Delivery Nightmare

[MountainBikeDude]

FWIW I don't think labeling you as a complainer is fair. I think you have a right to be pissed off. What happened to you sucks, and it shouldn't happen. I just don't think once the mistake was realized that it was handled poorly. I think they did the best they could with the situation at hand. From what it sounds like it all boils down to one mistake, you selected a truck that got put into the sale queue when it shouldn't have been sold. That was the one mistake Rivian made.

The fact that it went to your local shop and was given a delivery inspection and went through the process was what is supposed to happen, not a mistake. Unfortunately the original error wasn't caught as fast as it could have been, but it was faster than you taking delivery which would have been even harder to unwind at that point. I guess I just see the situation differently than you.

Yes mine was only delayed a week, but how it happened made it difficult too. I got a call the night before saying it threw a code when they were putting it on the delivery truck for my delivery. Then the delivery driver backed into a tree when delivering my truck and dented the tailgate on my truck before I ever even seen it. So I could have had them take it back and fix it, or take delivery of a brand new truck I too paid for in full with a dent in the tailgate.

I was disappointed too, but they took ownership of their mistake and they corrected it pretty quickly and to my satisfaction. For me I see mistakes as a fact of life, and the only time I feel it crosses into unacceptable is when the person who made the mistake doesn't own up to it or tries to hide it or pass it off. So long as you acknowledge your mistake and do what's in your power to make it right I will do my best to move on. I do this not only for it being the best way to get what I want from others, but my own sanity.

My experience with Rivian is that every mistake they've made in regards to me they've owned completely and they have made them right. My experience with other manufacturers has been quite a bit different more than once. I'd rather stick with Rivian's approach.

I had a somewhat similar experience, vehicle was 6-8 weeks out, but by week 6, realized the truck not only wasn't shipped, it didn't end up being built etc. Guide owned it and we worked to find a solution.

Two options were presented, if I was slightly flexible, I could take delivery the next day, if however I wanted a made to order one, it would be another 6-8 weeks. We went through available options at the service center and realized there was one with everything except the rims. I asked since this was a bit of fuck up, if they could just order in the appropriate rims and swap them? Guide mentioned it was policy not to break configs, but would see if they'd allow it. 3 days later, rims were swapped and the R1T was ready to go, and was still 5 days shy of the 8th week!

Long story short, people get busy, and sometimes things get overlooked. They did everything they could in their power to get the vehicle I wanted to me. The vehicle I got has been everything I expected and then some, a real testament to what they've been working on for more than a decade.

Also, from one Adam to another, @aburke00, take a breath, relax and let them sort things out. Getting frustrated and worked up only affects you.

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[aburke00]

I understand how this would be frustrating, but in comparison to some of the early delivery stories I remember it’s really not such a terrible situation. Have you asked for your money back until this can be resolved?

Yes, I have asked for money to be returned. However, while they can accept wire transfers, they will not send wire transfers. Rather, we have to make a request for a paper check to be written and mailed. I'm supposed to hear from my guide some time this morning to talk about ways to resolve this. Contrary to some assumptions on this thread, this isn't so much about me being disgruntled that the vehicle I was scheduled to receive wasn't perfect and Rivian did the right thing by withholding it. My aggravation stems from the confirmation that inspection was complete, then an automated email saying delivery canceled and the fight I had to go through to get an explanation as to what was going on. I truly had no idea if they just saw a minor scratch or if the vehicle didn't actually exist. Through a lot of persistence yesterday, I learned that the vehicle was never supposed to have left the factory and the rental vehicle was not immediately offered by Rivian. I really had to push to get anything more than "are you open to other configurations?"...which I'm not.

 

[aburke00]

We don't know why it was cancelled. The day before delivery they do a charge to 100% for the first time, could be it caused a critical battery issue to pop up.

They told me it was cancelled because as they were prepping it in their system for sale, they saw a note that told them it was supposed to have been held at the plant and never sent out for delivery. Should not have been visible in the "available sooner" section of the site either.

 

[aburke00]

I had a somewhat similar experience, vehicle was 6-8 weeks out, but by week 6, realized the truck not only wasn't shipped, it didn't end up being built etc. Guide owned it and we worked to find a solution.

Two options were presented, if I was slightly flexible, I could take delivery the next day, if however I wanted a made to order one, it would be another 6-8 weeks. We went through available options at the service center and realized there was one with everything except the rims. I asked since this was a bit of fuck up, if they could just order in the appropriate rims and swap them? Guide mentioned it was policy not to break configs, but would see if they'd allow it. 3 days later, rims were swapped and the R1T was ready to go, and was still 5 days shy of the 8th week!

