Considering returning the R1S - questions

[Dave711]

I pick up a Model S Wednesday. 6-21-23.

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[Mysta]

In the end anecdotal issues tell us nothing, we can only rely on the overall experience of good vs bad, consistency vs not. Some people will not have issues and will not post about it(overwhelmingly so). I say this all the time, I join every car community of every car i've ever bought, and the common thing is that people will post when they have an issue to get help or see how common it is etc. Every one of them also have lemons, that's why it's a lemon law(because the issues existed before Rivian was even thought of.)

The number of times I've heard someone say "I had issues so I'll never buy x brand again" is huge. "Cool so you going to buy y brand, where someone had an issue yesterday and said the same thing about it?" TBF they likely won't have an issue 2 vehicles in a row, regardless of brand, but even then there's a chance.

FWIW- I just had suspension squeak early in my Rivian's life, nothing since they fixed it. Have no desire for any other vehicle unless it's to replace our Outback.

 

[kizamybute']

So if you financed it, you’re out at least one interest payment? Are they going to reimburse you for that?

If you financed it, your first payment isn't due for 30 days. It's not a lease where you make your first payment up front. Thus, returning in 7 days is well prior to the due date of the first payment.

I can't speak to the R1S. Personally, I love the ride quality of the R1T. But, have read that the Truck's ride is better due to its longer wheelbase.

For most people, SUV's are more practical. But, for me, while I don't need a truck, I liked the extra features that were unique to a truck and that are not present on the SUV (gear tunnel, tonneau cover, spare tire well in the bed, exterior air compressor. The SUV has less "look at me" features due to being in the shape of an SUV. While it appears to be superior in off-roading, most buying SUV's aren't off-roading their vehicles. Being a seven row vehicle, am surprised that the SUV is so much shorter than the truck. Had they used the same wheelbase and length for the SUV, would have had more interior storage, would have made the third row usable for adult passengers and provided better ride quality.

My point to the above is.....if you were on the fence between the SUV and Truck and chose the SUV, possibly consider switching to the Truck as it is better vehicle than the SUV. If you don't need 7 seats, if ride quality is important to you and you don't want to hear the air compressor from inside the vehicle, the truck will likely satisfy you.

 

[HaveBlue]

Well I've only done the first mile but drove the same route immediately after in our gx470. All of a sudden I realized how bumpy the road was and how the r1s made all those bumps disappear while cornering flat and providing feedback. It's all subjective.

 

[AxelR]

We decided to hold on to the R1S and see what the service center will be able to fix.

 

[210045803]

We decided to hold on to the R1S and see what the service center will be able to fix.

we also today just decided to keep the car, i think my paranoia was kicking in that i may have more issues, but i'll give them a shot at fixing the cameras and panels. I do like the car so i hope i didnt come off as bashing it. It's just i paid the higher price for the launch edition so it was close to 100k with the AT wheels and undercarriage protection and i specifically asked them to check the car for any panel issues so i could have it wrapped and the 2 rear doors dont close properly, but oh well that is probably because they are new to building cars so i will give them the benefit of the doubt

 

[CascadianApe]

Sounds like you were dealing with issues just as volumes were ramping and SCs would have been stretched. 6 months is a long time but the way I look at it, Rivian was very reasonable locking in bargain pricing (which you profited from), so there needs to be some reciprocation. We will not know how you approached Rivian staff. I hope you were considerate and without tone/attitude etc.

Wait times are still 6 months out in Bellevue and no other SC is up and running. In fact the Redmond facility was canceled and the South Seattle/Tukwila location is not permitted for service.

HAHA. I took delivery before they had the price hike so they didn't lock in anything with me.

My wife and I always approach people kindly and calmly. Nothing quite like being told a safety issue is fixed and that safety issue appear while driving out of the parking lot. Then being told immediately that the next service appointment is 6 months away. I've got a lot more, but my experience was hyper negative.

The service experience is garbage. My expectation was to have a safety concern fixed which took over a year.


I've had a few employees come down on me about posts before trying to defend the almighty RJ.

 

[Rad_ry]

Wait times are still 6 months out in Bellevue and no other SC is up and running. In fact the Redmond facility was canceled and the South Seattle/Tukwila location is not permitted for service.

HAHA. I took delivery before they had the price hike so they didn't lock in anything with me.

My wife and I always approach people kindly and calmly. Nothing quite like being told a safety issue is fixed and that safety issue appear while driving out of the parking lot. Then being told immediately that the next service appointment is 6 months away. I've got a lot more, but my experience was hyper negative.

