Service times will kill Rivian

[dodgerman98]

I have to say my SC experience with the Normal location was fantastic. I was able to make a reservation within a week of identifying a problem, then I had a work issue so needed to push it back a week and had lots of open times to chose from. Got half axle replaced this morning in a couple of hours, got a loaner R1S to drive, a full charge and car wash when returned! Great service experience.

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[Electron]

I am worried that we haven't heard enough about their expansion plans in front of R2. Tesla went through similar struggles in the early years, but significantly ramped up service centers in advance of the 3, and then continued to get it to a decent coverage in advance of Y. I was able to get my wife's Y's tire patched in a day earlier this year, whereas Rivian told me to go to a third party for a recent tire patching job due to a lack of mobile service availability. Luckily I had purchased the pucks a few months back since there were no certified shops near me.

There's only a handful of Rivian's near me in South Jersey right now. I'm afraid what will happen in 26' if we don't see multiple centers open up in our area given the amount of 3's and Y's on the road.

The R2 has to be spectacular in order to complete with Tesla and the Model Y. The new Juniper (refreshed Model Y coming out) will set the benchmark without question. Even if the R2 was out right now, it stands no chance against the Model Y numbers.

I really hope that Rivian is being smart and thinking logically. We all want to see them succeed and if they were smart they would allocate the cash drop from VW wisely and use it in areas where it's desperately needed right now.

 

[Yossarian]

Rivian still has a number of "service deserts" where no service at all is available. If Rivian wants to be a national auto manufacturer, they need to broaden their service footprint.

Brian

I don't want to minimize Rivian's service problems, but regulatory issues that are outside of the manufacturer's control are sometimes the underlying cause when it comes to service deserts.

My home state of PA is far from alone in having regulations that prohibit service centers by manufacturers selling directly. So Rivian, and any vehicle manufacturer not named Tesla who do not have dealerships also cannot operate service centers (Elon got a exemption for Tesla, the dealer organization then lobbied the Legislature to prohibit any more). Other large states like GA are also similarly backward, along with something like two dozen other states.

Rivian needs to get a handle on service, but until states like PA stop being in thrall to special interest groups, the company will be unable to do too much in quite a few places across the country.

 

[JeffR1S]

Even without production continuing to ramp up, service times are going to kill Rivian....

Thoughts?

Guess we have been lucky as we've only needed 2 week wait for a rock chip windshield replacement. And about the same time frame for alignment, fluids etc.

With that said when we reserved our R1S in Dec 2018 my wife and I agreed that we'd officially enter the realm of early adopters with all the potential pitfalls of doing so. We have been pleasantly surprised and have exceeded our expectations being early adopters. Considering what our friends had to go through with Tesla I feel, even if we do get in a place where we have a 4 week wait for something, it won't necessarily be an unexpected outcome considering our choice.

 

[RivianPVE]

I understand and appreciate that most on this forum love their cars and the brand. But let’s not get carried away - for many of us, the service is absolute garbage. For a company to have the vision of setting up one service center to cover all of Los Angeles which is one of the EV meccas of the world, it is absolutely unacceptable. To any of you who want to dispute that, try visiting a service center with 100 cars sitting outside waiting for service, a 3 month wait for any kind of service and no call backs from the SC regardless of how many messages you leave them. Please don’t provide comments about it’s a new company and it is in infancy and I should not have bought the car. You are not helping the brand by making excuses for it - if the brand you love can and should make improvements, you need to highlight it for them so that they can go to the next level. If I sound irritated, I apologize. I sound this way because I love the car and the brand and I am so disappointed that they are disappointing so many customers with their service (however loosely you want to use that term). It’s very similar to what Tesla did to their early customers of the Model S. I just thought that Rivian would be different.

