Disappointing service experience & lessons learned

[eemri]

I thought I'd share an ongoing disappointing service experience. Partially to vent, partially to share what I've experienced and what I would have done differently.

After taking delivery of my truck, I relatively quickly noticed I had some rattling from the dash & driver door, some weird sloshing sounds from the front left suspension, and some loud thuds every time the suspension was engaged. It seemed like enough to get an appointment, so I created a ticket. A few days pass, Rivian called me to make an appointment. We set a time for the soonest opening and all seemed great. Separately, I got my car PPF'd and I needed to replace the badges - that too took a service appointment. I made one, set a date. This time, what was different was I received a Work Order and appointment confirmation I had to sign. I didn't get that for the first appointment. I called Rivian Service back and they had no record of my first appointment. So they made another one - FOR A MONTH OUT - since that was now the earliest available appointment. Grr.

LESSON 1: Make sure you get a confirmation / work order / something for your appointment

While getting the PPF work done, we noticed a small stamping issue with a panel. No problem said Rivian, we'll replace it when you bring the truck in for the suspension/rattling appointment.

I bring the truck in, go through all the issues -- so far so good. They tell me that the car will likely have to go to the bodyshop for the panel replacement and painting which could take "several weeks". If that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. No loaner truck was available, but since I didn't need a car, I opted for the Uber ride credits.

LESSON 2.1: Unless you are SURE that the service appointment will be fast, don't go with Uber credits. They expire in a week
LESSON 2.2: Personal Conjecture - There seems to be no urgency (more on this later) if you have the Uber credits vs. a rental car. With the rental car, Rivian at least has to pay for it; with Uber credits, they expire and you have to call back in to get more.
LESSON 2.3: They give you credits, not a dollar value, so splurge - ride Uber black or whatever

A week passes and I haven't heard any updates from Rivian. I also notice that my truck has been locked, placed to charge and is outside (cabin temperature is cold). Another day passes and the car is still outside, locked, etc. So I contact Rivian service who create a request for the SC to call me back. A day later I get a call: "All the suspension/rattling/etc. work has been done. Do you want us to proceed with the panel fix? We'll have to create the order for the panel, route it to management for approval, see when the parts department can get here, then schedule the body shop work. Should we proceed?"

A few frustrating questions came to mind:

• The whole reason I brought the truck in was to fix this panel. Yes, please proceed and fix it. Why didn't you start this process as soon as I dropped the truck off?
• If I hadn't called to get a status update, would you ever have given me an update?

LESSON 3: Be very explicit about telling Rivian that the things you bring your truck/SUV in to service, they have permission to fix and should fix. They don't need to call back to ask if they should fix the things you asked them to fix

I was told again that this could take a few weeks. So I asked if I could come get the truck and bring it back once everything was set up. "Let us check with the body shop and start the parts order process and we'll get back to you." They didn't get back to me. So 3 days later I call again, seeing that the truck hasn't moved, asking if I can get it while we wait. A day later I get a call back saying "no" because it resets the whole process. Fine. Is there a loaner truck available now? No. But I do have a date for my body shop appointment: December 14th. Two days later... the truck still hasn't moved, no update from Rivian.

Who knows when I will get the truck back.

LESSON 4: Avoid bringing the vehicle to service at all costs. This obviously stupid advice. But just be prepared that things could take a long time and you can't count on Rivian sharing updates with you.

It's almost been a month since I dropped off the car. For the last week my wife has started saying "I really miss the Rivian."

So do I.

P.s. This is the Costa Mesa (California) Service Center. Hopefully others are better.

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[connoisseurr]

Service is currently a rough process for Rivian, especially if more complex issues are present, like bodywork. I sympathize for you with regards to not having your truck, but this is something we simply need to get used to, while Rivian continues to grow their service network.

Our first R1T was with Rivian for 3 weeks in October, into November, so we completely missed out on the Halloween mode (was a bummer). However, we were happy to receive a vehicle that had 95% of the issues resolved.

