Experiences with Bellevue, WA service center?

[RIV206]

The service center contacted me ahead of time and verified the selections I made on the website. They asked "It says you do NOT want your front plate mounted, right?" and I said "Correct. Thank you for asking. I do not want my front plate mounted."

And they did not drill holes for my front plate. ?

I wish they did that for me. I selected "do not mount" on the app when finishing the purchase and it was still mounted. They offered to remove it and replace the entire bumper part that has the holes drilled but the tech said they would have to remove the entire front facia, charge door, etc to get access to some of the bolts. I didn't want to mess with that so it's still on there.

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[s4wrxttcs]

I've had good experiences and bad experiences with the Bellevue Service Department.

Good:

• Clean Place
• Friendly
• Professional
• Always offer Uber/Lyft credits
• Took care of a scratch where it was debatable as to whether it was there during pickup or happened after. They never questioned it.

Bad:

• They delivered me a vehicle with bird poop on it. I pointed it out to the person and they basically shrugged their shoulders. If I was that person I would have been embarrassed about it.
• Repeated Service visits to fix the tok have all failed to resolve the issue. I'm bothered by the fact that they don't test drive the vehicle after the "fix" to see. They don't try to claim its "within spec" but they waste everyone's time pretending to fix it. I have another appointment to attempt to fix it in September. This time I'm going to try to insist on testing before I accept it back. It's my bad for not doing that the last time. I can reproduce it easily in the parking lot.
• Being told to bring my vehicle in on a specific day, but them not getting around to till 2 weeks later.
• Being given the vehicle back with <20% battery charge. It didn't cause any issues, but geesh.
• Long 3-4 month wait time for any issue that requires the lift. This one alone would make me nervous about accepting any vehicle with faults that had to be fixed.
• They don't wash vehicles by hand after a service visit. I mention this one to make sure people know they use a automatic car wash machine versus washing by hand.
• General disorganization like not being able to pull up things reported or sent. It's likely gotten a lot better.

 

[Riviot]

overwhelmed

That's an understatement. I scheduled tokking recall a month ago, still have 3 months to go...

Otherwise, great experiences. The personnel are fantastic on service center side. Knowledgeable, experienced, hard working. They just need a bigger space!

 

[Kgautam28]

I'm picking up my R1S Thursday from the Bellevue, WA SC. Has anyone had good/bad experiences dealing with them? I've not found much specific info about user experiences. Nov. 21 preorder and granted shop access the 15th. My config was there on my first look. Grabbed it after brief internal debate about upgrading.

I'm asking so I can judge the level of "issues" I might accept on my initial walk through. My tolerance for defects will be much higher if there appears to be good support there.

Thanks!

Picked up last Thursday and had a great experience. Didn't feelike s routine dealership but more like a friend giving your car

 

[maddave12]

With the exception of things already mentioned, specifically:

- long lead time for appointments,
- waaay too small a parking lot, and
- not much (or anything) in the way of updates while they have my vehicle,

...I've been very impressed with my experiences at Bellevue. I know these people are being worked crazy hard trying to keep up with everything, but they've always been cheerful, professional, and straight with me.

On a separate topic, front license plates, my understanding is they are required on pickups in WA state.

Washington State law requires license plates to be attached conspicuously at the front and rear of each vehicle [if two license plates have been issued]; however, the law also allows for an exemption if it is impossible to affix the plate. According to RCW 46.16A.200, “The Washington state patrol may grant exceptions to this subsection if the body construction of the vehicle makes compliance with this section impossible.”

from here

 

[Delivery Purgatory]

I sent customer service an email asking for shop access, couple days later that responded saying they forwarded my request to shop team. 3 days later it showed up on my account screen. If you haven't asked already, you might give it a try.

I owe you a BIG BIG THANK YOU, so I did just that this morning while waiting for my coffee. 9:30am I get a call saying they have an El Cap Granite Launch edition available for delivery if I can do it by this weekend. So I obviously said I'm ready to go today and they sent over the 8 steps by noon and I now finished and own a R1S ready for delivery tomorrow afternoon. Again big shoutout and thank you!

 

[VSG]

On a separate topic, front license plates, my understanding is they are required on pickups in WA state.

Front plates are required on all vehicles in WA, not just pickups. I didn't want them to drill my bumper because I am using a SnapPlate for mounting. Other people mount their plates on the tire hooks. Other people just ignore the rule - that's what at least 75% of the Tesla owners around here do.