 

[Electron]

I understand and appreciate that most on this forum love their cars and the brand. But let’s not get carried away - for many of us, the service is absolute garbage. For a company to have the vision of setting up one service center to cover all of Los Angeles which is one of the EV meccas of the world, it is absolutely unacceptable. To any of you who want to dispute that, try visiting a service center with 100 cars sitting outside waiting for service, a 3 month wait for any kind of service and no call backs from the SC regardless of how many messages you leave them. Please don’t provide comments about it’s a new company and it is in infancy and I should not have bought the car. You are not helping the brand by making excuses for it - if the brand you love can and should make improvements, you need to highlight it for them so that they can go to the next level. If I sound irritated, I apologize. I sound this way because I love the car and the brand and I am so disappointed that they are disappointing so many customers with their service (however loosely you want to use that term). It’s very similar to what Tesla did to their early customers of the Model S. I just thought that Rivian would be different.

You're absolutely right. There's no excuse here and sugar coating the reality of very real issues that people are facing won't do any justice to the brand that we're all rooting for.

 

[Fmc]

I live 3 hours from a SC. I kept my 2010 jeep wrangler because I knew buying a Rivian was a risk. I hedged my risk in holding on to a 14 year old car.

 

[Redline]

I have a gen2 on order and I’m considering cancelling and losing my deposit. I work and have a family and don’t have the time and luxury to wait weeks or months.

Don’t let a thread or two do that. It’s exactly what some of these people want.

You’ll love the vehicle.

 

[beyondgravity]

Is it Rivian service times or is it us who inundate them for all the silly things?

people want the EV to sound and behave exactly like gas cars. E.g. Yes you hear the clicking sounds when it is adjusting the ride height, but people say that they have never heard it in their gas car and open a same ticket every month. You get the functionality that no other car in the world provides and give it folks like us, we will drown them. This is where RJ sucks being a nice guy, he should channel Elon and say - the car is fine and get used to it.

Folks should take it us moving from steam engines to gasoline and come with fresh perspectives; but hear we are stuck in the past and not letting anybody move forward.

 

[evlavista]

FWIW, the window trim doesn't seem to get worse after first noticed. When ours first detached on the R1S, it remained stable for the two months we took to get to the Service Center.

That delay wasn't the Service Center's fault BTW. It was a busy spring for us, and we weren't worried about the trim as long as we knew it would be repaired someday.

If I had a child who picked at everything, I would have pushed myself to get it in....

Best wishes!

I am considering just trying to fix it myself with some type of silicone.

 

[Baldewin]

I'm traveling right now, 500 miles from home and having some issues, Rivian call center is telling me that if I want service I have to have it towed to the service center nearest my home, to me that sounds absurd. Has anyone heard of that before? Link below to my issue.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/service-suspension-soon-message.23821/page-2#post-575464

 

[RivianPVE]

Don’t let a thread or two do that. It’s exactly what some of these people want.

You’ll love the vehicle.

This person is asking current owners if he should buy the car with the caveat that he does not have the luxury of waiting weeks and months to service his car. Shouldn’t the proper response be to ask him where he lives and which service center he will be using (if your intent is on helping him)?

“Protecting” and sugar coating the brand will not help it in the long run. Do you live in LA? Do you believe that the brand is doing well when I have 2000 miles and I have to try to schedule my 7500 mile service now and their first availability at El Segundo SC is November 30?

Loving and promoting a new brand is one thing but becoming a “fanboy” is another. As a multiple Tesla owner, I can tell you that many in the Tesla community actually believe that Tesla is the greatest invention since the light bulb and that Tesla can do no wrong. I sincerely hope that the Rivian community does not follow the same path and all of us owners can provide valid insight, praise and criticism when it is warranted so that the brand can reach new levels.

 

[Redline]

This person is asking current owners if he should buy the car with the caveat that he does not have the luxury of waiting weeks and months to service his car. Shouldn’t the proper response be to ask him where he lives and which service center he will be using (if your intent is on helping him)?

“Protecting” and sugar coating the brand will not help it in the long run. Do you live in LA? Do you believe that the brand is doing well when I have 2000 miles and I have to try to schedule my 7500 mile service now and their first availability at El Segundo SC is November 30?