 

[COdogman]

Good advice. Thank you!

I don’t know anything about the Costa Mesa SC, but it does seem like certain service centers have more bad experiences written about than others. That’s no excuse for the poor communications and bad customer service. This is stuff they need to work on.

 

[NY_Rob]

The model of having to go thru a centralized national call center who then has to message your SC who then calls you back (whenever they get round to it) seems to have some serious setbacks and only adds delays, miscommunications and confusion to the Service experience.
How about letting the customer call the Service Advisor directly at the SC where your vehicle is? How is that inefficient? Even Tesla (the leader in efficiency) uses that model for SC communications...

 

[p3ck]

There should have been a work order that you had to approve? That should have listed what was going to be done. Was that not the case?

 

[COdogman]

The model of having to go thru a central call center where they message your SC to call you back (whenever they get round to it) seems to have some serious setbacks and adds additional delays and confusion to the Service experience.

There is a part of me that understands why they do this - it’s hard to find/ train people to be excellent at customer service. They might think it’s better to do that from one department vs trying to do it at every service center around the country. But obviously based on OP and others’ experiences that isn’t cutting it either….

 

[Attesan997]

This post reminded me I never filled out the survey I received around the time of my last service appointment.

 

[Dark-Fx]

LESSON 2.2: Personal Conjecture - There seems to be no urgency (more on this later) if you have the Uber credits vs. a rental car. With the rental car, Rivian at least has to pay for it; with Uber credits, they expire and you have to call back in to get more.

I had a rental car in my driveway for nearly five weeks. The people working on the vehicle don't care.

 

[eemri]

There should have been a work order that you had to approve? That should have listed what was going to be done. Was that not the case?

No and yes. Initially, there wasn't one which is what tipped me off to the fact that maybe my appointment wasn't actually scheduled for the date they told me. I learned this because I did get a Work Order for a different appointment.

Eventually I got one for the appointment for which I am still waiting on the Truck. But even with this one they didn't include the body work in that WO since they weren't sure they needed to order parts, etc. It only covered taking a look at the panel before confirming it needed to be replaced.

 

[eemri]

I had a rental car in my driveway for nearly five weeks. The people working on the vehicle don't care.

Hehe good to know. I guess at least I'd have a car in case of emergency, so with hindsight I still should have gone this route just in case. But good to know (which was speculation on my part anyway) it drives no sense of urgency

 

[eemri]

Good advice. Thank you!

I don’t know anything about the Costa Mesa SC, but it does seem like certain service centers have more bad experiences written about than others. That’s no excuse for the poor communications and bad customer service. This is stuff they need to work on.

Agree - I don't fault Rivian for any of the issues with the truck, issues with manufacturing, etc. I signed up for that. What I do fault them for is their multiple "own goals" - things they committed to and didn't follow through on. Even just proactive communication every few days would have gone a long way. I feel like I have to chase them for anything to progress.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

As someone who’s had a lot of service work done but had a much better experience let me offer a few tips. I have the benefit of many years of project management and execution of complex issues at a high level and I picked these tips up over the years.

First tip, this one may or may not apply to You but I mention it first because it’s the most important. BE NICE. Be nicer than you even think you should. These people are busy, and as such you want to stand out in their busy day. There are two ways to stand out, be a massive prick or be nicer than the average bear. Being a prick gets you pushed to the bottom of the pile while being nice tends to get you moved up or at least not pushed back.

Second tip is to be selectively flexible. Your truck had issues, but it doesn’t sound like any of these issues prevented you from using your truck. I would be flexible on work start date but not execution or be flexible on start date but not a loaner truck.

For example my tailgate was damaged in transit for my delivery. It still worked just was dented. I didn’t need that fixed in any specific timeframe so what I stressed to customer service was that I really enjoyed my truck and would be willing to wait for a loaner to be available for them to start service.

