SLC Service Center Horrible - Unresponsive

[ParkCityEV]

My vehicle has been with the SLC service center for 6 weeks. I called for an update today and they refused to speak with me. See attached text.

My vehicle was damaged in a fender bender on April 8th. Minor damage, no airbags deployed. Rivian only certified one auto body shop in Utah, Dave's Body shop. I dropped it off at Dave's the same day. They didn't look at it for 2 months.... long line of Tesla's in front of me. After two months of sitting in the parking lot, it took them a month to perform an estimate - they said that Rivian doesn't have an estimate system so they had to do everything manually. They started ordering parts 3 months after the accident. After 4 months, they determined that they didn't have the software/skills, even though they were certified, to do the repair and they would have to send it to the SLC Rivian service center for repair. Dave's Body shop doesn't know what is going on at Rivian. Dave's sends a text every two weeks saying that the vehicle is still at Rivian. After the vehicle was at Rivian for 6 weeks (5 months without my truck total), I tried calling the Rivian SLC service center directly. They texted me and said to call Dave's Body Shop and refused to call me. Text from Rivian attached.

I knew that the repair would take a while for a brand new auto company, but I didn't expect the Rivian certified repair shop and Rivian service center to sit on the truck (seemingly not knowing how to make the repairs) for five months. As far as I can tell, nothing has been done yet to start the repair. Rivian and Dave's are pointing fingers at each other and neither have a real update other than "we're working on it."

Sponsored

 

[AlanP]

I was thinking of starting a thread on my Service Center experience on how long it is taking for a minor repair but you have definitely got me beat. Initial scheduling was 12 weeks out. My incident was a 1-2 mph bumper touch. Later the front radar sensor stopped working. There were a bunch of other fit and finish items so I thought I'd take it in. I'm only at 5 weeks with no repair estimate on the horizon.

 

[Riviot]

Sounds like standard subcontracting. You signed a contract/release with Dave's, right? If they couldn't complete something, they subcontract to another party (Rivian in this case), and probably have agreements/contracts with those folks maintain communication and responsibility with customers.

 

[clover00]

its good you have records of all your interactions, text messages, emails etc. Since you mentioned that Rivian has its service center, try contacting Rivian's customer support or service department directly.

 

[COdogman]

They aren’t “refusing to speak with you”. I doubt your texts tell the whole story but it looks like they directed you to speak with a subcontractor who was hired to work on your truck when you decided to pull the “let me speak to your manager” routine.

Body work is taking forever all across the country right now. I understand you not liking how long it is taking, or the answers you are getting, but they said they are working on your truck and I assume they provided you with alternative transportation?

 

[R1Tom]

They aren’t “refusing to speak with you”. I doubt your texts tell the whole story but it looks like they directed you to speak with a subcontractor who was hired to work on your truck when you decided to pull the “let me speak to your manager” routine.

Body work is taking forever all across the country right now. I understand you not liking how long it is taking, or the answers you are getting, but they said they are working on your truck and I assume they provided you with alternative transportation?

I am honestly curious how long you feel is acceptable for Rivian to have truck with the "we are working on it" answer?

 

[COdogman]

I am honestly curious how long you feel is acceptable for Rivian to have truck with the "we are working on it" answer?

That is an impossible hypothetical to answer isn’t it? Especially since it is clear Rivian didn’t have his truck the entire time.

This person is sharing 1/10 of the story trying to get everyone railing against Rivian service. We don’t know what is wrong with the truck and we are only being shown 4 texts that actually don’t even support his accusation.

 

[tmmcgee]

I have to agree that the SLC service center continues to disappoint me. On a recent new windshield installation, the service center broke the left interior trim on the driver side A-pillar and damaged the passenger side A-pillar trim. They returned it to me damaged. When they finally came to fix it, they did not even bring the correct parts for the passenger side. Who knows how long that will take. Our R1T splits time between SLC and California and I now try to schedule service in CA when possible because of the poor experiences I continue to have with SLC.

 

[R1Tom]

That is an impossible hypothetical to answer isn’t it? Especially since it is clear Rivian didn’t have his truck the entire time.

This person is sharing 1/10 of the story trying to get everyone railing against Rivian service. We don’t know what is wrong with the truck and we are only being shown 4 texts that actually don’t even support his accusation.

