My Guide Experience

[Count Orlok]

how much are you putting down?


Did you not notice city tax wasn't included? I'm surprised your CU didn't point this out.

what do you think is a "fair" freebie?

Sponsored

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It seems like the opinion I'm about to give has already been stated here a couple times so at the risk of sounding like a broken record here's my .02. I think that you are correct to start with, Rivian very clearly made a mistake here with the taxes. That sucks, and it shouldn't have happened.

All in all though, it's a pretty minor mistake. Anyone, no matter how professional is not immune to mistakes. What made the mistake more severe is your own personal financial situation. I understand that you might not have had an extra 4K lying around, but that's not really Rivian's fault. Had they made this mistake with me I would have verified the number, said "that sucks" and then sent them another 4K via ACH. So when you look at what happened in context Rivian's part in this situation isn't that large to start with.

Where it kind of goes off the rails is this next part. The whole "compensation" for the inconvenience portion of your post. I don't know where this notion that whenever a business makes a mistake they "owe" the customer something above and beyond what's included in the simple transaction but I can't say I care for it much. First off let's put the entirety of the situation in perspective here. I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that you're a pre March reservation holder who is taking delivery of a truck that's 10-20K cheaper than what that same truck currently sells for.

It seems to me that Rivian is ALREADY giving you quite the freebie just to keep customer goodwill to start with via the pricing you're getting. Not to mention that the extra you need to pay is going to your municipality, it's not like this 4K is going into Rivian's pocket. I'm not sure why you feel that Rivian should go out of pocket more than they already have to rectify a situation that is pretty minor. In my view the only thing Rivian owed you was an apology, which you've already received.

So I think the fault now and going forward more squarely rests on your shoulders for expecting something you aren't entitled to. The part where Rivian is at fault now is not telling you no. I think they are worried about optics a little bit, but need a little better customer service training. Had you been dealing with my company in a similar situation one of my managers would have told you that you could either pay the difference to the third party yourself, give us the difference and we will do it on your behalf, get you in a cheaper truck or cancel your order and that you were free to choose any one of the above options to rectify the situation. We would have then let the ball sit in your court until you made your decision.

Maybe we would have offered you a percentage discount on a future purchase too in our equivalent of the gear shop. It would have been a percentage lower than our margin though, so we would still be making a small amount on said future purchase. Simply put some customers aren't good customers. The sort of customer who doesn't care if I lose money isn't a customer worth having. If you expect a business to care about your situation as a customer how can they when you don't seem to care about them being profitable? I think you've turned what is a minor mistake into something much bigger of a deal and you should either pay what you owe your local government or cancel your order.

 

[Kidentist]

A 3% mistake on behalf of Rivian is no "pocket change", but as others have said, when buying a vehicle at this price range (I will be the most expensive car we ever buy for us), I think having an extra "financial cushion" is not a bad idea.
On top of that, I can think of other costs I will inquire with said purchase (for example the wall charger + install fees). Anyway, hope you get things squared away, if it makes you feel better, you'll still get the tax credit AND about $10K in savings compared to those of us who will be buying in a year......

 

[AdamsFan1983]

Yea; so just adding my voice to the "go gentle on your guides," crowd. They have a job to do it, and it isn't easy. I don't think its really appropriate to burn your guide by putting his name on the forum unless he's done something particularly egregious, which I don't think he has.

That said, the financing thing and the failure to disclose the accurate taxes is on Rivian. That shouldn't happen. I get its a pain in the butt, and I know its impolite to point out but you really shouldn't be cashless just to finance a new vehicle. If you can't scrape together a couple grand, maybe you should be looking at alternative vehicles to begin with.

 

[Dark-Fx]

That said, the financing thing and the failure to disclose the accurate taxes is on Rivian. That shouldn't happen. I get its a pain in the butt, and I know its impolite to point out but you really shouldn't be cashless just to finance a new vehicle. If you can't scrape together a couple grand, maybe you should be looking at alternative vehicles to begin with.

Granted I don't live in OP's city, and I'm not in the business of selling cars, but I've never heard of a particular city having a sales tax on vehicles. That seems insane to me.

 

[ads75]

It takes a big set to ask for a spare tire or gear shuttle (which isn't even being made) as compensation for a mistake someone made. And then to post about it publicly, and try to portray yourself as a victim. Asking to change colors weeks after locking your configuration, after the truck is already at the service center, is another red flag. Contrary to what some people seem to believe, the guides have more than one person as a customer/client at a time.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

My suggestion to everyone in this thread who've not been through this yet.

Trust me, you will get much much further by being sickeningly nice to everyone you interact with at Rivian, especially the guides. I genuinely believe they have much more runway to accommodate customers than what is generally known. Pray you get assigned to one that is pro-active, and is hustling on your behalf because you're experience will be waaaaaay better if you have an advocate rather than a customer support agent for a guide.

 

[COdogman]

My suggestion to everyone in this thread who've not been through this yet.

