This is why I love Rivian! Received replacement R1T with RJ's help

[bfilippo]

Hey Folks,

I have mentioned a few times lately that I had a long story about swapping out my R1T, and I now have reached the end of the story, so I figured I would post it here.

Back in early 2025, after receiving my first R1T Dual Standard in September 2024 (one of the first Gen2 R1T's delivered in New England), I had some wind noise that was a very minor nuisance. During an appointment for the truck that spring, the Chelsea SC suggested that they replace a small applique piece to reduce the wind noise. However, they needed another day to get the part and install, and I had to head back home that afternoon. So, I scheduled a follow-up appointment, and had to reschedule a few times (I live about 4 hours from the closest SC, so it's a logistical challenge to plan). By the time I finally got in there, it was early November. The appointment had been scheduled for months, albeit moved back a few times, but when I arrive, the tech tells me that they "forgot to paint the applique" and so it will actually be a few days. Thankfully, they have a loaner, and so I just drive right back home, expecting to come back in a week or so when convenient.

The day before I am scheduled to pick up my truck, the SC calls me and tells me there has been an incident. I ask what happened, and the tech tells me that they don't exactly know, but they were very busy and decided to have the certified body shop nearby address my small repair. I tell them that makes me nervous and to please keep me posted. I hear back the next morning, and the SC tech admits to me that the body shop, after completing the applique repair, and rotating my tires, apparently failed to torque the nut on one of my wheels properly, and the wheel literally came off the truck when it was being driven back to the SC.

The SC tech is very considerate, but of course I am incredibly concerned about what this means. Will this affect the long term reliability? Will my insurance be impacted? Will the value go down?

The SC tech was incredibly transparent and sent me the estimate for the work (over $17k!), which didn’t make me feel any better.

Several weeks go by, and then the SC gets it back from the body shop. They do an inspection and replace a control arm (not a small repair).

I finally get the truck back and about a week later, it goes into turtle mode, then emergency stop and finally shuts down completely with two of my kids in the back on US1. I call roadside, they get a tow dispatched, but this is right before Christmas, and rural Maine, so my wife drives from another town to get us so we can bring our daughter to her basketball game. It’s also 18 degrees, so, staying in the truck isn’t really an option.

After I get home, I’m just really worried this truck will end up being a headache after the accident. I live nearly four hours from the closest SC and have 3 kids. I’m a huge Rivian fan and have no desire to drive anything else (wife has an S Launch Edition Gen1).

So, I email RJ. I had heard he monitors his email and that’s part of why I really like the company culture. I didn’t whine, I just very matter of fact, gave him the series of events, and told him I did not feel like the truck was reliable for my family given the unknowns of how the accident affected it.

I get a call from the regional leader within an hour. They arrange to pickup my truck from my house (the tow company just brought it there because at the point they picked it up it was already like 2pm) on Monday (this was Saturday).

Regional leader then tells me they are going to replace my truck and that team will be connected to me on Monday. Meanwhile; I’m connected to the new Hudson SC supervisor (technically like 10 miles closer to me than Chelsea was).

On Monday, replacement team works with me and sales team at Hudson to find a replacement. I had trouble with the standard pack range loss in our climate during winter and wanted a larger battery. They suggest a max since the gen2 large isn’t much more than standard with 80-85% charging. Apparently due to the sizing of the Standard battery compared to others, you can’t get 20” AS/AT wheels from the standard that I loved, on any other configuration. So, I ask for the 20” AT’s.

After seeing transit delays with the new year, we decide to get a Tri Max that is sitting at Chelsea with the spec I want. I had forest green and had wanted to keep it, but my loaner from Hudson was storm blue and it grew on me. So, we ended up getting a better interest rate than before, Rivian gave me a very generous trade-in value for my previous truck, and I got a new, upgraded truck, with no miles, for basically the same monthly payment!

I even got rewards because I referred “myself” via the process.

James, Nico, Elaine, Christina (Hudson & New England lead) as well as Chris in the replacement team, were incredible to work with and made the process super smooth.

Very excited to go on adventures with “raspberry” as the weather warms! The Tri definitely has more oomph, and I can’t lie, I like it!

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[windblowlc]

Great ending! Just love Rivian and RJ! After reading this, I'd be willing to loosen my "nuts" after a Rivian service and see what happens

 

[captainjp]

Who doesn’t just love a happy ending?

