2nd trip to Portland Service center, so far horrible experience

[Closedquestion]

***I have posted an update below, while it may be awhile before I get my truck back, I know know more of what happened and what is going on. I was given an R1S as a loner today until my truck is done. Not out of the woods, but my experience has been made much better***

Prefacing this rant with: I still think my R1T is the best truck I’ve ever owned. I’m hoping Rivian survives, the R2 rolls out smoothly, and it’s a huge success. But like many others, I do have concerns—mainly how Rivian plans to scale service with such a larger fleet, especially when it seems they’re already struggling.

I’ve had my 2024 R1T Quad Motor (Large pack) since May ’24—about 14 months and just under 14,000 miles. Thankfully, I’ve had no major issues. Around 8,000 miles, I had my 7,500-mile service (I had swapped the factory 21” wheels for aftermarket 20” AT tires around 4,000 miles). I also had a rattle in the dash, which led to a teardown and replacement of the center speaker and HVAC ducting. During 7,500 mile inspection, they found a front passenger-side half shaft issue I hadn’t even noticed. The service took three days, and communication was decent. I got a Silverado EV from Enterprise as a rental—return and pickup were smooth.

Fast-forward to the end of April: I was washing my truck and noticed the factory PPF peeling at the front fender where it meets the driver’s door. It looked like the fender was raised about 2–3mm outwards the door, causing rubbing against the PPF. I checked the passenger side—flush and smooth. I took photos and started a claim and appointment via the app. The first available appointment was over two months out: July 8th.

About a week before the appointment, I got a message saying they expected to complete the fix same day, but I should prepare for an overnight. They asked if I needed a rental—yes, since I live 2 hours from the Portland Service Center, I also booked a hotel nearby.

Enterprise reached out and asked if I preferred an EV (no guarantee, but they’d try). I arrived at my hotel the night before, with the following night also booked just in case.

The next morning at the Service Center: CSR was helping a guy check in. He got the only Rivian loaner (an R1S). The next guy asked about his turn and was told I waited my turn, when finished went outside to wait for Uber. Two other guys had come in after me for drop offs, eventually we were all out waiting for our Ubers, I got picked up and to Enterprise last. First guy there got a 2025 Ram, the next got a 2025 Camry, and I was left with a 2023 Nissan Sentra—no EVs available and the Sentra was the only rental they had left. It was just supposed to be overnight, so no big deal. For some dumb reason, I accepted the $20/day extra insurance—figured it was just one day.

Then I got the message: my truck wouldn’t be ready until Wednesday. I reminded them I live and work 2 hours away, had to be at work 9am on Thursday. Checkout at the hotel was 11 a.m., but I’d requested (and thankfully received) a late checkout to 3 p.m. They responded that they’d keep me in the loop.

Around 1 p.m. Wednesday I got a message: they couldn’t get the fender alignment right and had to send the truck to a third-party body shop. It wouldn’t be ready, so I headed home in the Sentra. “Crappy” is the correct word for that car. It lurched forward no matter how gently I pressed the accelerator, RPMs spiked wildly, and it felt like the transmission was slipping.

I called Enterprise before I left PDX and asked about swapping cars. They said yes, but had no inventory and couldn’t guarantee a replacement until maybe 4 p.m. I asked if I could try my local Enterprise—she said “sure.” I drove straight there after returning to The Dalles. They were closed for lunch. When I called back later, the guy said yes, we could swap—but he had no cars and was waiting on deliveries from Portland. He suggested I call mid-next week if I still had the car. When I had mentioned it was having issues, his tone shifted and I got the classic “call back later” brush-off.

I sent my upcoming schedule to Rivian Service, I work the next 5 days, and my next day off will Monday the 14th and Sunday the 20th (my normal schedule is Sunday/Monday, 9–6). Beyond that, I’d be off July 26–28 with plans to be in PDX for a concert. They replied the truck should be ready by Monday the 14th (yesterday).

Around 11:30 a.m. yesterday I got a message that the truck was back from the body shop and undergoing final inspection—should be ready in a few hours. I replied that it would take me 2–2.5 hours to get to Portland, return the rental, and get to the service center. I asked for as much notice as possible, since I’d need to leave by 2:30 p.m. and reminded them I couldn’t make another trip until the 20th (a Sunday, when they’re closed). Most likely pick up outside of day off would mean a half-day of work missed and cost me sick/personal time which I do not get a lot of. Got no reply or update yesterday.