Trust me, you will get much much further by being sickeningly nice to everyone you interact with at Rivian, especially the guides. I genuinely believe they have much more runway to accommodate customers than what is generally known. Pray you get assigned to one that is pro-active, and is hustling on your behalf because you're experience will be waaaaaay better if you have advocate rather than a customer support agent.

Couldn't agree more and I suggest taking this approach in almost all other situations as well. Even when you have been clearly wronged by a company it never helps to call up and scream at someone, even if that is what you want to do on the inside. Plus, there is a lot of bad customer service happening right now, across the board. Who wants to be angry all the time?

Not saying the OP did that at all - just generalizing.

 

[Diddy123]

OP - I'm truly sorry that this hasn't been smooth for you. I can imagine how frustrating it is.

Please take my next comments as genuine and sincere feedback, and not me just being a jerk:

You stated in your post that the extra $3,500 makes this unaffordable - and that you "exhausted your savings" in order to make the down payment. Please, reassess whether this purchase is financially realistic for you. There is no scenario I can think of where purchasing a vehicle this expensive makes any sense if the down payment completely depleted your savings.

We're about to go into a recession - things are going to change drastically. Having some cushion in your savings may be critical if things turn really sour for awhile. Depleting your entire savings to pay for just a small portion of a very expensive vehicle is simply not a good idea.

And no, IMO you aren't owed anything by the company for them wanting you to actually pay the full amount owed in taxes. It's an inconvenience for sure that they screwed up the calculation, but it's not a huge deal.

 

[crashmtb]

If you’ve had to completely empty the piggybank and raid the jars of pennies under the floorboards to barely cover a known cost… You might not be able to afford it.

I don’t really understand why you were demanding extra things like a spare wheel or gear tunnel shuttle.

 

[mabowden]

My suggestion to everyone in this thread who've not been through this yet.

Trust me, you will get much much further by being sickeningly nice to everyone you interact with at Rivian, especially the guides. I genuinely believe they have much more runway to accommodate customers than what is generally known. Pray you get assigned to one that is pro-active, and is hustling on your behalf because you're experience will be waaaaaay better if you have an advocate rather than a customer support agent for a guide.

Anyone who works in the service industry can tell you that you will get more flies with honey than vinegar.

This coming from someone who just got a Rivian Blue Miir bottle in the mail from plain ol' customer services after some funny banter with the CS team . Still didn't get me a truck though which was my underlying motive...

 

[Barda]

100% spot on. You said it nicer than I would, but this is seemingly the common Rivian buyer and (in general) new car buyer in a nut shell from 2020-2022. Overextended. Uniformed. High maintenance.

Rivian did nothing egregious here, and the guy is buying an $85k truck with $0 savings. Honestly OP.. you should not be buying this car.

I appreciate the response and insight. To be clear, I am not overextending myself. I was just put in a position that I was not expecting. When I am able to reach my guide, he is agreeable and leads me to believe something may happen. That has unnecessarily prolonged this process.
I am informed well enough about the truck and the buying process. I don't know what you consider high maintenance as, but I truly don't expect much. I feel clear and transparent communication is a minimum. That is not what I have received.

 

[mabowden]

It takes a big set to ask for a spare tire or gear shuttle (which isn't even being made) as compensation for a mistake someone made. And then to post about it publicly, and try to portray yourself as a victim. Asking to change colors weeks after locking your configuration, after the truck is already at the service center, is another red flag. Contrary to what some people seem to believe, the guides have more than one person as a customer/client at a time.

Also, I think we all have to understand that the opportunity cost for Rivian to not deliver this truck is HUGE. If OP cancels, Rivian's opportunity cost is 12-20K to a post march 1st order holder.

I will always be thankful that I was pre-march 1st and will act that way even if the guides are not good. It's a start up- we're all beta testers. There are still too many folks out there without that mindset.

 

[Guy]

I appreciate the response and insight. To be clear, I am not overextending myself. I was just put in a position that I was not expecting. When I am able to reach my guide, he is agreeable and leads me to believe something may happen. That has unnecessarily prolonged this process.
I am informed well enough about the truck and the buying process. I don't know what you consider high maintenance as, but I truly don't expect much. I feel clear and transparent communication is a minimum. That is not what I have received.

If $3500 sends you into a problem then yes you are over extended.

 

[cohall]

Granted I don't live in OP's city, and I'm not in the business of selling cars, but I've never heard of a particular city having a sales tax on vehicles. That seems insane to me.

It sucks, but it's real (and also insane). Taxes on my Rivian below. Thanks for nothing, Denver.

Vehicle Taxes
Vehicle sales tax 2.90% tax applied for CO 80XXX - $2,177.90
Sales Tax - City - $3,612.31
Sales Tax - RTD - $751.00
Sales Tax - CD - $75.10
State Use Tax Vendor Fee - $76.23
Scientific and Cultural District Use tax vendor Fee - $2.63
RTS Use tax vendor fee - $26.29

Sponsored