Rivian R1T MAX PACK delivery update from customer service -- Q1 2023 Possible

[ja_kub_sz]

I am a little surprised at the negativity towards max pack holders who are upset. At the time of Launch Edition, Rivian was still saying max pack starting January 2022. That alone should be reason to have a little sympathy. Yes deliveries were starting to get delayed, but that should have been the case for everything.

What Rivian ended up doing is literally changing their delivery schedule after everyone's ordering window. Let's assume for a minute they aren't having issues developing the max pack. They promised January 2022 max pack deliveries when people had a choice to opt in to launch edition, or presumably at the same time the delivery windows were being prepped for even non launch edition holders.

Then they come out and decide they are going to voluntarily punt all max pack deliveries an entire year after they promised max pack holders would start delivery 3-4 months after all other deliveries. And as others are starting to reveal, your alternative option is to take a smaller battery by Q4 2022. So at least 9 months after you were initially promsied a vehicle.

I fail to see how people think all us max pack holders should just get over it and that we "knew the risk". What really happened is Rivian truly changed their delivery timeline on us after it was too late to consider our options. Really didn't even think we needed to consider other options. This isn't even an issue about Launch Edition either to me. Non launch editions are going to be delievered well before max packs and as far as I can tell, if I switch to a non launch edition 135kwh battery, I'm going to take delivery well behind other non launch edition deposit holders who placed deposits a year or more after me because their window has now already been set too.

What they should have done is contacted max pack holders first before announcing any delivery windows and asked if you wanted to switch in order to get it in 2022 and then sent out delivery windows. That way 2018/19 reservation holders would have gotten probably early 2022 delivery slots alongside launch editions.

Or am I missing something?

You just hit the nail on the head.

Well said!

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[State11]

I am a little surprised at the negativity towards max pack holders who are upset. At the time of Launch Edition, Rivian was still saying max pack starting January 2022. That alone should be reason to have a little sympathy. Yes deliveries were starting to get delayed, but that should have been the case for everything.

What Rivian ended up doing is literally changing their delivery schedule after everyone's ordering window. Let's assume for a minute they aren't having issues developing the max pack. They promised January 2022 max pack deliveries when people had a choice to opt in to launch edition, or presumably at the same time the delivery windows were being prepped for even non launch edition holders.

Then they come out and decide they are going to voluntarily punt all max pack deliveries an entire year after they promised max pack holders would start delivery 3-4 months after all other deliveries. And as others are starting to reveal, your alternative option is to take a smaller battery by Q4 2022. So at least 9 months after you were initially promsied a vehicle.

I fail to see how people think all us max pack holders should just get over it and that we "knew the risk". What really happened is Rivian truly changed their delivery timeline on us after it was too late to consider our options. Really didn't even think we needed to consider other options. This isn't even an issue about Launch Edition either to me. Non launch editions are going to be delievered well before max packs and as far as I can tell, if I switch to a non launch edition 135kwh battery, I'm going to take delivery well behind other non launch edition deposit holders who placed deposits a year or more after me because their window has now already been set too.

What they should have done is contacted max pack holders first before announcing any delivery windows and asked if you wanted to switch in order to get it in 2022 and then sent out delivery windows. That way 2018/19 reservation holders would have gotten probably early 2022 delivery slots alongside launch editions.

Or am I missing something?

I agree. I completely get that Rivian can't/shouldn't bump a launch order for us max pack people. What I find completely wrong is the notion that if I change to the large pack/adventure that I could be slotted behind someone with the same config who put their $1000 down 2 years after me. If there is the same config, in the same area, the queue should be solely determined by the order in which deposits were made.

 

[SEARivian]

You just hit the nail on the head.

Well said!

I should add that until they reveal they are having troubles with developing the max pack, all we know right now is they chose to change timelines arbitrarily which can't be chalked up to manufacturing delays or teething issues. So you cant' blame it on the risk of dealing with new manufacturers there. If they would come out and say there is a production issue then I would get it. I picked a configuration that now can't actually be delivered.

But until then, they chose to change the timeline on their own after the fact which is what feels like a bait and switch.

 

[harkco]

You just hit the nail on the head.

Well said!

I certainly feel for you Max Pack guys - I was planning on switching as well, but decided to wait until I spoke to a guide when it was time to finalize my order. I think the only thing we can all agree on at this point, is that no delivery timeline of anything is a guarantee at the moment. We are facing potato shortages for the love of God!

 

[MountainBikeDude]

I should add that until they reveal they are having troubles with developing the max pack, all we know right now is they chose to change timelines arbitrarily which can't be chalked up to manufacturing delays or teething issues. So you cant' blame it on the risk of dealing with new manufacturers there. If they would come out and say there is a production issue then I would get it. I picked a configuration that now can't actually be delivered.

But until then, they chose to change the timeline on their own after the fact which is what feels like a bait and switch.

It does feel as you said, like a bait and switch. As I posted a while ago, the email we got back when was that 135 and 180 would be produced first with the smaller 105 packs to follow. Then come configurator day, we got as you said, LE standard range, with Adventure max packs following 3 months later.

We'll get the vehicles in the end, but it is as we have all pointed out, frustrating and a little disingenuous to kick people down the line that were, for what it's worth, a foundation for the capital Rivian has received over its funding rounds early on.

It should also be noted that while the 20% figure put out there was a to-date tally of max pack holders, that number only accounts for the configurable R1T ones. Any current order for a R1S at this point could easily change to a "max pack" version once that button is available to click. Slightly curious how those order holders currently feel, as their option isn't even on the table yet, nor is the timetable for it.

 

[ja_kub_sz]

Hearing more and more people's interactions with CS regarding their orders.

