Rivians Are Not Avaiable in All Areas

[Bilbo]

We have just received a letter from the Rivian Customer Engagement Center. We had inquired as to why we had not received an invitation into the R1 Shop. We had also asked why we did not have a guide assigned as we were one of the very earliest adopters on November 28, 2018.

We were told that our preorder date was meaningless because we live in a very rural area, hundreds of miles from any of the Rivian Service Centers. The letter went on to say that Rivian is prioritizing deliveries to customers in or near major cities where Rivian has service infrastructure in place.

Reading between the lines, We think that we are being told that our order may never be filled as there will always be orders in big cities to be filled first.

We are very bummed about this turn of events. I have attached the letter from Rivian for everyone to look at.

Brian

Yikes, I am in a similar spot (the boonies) and I appreciate you attaching the email. This is a kick in the ass and explains a lot including why EVERY time I contact them they initially tell me my account does not exist and I wind up going thru this song and dance where I show my receipt and even my recent "chat logs" I save. Is this why we are not assigned customer ID #'s that run in order of the time we ordered. Are they afraid we will talk amongst ourselves...LOL

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[R1TFTW]

I am also 6 hours from nearest service center, but I live in FL, and my town name is probably just like all the towns with long Native American names around Orlando. That being said, I set my delivery to the service center because I anticipated this to be the case. I believe they even eluded to this in past correspondence. Perhaps they didn't realize how far I was away because it is a town nobody has heard of and I got lucky. That might be an option for you as well, but you have to be willing to be patient if you have a problem. I am glad that I don't have any so far at 1500 miles plus.

 

[moosetags]

Yikes, I am in a similar spot (the boonies) and I appreciate you attaching the email. This is a kick in the ass and explains a lot including why EVERY time I contact them they initially tell me my account does not exist and I wind up going thru this song and dance where I show my receipt and even my recent "chat logs" I save. Is this why we are not assigned customer ID #'s that run in order of the time we ordered. Are they afraid we will talk amongst ourselves...LOL

At one point we were given an order number of 2216. This is apparently meaningless unless you live within 3 blocks of a Service Center.

Brian

 

[Dark-Fx]

Initially Rivian may not have cared how far customers were from service centers, but once they moved to trim costs (and had layoffs), I am sure they started looking at service costs/towing costs. Especially with items they know are having problems with, and may have near terms solutions for some of those problems. For example, Rivian may not want to deliver a truck 200 miles away, knowing there is a decent chance it's tonneau cover will need the updated design in 6 months. Also, reading through older posts, some people needed repeat work for issues, Rivian may want to work out some of its build/service procedures before trying it out on someone that needs a tow 200 miles each way.

It would certainly explain why they aren't willing to pick up my vehicle for service on November 1st since it's still drivable. Loaner costs must be cheaper.

 

[moosetags]

I am also 6 hours from nearest service center, but I live in FL, and my town name is probably just like all the towns with long Native American names around Orlando. That being said, I set my delivery to the service center because I anticipated this to be the case. I believe they even eluded to this in past correspondence. Perhaps they didn't realize how far I was away because it is a town nobody has heard of and I got lucky. That might be an option for you as well, but you have to be willing to be patient if you have a problem. I am glad that I don't have any so far at 1500 miles plus.

You are about 60 miles east of us and already have a truck. Congratulations. We tried to have our truck delivered at the Factory but the 'who gets a truck police' quickly flagged our account and changed our delivery point to our home address.

Brian

 

[Bilbo]

At one point we were given an order number of 2216. This is apparently meaningless unless you live within 3 blocks of a Service Center.

Brian

Most of you guys were given a number. I never received initial emails including where I made my deposit. Now that I am getting most emails they will still not give me my order number

 

[milliemc]

We have just received a letter from the Rivian Customer Engagement Center. We had inquired as to why we had not received an invitation into the R1 Shop. We had also asked why we did not have a guide assigned as we were one of the very earliest adopters on November 28, 2018.

We were told that our preorder date was meaningless because we live in a very rural area, hundreds of miles from any of the Rivian Service Centers. The letter went on to say that Rivian is prioritizing deliveries to customers in or near major cities where Rivian has service infrastructure in place.

Reading between the lines, We think that we are being told that our order may never be filled as there will always be orders in big cities to be filled first.

We are very bummed about this turn of events. I have attached the letter from Rivian for everyone to look at.

Brian

Wow--I am appalled. Why didn't they just tell you that upfront? You could have given them a relative's address or something closer. That is so creepy and irresponsible on their part. I am stunned! I would contact someone in the government. They kept your deposit with NO intention of supplying product??!!

 

[milliemc]

I have to admit, the closest service center to me is 2.5 hours away from me. It does leave me wondering if Rivian will be a good long term solution for me. I still plan on taking delivery, but if I needed two service visits in a short amount of time, I would probably consider something else.

We're about 5 hours form a service center--in Denver. But they supposedly have a portable service available..??