Long story short, people get busy, and sometimes things get overlooked. They did everything they could in their power to get the vehicle I wanted to me. The vehicle I got has been everything I expected and then some, a real testament to what they've been working on for more than a decade.

Also, from one Adam to another, @aburke00, take a breath, relax and let them sort things out. Getting frustrated and worked up only affects you.

Appreciate the testimonial. I'm actually more aggravated over how they've handled the delivery of this news than I am a slight (or possibly major delay). The screen shot I shared in my post was the only notice I got until I started calling/texting multiple numbers. I had no idea if the delivery was cancelled because of a personal issue for staff, a minor flaw they wanted to address, or if the vehicle didn't actually exist. It was not easy to get that answer either. Before anyone owned up to any mistake or contacted me at all, I was getting questions on whether or not I would take a different configuration. I totally wasn't ready to answer that because, again, I couldn't get an answer on why my appointment was canceled. I feel like that is a justifiable frustration.

 

[NashvilleR1S]

Definitely frustrating especially after a long wait. Mine was at the Franklin center for almost 2 weeks getting various adjustments before delivery. As others have said, good that they didnt deliver a lemon. Super unfortunate to tell you it was ready and then back out though. Just part of the lumps we take beta testing a car brand haha.

 

[aburke00]

Definitely frustrating especially after a long wait. Mine was at the Franklin center for almost 2 weeks getting various adjustments before delivery. As others have said, good that they didnt deliver a lemon. Super unfortunate to tell you it was ready and then back out though. Just part of the lumps we take beta testing a car brand haha.

Irrelevant comment here, but seeing your occupation split on the left sidebar into....

Cinema
tography

....has me cracking up a bit

 

[NashvilleR1S]

Cinema
tography

....has me cracking up a bit

what can I say I love tography.

 

[av8or]

Yes, I have asked for money to be returned. However, while they can accept wire transfers, they will not send wire transfers. Rather, we have to make a request for a paper check to be written and mailed. I'm supposed to hear from my guide some time this morning to talk about ways to resolve this. Contrary to some assumptions on this thread, this isn't so much about me being disgruntled that the vehicle I was scheduled to receive wasn't perfect and Rivian did the right thing by withholding it. My aggravation stems from the confirmation that inspection was complete, then an automated email saying delivery canceled and the fight I had to go through to get an explanation as to what was going on. I truly had no idea if they just saw a minor scratch or if the vehicle didn't actually exist. Through a lot of persistence yesterday, I learned that the vehicle was never supposed to have left the factory and the rental vehicle was not immediately offered by Rivian. I really had to push to get anything more than "are you open to other configurations?"...which I'm not.

I do understand your frustration, I still get frustrated sometimes when I need to communicate with Rivian. In my own experience it always feels like the left hand has no idea what the right is doing, seems like they involve too many people for one customer and things get convoluted. Why can’t we call our local service facility where our truck gets serviced to set up appointments or ask a simple question? It’s just the way they currently do it. I hope they get better.
After all is said and done. I Hope you enjoy your new ride, I sure do.

 

[vordo]

I’m in a not dissimilar situation- the night before the delivery, they dinged my R1T and canceled. my wife’s car had died a week earlier and so we are left with a single car, and 3 kids. I offered to take the damage R1T and they refused.

not to bore you all with the details, I’m in a renal which took several days to arrange (they wanted to give me uber credits which simply doesn’t work where I live). now we are in the second week of waiting without any knowledge of when I’ll get into the vehicle that I am paying for.

I am beginning to wonder if the R1T built in 2022 is actually a real lemon and I’m in a similar situation. I too am a bit frustrated, I would have waited for a build if my wife’s car hadn’t died and had rushed to get something close but not what I would have purchased.

 

[Rs6er]

And $89 for nitrogen in the tires instead of air (BMW Silver Spring, MD)

Costco FTW. (Free nitrogen pump in the lot)

 

[maddave12]

I sympathize with the OP's frustration, and I'm finding it interesting reading the various responses from other members. Clearly, Rivian hasn't managed to completely burn through the customer good will it developed early on. Yet.

