Poor service experience. Am I being unreasonable?

[momo3605]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to share my service experience since taking delivery of my Rivian R1T. I picked up my LE R1T first week of June, and immediately noticed a few delivery issues with steering alignment, panel alignment, paint, and a couple other issues like a seat squeak. I immediately put in service tickets and my delivery advisor assured me that they'll take care of everything. After not hearing from the service department for 2+ weeks, i was able to finally get an appt for mid-August. 2 months out...so ok fine they're busy.

Now i've had my appt and got my car back after 2 weeks.

1. Seat squeak which i provided video evidence for...in the 3 months from when i submitted the video and photos, the service advisor when checking in was like, yea so we validated your concern and we need to order an FE seat to replace it and it's backordered...i don't know why they didn't order what they needed in the 3 months before my appointment

2. Steering wheel crooked when driving straight - Service dept said they'll do an alignment. After picking up the car, the steering wheel is now crooked even more in the opposite direction

3. Spare tire cover is misaligned and raised on the right side, scratches against the tail gate and requires pushing down on it sometimes 5-10 times before it latches - Same as the first issue, they don't have the parts to fix anything, and their response is well, if you push really hard down and then pull the tail gate up, it closes without issue

4. Front bumper misaligned with the fender and the bumper is literally sticking out over the headlight - They said they fixed it, but when i picked it up, it's exactly the same

5. Tonneau cover left a nice fat scratch the first time the delivery advisor was showing the features - Again, part is supposedly backordered and made no effort to replace

5. Paint chip on driver door and paint drip on rear passenger door - This was the only thing that was fixed, since they had the car sent to a body shop for the paint repair

Am I being unreasonable to expect that in 3 months, Rivian should've ordered parts to take care of my issues once and for all? They really didn't do anything, and I think my service advisor is getting fed up from my asking about the same issues over and over again

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[Christopher]

I think this sounds pretty typical of the service experience.

For #2 I had the same issue and they said they did an alignment but it ended up being worse and they blamed it on the crown of the road and said there will be a software update to compensate for the crown in the road. I tested against a crown going to the left and then to the right and the car still pulls in the same direction and my steering wheel is crooked and it vibrates at high speeds. My vehicle is back at the service center and they are looking at this again.

For #3 I have the same issue and the service center told me this is normal and to push down on the right side harder.

​

For #4 I had the same issue and it was fixed and not even 24 hours later it popped back out of alignment.

​

For #5 I have a dent in the tonneau cover and the service center advised to wait until the redesign of the cover because of issues with it getting stuck and then they will replace the entire unit.

​

I have a myriad of other issues and service told me they would order all the parts ahead of time so when the vehicle got into the center it would be ready for repair. Unfortunately they had it for two weeks and didn't touch most of the items and didn't even order any parts. I then ended up dropping the vehicle off at another service center and they also didn't have parts but said they could get parts overnighted once they look at the vehicle.

After the horrible experience at one service center, I was able to secure a Rivian loaner at another. If Rivian wants to take their time on this, I'm okay racking up 100 miles a day on their loaner.

 

[atebit]

No you are not.

 

[mgc0216]

Yes and no - yes on the alignment stuff. The seat I could definitely see them waiting to make sure they needed one before shipping it out - it's a very expensive part and isn't probably needed all that often.

 

[momo3605]

I think this sounds pretty typical of the service experience.

For #2 I had the same issue and they said they did an alignment but it ended up being worse and they blamed it on the crown of the road and said there will be a software update to compensate for the crown in the road. I tested against a crown going to the left and then to the right and the car still pulls in the same direction and my steering wheel is crooked and it vibrates at high speeds. My vehicle is back at the service center and they are looking at this again.

For #3 I have the same issue and the service center told me this is normal and to push down on the right side harder.

​

For #4 I had the same issue and it was fixed and not even 24 hours later it popped back out of alignment.

​

For #5 I have a dent in the tonneau cover and the service center advised to wait until the redesign of the cover because of issues with it getting stuck and then they will replace the entire unit.

​

I have a myriad of other issues and service told me they would order all the parts ahead of time so when the vehicle got into the center it would be ready for repair. Unfortunately they had it for two weeks and didn't touch most of the items and didn't even order any parts. I then ended up dropping the vehicle off at another service center and they also didn't have parts but said they could get parts overnighted once they look at the vehicle.

After the horrible experience at one service center, I was able to secure a Rivian loaner at another. If Rivian wants to take their time on this, I'm okay racking up 100 miles a day on their loaner.

Wow lol so similar. Unfortunately i got stuck with some janky 4 cylinder mazda enterprise loaner, i couldn't wait to get out of it. In northern california, we only have 1 service center. I honestly have no idea when they'll take me back in at this point. I'm at the mercy of their "backordered" parts

 

[Craigins]

3 is working as intended. For short people with small arms, I do not envy you. It has been that way since forever. This is not a short person friendly vehicle.

