The worst service experience in the industry

[Hereforthesnacks]

What worried me is that- in some markets - they just got to a service level that is OK. What happens when they sell 10x the cars they have ever sold with the R2?

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[BCondrey]

The Rivian service is a local issue. Many of us have great experiences with the service. I think we are much more likely to hear about these unfortunate experiences like the OP than we are the good ones. If you are going to buy a Rivian, find the nearest service center and do your home work, just like buying any car.

 

[sccmexpert]

Good point, just Bellevue. I have not tried Seattle (are only other SC according to the Rivian website)... from where we are, that would be a trek, especially through traffic, but I would easily do it if this issue was isolated to Bellevue.

There is also a Rivian Service Center in Fife. They aren't near as busy.

 

[ebellinder2]

The Rivian service is a local issue. Many of us have great experiences with the service. I think we are much more likely to hear about these unfortunate experiences like the OP than we are the good ones. If you are going to buy a Rivian, find the nearest service center and do your home work, just like buying any car.

Agree. I just had a very positive experience in Chicago but I have stated many times there needs to be a better communication and scheduling system. Possibly an initial appt to triage the vehicle and then a second scheduled appt for the repair. Then there is communication if you as the owner don’t follow up daily your vehicle can sit weeks with no updates and I find the automated text messages are more often incorrect. . Some simple fixes could really improve the owner experience. And when it comes to our vehicles we like to speak with a human and get honest facts Good or bad.

 

[Largo72]

After my recent experience, I found that they have some fantastic service people, but early on during my repair, the communication was the primary issue. If they would have told me upfront that they have a backlog to the point where they are flying in service personnel from other locations to help them get through the backlog, I would have been much more understanding. I agree, better communication is key!

 

[Acoustic71]

Damn it! 55K miles with zero issues! What do I have to do to get some negative love around here!

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

The Rivian service is a local issue. Many of us have great experiences with the service. I think we are much more likely to hear about these unfortunate experiences like the OP than we are the good ones. If you are going to buy a Rivian, find the nearest service center and do your home work, just like buying any car.

One should do this with legacy car makers as well.

 

[captainjp]

What do I have to do to get some negative love around here!

Nobody wants to hear it! Introduces a counterpoint to those who believe rivian quality is shit and that every vehicle they make is prone to some critical failure

 

[Gopher-TarHeel]

I was a huge Rivian fan. I bought our R1T nearly two years ago, and for the first 25,000 miles all was well. It started when I was prompted in the app to take it in for service. I was curious what "service" meant, as I also have a Tesla and have managed most of that "maintenance" on my own. But seeing it was a relatively new truck, I decided to make an appointment.

The first thing that stood out to me was that the earliest I could schedule an appointment was 4 months, and that was if I took the next available. I took it in, and I was able to get it back the next day. As far as I could tell is that they rotated the tires, touched up some fluids, and replaced the windshield wipers. I assume they also checked it over for any issues.

Fast forward to 7 days later, and suddenly I was getting errors that my front camera wasn't working. I called customer service, ran through the troubleshooting steps, tried to "reboot" the R1T more than once, but still the same errors. I scheduled another appointment to bring it in for diagnostics, and the soonest I could get it in was FIVE months. This happened at the beginning of April, and the next appointment was late August. It wasn't bothering me at the time, I find the front camera fairly useless compared to my Tesla, so I didn't make a big deal of it.

Another issue, but outside of this conversation, is that my 12V battery died between the two appointments, while I was in the middle of a camping trip in a Canadian National park, about 800 miles from home. Knowing the battery could make my truck a very heavy paperweight at any time caused me to cut my trip early and come home. Thankfully, I only had to wait 4 weeks for an "emergency" appointment.

Now back to the front camera...
I brought it in to the Bellevue, WA Service Center on August 23rd. I thought this would be a simple same-day appointment. However, they immediately stated that it would be over a week before they could even perform a diagnostic to determine the issue. Why make me stop driving if you are not ready for the truck? It's like me going to the doctor's office and having to camp in the parking lot to be seen.

Over the last four weeks, it has been in the shop, and there has been minimal communication. I have been promised delivery on three separate Saturdays (9/13, 9/20, and now this Saturday). I tried to message through the Rivian app, and I finally received a callback from someone who claimed to be in Leadership at the Bellevue Service Center, but unfortunately, it went to voicemail. During that call on Monday afternoon, they promised that someone would call me yesterday, and it "should" be ready, but you may have guessed it, no one called, no one messaged.

We have been waiting for over a month now, as my RIT has been in the shop for a repair that we were told would take no more than 20 hours of work.

Until Rivian's service issues are resolved, we will not be purchasing a new vehicle and will share this story with anyone who asks. I love the truck when it works...but the folks that we have dealt with in the service center need some remedial training on customer service.