There's a theme I'm seeing across a lot of the anecdotes relayed here and in other threads: The guides (sometimes), service centers, and customer support folks are soothing bad experiences through what are probably fairly called "heroic" efforts in many cases. That's what great customer service organizations do, and I applaud them. I wouldn't want their jobs.

What's less great, IMO, is that 17 months (+/-) after first customer deliveries, Rivian still doesn't seem to have its sh*t together wrt fundamental processes at the factory. Basic things like "the truck shouldn't have been released from the factory", horrific paint problems, badly misaligned body panels, etc., tell me that both their manufacturing and their QA systems are failing to come up to industry norms. Consequently, the customer-touching roles are the ones that have to try to absorb and blunt the pain, trying to make up for upstream failures.

When I worked at Amazon, we were required to spend a day shadowing a customer support agent (this was back when you could still find Amazon's support phone number). Watching the agent address customer needs was astonishing as she practically performed miracles with the crummy tools we provided the agents. Whatever they were being paid, it wasn't nearly enough.

Seems like Rivian's front line similarly are bearing the brunt of corporate shortcomings.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me on this, of course.

 

[zigzagzap]

I've had more than one dealer try to pass off an unsellable car, screw me on service, outright lie about the cause of vehicle damage and try to soak me with insane interest rates thinking I was an idiot. I do whatever I can to avoid dealerships as much as humanly possible.

I get it. We have all been played by a dealer at some point in our lives. However, this has not happened to me in many years, and many dealers are now friends. It's a game, and you learn to play it, or you find another playground. Rivian is another playground that I, too, visited.

I have rust on my D pillar on my brand new R1S, another paint defect from a drip that popped off, the carpet around the third-row seats needs to be replaced due to the gap that reveals the sheet metal on the floor carriage, along with the typical alignment issues that have already been noted elsewhere. The first available appointment at "my local" SC, 2 hrs away, is close to Labor Day. How is this okay? Rivian is now contracting with Enterprise, and you get a loaner from them, ICE or eV. Gone are the days that they provide a Rivian loaner.

As I was told by my delivery person, the Richmond SC obtained their dealer's license and can process titles and has license plates, but I needed to go to a third party for my required state inspection. My guide now blows me off. The service ticket person is in a call center and only follows procedures. How is this a better experience? Call me silly, but relationships and trust still matter to me.

 

[NY_Rob]

Costco FTW. (Free nitrogen pump in the lot)

Just saying.... free in your driveway too with the onboard Rivian compressor

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I get it. We have all been played by a dealer at some point in our lives. However, this has not happened to me in many years, and many dealers are now friends. It's a game, and you learn to play it, or you find another playground. Rivian is another playground that I, too, visited.

I have rust on my D pillar on my brand new R1S, another paint defect from a drip that popped off, the carpet around the third-row seats needs to be replaced due to the gap that reveals the sheet metal on the floor carriage, along with the typical alignment issues that have already been noted elsewhere. The first available appointment at "my local" SC, 2 hrs away, is close to Labor Day. How is this okay? Rivian is now contracting with Enterprise, and you get a loaner from them, ICE or eV. Gone are the days that they provide a Rivian loaner.

As I was told by my delivery person, the Richmond SC obtained their dealer's license and can process titles and has license plates, but I needed to go to a third party for my required state inspection. My guide now blows me off. The service ticket person is in a call center and only follows procedures. How is this a better experience? Call me silly, but relationships and trust still matter to me.

I'd rather deal with poor quality issues than outright scams. As far as appointments go, it takes me a month to schedule an oil change at my local Audi dealer and that's a whole day's process screwing around. I've had Rivian service out to my house twice and they did their required work for recalls in my garage and let me know when they were done.

Yeah I've had to take my truck to a SC too and the fact that it's 3 hours away sucks. Still, my experience has been at least as positive as any I've had at a dealer and leaps and bounds better than I have at unscrupulous dealers. FWIW I have had little to no panel gaps or body fitment and paint issues in my truck not counting the tailgate that was dented by the delivery person. Obviously they corrected that really quickly and 100% to factory new condition.

I really have never felt that relationship or trust with a car salesman. In my experiences I totally feel as though those people have earned their reputation as hucksters and swindlers. I always feel as though I need my attorney and a security guard for my wallet every time I walk into a stealership. I wish I knew what you meant about relationships and trust but I've never seen it.

 

[SoCal Rob]

…not to bore you all with the details, I’m in a renal which took several days to arrange…

You gotta be kidney me!

Please forgive this terrible word play which is an attempt to get a chuckle.

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