.

I rented a brand new platinum F350 for a week, the sound system quality, OS felt like I stepped back 5 years. The Carplay was on a big screen but also wanting. Maps and interface felt like I had a big VGA monitor instead of HD.
I have Drone Mobile on another vehicle for tracking, it's $9.00 a month, and doesn't do too much.

The price is not that big a deal. Coloring my decision is the rather weak service appointment I just had. So my glass is half empty...

 

[StandB]

While i don’t understand people complaining about $15/month when they spent 90-100k on a car. I agree that Connect+ brings no value at all !
Feedback to Rivian people reading these blogs:
- I don’t understand why do you want to charge for something we already have (apple/Audible) ?
- I did my first “trip” using Rivian built in Navigation, it felt like using a 1999 TomTom: Zero Intelligence, waisted over 1hour of time (on a 2h trip) due to poor road planning. I would pay for Waze Integration as i found myself using my iPhone on my laps. The solution above with poor Chinese made screen isn’t a solution for a $100k either, so please go back to your drawing boards.

 

[RivianNeighbor]

Rivian wants everything positive they can get for Q4 numbers. All publicly traded businesses seem to be run this way. Shareholders above customers.

Smells like capitalism. I like it.

 

[macwinpro]

I don’t understand why a few people are making such a big deal about this fee. Rivian announced it a while back. When I first received me new truck 2 years ago, I was expecting a monthly fee. They announced again that it would start in April 2024 and now they’ve finally released it and it’s starting in October in 2024. The fee is negligible and I can’t think of one company that offers free LTE service.
They also added unlimited ad free Apple music service through the car. And have plans for more services.
If you don’t want the service, why complain about it? It’s an option and if it’s not important to you, you don’t need to buy it.
A few people have also mentioned “I’ll will” by Rivian. Seriously? I have nothing but top notch support from them. They’ve had a few recalls and they’ve came to my house to fix the issue. What other car companies do that? I’ve had a Free 12v battery replacement which no car company does period. 12v batteries are not covered under warranty by any major car manufacturer!! Free Tesla charger adapters which no other car company does either.
Lastly, this is by far the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. It’s fun, fast, and simply intuitive to drive. My wife and i recently purchased a 2024 BMW for her and smugly I have to keep my mouth shut that my Rivian which is 2 years older still feels 2 years newer in technology, Don’t get me wrong the BMW of great but when it’s date night, I want to take the Rivian.
So my suggestion to all the nay sayers. go sell you R1 and get off this forum and complain somewhere else please.

 

[PBRAZ]

Don't want to pay for connect+? Just activate a 2nd line on your cell phone plan and switch out your Rivian's SIM card. It's located right next to the

 

[goldburger]

I expect a refund of 50 cents for every day I don’t have this free trial on my truck. I refuse to symbolically pay for something I’m literally not paying for!

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Didn't Rivian say you get priority updates if you sub to Connect+? Also, the annual payment comes out to $12.42 a month.

 

[Olsonsolar]

Yay! Get two free months even if you activate now.

Does that mean they are auto billing you? Or do you have the option to op in or out after the trial?

 

[Dark-Fx]

Does that mean they are auto billing you? Or do you have the option to op in or out after the trial?

I activated my plan. I could still cancel it before the trial is up.

 

[Jeep Addict]

Pay this cat!

A free ride is great from an owner perspective but as a stockholder (one who has spent WAY too much $$ buying a never ending dip) Rivian needs to start making some damn money!

They are STILL losing $30K per vehicle sold! Just don't try and put seat heaters on subscription (I'm pointing my middle finger at you, BMW) and I'll be good...

Our EQB is as coin operated as any vehicle. German car manufacturers seem to be the worst at the "à la carte" approach to vehicle pricing and residual revenue streams. After the free period we have not paid a tithe to Mercedes for the privilege of remote locking, customized ambient lighting, charging stats, and other assorted stuff that I expect to have and did receive with other vehicles (Lincoln Aviators)

Even with the Aviators, they were also always connected via cellular back to the manufacturer. They too tried to pimp hotspot, etc., but I find no compelling value.

This breaks down to value. I like to define value as something mercurial; different to each individual based on their circumstances and perspective, but equates to the individual's perception of the cost of something versus the utility or joy they receive from it. If someone thinks what they're receiving is delivering the bare minimum expected, there is no excess utility or joy, it has little to no value, it's just an expense. "meh".