Third tip, ask politely to coordinate the repair with your local service center directly. The key is to do this nicely as by asking this question the implication is that the person you’re talking to is doing a shit job. No one likes that, and that’s always the common customer go to when they aren’t getting their way with a CSR.

Try something like “I bet you guys are really slammed. It’s probably easier for all of us if you get me in contact with the service center directly to coordinate this repair and I will make sure to keep you in the loop”. This convo should be had with your guide. Now you’ve given them permission to go on to another customer while still doing what you want and they feel good about it not like they failed.

Fourth tip, Set expectations with the service center. Offer to send a ton of pictures, ask if the parts required for the repair are in stock somewhere and if not ask to schedule the appointment for when they are. Be very obvious that you’re willing to go the extra mile to lighten their load in exchange for an expedited repair. I believe I said something like “Is there anything I can do to help you guys prepare for this repair? I want to get my truck fixed ASAP as I’m sure you do as well and I’m willing to help out wherever I can to make that happen”

Last tip, perform efficient follow ups. Call every couple days or if Rivian gives you an estimated completion date call at the end of that day. Make sure you don’t take an accusatory tone when calling and you’re just “checking in”. At the end of the call set an expectation for you to call back in a reasonable amount of time. If they say it will be ready on Tuesday say great, I’ll circle back end of day Tuesday and give you a call if I don’t hear from you beforehand, is there any time that works best for you?


Some of this flexibility is only applicable to non critical repairs. Understand that Rivian has to prioritize critical repairs. Also understand that most customers want immediate action over efficient action. The service team will take a truck they don’t have time to service and let it sit a week just to get a demanding customer to quiet down.

If you don’t believe me read the forums a bit and really think about some of the comments. Lots of people are very quick to chastise Rivian for not taking immediate action even with non critical issues like wind noise. Stand out by being flexible with the start time of non critical repairs and go out of your way to accommodate them in exchange for efficiency services.

I know some of you will read this and feel that it’s too over the top kissing ass and not do it. To those people I want you to ask yourself if stroking your ego is more important than efficient service and low downtime. The key to getting other people to do things for you is putting yourself in their shoes, understanding their problems and working on solving them together.

The service center is juggling many repairs all the time. They are all important to Rivian equally but your repair is most important to you. Be the leader in the process and let them offload some of the planning and follow up to you in exchange for fast service, if that’s your goal of course.

 

[R1Tom]

I am truly starting to grow concerned of their ability to get out of this phase. By that I mean, cranking out vehicles to hit production targets, with known defects...only for the owner to then hit this brick wall of service.

Your experience is very similar to mine..from almost six months ago.

I checked in on things after about a week, and they tell me all is done, except the body work I had asked for. If I wanted that done, it will have to go to a bodyshop, which they are booked for a week, so that would add about 2 more weeks to the visit. I said forget it...I can live with it for now...let's get it next time, so I could get the thing back.

Then...it took them almost a full week to coordinate shipping it back to me. And when it arrived...it was on a trailer better suited for a Mini Cooper. I was surprised it made it home safely.

The whole experience I would rate a D at best.

And what you just experienced says...nothing is improving...and now for me to get service...I have to drive it 2 hours each way and drop it off (and no...I didn't "sign up for that"...it was understood they would transport vehicle when service is needed or use remote service(which I have attempted for some small needs, and they have refused...said it has to be brought to service center).

I am in same boat.....avoiding service if at all possible. Meaning living with some things, that if I had any of my last 10 or so vehicles, I would have certainly had fixed by now.

I am so blown away by how great a vehicle is, that I put up with these things....for now.

But many others, with a much higher ability to serve the customer, are on the way, and at least from what I am seeing, Rivian is not making the imrpovement in the exponential ways needed, to make it all work...before the competition is taking the customers and the pile of money is gone.

But.....damn.....the truck is AWESOME!

And I keep crossing my fingers they get that initial quality to improve to take load off service and then get that service experience polished up.....and asap!

