Rivian towed my operable truck 5 hours away without telling me they would charge to bring it back

[Donald Stanfield]

Pretty much every single luxury manufacturer would tow both ways or at least drive a repaired vehicle back to you. In both my Range Rover and MB with past services, they would pick up my car from my house or office, leave me a loaner, and bring my vehicle back to me and take the loaner. You can easily go years of ownership without ever once driving to a dealership.

When I was living in DC, I bought my RR from a dealership in Harrisburg, PA because they had the exact build I wanted. Still for years whenever I needed service, they would drive 2-3hrs down in a loaner, swap it out, and take mine back. Never cost a penny. One time I accidentally forgot my laptop in the back seat when they took my car and they overnighted it back to me on their dime, for my mistake. That type of service is very common for dealers when you buy 6 figure cars.

Not in my experience. Unless BMW doesn't count.

Sponsored

 

[Rividiculous]

OP. They should have been clear they were going to charge you. Sorry you are dealing with that.

As for the policy, I don’t love the word “potentially” in the following:
“When an owner’s R1T or R1S is inoperable or cannot safely be driven due to an issue covered under warranty, Rivian will assess the best course of action and potentially cover the tow expense.”

They should pay to tow if it’s under warranty and it’s a safety or operability issue. (Or they should do mobile service.) I had a rear motor issue and they decided it was safest for them to tow it. That was good. I went to pick it up and left the loaner.

I don’t want the company to waste money on free (and unnecessary) tows, but they do need to up QC and service. On the plus side, while I had a couple smaller QC issues (trim; frunk alignment) and the rear motor issue, things have gone smoothly lately. Service has been pleasant and my R1S is a joy to own. That wouldn’t be the case if Rivian had given me a hassle about any repairs or anything. But they’ve been professional and have added more service centers which seems to be helping.

They need to strive to do better but I think they are moving in the right direction. They should make sure they tell customers if they are going to charge to tow and they should never charge if it’s a safety issue (or the vehicle is immobilized) while under warranty.

 

[VandalSibs]

The reason why 'potentially' is in there is to cover the situations where it might look like a warranty item. For example, person gets an error message (Motor/drive train error message, etc), but the cause of the error is not covered under warranty (it turns out someone shot the motor!). They can't tell if that's the case until they look at it, as bullet damage is not covered by warranty (in my example).

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I am OK with the word "potentially" because Rivian representatives have always tried to treat us fairly.

We all see entitled people on this forum. The rest of us don't always agree on what's reasonable either. I don't think @Arewon sounds entitled -- just cranky about ineffective communication, which would make me cranky too.

I don't want Rivian to be "on the hook" to please their most entitled customers. But I want them communicating clearly, so those of us in the middle of the spectrum can continue saying good things about Rivian vehicles and Rivian as a company.

***

If I were in the OP's situation, I would wonder why they towed an allegedly operable truck instead of asking the OP to bring it in at his convenience. I would also wonder why they just assumed I would know about their "pick it up yourself" policy for vehicles towed in. That policy is documented, but effective communication sometimes takes a lot of work.

Our household has two drivers, each with busy schedules, and two backup vehicles. (We plan to sell one -- but busy rural schedules benefit from at least one backup vehicle regardless of primary reliability.) An urgent service request might be inconvenient for us, but we'd do fine. We're only 2.5 hours from Portland Service Center; doubling the distance would be pretty inconvenient, but we would have considered that before buying the Rivians.

@Arewon, I hope you and Rivian can solve this problem. To everyone's satisfaction. Together.

Very best wishes!

 

[Mathme]

Although this may be a shock for the OP, this is standard practice in the industry. If there's a problem with the vehicle all manufacturers tow it to the nearest repair facility to fix it. Then when it's fixed, it is the consumers responsibility to pick up the vehicle from that facility - not the manufacturer to get the vehicle to wherever the consumer is. For example, if you're driving your ___ (Ford, BMW, Hyundai, whatever) through Yellowstone and it bonks because of a warranty issue, said manufacturer will tow it to the nearest dealer for repair. You as the consumer can either wait around for the repair to be complete or go home and wait for it. Said manufacturer is not responsible for getting your vehicle back to you...that's on you.

 

[NeedSumCoffee]

These aren't luxury vehicles and Rivian is not a luxury vehicle brand. The comparison with RR & MB is not really valid. These are the risks people need to research and understand, prior to purchase, when dealing with a completely new vehicle manufacturer. Especially one that does not yet have a thoroughly established service network, when compared to the "norm" of other manufacturers.

OP, it sucks being that far from a service center. Just pick it up after hours and/or on the weekend. Find somewhere fun to stop or visit and make light out of a crappy situation.

They are in the same price bracket and it’s quite likely that many people looking to buy a Rivian have previously owned other luxury cars.

But the previous poster stated “Do you know of any other manufacturer that will even pay to have it towed to the Service Center, much less tow an operable vehicle home afterwards?”

So I answered the question. I’m not saying Rivian should be expected to provide the same level of customer support. Simply answering his question that many luxury manufacturers do provide exactly what he’s asking.

 

[NeedSumCoffee]

Not in my experience. Unless BMW doesn't count.

BMW is just like Ford, VW, Honda, ect. They handle it on a dealership by dealership level. Many BMW dealers do offer complimentary valet vehicle pickup and drop off service (mostly in major cities where dealerships compete), but it’s not common across all dealerships. Land Rover, Jaguar, Genesis, Volvo, Mercedes, Porsche, Bentley, ect is a more of a manufacturer level service option, less of a local dealer option. Porsche even has dedicated parking at the airport where you can leave your car, they will pick it up, service it, bring it back and pay for your parking. Very convenient. That level of service is common for 6 figure vehicles.

