Terrible First experience with Mobile Service

[NewRMan]

Had my first experience with Rivian Mobile Service today and have to say - it was awful. Waited all morning for the 9-12 appointment and no one showed up nor did I get any messages. Called service and they called the tech and he then messaged he'd be at my place in 30 minutes. OK, guess things happen, but disappointed no communications at all. I had 2 issues:

1. USB Drive will not work with Gear Guard Drive Cam - tried multiple drives including Samsung 512GB with 400 MB/s speed and Samsung T7 external drive. Nothing happens when I plug them in.
2. Auto Wipers do nothing in the rain after first swipe after setting them.

Tech was here 90 minutes and claimed:

1. USB ports have no issues and I need to try a different drive - asked him what he was able to get working and all he did was plug a USB tester in and said everything was working.
2. Said he recalibrated rain sensor wipers and all working now

I tested the Drive Cam with multiple drives after he left and none work still. Formatted FAT32 and followed instructions in manual. I then tested the wipers by spraying the windshield with a hose after setting for Auto Medium and nothing. So I thought maybe the car has to be moving (which is ridiculous as what would happen for traffic or a stop at a light), so drove ½ mile and the wipers did nothing.

So to sum it up - wasted over half a day waiting to have the car exactly the same as when he got here, oh, but forgot, he erased my seat settings so I guess he did do something...

If this is what it is like prior to R2 release, it's going to be a horror show post release. Any Tesla owner that lived through the Model 3 launch knows exactly how bad service got after the Model 3 release.

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[Yossarian]

I understand your frustration with the lack of communication; Rivian certainly seems to have dropped the ball there. I don't think that is typical however, and was not the case in my one experience with Rivian mobile service. I got several messages from Rivian about the appointment, including notification from the tech about 20 or so mins prior to his arrival.

As to the specific issues, the USB port does seem to be a PITA to get working properly with some drive makes. I had a similar issue with mine, but eventually got it working. There are threads about it on this forum and you may want to see what others suggest to fix the problem. The rain sensor is also not one of Rivian strong points, at least in my experience. Since it seems that both of these are still open issues on your vehicle, I'd suggest you contact Rivian, them know that the visit did not fix things and get another service appointment set up. Make sure to also let them know about the prior communication failures.

Finally, let me make a suggestion for that next mobile service call: test that both systems are working properly before letting the tech leave.

 

[NewRMan]

Appreciate the reply. I have tried all solutions posted by people to get the USB port to recognize the drive and tried drives others have claimed worked for them (including multiple reboots of the car, both soft and hard reboots). I can't just keep buying random USB drives hoping they might work. The Samsung S7 SSD drive is the one commonly agreed to work for people, but not in my case. I have also tried known working micro SD cards from my cameras in a known working card reader as well as the Samsung high speed flash drive.

I did contact support immediately about the lack of repair as well as comms issues. Everyone was apologetic and very nice. I have an SC appointment next week now.

Of course I should have tested everything, unfortunately as they were late for the appointment I could not stay until the tech was done, so could not test while he was still here. Will not make that mistake again.

 

[VSG]

One thing you didn't mention was, did your wipers/USB drive ever work or is this something that just broke? Your sig says you have a 2023?

If this is a used vehicle there's a possibility someone messed with your USB wiring, because that's what you have to do for some of the third-party charging pads. And the rain sensor could have problems if the windshield was replaced. Regardless, if you bought this from someone or a dealer they should have known about the wipers not working at least...

I'm not sure the tech tested the USB data - my guess is his tester just tested for power availability. Only the two USB in the console have a data connection.

 

[NewRMan]

I did buy it used about a month ago with 15k miles on it. Just noticed these 2 things in the course of driving it a few weeks.

Windshield is original (I thought the same thing) as it's a Rivian windshield and they have no record if it being replaced, but even if it was would have been at a Rivian SC.

You may be right about the USB wiring, it's certainly a possibility. Hard to tell from Tech's notes if he actually tested for data, but I am going to doubt it.

The real disappointment in this experience is that the Tech never actually checked that anything was fixed based on the issues I raised, seems like he just checked some boxes and called it a day. Definitely should not have trusted him. I have been a Tesla owner since 2016 and have had multiple mobile service visits from them and have never had a tech claim something was fixed without actually testing it. Oh well, let's see how Round 2 goes next week at the SC.

 

[VSG]

The real disappointment in this experience is that the Tech never actually checked that anything was fixed based on the issues I raised, seems like he just checked some boxes and called it a day.

Yeah, that definitely doesn't meet expectations. It's possible that the fixes he is equipped to make (recalibrate the sensor, etc.) were not sufficient to solve the problem, but he should have tested and made a follow-up appointment for you at the service center to perform any additional work.

I would suggest testing all the systems you can, then taking it into the service center to get all your issues addressed at once. And maybe have them do the comprehensive inspection while they have your car. When it's at the service center they tend to take the opportunity to perform work from the various customer satisfaction bulletins, like torquing nuts etc. Bring your portable charger with you, as they will replace the seals on the connector. That's all covered by the warranty. And if the comprehensive inspection turns up something it's likely that's covered by warranty too. If the seller didn't tell you about the wipers who knows what else was neglected. Plan on leaving your vehicle for a while - they will give you a loaner for the duration.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

This is frustrating for sure. Here is what I would suggest, make a service center appt and ask for a tech to do a ride along (follow along with me here). The tech should come out when you drop off so you can show him/her what the issues are and the steps your taking to reproduce the issue.