Loving and promoting a new brand is one thing but becoming a “fanboy” is another. As a multiple Tesla owner, I can tell you that many in the Tesla community actually believe that Tesla is the greatest invention since the light bulb and that Tesla can do no wrong. I sincerely hope that the Rivian community does not follow the same path and all of us owners can provide valid insight, praise and criticism when it is warranted so that the brand can reach new levels.

We are well aware of the cult of Tesla/Musk.

I can read, so I know where he lives.

He shouldn't cancel and lose his deposit over this.

 

[AsianPersuasian]

Is it Rivian service times or is it us who inundate them for all the silly things?

people want the EV to sound and behave exactly like gas cars. E.g. Yes you hear the clicking sounds when it is adjusting the ride height, but people say that they have never heard it in their gas car and open a same ticket every month. You get the functionality that no other car in the world provides and give it folks like us, we will drown them. This is where RJ sucks being a nice guy, he should channel Elon and say - the car is fine and get used to it.

Folks should take it us moving from steam engines to gasoline and come with fresh perspectives; but hear we are stuck in the past and not letting anybody move forward.

I don’t think the car dying due to hvac draining the battery and then not charging after I get it back is “silly”

 

[Electron]

Let’s assume Rivian does nothing and wait times remain piss poor. Are you selling and leaving the brand?

In our particular situation, my Wife and I love the R1S, but hate the fact that the R1S doesn't do well with rear facing car seats in the 2nd row. It leaves you very little room, especially if you're on the taller side.

To be fair, a lot of other SUVs suffer from this as well, but we're not interested in any ICE vehicles so that leaves us with only a few options in the 3-Row EV Space.

She really wants the new KIA EV9. It's the best 3-row EV SUV for families for a lot of reasons and out does all the current EV offerings for rear facing car seats.

We're both very familiar with the EV9, it's excellent and I'll admit that it was me that swayed her away from getting the more practical option, the EV9 for our family. I do feel guilty for that as it's much easier accessibility wise in the EV9 for those with kids. Especially getting to the 3rd row.

The guy in the video testing the seating position with car seats is 6'5, but you can clearly see where all the other options lack with the front leg room. Even those who are shorter are in an awkward seating position in the front due to the lack of space in the 2nd row in the R1S for rear facing car seats.

The other guy even removed his 2nd row passenger seat for crying out loud. ? It really speaks for itself and the issue is not an opinion with the 2nd row issue in the R1S, but a fact to the point where that family removed the darn seat all together lol.

Rivian really missed out on this as they banked too hard in thinking that the majority are off roaders, when in reality it's the other way around. I think they could have easily made the R1S a bit longer and not cut it so short from the R1T.

This is another great video to show how the front passenger's leg room is, what do the kids call it these days? Nerfed.


So now come full circle and I think with these insane lease deals on the EV9 that I may just pull the trigger, while also putting in an order for a Gen 2 DM Large while at it.

From the deep rabbit hole I've went down with learning everything about the Gen 2 R1S, I think that it's much improved in a lot of areas, but of course still suffers from the lack of space for the rear facing car seat impacting front leg room, but the Gen 2 would be a 2nd vehicle, not the primary family rig.

The Rivian SC is also many hours away from where we usually stay at one of our properties so that has been a concern if something were to happen and needing service, whereas a KIA service center is much more accessible.

I'm also not a long term stock holder for RIVN as I'm a seasoned day trader. I have no emotional attachment to stocks as they are only tools to trade, just like I do with TSLA and other meme stocks. We love volatility.

We absolutely love Rivian and want to see it succeed and are also R2 RSVP holders.

So at the end of the day for those with families our situation is relavent, but for those that don't have kids and have to live with car seats, then all of this is moot. I would choose the Rivian over the EV9, but on the other hand the EV9 has a lot of strengths too.

Also to add, with both the State and Fed incentives we could also land a brand new Model X LR for ~$65K, which would also be a fantastic 2nd car.

There are a lot of options on the table right now and I'm personally most excited about the Gen 2 R1S.

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