Is servicing going to be the downfall to Rivian?

[SparkyR1t]

Its a start up....making cars is hard.

People just assume Rivian should be the best at everything a couple years in to actually producing complex vehicles. It's going to take time.

We should stop allowing the use of “it’s a startup” for poor production quality. It was a startup now there is no excuse for producing poor quality vehicles if they want to succeed long term. If many owners are having alignment issues than put the team on correcting that issue and move to the next.

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[Redline]

We should stop allowing the use of “it’s a startup” for poor production quality. It was a startup now there is no excuse for producing poor quality vehicles if they want to succeed long term. If many owners are having alignment issues than put the team on correcting that issue and move to the next.

And how do you know they aren’t working on it?

Again, people continue to act as if they’ve been producing cars for decades. Hell, today on my FB feed, for whatever reason some Lexus club stuff popped up. It was a thread about angry Lexus owners regarding misaligned hoods. It happens.

 

[Kenmecca]

No one is expecting perfection out of the gate but there is no excuse for having big enough or more SC that can handle the outgoing deliveries and incoming broken ones. A) hire more people, pay enough in High end areas like the Bay Area so they will work for you B) separate deliveries to an alternate center and don't comingle so mgt has to decide do we get new ones out to look good to stockholders or fix broken ones to keep current customers satisfied. C) have a better SC software that determines when can actually work on the vehicle. No one should expect when you drop a vehicle off they won't see it for weeks. The amazing vehicle will only go so far and if your customer feels they are not being taken care of when things break they will find another vehicle. I am fully invested in Riv having waited 50 months for my R1S I got in March and have a decent amount of stock as well. Bortom Line need to double SC staff

 

[RivianPioneer]

My wife surprised me with a R1T right before Christmas. Very lucky guy. I fell in love with this truck once I picked it up and drove it. But noticed on the way home a few things wrong with it. Called the service department an hour after picking it up to request to get a few things fixed on my brand new vehicle.

Biggest thing was the steering wheel wasn't centered when driving straight.
Passenger seat belt chime goes off when no one is sitting there. (must buckle belt to stop it)
Front Console Trim wont stay in.
Driver tailgate strap is not tight.
Telescope steering motor makes grinding noise
Air compressor doesn't stop at displayed pressure

Told I would have to wait till the 3rd to drop it off to get everything fixed. Drove 1 hour to drop off the truck yesterday at the San Jose Service Center and told that they were overloaded in the queue and could take 1-2 weeks to fix. This is my first EV and first vehicle purchased directly from a manufacturer. I am just dumbfounded that people are putting up with this sort of thing. I am not new to odd cars. I have two Lotus (Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious). I get that things brake or don't get assembled properly. I'm just lucky I still have my old truck. But is there any sort of Quality Control happening? The alignment issue was noticed in the first two miles once I got on the freeway. Console Trim was noticed before we got in the car.

I just don't get how I spent over $90K for a vehicle that it seams like no one is looking over before they sell them. And why even have schedules for service when there is no schedule. If I wasn't afraid of my first EV, I probably should have taken it to my local alignment shop and have them fix it and keep driving it with its faults. But Its a brand new vehicle. Just frustrated that my truck is going to be sitting for 1-2 weeks when most of theses things should have been found in Quality Control.
Michael

So sorry to hear about your frustration. Each of us bought into a new company a new car. I was there with Tesla about 6 years ago when I got my first EV. Minimal service options, long waits, part delays, etc. But I loved the car and powered through it, and now in 2024 getting repairs is relatively easy and fast. They grew their network exponentially. That's how it works with new companies. They put most of their eggs into the manufacturing basket for the first few years, and once they have a large number of cars out there, then they start putting the money they are pulling in into repair shops and mobile repair vehicles. EVs have the added complication of the corruption that plagues each state's auto sales system - politicians are in bed with dealerships and big auto and they have designed many laws to make selling and servicing EVs in each state much more complicated for no good reason. Anyway, I do think that by 2025 Rivian will have expanded it's repair shops significantly as well as the mobile options. Wait times to service and for service will also drop tremendously. Hang in there!

 

[jb0063]

The problem is, at least for me, the problem is that I'm almost 2 years into ownership, and all of the proposed service centers listed at purchase time are still pipe dreams. No way am I driving 2.5 hours to Brooklyn, of all places, for service. Getting your vehicle serviced should not require 5+ hours of driving, having to kill/waste time in another city while it is being serviced, and a possible hotel stay if they need to keep the vehicle longer. Unbelievable.

 

[iansriv]

I'm still stuck on "my wife surprised me with a Rivian!" You need to surprise her with a 5ct diamond ring. My experience with Rivian has been great. Yes, there were some small issues at delivery and they fixed them. I'm still "complaining" about the windshield wind noise and they keep looking at it. Rivian corporate even called me to get more information and said they would talk to engineering.

 

[punjabi]

this is pretty okay.
when i took delivery around same time as you. i was delivered truck with no working key cards, phone as a key didn't work, have panel gaps and bend on front hood and tail gate. interior had scratches all over and was over all dirty.
i put in request for everything, i dropped off my vehicle on 2nd. told me a week estimate for all the work. it could be more as some parts may need to be ordered. but that is okay as they gave me a loaner and i would rather let them take as much time they need rather than rushing it and not fixing properly.
i am used to this sort of wait though. I had a volvo before this and volvo service usually had wait for more than a month to schedule appointment and at times if car is in for more than oil change it was very normal for it to sit with them for more than a week.

 

[TollKeeper]

While I get the whole "its a new company"... When someone of minimal means (like myself) is paying this much for a vehicle, I do expect better service.. But I also will admit, I have not experienced it first hand, just thru the fellow members here on the board complaining about how bad the service is.

