San Antonio Service Center coming 2024

[kurtlikevonnegut]

FYI, this service center is now officially open as of this week. I have my truck in for warranty work right now and have a (somewhat wonky) loaner R1T.

Just a warning for anyone who's going there, if you're coming in from 410 Eastbound, when you hit the U turn make sure to wait until both oncoming lanes are clear because you have to take an immediate right after the U-Turn to get onto the street that accesses the parking lot. Might be worthwhile to go one extra intersection on the frontage road to make it easier. I found this out the hard way when I had to do an extra loop dropping the truck off yesterday morning.

Sponsored

 

[DaveA]

FYI, this service center is now officially open as of this week. I have my truck in for warranty work right now and have a (somewhat wonky) loaner R1T.

Just a warning for anyone who's going there, if you're coming in from 410 Eastbound, when you hit the U turn make sure to wait until both oncoming lanes are clear because you have to take an immediate right after the U-Turn to get onto the street that accesses the parking lot. Might be worthwhile to go one extra intersection on the frontage road to make it easier. I found this out the hard way when I had to do an extra loop dropping the truck off yesterday morning.

Let us know your experience there. I'm dropping my truck off for a few things on 23rd.

 

[Firewired]

Thanks, dropping my 22 R1T on Monday.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Let us know your experience there. I'm dropping my truck off for a few things on 23rd.

The staff was friendly, although there was a bit of a miscommunication between CS and the SC on communication with me regarding timeline. The CS rep didn't know and said the SC would reach out, but nobody did and I showed up not knowing if I'd need a loaner. Turns out I did because the fix could take a few days (for paint, it turns out) so getting the loaner was a bit haphazard. The loaner is also a bit of a lemon and something of an adventure to drive, but not the sort that I think Rivian intends.

 

[DaveA]

The staff was friendly, although there was a bit of a miscommunication between CS and the SC on communication with me regarding timeline. The CS rep didn't know and said the SC would reach out, but nobody did and I showed up not knowing if I'd need a loaner. Turns out I did because the fix could take a few days (for paint, it turns out) so getting the loaner was a bit haphazard. The loaner is also a bit of a lemon and something of an adventure to drive, but not the sort that I think Rivian intends.

Lol. Fun.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

A bit of a mixed bag from this visit, I'd say more good than bad but still some work to do on their end to dial in the service experience. My appointment was to replace the applique above the windshield because it was set below the glass of the roof and caused excess wind noise.

The biggest issue was the lack of communication between Rivian Service and the Service Center staff, which I know has been an issue for many. I really don't like the central hotline model and the inability to call the SC directly, but there have been improvements. Regardless, Rivian Service wasn't sure how long the repair would take, and they didn't effectively communicate with the Service Center on timelines or expectations. As a result, I showed up at the SC not knowing what to expect and the SC hadn't done the prior work to set up a loaner/rental. If the communication between Rivian and the service center was better they probably could have solved many of the issues by having a vehicle ready for me.

The fix ended up taking just over a week because the applique comes unpainted and they have to send it to the body shop for paint matching using the charge port door as the match sample. Most of the time was spent waiting for the body shop to get around to it. During that time, I initially had a loaner but I don't think they were supposed to give me the truck that I got because it had a lot of issues (suspension and ultrasonic sensors). Eventually they called me and asked to bring it back in because they were seeing all the faults in their system and set me up with a rental through Enterprise for the last 2 days.

Overall the staff was very helpful, and one huge improvement was them providing updates to me regularly through the messaging function in the app. Communication after dropping off the truck was far better than past service engagements. Personally I think Rivian needs to set up regional call centers that oversee the service centers to improve communication between the call center and the service centers. I think that would drastically improve the customer experience.

 

[Rade]

I follow Mike Kantorski on his Rivian YouTube podcast. Although he's a bit of a cheerleader for Rivian and Tesla, he does offer some good weekly Rivian news. He made an interesting observation in this weeks podcast. Essentially, with R2 vehicles slated to hit the market next year, the service centers as they stand right now will never be able to sustain the proliferation of new models. He's positing (speculating) that a viable solution would be to leverage the partnership with VW; to get trained Rivian technicians into those locations. It would be a logical solution, although I am apprehensive of Volkswagen in general. Thoughts?

Sponsored