 

[R1TFTW]

You are about 60 miles east of us and already have a truck. Congratulations. We tried to have our truck delivered at the Factory but the 'who gets a truck police' quickly flagged our account and changed our delivery point to our home address.

Brian

Wow you are pretty close. I changed on my account for the delivery address to the Orlando Service Center due to registration ease and Florida pick up. Otherwise I would probably use Atlanta. Nobody ever second checked or changed anything. I left my registration address and all alone. I had a friend change to Orlando service center as well in the last few weeks, but he hasn't heard anything as of yet. He has a "cocaine white" one configured. Good luck on your endeavors. Perhaps if you change to Orlando Service center and are willing to make the drive, it might work out sooner. I figured logistically it would be much easier to coordinate a delivery exactly with the service center than trying to get a tow truck on a 6 hour drive. That is also a huge cost burden on an already discounted price. I set that up months ago for delivery address though, possibly before the service center was even open.

 

[emoore]

Wow--I am appalled. Why didn't they just tell you that upfront? You could have given them a relative's address or something closer. That is so creepy and irresponsible on their part. I am stunned! I would contact someone in the government. They kept your deposit with NO intention of supplying product??!!

No one said they won’t deliver a product. That’s just speculation. If that were true then a lot of people wouldn’t get a rivian if they don’t live in a big city.

 

[Lil'Dave]

I feel for you as it's frustrating they didn't communicate this sooner.

As a shareholder, I don't want them traveling 4-5 hours one way to service a vehicle. That is an avoidable expense for a young company. Field service rates of $150/hr add up in a hurry. Towing that far is just as bad.

I've always wondered how they would scale service as that is the biggest gap for them (compared to other OEM's). Flooding markets they have coverage makes the most sense at this time unfortunately.

 

[ads75]

We're about 5 hours form a service center--in Denver. But they supposedly have a portable service available..??

Sure, portable service. But for you, or Rivian, consider it is a 10 hour work day for the tech just to travel to you and back home. Without doing any work other than driving. I would guess unless its critical work on the truck, they would wait until they had several people in an area to justify sending a mobile tech, and then do a hotel for distances that far.

With me, its 2.5 hours each way. So in theory they could service some things in a normal workday. But I would guess some of the other trucks in my area may need work also before they sent someone for something that was non-critical. For example, if people needed the new tonneau covers, they would send the mobile service to stay in the area for a day or two and get all the ones that needed repair/replace.

Now I don't have any experience yet, but those are my guesses.

 

[Trandall]

My LE R1T with preorder date of 2/13/2020 was delivered to upstate NY at least 4 hours from Brooklyn service center back in May. I think they have since changed the delivery priority parameters regarding distance from service center.
It makes sense to deliver vehicles based on build configuration, and proximity to delivery/ service centers and is probably even necessary to some extent. To use these criteria almost exclusively contrary to preorder date is really poor customer service For Rivian and if they have indeed changed their own rule book after 6 months of deliveries that is even worse. Maybe a compromise should be that deliveries are only made within certain distance from service centers and if you live outside of this you must take delivery with that area. These are adventure vehicles after all and it is not as if the 10,000+ deliveries to date only drive them within whatever limits Rivian appears to be setting for serviceability. Not to mention people move, if someone takes delivery near Denver are they not allowed by Rivian to move to Oklahoma or loose all Rivian service? I have 8K miles on my R1 and only very minor issues and nothing I have requested service for so for I am lucky. I do think early owners (thinking of those of us who have R1's prior to the Georgia plant starting deliveries) will need to be lenient with Rivian when it comes to servicing our trucks but with that in mind Rivian should not be black listing people who live in Montana or Certainly not Florida. At the very least if you know you do not plan to deliver to Idaho or Mane until X/X/X date then that should be communicated. If you think this communication will loose you to many orders or tank the stock then maybe more emphasis should be added to expanding the service network.

 

[Florida Panhandler]

I live in Santa Rosa Beach as well, we seem to have a real Rivian hot spot in this relatively isolated locale (at least for full-timers) due to the high income zip code. I saw what appeared to be a red dot on Pensacola during the Service Center Map presentation during the IPO. The title of the Map was 2023. We’ll see if this Pensacola Center actually happens as no word since then nor have I heard of any property filings or groundbreaking rumors. Tesla does have a Service Center in Pensacola and it is always busy so demand for EVs is high in this area.

what’s more is Porsche is opening a new dealership in 2023 on hwy98 near Don Bishop Rd about 3 miles from me. I can guarantee they will sell a lot of Taycans. It would even better if Rivian opened their Service Center here in Santa Rosa beach instead of Pensacola but I’m not holding my breathe.

 

[pc500]

There's probably another factor at play. They may be delivering to rural customers where they never expect to have a service center (like, 5 hours from denver). On the other hand if the OP is in Orlando and there's a large market with a SC expected, they may just wait.

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