I do know on the gear guard one thing I had to do is format it in exFAT format on a windows PC first then and only then would Gear Guard Gary recognize my SSD.

 

[NewRMan]

Thanks for the reply - I tried both ExFAT (drive came formatted that way) as well as FAT32. I am formatting these drives on a Mac, but cannot see how that would matter.

 

[robd]

@NewRMan I had the same problem with the wipers on a 2023 I recently bought as a demo model. The original service ticket stated recalibration. I had this and other work done at a service center. When I picked up the truck this work item was amended to say:

Cause:
- rain light sensor removed and replaced

Correction/Remedy:
- Wipers and Washers General Diagnostic
- Sensor, Rain/Light (Remove and Replace)
- Sensor, Rain/Light (Calibrate)

Parts:
SENSOR - RLS Part# PT00003242-F

Each case is unique, but maybe you need the same ^^^^^

 

[NewRMan]

You may be right. Mobile service tech said he had a new sensor with him, but claimed it didn’t need replacement just calibration. Will see what SC says this week when I am there.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Thanks for the reply - I tried both ExFAT (drive came formatted that way) as well as FAT32. I am formatting these drives on a Mac, but cannot see how that would matter.

Don't want to beat a dead horse here....

I assume you've tried setting up the directories as well, with the .txt file with PASSED typed in it?

I had issues with the speed test portion of the drive setup a couple times despite my drive being a Sandisk 1TB Extreme SSD but was able to just move past it and the drive would function fine.

Also, is the vehicle recognizing that the drive is there to begin with, or is it just waiting for something to be connected? I assume you're using the cables that came with the drive itself? Some people assume a cord is a cord, is a cord and unfortunately, not all are made for data transfer purposes, some are just meant to supply power.

 

[Tejkalra]

Had my first experience with Rivian Mobile Service today and have to say - it was awful. Waited all morning for the 9-12 appointment and no one showed up nor did I get any messages. Called service and they called the tech and he then messaged he'd be at my place in 30 minutes. OK, guess things happen, but disappointed no communications at all. I had 2 issues:

1. USB Drive will not work with Gear Guard Drive Cam - tried multiple drives including Samsung 512GB with 400 MB/s speed and Samsung T7 external drive. Nothing happens when I plug them in.
2. Auto Wipers do nothing in the rain after first swipe after setting them.

Tech was here 90 minutes and claimed:

1. USB ports have no issues and I need to try a different drive - asked him what he was able to get working and all he did was plug a USB tester in and said everything was working.
2. Said he recalibrated rain sensor wipers and all working now

I tested the Drive Cam with multiple drives after he left and none work still. Formatted FAT32 and followed instructions in manual. I then tested the wipers by spraying the windshield with a hose after setting for Auto Medium and nothing. So I thought maybe the car has to be moving (which is ridiculous as what would happen for traffic or a stop at a light), so drove ½ mile and the wipers did nothing.

So to sum it up - wasted over half a day waiting to have the car exactly the same as when he got here, oh, but forgot, he erased my seat settings so I guess he did do something...

If this is what it is like prior to R2 release, it's going to be a horror show post release. Any Tesla owner that lived through the Model 3 launch knows exactly how bad service got after the Model 3 release.

I have a same problem with dash cam. Intermittent. Also if you have USB cable plugged-in in other slot for charging your phone, I found that my phone never charged in fact lost the charge. Also if that port is working my phone will display slow charging and will take 3 hrs to charge. This problem is also intermittent. Unpluuged it and plugged in at rear USB ports, even worst. 3 hrs 40 minutes to charge.
Didn't have problem with mobile service so far.
Didn't tested auto wiper. Live in southern California, not that much rain, didn't got chance to test it.

 

[JoeP50]

Though I could charge things from the USB-C ports in the center console I could never get the camera recording to work - it really seemed like it might be a mechanical issue - and it was! There was a small plug behind the accessory trunk under the console that had a broken tab and was slightly loose - tight enough to provide power, too loose to provide data. I jammed a little piece of paper under the tab in the connector to hold it in, and Gary has been happily recording my truck's life ever since. I would suspect it's likely a lot of Gen 1's have the same problem, it's probably a complete PITA to route the wiring harness there without breaking something.

 

[NewRMan]

Though I could charge things from the USB-C ports in the center console I could never get the camera recording to work - it really seemed like it might be a mechanical issue - and it was! There was a small plug behind the accessory trunk under the console that had a broken tab and was slightly loose - tight enough to provide power, too loose to provide data. I jammed a little piece of paper under the tab in the connector to hold it in, and Gary has been happily recording my truck's life ever since. I would suspect it's likely a lot of Gen 1's have the same problem, it's probably a complete PITA to route the wiring harness there without breaking something.

Wow, thanks for the tip! I’ll check that tomorrow.

 

[JoeP50]

There's a bit of disassembly to do..

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