Alex on Autos calls out Rivian for line cutting

[Sgt Beavis]

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[Guinefort]

Influencers exist, more at 11

 

[Dirty_B]

You don't happen to have a Trawler after your namesake do you?

 

[manitou202]

I could care less about a dozen or so "influencers" cutting the line. Rivian's failure to follow a relatively sequential and logical delivery schedule for the rest of us is the problem.

 

[dleewla]

I could care less about a dozen or so "influencers" cutting the line. Rivian's failure to follow a relatively sequential and logical delivery schedule for the rest of us is the problem.

ditto for the first drives.

 

[lostpacket]

Gosh, I don't even have any popcorn on hand but at least I posted on the first page of this thread.

 

[SeaGeo]

It's entertaining that people think this is an influencer/reviewer issue.

 

[opnwide]

I cut in Line at Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World After-all”. I know no one that works at Disney, have no executive that sponsors me, and no one got upset. I even wore my t-shirt that says, “influencer”.

 

[lostpacket]

I cut in Line at Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World After-all”. I know no one that works at Disney, have no executive that sponsors me, and no one got upset. I even wore my t-shirt that says, “influencer”.

I dug up a possible photo of @opnwide pleading innocence after the alleged crime

 

[SASSquatch]

Alex - 100% on board with your assessment that you don't fault Cut-the-Line Kyle for doing what he did to get his R1T. The difference, however, is he tried to bullshit his way through exactly how he came to cut the line, and was completely disingenuous about it. In fact it took several different videos (and a lot of outrage in this forum) For him to eventually come clean but not without compromising his ability to, without inherent or implied bias or conflict of interest, provide objective content on the R1T.

That is the difference between being an influencer and an objective reviewer. I value your content and your reviews because you offer disclaimers in your videos and go out of your away to avoid conflict of interest and bias.

If you had taken a similar route as Kyle, and negotiated early access and preferred pricing, and then failed to be completely transparent about that when you created content, allowing me the viewer to assess your objectivity, I would have lost all respect for you.

So, please, don't be like Kyle.

 

[KiloV]

Clickbait silliness. I haven't seen any indication that anyone is "cutting the line." Some people who are flexible on their configurations and happen to be in the right place at the right time are getting their trucks super quickly. That's not some sort of sinister thing. If you are willing to take what Rivian has available in your area, you can get an early delivery. Kyle from OoS, if I recall correctly, told Rivian that he would take anything they had, regardless of spec, and that he would drop by the Rivian plant in Normal to pick it up. That's maximum flexibility. That's why he got his truck sooner. All of the other instances that I've heard of where people got their trucks super quickly have been people who have gotten "orphaned" trucks, where the original buyer backed out and Rivian looked for someone else in the local area whose spec was pretty close. This "line cutting" stuff appears to be pure conspiracy theory nonsense. Also, the implication that some people might be getting preferential pricing is, as far as I can tell, completely unfounded. I haven't even heard anyone else suggest this before. Weird.

 

[SASSquatch]

Clickbait silliness. I haven't seen any indication that anyone is "cutting the line." Some people who are flexible on their configurations and happen to be in the right place at the right time are getting their trucks super quickly. That's not some sort of sinister thing. If you are willing to take what Rivian has available in your area, you can get an early delivery. Kyle from OoS, if I recall correctly, told Rivian that he would take anything they had, regardless of spec, and that he would drop by the Rivian plant in Normal to pick it up. That's maximum flexibility. That's why he got his truck sooner. All of the other instances that I've heard of where people got their trucks super quickly have been people who have gotten "orphaned" trucks, where the original buyer backed out and Rivian looked for someone else in the local area whose spec was pretty close. This "line cutting" stuff appears to be pure conspiracy theory nonsense. Also, the implication that some people might be getting preferential pricing is, as far as I can tell, completely unfounded. I haven't even heard anyone else suggest this before. Weird.