This morning, shortly after starting work, I got a message: “We went over your truck and found dents (plural) in both the driver’s door and front fender that weren’t there before it was sent to the body shop. A vendor is being contacted to inspect and form a plan. Sorry, no ETA.”

How does a trip to a body shop to fix a door/fender alignment result in new damage? And how does it get delivered back to the Service Center before anyone notices? WTF?

The body shop is called Autowerks NW, listed as a Mercedes and BMW authorized collision center. According to Rivian’s site, it’s not a certified Rivian body shop.

A week ago, I also told Rivian I was having issues with the rental and not getting support from Enterprise. This was never acknowledged in any response. In my reply this morning, I repeated the rental problems and asked for any advice. I also reminded them I have a long-planned 8-night camping trip to Central Oregon with my travel trailer in 2.5 weeks— at this point nonrefundable. It’ll likely be my only real vacation this summer due to work obligations.

I replied to their update within minutes, and as of now—5 p.m. (they’re closed)—I’ve heard nothing.

I had to buy gas for the first time in 14 months yesterday—just enough to get back to Portland and return the rental, which I thought would happen yesterday. I’ll probably have to buy more soon. I’ve got a lovely home EV charger that costs $0.06/kWh.

I also just remembered I authorized that $20/day insurance—now going on 10 days ($200). Add in the $600 I spent on the hotel/food due to overnight service 2 hours from home… this warrantied service visit is going to end up costing me over $1,000. That’s frustrating.

I understand that things happen. But I really value good communication and consistent customer service over perfection, which hardly ever happens anyway.

I start to feel less upset about it, then have to go somewhere in that damn shitty Sentra and it pisses me off all over again.

My last vehicle was a 22’ Toyota Tundra in the 2 years I owned it there were 6 recalls and 3 of those were multi days without a truck or rental. Never really bothered me, but I was 3 miles away from the nearest dealer and service. Can’t imagine how I would feel if I dealt with that and being 2 hours from the nearest service center. A week after selling my Tundra back to Toyota and placing my Rivian order I got a recall notice that the Tundra was going to get a whole new engine. That would have been pretty frustrating, but was not my problem anymore.

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[KBabione]

Oy - That just sucks. Sorry. It won't help you, but my SC experiences were complete opposites of yours:

• AC leaking and soaking the carpeting (mildew starting) - I got an appointment within two weeks and limited A/C use until I dropped it off. I got an R1S built about 300 VINs after mine (same color even) and they told me it would be 10 days until mine was done. Ended up being 15 days, but since I had another Rivian to drive it wasn't a big deal. SC was two hours away but I was able to pick up on a Saturday when they were just doing sales.
• Proactive call on our 12V battery...They sent a mobile truck and the guy finished it in about 2 hours in 10-degree weather in February (he couldn't do it in our garage).

In the last year they've opened another SC about an hour away. There have been a number of SC's opened near us since we purchased our R1S in August '23. At that time our only options were Gaithersburg MD (where we picked it up) or Brooklyn (where we did our test drive). I'm looking forward to the R2 because I know that the SC experience will be better than when we purchased.

I know it's sucky, but think about how much better your experience would have been if they had had a Rivian loaner for you - you would have felt like they could keep yours as long as it took to get it fixed. A Sentra rental from Enterprise is just mean.

 

[ORFynder]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I have had my R1T since 6/25/22 and the PDX service center has been amazing every time I have brought it in for some minor work. I live 3+hrs away (In Bend) and they have always treated me and my vehicle amazing. Hope your future experience will be much better

 

[Noplacelikeloam]

I agree that the enterprise solution is far from ideal and often very vague on what to expect. It’s not a great experience and needs to be rethought entirely.

With that said, my experience of PDX and Tualatin SC has been nothing short of excellent. I always assume it will be 5 ish days when I drop it off and prepare accordingly. They always keep me updated and couldn’t be more helpful. I typically drive away with a truck better than when I got it new. Can’t complain about that!

 

[MountainBikeDude]

If it makes you feel better, Canada has a total of 4 service centres, in the entire country. There are more in California.

I've been beyond fortunate with my service experiences. Not only is the only service centre in all of BC within 15km of me, only twice have I not been able to get a loaner Rivian. And on those occasions, it was only there for about 6 hours.