I love this company....brand....my truck....just want to all to happen for them (and me....I want to keep buying these things...and of coarse all my stock that I am in ride or die mode on, that is worth about a third of my average cost on...or something like that).

But my lifetime of loving cars, trucks, etc... and watching these companies with close interest over that time....has me genuinely concerned....

 

[R1Tom]

As someone who’s had a lot of service work done but had a much better experience let me offer a few tips. I have the benefit of many years of project management and execution of complex issues at a high level and I picked these tips up over the years.

First tip, this one may or may not apply to You but I mention it first because it’s the most important. BE NICE. Be nicer than you even think you should. These people are busy, and as such you want to stand out in their busy day. There are two ways to stand out, be a massive prick or be nicer than the average bear. Being a prick gets you pushed to the bottom of the pile while being nice tends to get you moved up or at least not pushed back.

Second tip is to be selectively flexible. Your truck had issues, but it doesn’t sound like any of these issues prevented you from using your truck. I would be flexible on work start date but not execution or be flexible on start date but not a loaner truck.

For example my tailgate was damaged in transit for my delivery. It still worked just was dented. I didn’t need that fixed in any specific timeframe so what I stressed to customer service was that I really enjoyed my truck and would be willing to wait for a loaner to be available for them to start service.

Third tip, ask politely to coordinate the repair with your local service center directly. The key is to do this nicely as by asking this question the implication is that the person you’re talking to is doing a shit job. No one likes that, and that’s always the common customer go to when they aren’t getting their way with a CSR.

Try something like “I bet you guys are really slammed. It’s probably easier for all of us if you get me in contact with the service center directly to coordinate this repair and I will make sure to keep you in the loop”. This convo should be had with your guide. Now you’ve given them permission to go on to another customer while still doing what you want and they feel good about it not like they failed.

Fourth tip, Set expectations with the service center. Offer to send a ton of pictures, ask if the parts required for the repair are in stock somewhere and if not ask to schedule the appointment for when they are. Be very obvious that you’re willing to go the extra mile to lighten their load in exchange for an expedited repair. I believe I said something like “Is there anything I can do to help you guys prepare for this repair? I want to get my truck fixed ASAP as I’m sure you do as well and I’m willing to help out wherever I can to make that happen”

Last tip, perform efficient follow ups. Call every couple days or if Rivian gives you an estimated completion date call at the end of that day. Make sure you don’t take an accusatory tone when calling and you’re just “checking in”. At the end of the call set an expectation for you to call back in a reasonable amount of time. If they say it will be ready on Tuesday say great, I’ll circle back end of day Tuesday and give you a call if I don’t hear from you beforehand, is there any time that works best for you?


Some of this flexibility is only applicable to non critical repairs. Understand that Rivian has to prioritize critical repairs. Also understand that most customers want immediate action over efficient action. The service team will take a truck they don’t have time to service and let it sit a week just to get a demanding customer to quiet down.

If you don’t believe me read the forums a bit and really think about some of the comments. Lots of people are very quick to chastise Rivian for not taking immediate action even with non critical issues like wind noise. Stand out by being flexible with the start time of non critical repairs and go out of your way to accommodate them in exchange for efficiency services.

I know some of you will read this and feel that it’s too over the top kissing ass and not do it. To those people I want you to ask yourself if stroking your ego is more important than efficient service and low downtime. The key to getting other people to do things for you is putting yourself in their shoes, understanding their problems and working on solving them together.

The service center is juggling many repairs all the time. They are all important to Rivian equally but your repair is most important to you. Be the leader in the process and let them offload some of the planning and follow up to you in exchange for fast service, if that’s your goal of course.

I did absolutely everything you said...even more....and it still was a really crappy service experience....you got somewhat lucky it appears. Not all on your skills on how to approach. I am super skilled at "the approach", too. I make a career of it.

 

[mini2nut]

You nailed this one…

“BE NICE. Be nicer than you even think you should.”

It goes a long way with any customer service person. Remember the proverb you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

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