Potential Delays for OC and FE Interior

[Perk]

It's my first post here, and I've never contacted CS before. But I'm really going to be bummed if things are delayed yet AGAIN, and I'm willing to switch to MB if it gets me my truck. So, I reached out to CS today, 3/15/22. Make of this what you will, but color me skeptical. Sorry if it's just more of the same about "Customer Service doesn't know anything, why are you asking them???" But, I felt like it was worth sharing their official position - for today at least!

Chat started: 8:05 AM
Good morning. Thanks for chatting in today. I'm Carlton. How's it going?

(me) Hello. I have a reservation since 2018 and was notified that I've got a March/April delivery window. I've been reading online that the Forest Edge interior is actually not available until the end (or Q3 perhaps) of 2022. Is this correct, or does my configuration with Forest Edge still fit into the March / April delivery window?

(CS) We have no official announcement that Forest Edge is delaying delivery windows. Many people speculate and draw their own conclusions, especially on the forums. We will inform you directly if there are any issues with your configuration and delivery estimate. As of now, we're on track to meet all projections we provided in November. But we will be sure to keep you informed if there are any changes

(me) Hmm. Well, we've been told several times that things are "on track" only to have the rug pulled from under us last minute. One forum member stated directly "Confirmed with guide, Forest Edge delays deliveries till Q3 likely." You are saying that it's not possible for that to be correct, because as of right now, there is no expected delay from Forest Edge interior. Correct?

(CS) Each preorder is specific to the owner. As you approach fulfillment of your order, you will be provided additional information regarding your specific delivery. We as a company have not received any indication that there are any delays with forest edge for preorders with 1st half of 2023 delivery windows. That may have been true for those that plan to receive their orders this month and next but no confirmation company wide.

(me) Excuse me? I should not be a 1st half 2023 delivery window. I'm telling you that I was informed I would get delivery March - April 2022. In other words... within about 45 days supposedly.

(CS) For example, as we started delivery for launch edition vehicles, we had a supply issue with getting camp kitchens installed. However, we didn't send a community-wide announcement that all orders would be impacted.

(CS) My apologies, I have you for March-April I was looking at another account

(me) OK, no problem. Another forum member states "I had my first guide contact today and he told me I could get the truck faster if I switched from FE to BM." So, the guides seem to think that Forest Edge is going to delay things for customers that are expecting 2022 deliveries. I know vehicles are finally shipping. But I haven't even been assigned a guide yet, and I'm supposed to be less than 45 days from delivery.

(CS) Honestly, my recommendation is don't pay attention to the forums to make decisions on your preorder. You will hear official news from us directly. All preorders are personalized. The delivery window is an estimate, not a hard timeline. You can expect to hear from a guide any day now. I'd say by 4/1 at the latest. If you haven't been notified about that specific configuration change, I wouldn't expect to to pertain to you until you're told by a guide directly

(me) I understand that must be your recommendation regarding the forums. But the forums have been my only source of good information because if we're being honest, Rivian hasn't communicated very well at all. Nonetheless, I'll take your word that Forest Edge is NOT causing any delays, and that my configuration with Forest Edge will still be delivered in March or April of 2022. Correct?

(CS) That's correct until you're told otherwise by a Rivian representative directly

(me) OK. Have a great day.

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[Riviot]

the forums have been my only source of good information

When it comes to sleuthing, we don't f*ck around!

 

[paariv]

It's my first post here, and I've never contacted CS before. But I'm really going to be bummed if things are delayed yet AGAIN, and I'm willing to switch to MB if it gets me my truck. So, I reached out to CS today, 3/15/22. Make of this what you will, but color me skeptical. Sorry if it's just more of the same about "Customer Service doesn't know anything, why are you asking them???" But, I felt like it was worth sharing their official position - for today at least!

