Help. Rivian shuts down all parts support for Canada? Gear Shop down? How do I buy a Wall Charger?

[rraj2k81]

From Rivian Customer support chat:
“Sadly, Gear Shop is not available in Canada and you will not be able to purchase a wall charger via Gear Shop. The only alternative would be to purchase on site in one of our Hubs or Service Centers.”

There is a service centre 10 mins from me, but no phone number or contact info. And it’s in a locked building

From Rivian:
“I get that, but we don't have any contact information for Service centers.“ “The best option would be to go there personally if you can. “ “8-6”

So, I can’t buy anything for a Rivian online, over the phone or by email. I can't even get a quote?!?! Not even buy a t-shirt?

Seriously, it is 2024, and I can only get a part in person?!?!

Rivian has been shafting Canadian since they started selling here.
Don't expect the Gear Shop to open here for a while.

As others mentioned, there are other options, namely Grizzl-E, Autel, Tesla, Pion Power to name a few. If you can wait, when Amazon prime deals are on (should be next month), Grizzl-E and Autel will have crazy discounts.

I picked up an Autel from Amazon during Prime days, for less than CAD$400.

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[Urbanstyles]

My experience for what it's worth in Edmonton, Alberta (2.5 hour drive from the nearest service center) I was able to purchase both a tailgate pad and the manual tonneau cover by making a service request. Once I was able to speak with someone, they arranged the parts to be shipped to me (free of charge I might add) at my house. Rivian has been very accommodating so far, albeit the process takes some time. They also shipped my all weather mats that weren't available at delivery to my house.

As far as the charger goes, I agree the Tesla Universal is a better bang for your buck all day long at the same price as the Rivian one and Amazon had it to me in two days. But for most other items in the gear shop that we Canadians want but can't buy, I'd suggest going the service request route and see how it goes.

 

[Lansorep]

My experience in Ontario was I made a service request and then ordered the 20” wheels with installation and the crossbars. I got a call from someone in the US and they got it sent to Vaughn and I got it all done 10 days after the call.

 

[aAlpine]

Telephone support told me to visit the SC to schedule the appointment (huh - why the app then???)

That's insane. As someone who lives 2 hours + a ferry ride away from the SC I'm seriously concerned.

 

[mkhuffman]

So is this a sign of a failing company? I’m struggling with actually going through with my order.

It's a sign they are staying focused on becoming profitable. If they can't get cash flow positive, they will fail. Definitely. And it needs to happen this year, or at least get very close to happening this year. So while it pisses off our Canadian friends, I see it as a good sign they might make it.

 

[Shaggy]

It's a sign they are staying focused on becoming profitable. If they can't get cash flow positive, they will fail. Definitely. And it needs to happen this year, or at least get very close to happening this year. So while it pisses off our Canadian friends, I see it as a good sign they might make it.

I half agree with you. They need to become profitable ASAP, but it shouldn’t have had to come at the expense of early adopters. The fact is that it almost always does, though - it happened with my Tesla and I fully expected it to happen with Rivian.

But let’s be realistic, if Management were ”fully” competent and not learning on the job as is the case with most of these start ups, they’d plan for all of this. Rivian has been following Tesla’s playbook pretty religiously (and I’d argue, improving on it in many cases), but they dropped the ball big time on service and expansion…just like Tesla did. I’ll be patient while they work through these growing pains, but let’s not pretend that this is simply a justifiable business decision instead of something avoidable with a better plan (just like pausing the Georgia plant is the right decision to limit capital outlays, but a foreseeable over reach to try and do everything all at once while they’re hemorrhaging $ trying to sell cars and build out the supporting infrastructure ).

 

[Carscott]

I’m pretty sure that Sept 30 deadline will be used to force purchases in Canada. With the company risks I’d prefer a lease. And really not sure why leasing has geographical limitations.

 

[Urbanstyles]

I’m pretty sure that Sept 30 deadline will be used to force purchases in Canada. With the company risks I’d prefer a lease. And really not sure why leasing has geographical limitations.

My guess is that financing though the major banks in Canada is vastly different than in the US.

 

[ozziegt]

Hot take: Rivian wall charger isn't that great, get a 3rd party one. Very little information available in the app compared to other chargers which give you detailed information about your charge history and can even calculate your charging costs.

 

[Wing]

It's garbage they sent me a free one I sold it and got an Emporia instead

 

[André]

I half agree with you. They need to become profitable ASAP, but it shouldn’t have had to come at the expense of early adopters. The fact is that it almost always does, though - it happened with my Tesla and I fully expected it to happen with Rivian.

But let’s be realistic, if Management were ”fully” competent and not learning on the job as is the case with most of these start ups, they’d plan for all of this. Rivian has been following Tesla’s playbook pretty religiously (and I’d argue, improving on it in many cases), but they dropped the ball big time on service and expansion…just like Tesla did. I’ll be patient while they work through these growing pains, but let’s not pretend that this is simply a justifiable business decision instead of something avoidable with a better plan (just like pausing the Georgia plant is the right decision to limit capital outlays, but a foreseeable over reach to try and do everything all at once while they’re hemorrhaging $ trying to sell cars and build out the supporting infrastructure ).

I agree. Also probably based on logistics. A Canadian Shop would mean a warehouse with duplicate inventory to ship direct (system wise shipping from the service centers would be a bad investment if they don’t intent to do that longer term). Add the Human Resources constraints and it’s most likely not an important priority to address in the hundreds of other issues to resolve currently. But with their strategic partnership with Amazon, why not make the gear shop available thru Amazon in Canada and let them take care of logistics ?

 

[DB88]

When I picked up my R1T a couple weeks ago at the BC location, they had lots of accessories in stock. . My guide told me if I needed anything else to just message him and he would get me what ever I need from the gear shop and ship it to me, because i'm on the island in Victoria. It is a shame that they disabled the gear shop to Canadians.. As far a chargers go, I purchased an Emporia Charger and it works flawless. Purchased it from Amazon.

 

[Wing]

Those saying you can't get to the shop, you definitely can. Probably doesn't solve the shipping and insane pricing but.

Go to rivian.com
change it to rivian.com/en-US

Click on gear shop. Works fine for me on 2 connections I tried in Canada. even said "We think you are in canada" It still allowed me to do it.

 

[André]

Those saying you can't get to the shop, you definitely can. Probably doesn't solve the shipping and insane pricing but.

Go to rivian.com
change it to rivian.com/en-US

Click on gear shop. Works fine for me on 2 connections I tried in Canada. even said "We think you are in canada" It still allowed me to do it.

It doesn’t work in Quebec (at least if your profile is in French) as they automatically switch you to their Europe site as if you would be in Paris ! ?

 

[ckorpan]

In London, Ontario: I was able to purchase the Rivian cargo bars for my R1S through the website (rivian.com/en-US). I then used Shippsy (they give you a US delivery address - which is their office) to get it across the border. Took about 2.5 weeks from purchase to having them at my place. It worked like a charm and no issues.

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