Sponsored

Is anyone else concerned due to lack of Guide Contact?!?!

ajbrutman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Threads
14
Messages
254
Reaction score
415
Location
california
Vehicles
LE R1T, GTI
Clubs
 
I am going to rant a little here, sorry in advance if you are not a fan. This is not bashing Rivian I know they have their work cut out, more me seeking clarification in the process.

RANT: I have not been contacted by a guide, nor have many people, but I feel that my circumstance would lead me to have had a very early guide contact. I preordered my truck at the LA auto show in front of I believe Brian an engineer at Rivian. I am located in Southern California an hour away from the El Segundo service center and have launch green with mountain black and the A/T 20s configured. Furthermore, they have a huge presence here in my backyard. They are planning a service center in Costa Mesa, my neighboring city, and their office in Irvine is less than a 20 min drive with traffic. I feel like all the stars align except for the one star that pops up in my email when a VIP emails me ?. If anyone has any insight or wants to tell me this is not a forum for ranting, it's all appreciated. We are going on three years and I am more than patient, I understand the truck may not get to me in September, October, or maybe even November, but a guide contact would certainly ease some of my anxiety. This comes from excitement, not disdain.

As all of us could probably agree on, we just want to experience it. To @DuckTruck - Bruce you are one lucky guy, to everyone at the event I really appreciate your feedback it has helped ease the nerves a bit but has made me even more excited. To the RivianStories guys, thanks for covering it all!

The Rivian team has certainly stepped it up in the past month or so as far as transparency and communication which is much appreciated, but I am ready for you guys to take my money ?. I feel that with the more exposure the trucks are receiving the less concerned with guides we have been, forgetting I still need to meet them to experience the truck.

I continued ranting past my rant paragraph. I hope this makes sense or at least relates my current concern. Otherwise, I couldn't be more excited. Its starting to feel really real.
Sponsored

 

SeaGeo

Well-Known Member
First Name
Brice
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Threads
47
Messages
5,235
Reaction score
9,677
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
Xc60 T8
Occupation
Engineer
Oof. That sucks. Have you reached out to Rivian to ask express this and ask the same question?
 

electruck

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Threads
69
Messages
3,495
Reaction score
6,455
Location
Dallas, TX
Vehicles
2023 Rivian R1S
There have been relatively few guide contacts, so don't feel left out. While it's possible that those who have been contacted were simply tokens so that Rivian could say the Guides were reaching out, I am inclined to believe that they started down the path to production only to have to pull back at the last moment due to supply chain and/or other issues. Keep in mind that Guide contacts should really come once they are ready to start finalizing orders (deposits becoming non-refundable), something which I don't believe has happened as a result of any of the Guide contacts to date. So, yes, some people have heard from their Guide and are able to ask some questions but we're all still pre-order reservation holders.

The wait is understanably frustrating but hang in there, we're finally getting close to actual customer deliveries. Then, based on RJ's own comments, the frustration can shift to how slowly they churn out vehicles.....
 

JEV

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
111
Reaction score
338
Location
East Central Illinois
Vehicles
R1T LE, 2016 Volvo S60
Occupation
Technical Support
I am going to rant a little here, sorry in advance if you are not a fan. This is not bashing Rivian I know they have their work cut out, more me seeking clarification in the process.

RANT: I have not been contacted by a guide, nor have many people, but I feel that my circumstance would lead me to have had a very early guide contact. I preordered my truck at the LA auto show in front of I believe Brian an engineer at Rivian. I am located in Southern California an hour away from the El Segundo service center and have launch green with mountain black and the A/T 20s configured. Furthermore, they have a huge presence here in my backyard. They are planning a service center in Costa Mesa, my neighboring city, and their office in Irvine is less than a 20 min drive with traffic. I feel like all the stars align except for the one star that pops up in my email when a VIP emails me ?. If anyone has any insight or wants to tell me this is not a forum for ranting, it's all appreciated. We are going on three years and I am more than patient, I understand the truck may not get to me in September, October, or maybe even November, but a guide contact would certainly ease some of my anxiety. This comes from excitement, not disdain.

As all of us could probably agree on, we just want to experience it. To @DuckTruck - Bruce you are one lucky guy, to everyone at the event I really appreciate your feedback it has helped ease the nerves a bit but has made me even more excited. To the RivianStories guys, thanks for covering it all!