If they perceive less utility than the cost then it's repugnant, "This sucks", "this is a rip off", "this isn't worth the price of admission".

If something delivers more than the minimum expectation, then there's a perceived value; "I'm getting a deal", "this is awesome".

Subscriptions are becoming a corporate opioid. It's not enough to design and sell a great product, more frequently there's a desire to create residual revenue streams from the use of a product sold to customers. I remember it starting with Downloadable content in games. Then the insidious freemium games, "free" to play, pay to unlock. Now many legacy manufacturers are serving the Kool Aid to customers who see this as normal.

For me it's not a question of $14.99 or $12.42 or $5.00, sure I can afford it, but what value am I getting? For me the potato cam video stream isn't worth it. I am not streaming video to the display in the R1S, Alexa is frustratingly ineffective at best, paying to stream audio services that require an additional subscription, that I can stream from the phone, that's just duplicative.

II have found the satellite imagery on the navigation screen nice, but not $15.00 a month nice.

I'm hoping Rivian can figure out how to improve the value proposition for connected services for customers like me, because I am a stock holder, and a fan. From my perspective this is just putting a price on features that don't have commensurate value.

Rivian is approaching an inflection point. There will be more competitors entering the same space Rivian occupies today, they will certainly be leveraging every opportunity including increasing the value included in the purchase.

In my opinion volume is the key to Rivian's long term survival, if not success. Incremental revenue is not going to float Rivian in the long run, and there's serious deficiencies in the sales and service that must be addressed, especially if that volume I mention materializes.

 

[R1S88]

Our EQB is as coin operated as any vehicle. German car manufacturers seem to be the worst at the "à la carte" approach to vehicle pricing and residual revenue streams. After the free period we have not paid a tithe to Mercedes for the privilege of remote locking, customized ambient lighting, charging stats, and other assorted stuff that I expect to have and did receive with other vehicles (Lincoln Aviators)

Even with the Aviators, they were also always connected via cellular back to the manufacturer. They too tried to pimp hotspot, etc., but I find no compelling value.

This breaks down to value. I like to define value as something mercurial; different to each individual based on their circumstances and perspective, but equates to the individual's perception of the cost of something versus the utility or joy they receive from it. If someone thinks what they're receiving is delivering the bare minimum expected, there is no excess utility or joy, it has little to no value, it's just an expense. "meh".

If they perceive less utility than the cost then it's repugnant, "This sucks", "this is a rip off", "this isn't worth the price of admission".

If something delivers more than the minimum expectation, then there's a perceived value; "I'm getting a deal", "this is awesome".

Subscriptions are becoming a corporate opioid. It's not enough to design and sell a great product, more frequently there's a desire to create residual revenue streams from the use of a product sold to customers. I remember it starting with Downloadable content in games. Then the insidious freemium games, "free" to play, pay to unlock. Now many legacy manufacturers are serving the Kool Aid to customers who see this as normal.

For me it's not a question of $14.99 or $12.42 or $5.00, sure I can afford it, but what value am I getting? For me the potato cam video stream isn't worth it. I am not streaming video to the display in the R1S, Alexa is frustratingly ineffective at best, paying to stream audio services that require an additional subscription, that I can stream from the phone, that's just duplicative.

II have found the satellite imagery on the navigation screen nice, but not $15.00 a month nice.

I'm hoping Rivian can figure out how to improve the value proposition for connected services for customers like me, because I am a stock holder, and a fan. From my perspective this is just putting a price on features that don't have commensurate value.

Rivian is approaching an inflection point. There will be more competitors entering the same space Rivian occupies today, they will certainly be leveraging every opportunity including increasing the value included in the purchase.

In my opinion volume is the key to Rivian's long term survival, if not success. Incremental revenue is not going to float Rivian in the long run, and there's serious deficiencies in the sales and service that must be addressed, especially if that follow I mention materializes.

Rivian has a cost from ATT to provide connectivity which most consumers seem to want. The cost plus a markup is either in the vehicle price or broken out in a subscription. Nothing is free in the long run. If it's broken out in a subscription it's more fair because if it's not valuable to you then let others pay for it. I respect that it's not a good value in your opinion, but I think it is and is in line with what other manufacturers offer.

 

[Wing]

Sorry if this has been asked before.

But what am I trialing right now for 2 months? I already had LTE hotspot. Only thing I didn't have was apple music and I'm not going to pay for ANOTHER music streaming service (that would be a third).

So what am I trialing? It's very strange they didn't offer this with netflix / youtube etc....

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