I asked a similar question this week, and also politely but directly asked them to pass feedback up the chain that we should still get guide outreach on schedule, as if no supply chain issues exist, even if our current configuration (FE/OC/21s/whatever) is delayed for supply chain issues. This is so that we can make the call at the time of outreach whether we want to change to a configuration that will get delivered faster.

There is no point in venting at CS, but there is some value in politely asking them to pass feedback on so that Rivian can understand what we want to know and how they should handle future issues. Will they act on it? Not holding my breath. But it’s worth giving them feedback in advance before they blunder again.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Do you guys get some sick twisted pleasure from bothering Rivian CS?

If you read these fourms there is no reason fo you to ask CS a question, aside from wanting to harass them.

They are given a script and read from the script, we know more than they do.

I pity the CS agents.

I assume that Rivian has an internal wiki, knowledge base, or FAQ used by their CS and Guides. If that’s true then I think the best thing they could do is clean up the content and make it available for customers to search, too. I think that’s the best way for everyone to get consistent information when we have technical or detailed questions.

 

[LoneStar]

My last CS contact on this topic ended with a "promise" to followup and reply by email, even going so far as to confirm my email address. That was mid-last week.

???

 

[SoCal Rob]

My last CS contact on this topic ended with a "promise" to followup and reply by email, even going so far as to confirm my email address. That was mid-last week.

???

To be fair, did they commit to a due date? They could have forgotten all about their commitment which warrants the crickets, or they may still be waiting for information from someone else.

In business communications I always propose a concrete due date. ASAP, “I’ll get back to you…” and the like are recipes for disappointment because different people can have different ideas of what they mean.

As an employee, if you need something now or immediately then don’t tell me you need something ASAP. My Possible may not align with yours.

When I was a people manager I never used ASAP because it bugs me so much. It’s like a baby crying: you get the emotion but without concrete needs. So you could fulfill the request in 15 minutes and the person with the request is annoyed that it took you so long, or they could come back with, “That was quick! I didn’t need this until…” Ugh.

On the other hand, if I say I need something by noon Eastern on 03/18/2022 then everyone has a clear understanding and it allows anyone on the hook for the deliverable to tell me that I’m not being reasonable or realistic and propose a different schedule. Then we can adjust the schedule as they suggested, re-prioritize other things so they can meet the original schedule, or compromise somewhere between the two.

Sorry for the rant: mismatched unclear expectations bug me. A lot.

 

[crashmtb]

To be fair, did they commit to a due date? They could have forgotten all about their commitment which warrants the crickets, or they may still be waiting for information from someone else.

In business communications I always propose a concrete due date. ASAP, “I’ll get back to you…” and the like are recipes for disappointment because different people can have different ideas of what they mean.

As an employee, if you need something now or immediately then don’t tell me you need something ASAP. My Possible may not align with yours.

When I was a people manager I never used ASAP because it bugs me so much. It’s like a baby crying: you get the emotion but without concrete needs. So you could fulfill the request in 15 minutes and the person with the request is annoyed that it took you so long, or they could come back with, “That was quick! I didn’t need this until…” Ugh.

On the other hand, if I say I need something by noon Eastern on 03/18/2022 then everyone has a clear understanding and it allows anyone on the hook for the deliverable to tell me that I’m not being reasonable or realistic and propose a different schedule. Then we can adjust the schedule as they suggested, re-prioritize other things so they can meet the original schedule, or compromise somewhere between the two.

Sorry for the rant: mismatched unclear expectations bug me. A lot.

I will reply to this in full by Monday*

 

[NY_Rob]

Rivian CS reps are the company mushrooms... kept in the dark and fed shit.
I literally don't believe a word they say at this point because they are working with zero knowledge of current events happening at the mother-ship.

Better off asking Johnny The Shoeshine Guy ?

 

[sevengroove]

Rivian CS reps are the company mushrooms... kept in the dark and fed shit.
I literally don't believe a word they say at this point because they are working with zero knowledge of current events happening at the mother-ship.