5a, they probably won't touch tonneau covers till the replacement, just a waste of parts and effort.

I have some weather strip issues on a door and i am dreading putting in a ticket for all the horror stories.

 

[ccmun]

You are not being unreasonable at all. I have a similar experience. Took Delivery of my trunk in early June. The delivery folks were kind enough to inform me of a couple of issues, in addition to 2 other issues I found. I immediately submitted trouble tickets and about a month later got a call that I can either have my truck towed 200 miles to Orlando or wait another month to get my truck serviced in Miami once that SC opens in mid August. I opted to wait for the Miami SC to open. My issues were minor, with the most important being a jiggly steering wheel at 70+Mph and the truck pulling to the right.

I dropped off my truck on a Saturday morning and picked it up the following Monday,

When I got my truck back, the only thing they did was tighten a loose passenger door latch, which I could have/should have done with a torque wrench. The gear tunnel compartment is on order. Most annoyingly, I was told that my wheels were balanced and rotated, which is incorrect, because I scratched one of my wheels while replacing a flat tire, and that wheel is in the same place. I still have a vibrating steering wheel and the truck pulls to the right.

10 days after getting my truck back, I am still waiting to get a call back to schedule another appointment. I hope its not another 2 month wait.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

I think this sounds pretty typical of the service experience.

For #2 I had the same issue and they said they did an alignment but it ended up being worse and they blamed it on the crown of the road and said there will be a software update to compensate for the crown in the road. I tested against a crown going to the left and then to the right and the car still pulls in the same direction and my steering wheel is crooked and it vibrates at high speeds. My vehicle is back at the service center and they are looking at this again.

For #3 I have the same issue and the service center told me this is normal and to push down on the right side harder.

​

For #4 I had the same issue and it was fixed and not even 24 hours later it popped back out of alignment.

​

For #5 I have a dent in the tonneau cover and the service center advised to wait until the redesign of the cover because of issues with it getting stuck and then they will replace the entire unit.

​

I have a myriad of other issues and service told me they would order all the parts ahead of time so when the vehicle got into the center it would be ready for repair. Unfortunately they had it for two weeks and didn't touch most of the items and didn't even order any parts. I then ended up dropping the vehicle off at another service center and they also didn't have parts but said they could get parts overnighted once they look at the vehicle.

After the horrible experience at one service center, I was able to secure a Rivian loaner at another. If Rivian wants to take their time on this, I'm okay racking up 100 miles a day on their loaner.

Boy, am I glad the service in Bellevue (WA) is better than what you have experienced. The tech that I've dealt with was an experienced BMW tech before signing on with Rivian. If you start with a good ICE tech/mechanic, they still have to get up to speed on the EV and Rivian specific stuff. If the tech you hire doesn't have a strong background coming in, well, sounds like these kinds of problems may ensue...

 

[Christopher]

You are not being unreasonable at all. I have a similar experience. Took Delivery of my trunk in early June. The delivery folks were kind enough to inform me of a couple of issues, in addition to 2 other issues I found. I immediately submitted trouble tickets and about a month later got a call that I can either have my truck towed 200 miles to Orlando or wait another month to get my truck serviced in Miami once that SC opens in mid August. I opted to wait for the Miami SC to open. My issues were minor, with the most important being a jiggly steering wheel at 70+Mph and the truck pulling to the right.

I dropped off my truck on a Saturday morning and picked it up the following Monday,

When I got my truck back, the only thing they did was tighten a loose passenger door latch, which I could have/should have done with a torque wrench. The gear tunnel compartment is on order. Most annoyingly, I was told that my wheels were balanced and rotated, which is incorrect, because I scratched one of my wheels while replacing a flat tire, and that wheel is in the same place. I still have a vibrating steering wheel and the truck pulls to the right.

10 days after getting my truck back, I am still waiting to get a call back to schedule another appointment. I hope its not another 2 month wait.

Oh no. This is getting me worried. I'm at the Miami service center right now. I hope it doesn't come back with a vibrating steering wheel. It's pretty bad right now. Even the loaner I have vibrates more than any car I've driven.

I also noticed this car has a lot of bump steer that I've never experienced in another vehicle before.

 

[Christopher]

Wow lol so similar. Unfortunately i got stuck with some janky 4 cylinder mazda enterprise loaner, i couldn't wait to get out of it. In northern california, we only have 1 service center. I honestly have no idea when they'll take me back in at this point. I'm at the mercy of their "backordered" parts

My first service center visit gave me an Enterprise rental for a 4-cylinder Tacoma. Let's just say the experience wasn't great with that piece of crap. Tying to get up to speed and merge onto the highway was a challenge.