Um....sorry but you are 100% incorrect. Like Alex said in another video - you don't think 90,000 of us would make tweaks to our configuration if it meant a truck would come sooner? Some may not, but many would. That configuration that Kyle purchased was someones configuration who was 90,000 places in line AHEAD of Kyle.

Did he also get pre-March 1 pricing in May because he asked nicely too?

He got the Rivian friends and family discount because he had an inside connection (as a YouTuber) at Rivian and was able to cut the line and get preferred pricing.

Please write Customer Service and ask them very nicely for a truck for you to pick from in the R1 Shop and make sure you ask for Pre-March 1 pricing and come back and let us know how that goes...

 

[ERguy]

Clickbait silliness. I haven't seen any indication that anyone is "cutting the line." Some people who are flexible on their configurations and happen to be in the right place at the right time are getting their trucks super quickly. That's not some sort of sinister thing. If you are willing to take what Rivian has available in your area, you can get an early delivery. Kyle from OoS, if I recall correctly, told Rivian that he would take anything they had, regardless of spec, and that he would drop by the Rivian plant in Normal to pick it up. That's maximum flexibility. That's why he got his truck sooner. All of the other instances that I've heard of where people got their trucks super quickly have been people who have gotten "orphaned" trucks, where the original buyer backed out and Rivian looked for someone else in the local area whose spec was pretty close. This "line cutting" stuff appears to be pure conspiracy theory nonsense. Also, the implication that some people might be getting preferential pricing is, as far as I can tell, completely unfounded. I haven't even heard anyone else suggest this before. Weird.

You're kidding... Right?

There are tens of thousands of people waiting for an R1T. There are only so many combinations of colors and options to choose from.

Nobody can seriously believe Kyle just happened to find some sort of rare configuration that nobody else wanted.

In reality, there were most certainly many thousands of people waiting for the exact configuration that Kyle bought. Many of those people have been waiting for years.

Kyle didn't find some sort of unicorn build configuration that nobody else wanted. That's absurd.

If you don't believe me, maybe you will believe Kyle... Since he openly admitted he cut the line by using the friends and family program.

 

[RWerksman]

 

[KiloV]

Um....sorry but you are 100% incorrect. Like Alex said in another video - you don't think 90,000 of us would make tweaks to our configuration if it meant a truck would come sooner? Some may not, but many would. That configuration that Kyle purchased was someones configuration who was 90,000 places in line AHEAD of Kyle.

Did he also get pre-March 1 pricing in May because he asked nicely too?

He got the Rivian friends and family discount because he had an inside connection (as a YouTuber) at Rivian and was able to cut the line and get preferred pricing.

Please write Customer Service and ask them very nicely for a truck for you to pick from in the R1 Shop and make sure you ask for Pre-March 1 pricing and come back and let us know how that goes...

Okay, I guess I shouldn't have mentioned Kyle. People seem to be all bent out of shape about Kyle for some reason. I don't care about Kyle. Let's forget that Kyle exists.

In general, people who are receiving trucks super quickly are getting them because they are orphaned vehicles. If Rivian ships a Compass Yellow R1T out to Tacoma, WA for a delivery and that customer declines to take delivery of that vehicle for whatever reason, then Rivian needs to find another home for that truck. If there's another person in Tacoma who ordered a Compass Yellow R1T three months ago, Rivian will gladly sell the truck to that person. Rivian is not going to ship that truck to Boston because someone in Boston has been waiting two years for a Compass Yellow R1T. This is a logistics issue. It's not a sinister conspiracy to deprive anyone of anything. Rivian would like to be able to deliver all 90K R1 vehicles that have been pre-ordered tomorrow, if they could. But they can't. They have to manage the logistics of a nation-wide delivery system where completing a transaction post vehicle shipment isn't guaranteed. This isn't easy. Their results haven't been ideal, but, with the best will in the world, I'm not sure that I would be able to do better. We've seen similar frustrations with other direct-to-customer sales models like Tesla over the years. Tesla has had more practice at it, so they've gotten better. Hopefully we'll see improvements out of the new kids like Rivian and Lucid over the next few years.

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