The Rivian team has certainly stepped it up in the past month or so as far as transparency and communication which is much appreciated, but I am ready for you guys to take my money ?. I feel that with the more exposure the trucks are receiving the less concerned with guides we have been, forgetting I still need to meet them to experience the truck.

I continued ranting past my rant paragraph. I hope this makes sense or at least relates my current concern. Otherwise, I couldn't be more excited. Its starting to feel really real.
You are not the only one.

I placed a preorder for an R1T LE on 11-26-2018, the first day and I live in Illinois an hour from the factory service center. I have not heard from a guide yet. I contacted CS and got the same response as others (by Thanksgiving). I selected Launch Green, Forest Edge interior and 20" AT. I don't see how color selection should be a factor in who gets a guide contact, since it can be changed before confirming the order.

I'm excited with all the recent progress and really look forward to getting a chance at a test drive ! But, I'm confused as to how they determine the the guide contact timing.

By the way, I just signed up to post on this forum. I have been following it for a long time. I'm also a member on another forum, so I have been hesitant to sign up for another one.
 

crashmtb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2021
Threads
0
Messages
4,642
Reaction score
7,117
Location
Man oh Manitoba
Vehicles
2002 aluminium garden shed TD5
I’d be phoning Rivian. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
 

Sponsored

OP
OP
ajbrutman

ajbrutman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Threads
14
Messages
254
Reaction score
415
Location
california
Vehicles
LE R1T, GTI
Clubs
 

crashmtb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2021
Threads
0
Messages
4,642
Reaction score
7,117
Location
Man oh Manitoba
Vehicles
2002 aluminium garden shed TD5

SlaterGS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2019
Threads
8
Messages
588
Reaction score
1,052
Location
Ohio
Vehicles
R1S, Nissan Leaf, Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
Clubs
 
I’d be phoning Rivian. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I'd be curious to see a list of all of those that have been contacted by a guide, along with their order date, location, and how many times they have reached out to Rivian Customer service lol

My guess is the squeaky wheel pre-order holders get the contact and they have been both active on here and reaching out to Rivian.
 

Craigins

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2021
Threads
2
Messages
1,555
Reaction score
2,355
Location
Chicago Suburbs
Vehicles
Rivian R1T
Occupation
Software engineer
Clubs
 
You are not the only one.

I placed a preorder for an R1T LE on 11-26-2018, the first day and I live in Illinois an hour from the factory service center. I have not heard from a guide yet. I contacted CS and got the same response as others (by Thanksgiving). I selected Launch Green, Forest Edge interior and 20" AT. I don't see how color selection should be a factor in who gets a guide contact, since it can be changed before confirming the order.

I'm excited with all the recent progress and really look forward to getting a chance at a test drive ! But, I'm confused as to how they determine the the guide contact timing.

By the way, I just signed up to post on this forum. I have been following it for a long time. I'm also a member on another forum, so I have been hesitant to sign up for another one.
I don't think I've seen a guide contact reported for someone in Illinois. My guess would be they are waiting till the October court date for the lawsuit before moving forward with the IL folks. Sucks for us.
 

Kickaha

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jon
Joined
Dec 27, 2019
Threads
3
Messages
79
Reaction score
107
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
2016 Tesla Model X
The Rivian team has certainly stepped it up in the past month or so as far as transparency and communication which is much appreciated, but I am ready for you guys to take my money ?. I feel that with the more exposure the trucks are receiving the less concerned with guides we have been, forgetting I still need to meet them to experience the truck.
Here is my contribution to the rant - IMO, Rivian has completely dropped the ball here. I am a marketing professional so I understand keeping info confidential until its time to release it. But with shipments as soon as 60 days away, it is way past time to ramp up the marketing and promotion game.

One reason is that Rivian may be overwhelmed with the existing orders and dont want to generate any more interest or orders in order to keep from being buried even further.

However, that is no excuse for them to not contact existing reservation holders. This creates a disincentive / lack of confidence to convert the reservation to order. With 60-90 days until deliveries begin, the lack of contact is just not understandable. From a new product introduction perspective (I have introduced more than 25 new products over the last 30 years as a product manager in the computer and high tech industries) your initial buyers have an over-weighted impact on product acceptance. A good experience is product GOLD; a bad experience can severely retard product acceptance.