 

[ScottnAZ]

I totally feel for you and would lose my mind if that was my experience, but playing a little Devils advocate…….. I was in for service last week; pleasantly surprised to see my service advisor from the past 4 years of Tesla ownership has made the move to Rivian ?.

This’ll sound like standard ‘supply chain’ excuses, but my service advisor, Jacob, is someone I feel I can trust. We chatted for 30 minutes or so about the delicate balance between supplying parts for warranty repairs and parts to build new vehicles. He went on to say, in today’s environment, it’s just not possible to expect parts to be pre-ordered (or sitting on the shelf) for service repairs. Nowadays they have to verify something is broken before securing the parts.

?‍ I dunno, but it does make me drive just a little more carefully

oh, and my rental was a POS Corolla (or Camry) from Enterprise. Definitely not lucky enough to get a Riv as a loaner.

 

[ORFynder]

I have had a great experience with my PDX service center. Granted they were not able to take care of all my panel gaps i placed tickets for, but they were very communicative and professional. I understood being an early adopter, Rivian will have hiccups now and then, but am confident Rivian will ultimately take care of their customers.

 

[CGM55082]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to share my service experience since taking delivery of my Rivian R1T. I picked up my LE R1T first week of June, and immediately noticed a few delivery issues with steering alignment, panel alignment, paint, and a couple other issues like a seat squeak. I immediately put in service tickets and my delivery advisor assured me that they'll take care of everything. After not hearing from the service department for 2+ weeks, i was able to finally get an appt for mid-August. 2 months out...so ok fine they're busy.

Now i've had my appt and got my car back after 2 weeks.

1. Seat squeak which i provided video evidence for...in the 3 months from when i submitted the video and photos, the service advisor when checking in was like, yea so we validated your concern and we need to order an FE seat to replace it and it's backordered...i don't know why they didn't order what they needed in the 3 months before my appointment

2. Steering wheel crooked when driving straight - Service dept said they'll do an alignment. After picking up the car, the steering wheel is now crooked even more in the opposite direction

3. Spare tire cover is misaligned and raised on the right side, scratches against the tail gate and requires pushing down on it sometimes 5-10 times before it latches - Same as the first issue, they don't have the parts to fix anything, and their response is well, if you push really hard down and then pull the tail gate up, it closes without issue

4. Front bumper misaligned with the fender and the bumper is literally sticking out over the headlight - They said they fixed it, but when i picked it up, it's exactly the same

5. Tonneau cover left a nice fat scratch the first time the delivery advisor was showing the features - Again, part is supposedly backordered and made no effort to replace

5. Paint chip on driver door and paint drip on rear passenger door - This was the only thing that was fixed, since they had the car sent to a body shop for the paint repair

Am I being unreasonable to expect that in 3 months, Rivian should've ordered parts to take care of my issues once and for all? They really didn't do anything, and I think my service advisor is getting fed up from my asking about the same issues over and over again

Great. I have the same problems you identified and have an appointment at the South San Francisco service center next week. The truck is going there because the service center in El Segundo failed to address these issues when the truck went to them (similar to your experience). Sounds like South SF is no different.

Rivian's service has been an absolute nightmare for me and I'm not a difficult or unreasonable person. The communication has been good, but the execution couldn't be worse. They have to do better or it's really going to negatively impact the brand. These are $80K vehicles after all. The very least one should be able to expect is that their truck not come back to them damaged or otherwise in worse shape than when it went into the service center. So disappointing.

 

[E Parx]

Sorry to hear about yours and others experiences. Unfortunately not every SC is the same and a lot of it they are still figuring out. Not an excuse, simply an explanation for a new company going through some growing pains.

I've had my R1T in 3 times to the Denver SC since taking delivery early May. All 3 have been smooth experiences and all 3 I was able to get service quickly ranging from less than a week to as little as next day with todays visit. Cannot beat that when legacy automaker service appointments are often months out these days.

The first was for an alignment and steering wheel shake at high speeds. After alignment it drives about dead center and they also replaced the front tires which they said were out of spec. Steering wheel shake is improved but they did mention that their engineers are on it and it is especially pronounced with the ATs. This vehicle, being heavy with four motors and air suspension also drives differently than any vehicle I've ever driven. The toe can be feel a bit weird especially, which the SC confirmed.

My second visit was for a list of the 7 cosmetic things I found in the first 3 months of ownership. Most were minor and they fixed all 7 in less than 5 hours.

Third visit was a brief one today to reduce wind noise from one spot on the underbody and fix a door rub area plus apply some touch up paint to said area. Every time they've plugged in the truck and given it a wash which are appreciated nice touches.

Each visit I've also been given good info about the truck and today I got to see some R1S getting delivered as well as some OC interiors. Everyone has always been knowledgeable and willing to pause their work and interact. Hopefully other SCs can follow the model of the Denver SC as they ramp up.

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