 

[dleepnw]

Last summer Rivian had only delivered about 10,000 vehicles so even common assembly problems like alignment were brand new to the service centers - they had only seem 1 or 2 cases like this at each service center, so they were still learning about the problems and how to fix them. That learning was fed back to the factory, so by now with 50,000 vehicles produced not only is the factory better at ensuring a specific problem doesn't appear in a delivered vehicle, but also the service centers now have experience fixing those problems multiple times. So while someone may have experienced excessive time to fix their problem last year, or may have had to go back several times for the same problem last year, it's no longer the same situation today. Alignment issues, for example, have largely been addressed and the service centers now know how to deal with this should it occur. That wasn't the case last year. I'm sure some people still slip through the cracks, but by all accounts most service centers are getting things done. Bellevue has been good in my experience and certainly if you have warranty issues you can be sure they will try to address them. The biggest issue is the service scheduling. But in reality, every place is like that, not just Rivian. I tried to get a new patient appointment at a doctor's office last week, and the soonest they have available is December. I'm on the waiting list. In context, waiting until October to get your R1 panel gaps addressed doesn't seem so bad ...

Bellevue SC doesnt do body-type work (panels, paint, etc), they send it to a 3rd party shop down the street. i confirmed this with the service advisor when i picked up my truck a few weeks back. not sure if they send everything there but they send at least some. so not all the experience is going to the technicians as the SC.

 

[dleepnw]

Bellevue has too much work to do and not enough space/staff to do it, so anything major is scheduled way in the future. Like 4 months. But they have been making changes so they can handle routine matters quickly - I've had my tires rotated there twice now and was able to make an appointment only 2 days in advance both times. The recalls were handled on a walk-in basis taking less than 15 minutes each. Likewise, I had a very small issue that they were able to send a mobile tech out to fix - they were able to schedule that only two weeks out. The situation should improve when the 2 new service centers in the area open, but that timeline is uncertain.

All the people I've dealt with there have been helpful - no complaints there.

That said, I don't know what you plan to accomplish with your initial walk through. If you find panel gaps, what do you intend to do about it? Leave the car there? Do you think they won't fix the gaps if you report them a month later? It's not like they're going to blame you for the gaps you didn't catch at delivery ... Likewise any problems with the charging or drive train you're not going to find at delivery. Thinking of delivery as your one and only chance to catch and fix problems is the wrong mindset. They are not going to hassle you over not noticing something until a month later - the entire car is under warranty, and they will fix it.

Sure, take a quick once-over like you would for a rental car to make sure the windows aren't broken and there is no body damage. Also check to make sure you have all the parts that come standard and all the accessories you ordered - spare tire, air compressor hose, portable charger, etc.

But IMO the best thing you can do is to take it home and spend some quality time there, then make a list of problems (if any), check the internet to be sure those problems aren't due to your misunderstanding, consider calling customer support to see if it is something they can help you with over the phone (like software problems), then report any problems you need fixed in the app and get them all addressed at the same time when it's convenient for you to leave your car in the shop for a while. They will give you a loaner.

i literally just talked with an advisor to get my tires rotated and they asked me to go to discount tire. i didnt push back because they said they are too busy to do rotations. not sure when you got yours done or how.

they've never offered a mobile tech for even minor stuff i've submitted tickets for but it might be because i live less than 10 miles from the SC. how far do you live from the SC?

 

[Riviot]

Front plates are required on all vehicles in WA, not just pickups. I didn't want them to drill my bumper because I am using a SnapPlate for mounting. Other people mount their plates on the tire hooks. Other people just ignore the rule - that's what at least 75% of the Tesla owners around here do.

Some of us Washington deliveries don't register vehicles here either.

 

[VSG]

literally just talked with an advisor to get my tires rotated and they asked me to go to discount tire. i didnt push back because they said they are too busy to do rotations. not sure when you got yours done or how.

they've never offered a mobile tech for even minor stuff i've submitted tickets for but it might be because i live less than 10 miles from the SC. how far do you live from the SC?

I had my last rotation about four weeks ago. They even emailed me the tread depth measurements. I scheduled the rotation by calling the "Rivian Service" number from the app.

I'm maybe 25 miles away. I had to ask whether if they could send a mobile unit, given the problem was so small and simple. They originally wanted me to bring it in 4 months in the future.

 

[flashhard]

I owe you a BIG BIG THANK YOU, so I did just that this morning while waiting for my coffee. 9:30am I get a call saying they have an El Cap Granite Launch edition available for delivery if I can do it by this weekend. So I obviously said I'm ready to go today and they sent over the 8 steps by noon and I now finished and own a R1S ready for delivery tomorrow afternoon. Again big shoutout and thank you!

That's awesome, congrats! Getting mine in the morning.

 

[dleepnw]

That's an understatement. I scheduled tokking recall a month ago, still have 3 months to go...

Otherwise, great experiences. The personnel are fantastic on service center side. Knowledgeable, experienced, hard working. They just need a bigger space!

Good news. The wait is no longer 4 months

Bad news. It’s still 3 months.

 

[LevelHeaded]

Wait is now 4.5 mos.

Mobile service f***ed up my tailgate yesterday (after agreeing to NOT work on it upon arrival). I have to wait until January for an appointment at the service center to get it fixed.

 

[Michael Kelly]

What was the process for scheduling w/them? I didn't see a web or app based appointment avenue, did you just call them?

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