I missed the point that Rivian hasn't had vehicle the entire time. I just read back thru and am still missing that detail?

 

[bd5400]

This seems, at least partially, a result of Rivian’s centralized service call center model. It can be extremely difficult to speak with anyone at a service center because Rivian’s set up expects customer service to act as an intermediary between the service center and the customer in many cases.

My guess is that long term this isn’t going to work out and they will need to have a dedicated customer service individual for each service center and the ability for customers to contact service directly.

 

[COdogman]

I missed the point that Rivian hasn't had vehicle the entire time. I just read back thru and am still missing that detail?

In one of those texts it mentions "Dave's Body Shop" and says all communication needs to go through them since the repairs (plural) originated with them. We don't know what repairs are being referred to, how long it was at Dave's, or whether OP actually attempted to communicate with Dave's as suggested. Is OP counting the time it was at Dave's towards those "6 weeks"? Rivian doesn't control how fast a body shop functions.

He also claims they are "refusing" to speak to him, which is clearly not true because they are interacting via text. Were there more texts? Phone calls?

Like I said, OP is sharing a very small fraction of the story here, which is always a red flag to me.

 

[R1Tom]

In one of those texts it mentions "Dave's Body Shop" and says all communication needs to go through them since the repairs (plural) originated with them. We don't know what repairs are being referred to, how long it was at Dave's, or whether OP actually attempted to communicate with Dave's as suggested. Is OP counting the time it was at Dave's towards those "6 weeks"? Rivian doesn't control how fast a body shop functions.

He also claims they are "refusing" to speak to him, which is clearly not true because they are interacting via text. Were there more texts? Phone calls?

Like I said, OP is sharing a very small fraction of the story here, which is always a red flag to me.

I understood it as Dave's is a subcontractor of Rivian. Maybe I have that wrong. If Dave's is a subcontractor of Rivian, and Rivian has contracted with OP to repair vehicle, then Rivian has complete responsibility to manage all aspects of Dave's. If OP is contracted with Dave's then I agree....all interaction with Rivian becomes advisory and OP beef would be with Dave's.

 

[COdogman]

I understood it as Dave's is a subcontractor of Rivian. Maybe I have that wrong. If Dave's is a subcontractor of Rivian, and Rivian has contracted with OP to repair vehicle, then Rivian has complete responsibility to manage all aspects of Dave's. If OP is contracted with Dave's then I agree....all interaction with Rivian becomes advisory and OP beef would be with Dave's.

I agree, Dave's is a subcontractor of Rivian. I have no idea if OP was asked to sign anything directly from Dave's. Both could be true. I find the wording "repairs originated with them" to be especially odd given the OP's accusations. Did OP get in an accident, then take the truck to Dave's to begin with, then it needed repairs that only Rivian could add? The point is we have no idea, right? The original post is deliberately free of details.

Rivian can't magically speed up the process of body repair can they? If the truck was not in their possession for part or all of that time and OP wanted more details then Rivian was right to send them directly to Dave's, otherwise you are just playing telephone and details are lost in all the messages.

 

[R1Tom]

I agree, Dave's is a subcontractor of Rivian. I have no idea if OP was asked to sign anything directly from Dave's. Both could be true. I find the wording "repairs originated with them" to be especially odd given the OP's accusations. Did OP get in an accident, then take the truck to Dave's to begin with, then it needed repairs that only Rivian could add? The point is we have no idea, right? The original post is deliberately free of details.

Rivian can't magically speed up the process of body repair can they? If the truck was not in their possession for part or all of that time and OP wanted more details then Rivian was right to send them directly to Dave's, otherwise you are just playing telephone and details are lost in all the messages.

I agree. In all my years of vehicle repairs only 2 times have I dealt with manufacturer (dealer really) and both were initial quality defects they then contracted out, so in those cases, dealer was point and they did all communicating to me. Otherwise all vehicle repairs were with a independent bodyshop and if they needed parts, etc... that comm was between them and my only comm was with independent shop.

So agree....a bit of detail needed to really figure out if Rivian is dropping ball.

 

[cohall]

That stinks. Can you stop by in person to see if you can talk to somebody? (You shouldn't have to do that, but it seems like a logical next step if it's not too far away.)

Sponsored