Ghosted by a Guide?

[Inthedmv]

I had an appointment scheduled with my guide this morning, and she never called. She also hasn't responded to email or text, and when I called her it went straight to VM. Has this happened to anyone else?

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[kanundrum]

Might have been sick or something along those lines, Call CS and see whats up.

 

[HokieBird7980]

Got an email this morning about Guide intro, even though i'd been assigned a guide back in March when they called to offer the interior switch to BM. I went ahead and set up the appt anyway since she could talk first thing this morning. 5 minutes before the call my PBA came through. She called me right at 9 and said she had no update and that the email may have been a glitch in their system. i then told her i had just gotten the PBA 5 minutes prior to her calling. She refreshed her system and saw it was sent. Walked through that and signed it, but she said it confirmed configuration and what was removed (camp kitchen and tent) and that it would now go into a process to match my configuration. During the call something happened and she could not hear me but i could hear her. The call dropped and i called back went right into VM. She sent email stating she was trying to call out but was not getting through. Could be an issue with their service provider this morning. Hope you can get through to your guide.,

 

[Laurent]

Ever since I emailed RJ about the delivery of my R1S with OC interior, he's been ghosting me.

 

[LoneStar]

seriously though... this "Guide" model/approach to the front-end of selling / buying a Rivian is, for many, not turning out the way it was envisioned and pitched. I'm only on 3rd day with my recent guide assignment so who am I to moan but still it has been frustrating that absolutely no reply to a handful of text mssgs, emails and a couple of voicemails. Yes, that may sound excessive but in reality its only been two questions.. I just sent/asked them every way possible after the first round of "ghosting."

Makes me wonder if they ever did the math on this business model. For just this year, with say a goal of 15,000 vehicles (not incl. AMZ vans), here are the numbers - that just keep growing because this guide-thing is meant to be the lifetime of your ownership (with far less constant engagement)

50 clients per Guide = 300 Guides staffing
100 clients per Guide = 150 Guides staffing

So how many Guides are out there? And who wants a job with 50-100 people hounding you?

 

[AdamsFan1983]

seriously though... this "Guide" model/approach to the front-end of selling / buying a Rivian is, for many, not turning out the way it was envisioned and pitched. I'm only on 3rd day with my recent guide assignment so who am I to moan but still it has been frustrating that absolutely no reply to a handful of text mssgs, emails and a couple of voicemails. Yes, that may sound excessive but in reality its only been two questions.. I just sent/asked them every way possible after the first round of "ghosting."

Makes me wonder if they ever did the math on this business model. For just this year, with say a goal of 15,000 vehicles (not incl. AMZ vans), here are the numbers - that just keep growing because this guide-thing is meant to be the lifetime of your ownership (with far less constant engagement)

50 clients per Guide = 300 Guides staffing
100 clients per Guide = 150 Guides staffing

So how many Guides are out there? And who wants a job with 50-100 people hounding you?

I feel very lucky with my guide, but I would encourage people to try to restrain themselves and be understanding. My guide did not reply to every last thing, and hardly ever replied right away. I just don't think thats a practical expectation.

My plan from the get go was to shower my guide with kindness (so long as it was deserved--it was); and try to make an impression so that I was a priority and theres going to be a lot of variation in peoples experiences here. My guide understood the assignment. He got me the truck I configured ASAP. (Of somewhat importance: I configured an Adventure-and he got me a Launch Edition). From initial contact to delivery was about 2 weeks, though the guide said 2-4 weeks from the get go. I didn't have visibility on delivery until the day before.

Still awaiting charger (a minor gripe), wrist band, and accessories (not in a huge hurry for these).

Be aware: The forums are more popular with Rivian Employees than what people generally think...

So to the guides reading these: Hang in there! I love my vehicle and appreciate what y'all are dealing w/.

 

[Jason C]

seriously though... this "Guide" model/approach to the front-end of selling / buying a Rivian is, for many, not turning out the way it was envisioned and pitched. I'm only on 3rd day with my recent guide assignment so who am I to moan but still it has been frustrating that absolutely no reply to a handful of text mssgs, emails and a couple of voicemails. Yes, that may sound excessive but in reality its only been two questions.. I just sent/asked them every way possible after the first round of "ghosting."

Makes me wonder if they ever did the math on this business model. For just this year, with say a goal of 15,000 vehicles (not incl. AMZ vans), here are the numbers - that just keep growing because this guide-thing is meant to be the lifetime of your ownership (with far less constant engagement)

50 clients per Guide = 300 Guides staffing
100 clients per Guide = 150 Guides staffing

So how many Guides are out there? And who wants a job with 50-100 people hounding you?