 

[madhat]

Has this happened to anyone else?

Truck has a recurring fault, says it needs service. I told them I can’t take another day off work to drive 5 hours to SC. Rivian rep says they will take care of it, arranges tow to SC. Truck arrives at center and they tell me — for the first time — that I’ll need to pick it up or pay $$$ for them to return. WTF.

They should have had better communication. Whether it's expected, in find print, or industry standard a good service tech would have made sure the customer understood the expenses. Some of the things I've had shops verify that I was on with there being an extra charge on were silly, but they did their due diligence to ensure the customer was informed.
Live and learn i guess...

 

[Time2Roll]

Can you pick it up on the weekend? Even if closed? Seems like they could have a locker with a code for the key.

What about after hours drop off.... how does that work?

 

[freshpow]

Can you pick it up on the weekend? Even if closed? Seems like they could have a locker with a code for the key.

What about after hours drop off.... how does that work?

They can just lock the key fob/card in the car and you can use PAAK to access. I’ve picked up after hours that way before.

 

[Zoidz]

We all see entitled people on this forum. The rest of us don't always agree on what's reasonable either. I don't think @Arewon sounds entitled -- just cranky about ineffective communication, which would make me cranky too.

I don't want Rivian to be "on the hook" to please their most entitled customers. But I want them communicating clearly, so those of us in the middle of the spectrum can continue saying good things about Rivian vehicles and Rivian as a company.

This.

As a Rivian owner and shareholder, even though the fine print might specify "no free return towing", I think Rivian should explicitly state it on a call like this. It's just good customer service to mention it and make sure the customer understands and avoid confusion or anger. It would have taken the Rivian rep all of 5 seconds to say it and avoid having an unhappy customer.

 

[SeaGeo]

Did you read any documentation on how warranty work is handled? It clearly states if the vehicle is unsafe to drive etc, Rivian will tow it to the nearest service center, but it's the owners responsibility to pick it up once repair is complete.

Whether OP read that specific line in the warranty doesn't really matter. They should clearly communicate the potential cost ahead of time verbally. I've generally read the warranty and manual, and my knowledge of them charging to tow was because of this and other sites, not the documentation. They effectively got charged $1000 based on the fine print. It's (unintentionally) shady business practices.

These aren't luxury vehicles and Rivian is not a luxury vehicle brand.

They are still $80k to $120k vehicles.

OP also noted that the issue that occurred is the same that very recently happened. I've heard far too often from people I know *directly* of R1 vehicles leaving the shop and not being properly fixed or having other issues pop days later that should have been caught through a reasonable inspection. OP isn't complaining that they aren't covering it, but TBH, they probably screwed up and should be covering the tow IMO. The SC is basically on my way to work, and even then it's annoying to have to take my R1T to it roughly every six months to get the half shafts fixed or various other random things. Having to drive 5 hours to get something fixed that should have been fixed on my last visit would make my pretty annoyed.

This isn't OP's point, but at some point Rivian also needs to get better service center map coverage if the want to sell more vehicles. Until then, they should at a minimum be very clear when they are about to make you incur a large cost. My SC has been great about communicating potential costs, but they reallly shouldn't be picking a vehicle up without getting approval on the work order than returning it will be at the cost of the customer.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Whether OP read that specific line in the warranty doesn't really matter. They should clearly communicate the potential cost ahead of time verbally. I've generally read the warranty and manual, and my knowledge of them charging to tow was because of this and other sites, not the documentation. They effectively got charged $1000 based on the fine print. It's (unintentionally) shady business practices.

They are still $80k to $120k vehicles.

OP also noted that the issue that occurred is the same that very recently happened. I've heard far too often from people I know *directly* of R1 vehicles leaving the shop and not being properly fixed or having other issues pop days later that should have been caught through a reasonable inspection. OP isn't complaining that they aren't covering it, but TBH, they probably screwed up and should be covering the tow IMO. The SC is basically on my way to work, and even then it's annoying to have to take my R1T to it roughly every six months to get the half shafts fixed or various other random things. Having to drive 5 hours to get something fixed that should have been fixed on my last visit would make my pretty annoyed.

This isn't OP's point, but at some point Rivian also needs to get better service center map coverage if the want to sell more vehicles. Until then, they should at a minimum be very clear when they are about to make you incur a large cost. My SC has been great about communicating potential costs, but they reallly shouldn't be picking a vehicle up without getting approval on the work order than returning it will be at the cost of the customer.

Fair, but OP made the complaint they didn't want to have to take a day off to drive the vehicle 5 hours to the service center. When Rivian said they'd "take care of it" I would have followed up with "in what way?" rather than just to blanket AssUMe that they're both towing the vehicle from me and returning it to me. I would probably just push it pleading my mistake in understanding the process.

To be fair to OP, if one really wants to dig a bit through Rivians Stories portion of their website and make their way down to one of the earliest posts about service, they literally state they'll pick up the vehicle and return it to you for any service that they can't perform via a mobile technician.

 

[lefkonj]

Did they provide you with a loaner? If so while it sucks at least they provided a car. In the beginning Brooklyn was the only service center in the Tri-state area and it was horrific. Was about 3 hours in each direction in terrible traffic.

Whats the cost of the tow back? Maybe it is worth it depending on how you value your own time.

 

[RivAW]

With due respect and empathy, it seems like you caused your own problem by either not familiarizing yourself with Rivian's standing procedures, not asking questions and/or not reading the paperwork. It still sucks, and we can disagree with Rivian's postion....but it's on you for not being informed/prepared.

Sponsored