 

[crashmtb]

While I agree with you about First World Problem complaints being truly unwarranted...
It's hard to watch folks who live near you with preorders years after you gets deliveries before you when you have the same configuration, miss test drives by 4 hours because Uncle Sam likes weekend return to home family photoshoots over Friday logistical common sense, and random freebie shipments to 2021 pre-order punks.

NO SALT HERE. Just don't tell my shipmates I'm not Salty.

agree 100%, was more pointing out the “yelling at the check in person because the flight is delayed” mentality is unwarranted ?.

If it makes you feel any better, this 2021 pre-order punk had to pay sales tax and inflated UPS customs brokerage fees on their rivian freebies which added up to nearly the retail price of those items. ?

 

[shamoo]

I've worked in the contact center industry most of my career in executive IT/infrastructure management. You will be surprised how little CS knows. As someone said above, they are given a script and that's it. They are trained to be polite and communicate only what they know. It is of no use for them to hide anything. And with that said, they are not told anything because management does not want false/early information released.

Even their supervisors rarely know anything more than that. They might know of "new information coming soon" but they likely aren't told until a day or two before it happens. Then it is disseminated down to the CS agents.

Getting angry at them accomplishes nothing.

HOWEVER, they do disposition every contact they have with a customer. That information is entered into some sort of CRM application (Salesforce, etc). Depending on what fields are built into that CRM, it generates reports to upper management.

If "Customer asking about FE/OC interior delays" is a selectable field in the CRM, then management will start to notice. I'm betting that isn't in there.

It'll be very basic selections and if you're lucky a free-form field which most agents will leave blank or put "N/A" because it is extra work. These agents have 5-20 chats going on at a time and have SLAs (service level agreements) to handle them in a specific amount of time. When one ends, another begins. They have between 0 to 10 seconds of rest. This is happening for 8-9 hours a day. You know as a CS agent, you can get fired if you're 2 seconds late coming back from a break/lunch? Workforce management and scheduling is highly dependent on these types of things and if you have global contact center coverage, a few people being 30 seconds late means calls aren't getting answered and customer wait, and the client (Rivian or whoever) loses money exponentially.

CS reps have a very difficult job and often are paid very little. Much of the time these roles are outsourced to the Asia Pacific region (Rivian is probably not there yet) and those folks are even more scripted.

Anyway, that's my blurb about CS/contact center.

 

[protamine]

All I will say is that interior makes or breaks a vehicle. You can switch wheels or get the vehicle wrapped. You cannot (especially on a Rivian where there’s no parts store or junkyards) swap out interior. If you’re dead set on one, it’s worth the wait. I will wait until OC is available, even if it’s a year.

 

[Blakeney]

Stopped by Rivian service center Salt Lake today! They probably have 15 trucks, they let me check them out inside and out. They were pretty awesome!.

Having said that, I asked about Ocean Coast interior as that is what I have on order for the R1S. They said that because I have a delivery window, that it will be held and no delays with that interior option. Apparently whatever I chose there must be included in my window the "delay" and therefore June/July Delivery

 

[paariv]

Having said that, I asked about Ocean Coast interior as that is what I have on order for the R1S. They said that because I have a delivery window, that it will be held and no delays with that interior option. Apparently whatever I chose there must be included in my window the "delay" and therefore June/July Delivery

Interesting. Color me skeptical, if only because “we knew your configuration when we set your window months ago” does not account for current supply chain conditions. Also, I wouldn’t expect these guys to know much about what’s going on behind the scenes with production if they’re just receiving vehicles.

But I’m hopeful it’s true!

 

[Blakeney]

Interesting. Color me skeptical, if only because “we knew your configuration when we set your window months ago” does not account for current supply chain conditions. Also, I wouldn’t expect these guys to know much about what’s going on behind the scenes with production if they’re just receiving vehicles.

But I’m hopeful it’s true!

mine kr the ladies there had “said” they just got back from Normal Plant “helping out” lots of R1S coming off the line apparently

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