The service experience is garbage. My expectation was to have a safety concern fixed which took over a year.


I've had a few employees come down on me about posts before trying to defend the almighty RJ.

That’s it?? Hmmm

 

[87Ducks]

I sold my R1T Launch Edition (pre March) about 2 months ago. I got tired of constantly having tickets open, things not working, damage from services, ext. Once it started to take 6+ months for appointments and the Service Center lying to me I said I'm out. Got one last service to make sure everything was perfect and sold it. Sold for over purchase price within 2 days....

Not to knock the car cause it was amazing overall. The price does NOT justify the customer treatment. We (my wife and I) were treated like TOTAL garbage at the Bellevue location. Lied to multiple times and had comments under the breath. I've never had such a negative experience especially spending the kind of money we spent with Rivian. Fit and finish could have been better, but it's a first gen of a first gen.

My biggest gripe with Rivian is how little they actually care about the customer. The entire customer service experience was complete crap. My local Toyota and Mercedes dealers knock it out of the park with service. Drinks, nice waiting rooms, snacks, and wonderfully nice service employees. Bellevue had zero anything! For a $100k car I found that to be absolutely unacceptable.

Ultimately the R1T got sold and we canceled our R1S pre-order......

Interesting. I had some minor fit & finish issues with my R1T and the Portland service center was extremely helpful. Nice clean waiting room and friendly folks who were willing to answer my questions - no matter how stupid. I didn't need it, but they had arranged for a rental car and/or Uber to go anywhere since I came from out of the area. The repairs were complete way sooner than originally promised.
I have also had good response calling roadside assistance. The people on the other line were always willing to help and made sure the problem or questions were resolved.

 

[gregtay]

We decided to hold on to the R1S and see what the service center will be able to fix.

I think you will come back and realize you made the right decision.

 

[R1Serenity]

I'm in the current 7 day window with some sort of major (unknown as of yet) issue and I'm still strongly rooting for Rivian for any of my fellow first time EVers that feel like they are ready to throw in the towel.

I picked one from the Shop pretty quickly that somewhat matched my build last month after I was granted access to the shop - I live about 5 miles from the SC and am a November 2021 preorder. Car shipped via train and picked up at the Orlando SC bright and early Saturday morning about 5 weeks after selecting my car. VIN PN89xx.

I went by the SC a couple days before to see if I could just check it out to make sure there was nothing glaring but given it's not a dealership and just a SC - request was denied to not violate any FL laws which I respected. They took lots of pictures and looked great, no obvious gaps and like maybe a dozen miles on it. Super thrilled for Saturday.

Charger arrived during the week, installed and recently decided to take the car same day for full PPF and tint. Made an off the cuff decision to come home first and make sure it charged well and nothing wrong with the drive before I send it off for a week. We were home by 1015am.

Car wouldn't charge, figured I was doing something wrong. Tried several times and then gave up and called Rivian. The charging port was red and wouldn't initialize the charging session. Car was charged to about 80% on pickup so I was merely testing the charging capability of the car.

Called Rivian, went through a soft reset and then when it restarted dreaded error message popped up - Electrical Hazard Warning, Drive immediately to SC and avoid water. W.T.F. Is the car about to blow up or catch on fire?

Given it was delivery day, the person on the phone was insanely apologetic and tried to offer ride credits for a few days. They probably felt my sadness over the phone and said they would call me right back to fix this since their next loaner wasn't coming back until Tuesday. They called the SC and by 1pm I had a beautiful Rivian Blue R1S that is used for First Mile drives dropped off at my house.

I think they were closed yesterday so they brought out a flatbed to pick up today from my place first thing. They advised not to drive it with that error message. They swapped out the Test Drive Car for a LG loaner R1S from my work place after picking mine up.

I did get to share with my neighbors that Rivian decided to offer up a BOGO deal to try to reach delivery numbers this quarter, lol

Anyhow, I don't know what's up with my actual car, hopefully will find out this week and have faith that if there is something massively wrong, they will replace it. I feel I will be forever weary if it's something "minor." I knew I was buying a pricey car from a new manufacturer and expected something(s) to go wrong - but not like this. Anyone experience something so major within first couple days? What was the recourse? Wait and see what the problem is?

Having had the loaners for the past few days made me realized what an amazing car it is and I can't imagine not owning a Rivian....that charges and has nothing catastrophically wrong with it.

Good look to all who have high (read as: very high and perhaps borderline unrealistic for a new car company) expectations for their Rivian, myself included. Suboptimal delivery day but it will all be fine in the end!

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