Hey doubledown - Im sorry for your pain. Rivian SC keeping vehicles without working on them has been an al too frequent topic in this forum. Does no one there read ahead and anticipate parts and technicians? I am ardently rooting for Rivian to succeed, but service will be their downfall if they can't fix fixable things.

 

[FootyMax]

Good point, just Bellevue. I have not tried Seattle (are only other SC according to the Rivian website)... from where we are, that would be a trek, especially through traffic, but I would easily do it if this issue was isolated to Bellevue.

I've had phenomenal service at the Seattle Service Center by Boeing Field. 12v battery replacement and they moved up a scheduled maintenance appointment to the same day to take care of that all at one. Communication through the service portion of the app was fantastic and prompt.

Now, when I picked up my truck at Bellevue I had to have them take some minor corrective actions before accepting the vehicle.

tldr version is that I think Bellevue SC has issues. I wouldn't paint the rest of them with a broad brush based on your experience. Not discounting what you said at all, but perhaps try a different SC next time should you need.

 

[RussRivian]

I was a huge Rivian fan. I bought our R1T nearly two years ago, and for the first 25,000 miles all was well. It started when I was prompted in the app to take it in for service. I was curious what "service" meant, as I also have a Tesla and have managed most of that "maintenance" on my own. But seeing it was a relatively new truck, I decided to make an appointment.

The first thing that stood out to me was that the earliest I could schedule an appointment was 4 months, and that was if I took the next available. I took it in, and I was able to get it back the next day. As far as I could tell is that they rotated the tires, touched up some fluids, and replaced the windshield wipers. I assume they also checked it over for any issues.

Fast forward to 7 days later, and suddenly I was getting errors that my front camera wasn't working. I called customer service, ran through the troubleshooting steps, tried to "reboot" the R1T more than once, but still the same errors. I scheduled another appointment to bring it in for diagnostics, and the soonest I could get it in was FIVE months. This happened at the beginning of April, and the next appointment was late August. It wasn't bothering me at the time, I find the front camera fairly useless compared to my Tesla, so I didn't make a big deal of it.

Another issue, but outside of this conversation, is that my 12V battery died between the two appointments, while I was in the middle of a camping trip in a Canadian National park, about 800 miles from home. Knowing the battery could make my truck a very heavy paperweight at any time caused me to cut my trip early and come home. Thankfully, I only had to wait 4 weeks for an "emergency" appointment.

Now back to the front camera...
I brought it in to the Bellevue, WA Service Center on August 23rd. I thought this would be a simple same-day appointment. However, they immediately stated that it would be over a week before they could even perform a diagnostic to determine the issue. Why make me stop driving if you are not ready for the truck? It's like me going to the doctor's office and having to camp in the parking lot to be seen.

Over the last four weeks, it has been in the shop, and there has been minimal communication. I have been promised delivery on three separate Saturdays (9/13, 9/20, and now this Saturday). I tried to message through the Rivian app, and I finally received a callback from someone who claimed to be in Leadership at the Bellevue Service Center, but unfortunately, it went to voicemail. During that call on Monday afternoon, they promised that someone would call me yesterday, and it "should" be ready, but you may have guessed it, no one called, no one messaged.

We have been waiting for over a month now, as my RIT has been in the shop for a repair that we were told would take no more than 20 hours of work.

Until Rivian's service issues are resolved, we will not be purchasing a new vehicle and will share this story with anyone who asks. I love the truck when it works...but the folks that we have dealt with in the service center need some remedial training on customer service.

I think your situation is highly unusual. I would like to share that our 2022 R1T Adventure with 46k Miles has cost us a pair of 12 batteries (I swapped them myself with OHMMU LiPo) and a set of tires. Onsite service at our Harrisburg PA home has been fast, polite and very professionally done and only for mandatory updates (all free). I would buy another one of these vehicles and recommend it to a friend. Best vehicle we ever owned. P.S. No tonneau troubles either!

 

[WhidbeyIsland]

There is also a Rivian Service Center in Fife. They aren't near as busy.

There is also a new SC in Bothell, WA. I took my2023 R1T Dual there in August for the front end 'clunk'. and had a great experience.

 

[BCondrey]

Damn it! 55K miles with zero issues! What do I have to do to get some negative love around here!

Get your millimeter calipers out and check those panel gaps!

 

[R1TCntrlMaIzzy]

To all of those that have never had an issue with their vehicles or service, that is awesome. Like any company, Rivian is not perfect, and news flash, they make mistakes.

Is the title of this thread accurate? To me and others no. But in the end it is one person’s opinion, experience, choice of words and not the end of Rivian.

To me, Rivian does need to work on their repair scheduling and service processes. They are bad, even for a new company. And if the R2 has any chance of increasing Rivian’s longevity, that may hinge on those two.

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