 

[portdirect]

This sounds very much like what happened to my 1st truck; but ending much faster as the replacement was on point! A bit less finger pointing - yielding to a much faster turn around, as it sounds like Rivian where the ones driving it when the wheel came off - rather then something happening only at the collision center. I too found that things were stuck until an email to RJ, which though never respond to - oddly got a phone call that afternoon where things went from 'we need to review this, and it will take a few weeks' to 'we'd like you to specify a replacement truck'. Thanks for sharing @bfilippo

 

[Vik]

Glad you had a positive outcome. However, it sounds like you had to go through extraordinary steps to get there that I would not have thought to do. Owners should not have to email the CEO to get an appropriate response from Service.

Also, this is an interesting case of different levels of tolerance from one customer to another. Would most customers stop at accepting a damaged truck and expect a buyback replacement at that point?

 

[skyguyscott]

Wonderful to hear Rivian is doing the right thing, even though I'm sure it cost them.

You wrote, " I had some wind noise that was a very minor nuisance."

You know, my R1T also has this annoying wind noise that sounds like it's coming from the upper front corner of my driver's side window, as if there is a gap there, even though I can't see or feel it. Was this the same wind noise you had?

 

[bfilippo]

Wonderful to hear Rivian is doing the right thing, even though I'm sure it cost them.

You wrote, " I had some wind noise that was a very minor nuisance."

You know, my R1T also has this annoying wind noise that sounds like it's coming from the upper front corner of my driver's side window, as if there is a gap there, even though I can't see or feel it. Was this the same wind noise you had?

Yes, that was it. And I can tell you, my new Tri max doesn’t seem to have it. There’s a small appliqué that can be replaced, but I think they’ll only do it complimentary if it’s in the new 12 month/12k miles warranty period for body imperfections.

 

[DaveA]

I got a few texts and calls from Tony Caravano when I had my paint issues back in 2022 and they swapped me for a new one. Glad to hear they are still helping those that have these wild situations.

 

[eRacer]

These "success" stories are ones that get often overlooked and not told. Rivian has always taken care of my concerns and issues no matter how big or small. They never hesitate to address an issue and their warranty covers way more than I had anticipated.

Despite most of the flaws we hear about Rivian, they try their best to make sure customer satisfaction is priority.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

IMO, replace/reassign should be standard practice for situations where vehicle suffers damage before would-be owners take possession. I don't understand the dogged determination to stay to "script". Canceling paperwork and starting over with a new VIN/vehicle does mean more work for someone. But it's all procedural. Not moving mountains.

Not right to force costumer take possession of damaged goods just to save on paperwork. And they better figure out how to make their paperwork system more nimble. They sold under 40k R1s in 2025. Once they start selling R2s and can't be more nimble in resolving cases like this...

 

[VandalSibs]

Just as an FYI, a lot of these "you can email the CEO!" accounts are actually not direct to the CEO, but are monitored by a team - in bigger companies, most likely directly for that task, but in smaller companies it might be someone in HR, or some executive assistant role. If it's deemed actually necessary to go to the CEO, then it's routed to their actual address. Otherwise it'll go to someone more likely to actually help out (like in your situation).

 

[portdirect]

Just as an FYI, a lot of these "you can email the CEO!" accounts are actually not direct to the CEO, but are monitored by a team - in bigger companies, most likely directly for that task, but in smaller companies it might be someone in HR, or some executive assistant role. If it's deemed actually necessary to go to the CEO, then it's routed to their actual address. Otherwise it'll go to someone more likely to actually help out (like in your situation).

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20251223-00/?p=111896

In this case; I think RJ’s email is actually his email - but to your point it’s almost certainly well filtered and manicured by several PA’s.

 

[VandalSibs]

I decided to bring it up because even for our little (compared to Rivian) company, we have a "public" CEO email account, then their actual email.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

What a great post and fantastic outcome! I agree, wish there was a place to collect all these positive stories, since a lot of the Internet (and social media) can become a bit of an "echo chamber" for bad news and issues.

Congratulations on your new truck, and wishing you many safe miles of travel.

 

[Joules Burn]

Wonderful to hear Rivian is doing the right thing, even though I'm sure it cost them.

You wrote, " I had some wind noise that was a very minor nuisance."

You know, my R1T also has this annoying wind noise that sounds like it's coming from the upper front corner of my driver's side window, as if there is a gap there, even though I can't see or feel it. Was this the same wind noise you had?

I had that on the passenger side of my previous Gen1 R1S. A field tech adjusted my window travel a few millimeters and stopped the wind noise. Took him minutes.

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