I'm beginning to feel like I was promised more Rivian CS fairy dust and won't be able to get a large pack R1T by end of Q2 2022.

We'll see, they said they'd let me know more in two weeks.

 

[SEARivian]

Hearing more and more people's interactions with CS regarding their orders.

I'm beginning to feel like I was promised more Rivian CS fairy dust and won't be able to get a large pack R1T by end of Q2 2022.

We'll see, they said they'd let me know more in two weeks.

Are they still saying basically Q4? Or has someone given you a sense that it "could" be Q2?

 

[SACDFJC]

Are they still saying basically Q4? Or has someone given you a sense that it "could" be Q2?

They only told me it would be delivered in 2022 if I changed to a Large Pack ... they wouldn't constrain to a tighter date range until after Jan 31 when they had all the Max to Large changes accounted for and then could run the demand planning models in order to figure out potential date ranges for delivery.

 

[SEARivian]

They only told me it would be delivered in 2022 if I changed to a Large Pack ... they wouldn't constrain to a tighter date range until after Jan 31 when they had all the Max to Large changes accounted for and then could run the demand planning models in order to figure out potential date ranges for delivery.

That is silly. The least they can do at this point is be more specific.

 

[Temerarius]

That is silly. The least they can do at this point is be more specific.

How?

If 99% of Max pack orders move to Large, they would have to figure out where you are dropped into on the build schedule. I'd expect them to get more precise once they have all the data... People have until Jan 31... that's 20 more days for folks to make changes.

Setting expectations with bad data = pissed customers

 

[Craigins]

That is silly. The least they can do at this point is be more specific.

How are they supposed to be more specific without running the production schedule??????

Lesson here for people, if getting the vehicle quickly was high on your values priority, and you could have selected launch edition (did not require the max pack range), the logical thing would have been to select launch edition, knowing you could change to max pack in the future without any issues.

I do agree that they should have contacted maxpack/explorer early preorder holders before running rhe production schedule for the 12/28 emails.

 

[SEARivian]

How?

If 99% of Max pack orders move to Large, they would have to figure out where you are dropped into on the build schedule. I'd expect them to get more precise once they have all the data... People have until Jan 31... that's 20 more days for folks to make changes.

Setting expectations with bad data = pissed customers

You literally can't give a potential window? "Earliest delivery would be XYZ date and latest potential delivery would be XYZ date depending on how many switch." Right now you're just shooting in the dark on when it would come. If they tell me April then I'd probably say yes. If they say December then I would wait for max pack. It's a really big deal.

 

[Craigins]

You literally can't give a potential window? "Earliest delivery would be XYZ date and latest potential delivery would be XYZ date depending on how many switch." Right now you're just shooting in the dark on when it would come. If they tell me April then I'd probably say yes. If they say December then I would wait for max pack. It's a really big deal.

They get that window from running the production schedule... Which they said they'd do at the end of the month.

Your question should be, why can't they run the production schedule nightly.

My guess is it is not automated at this point and requires people to offer SWAGs involving cancellation % and production ramp up progress.

Once again, why they can't use previous estimates and just reprocess the orders, I have no idea.

But that isn't a CS task.

 

[SEARivian]

They get that window from running the production schedule... Which they said they'd do at the end of the month.

Your question should be, why can't they run the production schedule nightly.

My guess is it is not automated at this point and requires people to offer SWAGs involving cancellation % and production ramp up progress.

Once again, why they can't use previous estimates and just reprocess the orders, I have no idea.

But that isn't a CS task.

You're just asking people to make a big decision on switching without having any information about when it might be coming and how advantageous it would be to switch from a timing standpoint. I don't understand why that is such an unreasonable expectation to ask of them. If they were planning doing this all along, then a smart manufacturer would have been holding production spots and if nobody takes them, then everyone else wins because all the dominoes fall upstream and everyone gets their vehicle a month sooner.

They presumably want to do this to placate early deposit holders, but giving them not even a decent estimate of when one might get it and asking them to commit is a bit strange. It just adds more confusion to an already confusing situation.

Boeing and Airbus for instance hold plenty of unassigned delivery slots because they know their more valuable customers might place orders later than when they set their final schedules. So they hold stuff back just in case. I think Rivian fumbled the ball for their earliest supporters by not doing the same and being able to give clearer answers. A clearer answer is anything other than "sometime in 2022" when you've already told everyone else what their timeline will be.

 

[Craigins]

You're just asking people to make a big decision on switching without having any information about when it might be coming and how advantageous it would be to switch from a timing standpoint. I don't understand why that is such an unreasonable expectation to ask of them. If they were planning doing this all along, then a smart manufacturer would have been holding production spots and if nobody takes them, then everyone else wins because all the dominoes fall upstream and everyone gets their vehicle a month sooner.

They presumably want to do this to placate early deposit holders, but giving them not even a decent estimate of when one might get it and asking them to commit is a bit strange. It just adds more confusion to an already confusing situation.

Boeing and Airbus for instance hold plenty of unassigned delivery slots because they know their more valuable customers might place orders later than when they set their final schedules. So they hold stuff back just in case. I think Rivian fumbled the ball for their earliest supporters by not doing the same and being able to give clearer answers. A clearer answer is anything other than "sometime in 2022" when you've already told everyone else what their timeline will be.

So when theres 1 slot left and 2 CS people tell preorder holders that it is there slot, do you want to be the one that gets bounced back?

They don't seem to have a robust order system or a production scheduler set up. They are a startup essentially, so doing things on the back of an envelope is expected.

If you are expecting Rivian to be as organized as a Boring or Airbus, you should just cancel and walk away now.

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