Now what that means... I have no clue. Have not bought something like this in.. Well never.

That said, its like this at a lot of dealers/manufactures currently.

My brother is at the Ram dealer this morning, his front differential is bad (at least thats what they claim). They are telling him its going to be 2 months just to get the parts because of the strike. Lucky for him its the front differential, so he can still drive it. But has to deal with a vibration for the next 2 months (or at least until they get the parts in). He is getting this repaired under warranty.

I have friends that have new GM products, and because of a bad manufacturing process, are needing engines (with 1300 miles on the odometer) on both the 5.3L and the 6.2L engines. Because of the back log of this flawed manufacturing process, they are being told 2-9 months for a replacement engine. Some are taking Lemon Laws. There is talk that this is going to turn into a class action law suit because this is causing the truck to come to a dead stop in highway traffic. Safety concerns, ya'know.

I do believe that Rivian needs to step up their game, I know they are focused on getting the new builds out the door... But if they are loosing customers (both current and future) because of bad service, than its still a loose loose for them. The best place for them to start is quality control, both at the plant, and at the local SC. They are getting better, I will give them some credit.

Most new car manufactures dont survive in America. Yugo failed, FIAT failed twice, Triumph failed, Renault failed, Volvo failed 3 times (globally), SAAB failed (globally), Land Rover failed twice (globally), Jaguar failed twice? (globally), Aston Marin failed (globally), Maserati failed (globally), even Lamborghini failed (globally). Legacy auto makers are not immune either, Chrysler failed, GM Failed, Ford failed, and they all failed at the same time in 2009, and on a global scale.

Elio Motors has been trying to get in the US market since 2009.. They still have produced -0- cars. They keep changing what they are going to build, and who their partners are.
https://www.eliomotors.com/

Rivian has to make it 7 years to be considered viable.. They only have 2 years into actually making a product. Still got some ways to go. As said before, making cars is not easy.. Its definity not as easy as it used to be!

 

[QGessner]

First, sorry to hear about your issues. I wanted to post this for all of the prospective buyers out there reading the forums. I have had my R1T 8 months, 8,500 miles on it and had no problems, other then a small dent on a door that was there on delivery. I had the windshield replaced (Rock cracked it) and have had no issues with Rivian service. In fact, Rivian service has been outstanding. The mobile service came to my house to drop off the spare I had ordered (but was not available at delivery), and to check the front end for a recall (torque check). For the windshield, they were done in a day and for the dent, it look longer ~2 weeks, with the Christmas holidays, but they provided a loaner for me to drive. Communication has been outstanding. Love the truck more now than I did on delivery day.

 

[Captain JB]

This IS the weak point for Rivian right now…..it was for Tesla also the first 4-5 years after it started up. Let’s hope it does improve as this level of service is unacceptable for a $30K car much less a $80K vehicle. I guess they had to make a command decision to deliver cars BEFORE they had enough service centers to deliver good service instead of hanging on to the cars and that asset debt while waiting for the service centers to get up and running. I am a one month newbie of a R1S that is happy and excited about the car except the repair service and QC in the car. Let’s hope it improves s00n. JB

 

[NineElectrics]

Service is booking out four months in some locations. I can't believe you got it in so quickly!

Rivian has a monopoly on service and there's no dealer network to stand up to them. So, they will abuse their customers on the service side. Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Zoids, lol. My wife purchased it for me without me knowing. I had been doing research on it before hand and was going to hold out until Rivian was more stable before I purchase one. I build farm equipment. This vehicle will not do what my normal 3/4 -1 ton pickups would do. So luckily I am keeping my 3/4 ton truck for now to do the extra heavy duty things I need done and I’m going to use the Rivian as the commuter. So luckily I have an extra vehicle. But I would feel terrible for the person who traded in their old vehicle and have this sort of issue. The thing that makes me mad the most is why schedule appointments for service if you not going to touch it for a week. I could still be driving it until they are ready. And all that takes is someone to pay attention to a service schedule.

Great wife! Enjoy the journey, and yes, Rivian could have forecasted service center loads quite readily, but they chose to allocate resources elsewere while in full start-up mode. They absolutely should be out in front of the service wait times with the VP of Service stating, here is our plan.....e.g. double/triple service capacity in LA, OC, San Diego, NoCal etc. by Mar 1, Apr 1, May 1, Jun 1. ....

I bought into Rivian knowing there would be significant challenges, but I wouldn't trade my truck or R1S for anything else.....know the hurdles and enjoy this amazing R1!

 

[iBang]

Its a start up....making cars is hard.

People just assume Rivian should be the best at everything a couple years in to actually producing complex vehicles. It's going to take time.

So are you sayig because Rivian is brand new car company their Quality Control isn't experienced enought to detect the obvious issues the original poster saw right away or they let it pass even they saw the issues at the plant?

 

[Redline]

I couldn't tell you what happened with his specific car...nor mine. I had a few small trim issues when I got my R1S end of Q3. There's a lot on the line being a public company, and I can tell you, they are fully aware of the service and QC issues.

 

[RivianPioneer]

We should stop allowing the use of “it’s a startup” for poor production quality. It was a startup now there is no excuse for producing poor quality vehicles if they want to succeed long term. If many owners are having alignment issues than put the team on correcting that issue and move to the next.

There is an excuse. Really someone who has no stomach for dealing with the major growing pains of a relatively new company shouldn't be buying a Rivian. They should wait 2 years. I know I bought the car hoping for the best but fully knowing that I could be in for a lot of headaches. No pain, no gain.

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