I'd likely feel differently if I lived in the Okanagan, some 400 km's or 4-5 hours of driving away, but, is what it is.

To the Portland service centres credit, they're trying to get the vehicle back to you, and it's good they caught the dents prior to you showing up. I would probably just embrace the Sentra in the meantime, sure it's absolute crap, but it's going to make your Rivian feel like a dream

 

[Closedquestion]

Thanks for all the replies. My first experience was mostly great, this one sucks. Life will go on eventually all will be tight, and all this will be forgotten in the same amount of time as the current average attention span of we humans. This was mostly a venting into the voids of the internet. Haha! My real issue comes down to communication. My first service experience that I started my rant with went fairly smoothly and I had a great rental. I never sent messages looking for updates, but I did reply to all their messages promptly, so when I have a question in my reply an acknowledgment would be nice even if an answer is not yet available. Remembering my delivery day preparing to head to PDX, getting text from guide my appt was cancelled. No replies getting a text my appt was now an hour earlier making impossible to get there on time. Still no reply, 30 mins latter a text explaining they has to re work my financing to give an extra $6000 grand off as they were going to be announcing the 2025’s a few days later. So it was awesome but super stressful due to communication.

The rental situation is on Enterprise issue but it has definitely soured my overall experience. Again it’s awesome it’s provided but their chosen partner is lagging. From the Portland location and my local Enterprise neither had many cars. The local one is on my way home from work and often there will be no cars parked around it other days full. So it’s probably a higher up issue than a local issue. The local guy mentioned a lot of one way rentals lately. So they have to shuffle cars. I have no clue, I design kitchens, I don’t design cars or run logistics.

i have the awesome combo of ADHD and anxiety so unknowns get both going in overdrive.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Posts like this make me glad I have an extra vehicle. I now just take the rideshare credits and drive my own car when one is in for service.

Hopefully you can get something other than the Sentra. I was once given a Versa as a rental a long time ago, and it was absolutely terrible. I think your thoughts on it having issues is just how those vehicles drive in comparison to a high powered EV.

 

[arbreg17]

Sucks to have a bad experience. I've been to the Portland SC and Tualatin SC (and Mobile service!) a ton of times over the years and it's always been phenomenal, issues have been solved, and working with them has been easy to the point where I've cringed reading others tales of woe from different states/locations and felt lucky to live near these crews.

 

[Joe Hoffman]

I was in portland on vacation and used the Portland SC. Super great experience. Sorry you had such troubles.

 

[webfootdawg]

I don't have data, but anecdotal experience seems that Portland has a lot of Rivians on the road, and really only one full service center. I assume they are saturated.

 

[arbreg17]

I don't have data, but anecdotal experience seems that Portland has a lot of Rivians on the road, and really only one full service center. I assume they are saturated.

There is also a location in Tualatin which is close by Portland when traffic allows. The mobile teams in the area have also been great. My stepdad has had good experiences with his R1T and my good friend with his R1S as well, so I would imagine this is more of an isolated incident.

 

[webfootdawg]

There is also a location in Tualatin which is close by Portland when traffic allows. The mobile teams in the area have also been great. My stepdad has had good experiences with his R1T and my good friend with his R1S as well, so I would imagine this is more of an isolated incident.

My understanding is the the downtown Portland location can't do the full spectrum of service center work, I've only had send out work (went to body shop for a paint fix), small things (battery swap), and delivery. Tualatin is really the only fully capable service center, that may have changed.

 

[arbreg17]

Gotcha. I haven't had any body work done so I can't speak to that. From conversations, the Portland location is expanding next door and considering another location, so maybe those considerations are related.

 

[jaredm]

I've had good experiences with both the PDX and Tualatin SCs. Sorry not every service goes smoothly.

 

[Closedquestion]

Well popped into the app this morning looks like there was an update last night. Now button to access messages with service center is now gone. What was I saying about communication?

Really this my 2nd experience, the 1st was good so I’m 50/50. There are folks who have had it way worse than me. I’m just pouting. One thing this rental is doing is reaffirming how much once my R1T and just miss it greatly.

I have access to my mom’s car if I really needed. She rarely drives these days, but I live 90 miles/2 hours from the service center so a rental is required. With my Tundra in and out of service that’s what I did, but the dealer/service was 3 miles away.

I know at the end of the day(someday eta tbd) it will be fixed. Life will go on.

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