Rivian Service Experience = Not Great

[AO_Pete]

So, just 705 days after taking deliver of our R1T, it was finally booked in to get the tonneau cover replaced (the original never worked).

The drop-off, was, um, eventful, my twitter rant about it is here. It's all first-world problems, so there's no need to read it, but today I get a message saying it's still in line for service, due to a large backlog. What is the point of having service booked (months in advance), for the car to just sit there untouched for 5 days (and counting)? They're paying Enterprise $66 a day for the F150 rental they put me in, which for a company in a cash squeeze, doesn't seem efficient. The icing on the cake is their crappy in-app message system is basically one-way, I can't reply to them. I let them know at the service center when I went back with the keyfob, and they just shrugged and said they knew it was a bit unreliable. Below is the error.

Both Tesla and Rivian seem to have challenges with the service experience, and I know it's not the same for everyone, but for me it's never been great at the Dallas SC, and at least Tesla has a much slicker loaner system (Assuming they have a loaner available). The tie-up with Enterprise is truly awful.

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[Solar]

Wow - that is poor customer service and a waste of time and money. I had a '23 Lightning in for 50+ days of service and now after a BBB complaint - we'll buyback settle soon.

 

[NY_Rob]

Hey Pete, everything you posted about has been happening to others for two + years now.. and the sad part is, Rivian is actually getting worse not better at SC logistics!

It's absolutely pointless to have customer vehicles sitting at busy, parking constrained SC's just waiting to get damaged for over a week in many cases simply waiting to be even looked at then waiting additional days for the parts to arrive then even more days to have someone repair it with said parts.. and hope the "fix" actually addresses the issue. All the time Rivian is laying out huge $$$$ paying for rental vehicles because their SC setup is so broken!

Sorry it happened to you this time round!

 

[Prime]

Hey Pete, everything you posted about has been happening to others for two + years now.. and the sad part is, Rivian is actually getting worse not better at SC logistics!

It's absolutely pointless to have customer vehicles sitting at busy, parking constrained SC's just waiting to get damaged for over a week in many cases simply waiting to be even looked at then waiting additional days for the parts to arrive then even more days to have someone repair it with said parts.. and hope the "fix" actually addresses the issue. All the time Rivian is laying out huge $$$$ paying for rental vehicles because their SC setup is so broken!

Sorry it happened to you this time round!

Totally agree with this. My truck has a total time of about 120 days in service over 13 months of ownership. Several items still not completely resolved but I’m just over it, very close to requesting buy back if not lemon’ing. Most of the time the car seems to just be sitting at the SC. It makes no sense. Tesla with all its faults, gets things fixed much faster and more definitively.

 

[simpsonhomer]

Same bad SC experience here.

My average "wait time" is 10 days at the SC (10 days where my car rots in the lot). I also picked up a couple door dings along the way (which they tell me is not their responsibility).

Instead of de-contenting (like removing horns, 12V outlets, Meridian sound systems, etc.), Rivian can easily shave $1,000 or more off of each car by simply doing some common-sense streamlining with service. For example, they just need to know their backlog (easy), and have customers drop off cars to match their actual schedule. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Here they allow up to $70 for rental cars per day per customer. That's an enormous amount of recurring expense that they can easily get rid of and make customers happier by shortening the time at service centers. And they would need much smaller parking lots to house customers' cars rotting away for days or weeks.

Wake up, Rivian! Get some real leadership to run your service department.

 

[Drathen]

I’m dropping my R1T off at the service center on Friday for the first time and these first hand accounts are making me really nervous. I’ve had it for a little over a month and have a list of 8-9 items to be checked/fixed.

 

[AO_Pete]

Plus I thought the tonneau cover was field-replaceable, but I guess not. If my truck is outside, which it probably is, then it's the first time it's been parked outside for any length of time. I'll be checking for dings, as I'm 100% sure it was delivered ding-less.

Luckly their parking lot is at least 0.5mls from the glidepath in and out of Love Field, so the air is lovely and clean, not.

 

[Solar]

Totally agree with this. My truck has a total time of about 120 days in service over 13 months of ownership. Several items still not completely resolved but I’m just over it, very close to requesting buy back if not lemon’ing. Most of the time the car seems to just be sitting at the SC. It makes no sense. Tesla with all its faults, gets things fixed much faster and more definitively.

Yes - to the buyback at full retail - that is the only way they learn.

 

[Solar]

Plus I thought the tonneau cover was field-replaceable, but I guess not. If my truck is outside, which it probably is, then it's the first time it's been parked outside for any length of time. I'll be checking for dings, as I'm 100% sure it was delivered ding-less.

Luckly their parking lot is at least 0.5mls from the glidepath in and out of Love Field, so the air is lovely and clean, not.

Take video and photos and document the exterior damage due to the elements - I do that since it takes a comprehensive detail $$$$$ to resolve the abuse.

 

[Prime]

Plus I thought the tonneau cover was field-replaceable, but I guess not. If my truck is outside, which it probably is, then it's the first time it's been parked outside for any length of time. I'll be checking for dings, as I'm 100% sure it was delivered ding-less.

Luckly their parking lot is at least 0.5mls from the glidepath in and out of Love Field, so the air is lovely and clean, not.

Damage has happened to me on 4 SC visits. Door dings, scratches, interior damage. Trunk dent.

I fully video and photo document my truck prior to drop off and do a close inspection after and alert them on the spot when I see a problem. Crazy I have never had to do this with any other vehicle I’ve owned. Toyota, Lexus, Volvo, Tesla, Mercedes..

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Service has been a challenge. Hiring and retaining talented techs is really really hard these days.

I agree the rental costs have to be a huge drain for Rivian. Rivian should be able to tell if there is more than a 5 day backlog they should reschedule service if it's non critical of course.

In the end it may be cheaper for Rivian to do the rentals to keep customers happy vs opening a new SC. It has to be a numbers game for them.

 

[md2023]

Seems like alot of variation with SCs experiences. Mine in Chelsea (MA) has been great.

 

[Solar]

Damage has happened to me on 4 SC visits. Door dings, scratches, interior damage. Trunk dent.

I fully video and photo document my truck prior to drop off and do a close inspection after and alert them on the spot when I see a problem. Crazy I have never had to do this with any other vehicle I’ve owned. Toyota, Lexus, Volvo, Tesla, Mercedes..

And have they fixed the problems though - that is the dilemma.

 

[DaveA]

Plus I thought the tonneau cover was field-replaceable, but I guess not. If my truck is outside, which it probably is, then it's the first time it's been parked outside for any length of time. I'll be checking for dings, as I'm 100% sure it was delivered ding-less.

Luckly their parking lot is at least 0.5mls from the glidepath in and out of Love Field, so the air is lovely and clean, not.

The mobile tech here in San Antonio replaced mine in my garage. Not sure why they haven't trained more techs for this.

 

[Upland]

My appointment for tonneau replacement is for three to four hours while I wait at the SC (Chelsea MA). I don't know why they would have your truck for more than half a day. We all need to share our service experiences like this so we can get some uniformity in how things are handled.

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