I 100 percent agree with you. On paper this sounds like the perfect approach. Rivian made it sound like their guides would have all the information they need in order to answer our questions.

In my opinion they are falling short. Is it the guides fault? Probably not, I can't see why they would want to withhold information from the buyer. The excuse I hear, the guides really don't know. OK I get it but that still doesn't help me in finding my answer. Rivian needs to address this. They need to provide the people who are the face of their company with the information they need to better serve the end buyer. Guides should get weekly production reports from the plant. Guides should know what batches are going through the plant.

Does the lack of information, and the inability to answer questions lead guides to ghosting people, then randomly popping up once they have a vehicle for you? I could imagine so. I'm sure over time most people would do the same. As an end buyer/shareholder, I hope this gets resolved s00ner than later.

 

[HightiseATX]

I asked my guide how many in Compass Yellow are you handling and was told six out of around 100.. Also mentioned that there were 100+ guides. I'm guessing over time each guide will have 100s of clients in that phase where things are settled down and they spend most of their time on new deliveries.

 

[Riviot]

So how many Guides are out there? And who wants a job with 50-100 people hounding you

They are also CS, so not strictly handling front of house sales transactions. And not handling registration, there's another team they pass that to.

I had no problems with my guide during buying process, he was super helpful and answered everything honestly. He reaches out to me more than I to him. I only recently reached out about a suggested Navigation address correction bc I didn't know who else to send it to (SeaTac airport). All that to say, he fields comms from me once a month. So I think they can handle a lot.

Guides are great and in their infancy, and we really don't know what all they do, that's kind of the point. They handle behind the scenes and keep us happy, spending money. Just wait for the subscription service...

 

[Guy]

I asked my guide how many in Compass Yellow are you handling and was told six out of around 100.. Also mentioned that there were 100+ guides. I'm guessing over time each guide will have 100s of clients in that phase where things are settled down and they spend most of their time on new deliveries.

I agree but the “tail” of customers who have had their vehicle and are past the initial issue phase will just keep growing. So when they have thousands of old customers even a small spike would overwhelm what one guide can do. Also the employees move on to new roles so the longevity of your guide may well not be that long.
I don’t know any other company that does this and it seems they were being different for the sake of it.

 

[crashmtb]

I agree but the “tail” of customers who have had their vehicle and are past the initial issue phase will just keep growing. So when they have thousands of old customers even a small spike would overwhelm what one guide can do. Also the employees move on to new roles so the longevity of your guide may well not be that long.
I don’t know any other company that does this and it seems they were being different for the sake of it.

This is no different than having a dedicated sales/account rep with any other sort of supplier. The primary point seems to be having a single point of contact.

 

[SASSquatch]

My guide did not reply to every last thing, and hardly ever replied right away. I just don't think thats a practical expectation.

Amen, brother. This may be a generational thing, but it appears that people increasingly expect immediate replies to emails. There is a middle ground between getting ghosted and having someone respond back in a few hours (instantly).

You aren't the only customer your guide is dealing with and replying instantly to you only sets up the expectation that they would/should reply instantly in the future. It's a lose lose.

So to the guides reading these: Hang in there! I love my vehicle and appreciate what y'all are dealing w/.

Second that!

 

[Honey]

I had an appointment scheduled with my guide this morning, and she never called. She also hasn't responded to email or text, and when I called her it went straight to VM. Has this happened to anyone else?

Maybe she got covid or some sort of family emergency.

 

[SunDevil2213]

My guide was awesome. Super responsive - but echoing what’s already been said - do not expect an instant reply like you’re texting your best friend. You will be let down several times. And now that I have my R1T, I have little need to contact my guide. I’ve started a draft email to my guide - my feedback after a week of ownership - that I’ll send off to her next week. But aside from that, there’s not much to chat with her about anymore. I’d rather help free her time up so she can spend more time getting others into their trucks. Also, as has been noted - I have direct confirmation from the Phoenix service center delivery team that they do actively monitor the forums - mainly to see what people are experiencing and to help them make adjustments. Be nice - they’re all working diligently to get as many people as possible into their vehicles.

 

[AdamUCF]

I think of a guide as a replacement for a salesperson at a car dealership though with no actual sales aspect. Sets the bar for quality of service extremely low.

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