Will Rivian fail because they are lacking in these guide contacts? No, they will be successful. But it does open the door to moving their most influential "raving fans" to the competition because there are alternatives - the F-150 Lightning and the CyberTruck being the obvious ones but the Hummer is up there too. There are rumors that the order bank for the Lightning may open in October. I know friends who have both Rivian and Lightning reserverations and have gotten more personal, direct contact from Ford than Rivian who had a 2-year head start on Ford.

Here is what gets me - we know that Rivian monitors these forums and this has been a common complaint for the last six months. This is not a surprise.

It would be a simple exercise to send a batch email to all reservation holders once per month to give them a small update directly from Rivian. I do it all the time - its not rocket surgery!

Its great that they are picking some influencers (a very few) to give them updates but what about the rest of us? I dont have a blog, a youtube channel, or anything like that but I have put money down on a product I believe in.

I think we all would appreciate a little info direct from Rivian, even if its nothing more than "Hey, we are working on it." This close to delivery, I would expect this at least once per month.
 

Sponsored

SANZC02

Well-Known Member
First Name
Bob
Joined
Feb 11, 2021
Threads
29
Messages
5,258
Reaction score
8,860
Location
California
Vehicles
Tesla Model S, LE - R1S
Occupation
Retired
It would be a simple exercise to send a batch email to all reservation holders once per month to give them a small update directly from Rivian. I do it all the time - its not rocket surgery!
Do you mean like the 7/16 July update and the 8/21 August update from RJ?
 

godfodder0901

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jared
Joined
Mar 12, 2019
Threads
24
Messages
3,320
Reaction score
6,267
Location
Washington
Vehicles
2004 Honda Civic EX, 2022 Rivian R1T LE
I'd be curious to see a list of all of those that have been contacted by a guide, along with their order date, location, and how many times they have reached out to Rivian Customer service lol

My guess is the squeaky wheel pre-order holders get the contact and they have been both active on here and reaching out to Rivian.
There is a comprehensive list containing that information (minus the number of CS contacts) on this forum, but I can tell you that I only contacted CS a couple times (2-3?) before my Guide contacted me.
 

cohall

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Threads
56
Messages
1,295
Reaction score
4,458
Location
Denver
Vehicles
2022 Rivian R1T
I'm somewhere in the middle of the list for LE holders, so I'm not concerned that I haven't personally been contacted yet.

There are 2 things that I find concerning:
1) The relatively few guide outreaches that have occurred to date, and how few guide contacts are seemingly happening currently

2) Lack of details on things that don't require chips and guide contacts - specifically why we don't have hard dates and locations for test drives and experiences yet. This makes me think those activities are much further off than the September dates that have been proposed.

While the above are concerning to me, I remain hopeful that September is the month that everything changes and we start getting loads of good info and additional details.
 

Khaneric

Well-Known Member
First Name
Eric
Joined
Nov 11, 2020
Threads
16
Messages
422
Reaction score
1,121
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Vehicles
Rivian R1T, Plymouth Roadrunner
Occupation
IT
So I've been thinking about this for a bit and I have a theory.

My preorder was well after yours yet I was one of the first people contacted by my guide. Why?

I'm starting to think it has nothing to do with delivery of the trucks and it was more a random lottery of all pre order holders to have the guides interview for that tour and drive they did last month.

During my call I remember being asked lots of questions about how I was planning on using the truck, what I was looking forward to most of all, and other things that "fit" the tone of that video.

Since that initial call with my guide I've had very little additional contact. I've sent over a few questions and I've gotten answers back but I still have no details about a possible delivery date or ANYTHING else along those lines.

I have a feeling that preorder holders before me will get called confirming delivery and stuff WAY before I get a follow up call about it. But then again, who knows.
 

JEV

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
111
Reaction score
338
Location
East Central Illinois
Vehicles
R1T LE, 2016 Volvo S60
Occupation
Technical Support
I don't think I've seen a guide contact reported for someone in Illinois. My guess would be they are waiting till the October court date for the lawsuit before moving forward with the IL folks. Sucks for us.
You maybe right about the pending litigation with the Illinois Dealer Association. I contacted CS to ask if that would affect deliveries and they said that it would not. I hope it doesn't stop us from participation in the test drive events.
Sponsored

 
 




Top