Service Process Needs A LOT Of Work

[Shzeph]

Quick summary for those who didn't see my other thread: About two weeks ago, I got a big rock chip in my windshield which very rapidly transformed into a large crack that went from the impact point all the way to the top of the windshield. I was initially quoted a service appointment nearly 4 weeks out, and after numerous calls to the main service center thing, I was finally moved up and got my windshield replaced last Monday

Now, for the main rant/story/whatever.

I picked up the truck on Tuesday. Windshield was replaced, ADAS calibrations were done (or so I thought), and I was happy. Cut to this rainy Seattle morning, when I went downtown to drop off a friend and noticed that my wipers weren't wiping. I double-checked that they were in Auto mode; they were. They just weren't responding to the rain. So, seeing as how I had just picked up the truck two days ago, I immediately went to the service center to be like "Hey, can you take a look at this"

Get there, go inside, and an employee (the same one who was there when I picked up the truck) is sitting on the couch on his laptop. I start to explain what's going on and he just cuts me off, asks if I have an appointment, to which I respond "No, but you guys just replaced the windshield two days ago, so I thought...."

At that point, he just shrugged and said (paraphrasing) "Without an appointment or work order we can't help you. We're booked out till the end of September, so put in a ticket and we'll deal with it then." He wouldn't even get off the couch to look at my truck.

On top of being totally dismissive of me, it was also just kind of....a dick move? Because I had taken in a truck with a broken windshield and functioning auto-wipers, and left with a fixed windshield but broken auto-wipers. Clearly they either broke something or didn't complete the calibration. And while I understand that the service center is busy, this was a screw-up on their part. I didn't think it was unreasonable to expect them to actually do the work I was paying them for, or to be willing to at least look at the issue.

Long story short, after a few calls to the central service call center, I now have a mobile service appointment for next Friday. But I am thoroughly disappointed in Rivian service at this point. It shouldn't take me working my way through like five people to get an appointment for them to fix their own screw up (that isn't a WHOLE MONTH away)

Am I being like, entirely unreasonable, or is this pretty shitty of them?

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[COdogman]

No you are not being unreasonable. Just from a customer service perspective, it’s almost never convenient to fix a mistake or incomplete job, but you just have to do it. Especially since your truck had JUST been there. I could even accept it if you stopped by and for some reason there was no one there to look at it in that moment, but they were apologetic and said they would get you set up with a mobile appointment ASAP. That guy you spoke with is in the wrong business.

 

[DJG]

Quick summary for those who didn't see my other thread: About two weeks ago, I got a big rock chip in my windshield which very rapidly transformed into a large crack that went from the impact point all the way to the top of the windshield. I was initially quoted a service appointment nearly 4 weeks out, and after numerous calls to the main service center thing, I was finally moved up and got my windshield replaced last Monday

Now, for the main rant/story/whatever.

I picked up the truck on Tuesday. Windshield was replaced, ADAS calibrations were done (or so I thought), and I was happy. Cut to this rainy Seattle morning, when I went downtown to drop off a friend and noticed that my wipers weren't wiping. I double-checked that they were in Auto mode; they were. They just weren't responding to the rain. So, seeing as how I had just picked up the truck two days ago, I immediately went to the service center to be like "Hey, can you take a look at this"

Get there, go inside, and an employee (the same one who was there when I picked up the truck) is sitting on the couch on his laptop. I start to explain what's going on and he just cuts me off, asks if I have an appointment, to which I respond "No, but you guys just replaced the windshield two days ago, so I thought...."

At that point, he just shrugged and said (paraphrasing) "Without an appointment or work order we can't help you. We're booked out till the end of September, so put in a ticket and we'll deal with it then." He wouldn't even get off the couch to look at my truck.

On top of being totally dismissive of me, it was also just kind of....a dick move? Because I had taken in a truck with a broken windshield and functioning auto-wipers, and left with a fixed windshield but broken auto-wipers. Clearly they either broke something or didn't complete the calibration. And while I understand that the service center is busy, this was a screw-up on their part. I didn't think it was unreasonable to expect them to actually do the work I was paying them for, or to be willing to at least look at the issue.

Long story short, after a few calls to the central service call center, I now have a mobile service appointment for next Friday. But I am thoroughly disappointed in Rivian service at this point. It shouldn't take me working my way through like five people to get an appointment for them to fix their own screw up (that isn't a WHOLE MONTH away)

Am I being like, entirely unreasonable, or is this pretty shitty of them?

Well it was definitely shitty, but I think the correct characterization isn't them/Rivian, but that one individual. It seemed like following up with central Service got you a mobile service quickly? I would have mentioned the poor experience with that individual to Service HQ to do with that they saw fit though.

 

[Shzeph]

Well it was definitely shitty, but I think the correct characterization isn't them/Rivian, but that one individual. It seemed like following up with central Service got you a mobile service quickly? I would have mentioned the poor experience with that individual to Service HQ to do with that they saw fit though.

You’re probably right, but coupled with other stories about service stuff I’ve seen on here, there seems to be underlying issues with the way the service process is structured.

But I did indeed mention the poor service experience to all three of the people at Service HQ that I spoke to today

 

[ORFynder]

I took my R1T to the PDX service center this week and although they didn't finish all my open tickets, they were great to deal and very communicative thru the process. I knew coming in, being an early adopter, the service center are probably still working through some items/processes, but i'm more than happy to deal with that. Im sorry you didn't have a great experience, but wanted to let people know the PDX team were great the way they treated me and my R1T

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

If they just worked on his truck and all seemed well, it is absolutely reasonable to just pop in and see if they can resolve it. Any repair facility would do that.......he should have talked to the GM and had a 15 minute quick look at it...IMO....

 

[Prime]

I should say I don’t think this is strictly a Rivian problem. Tesla has had similar issues with repairs (or lack there of). Everything is through their app, if I were to show up there I would be turned away. It’s not the greatest system because there’s no direct line of communication, which at least Rivian seems to have. But I can tell you I’ve had to go in 3x times for the same issue and had to schedule it each and every time with Tesla. Since Rivian seems to have taken a lot of pages and even personnel out of Tesla (for better or for worse) maybe that’s where the problem lies. I hope the service issues improve though.

 

[R1Tom]

Well it was definitely shitty, but I think the correct characterization isn't them/Rivian, but that one individual. It seemed like following up with central Service got you a mobile service quickly? I would have mentioned the poor experience with that individual to Service HQ to do with that they saw fit though.

Individuals represent companies. Bad apples need to be removed immediately. Whoever that was, I hope has been relieved of their employment. Sounds like somebody who came with Big 3 service experience under their belt....

 

[Joneholland]

I had a similar experience at the same SC. The advisor Micheal is apologetic and communicative but the rest of the staff was rude.

Their unwillingness to fix things on the truck has me seriously contemplating selling it.

 

[rhumbliner]

I took my R1T to the PDX service center this week and although they didn't finish all my open tickets, they were great to deal and very communicative thru the process. I knew coming in, being an early adopter, the service center are probably still working through some items/processes, but i'm more than happy to deal with that. Im sorry you didn't have a great experience, but wanted to let people know the PDX team were great the way they treated me and my R1T

This is good to hear. I’m also in Bend and suffered a small rock chip a few weeks ago. The first 2 shops I called said Rivian wasn’t in their computer so they couldn’t work on it. The 3rd said they’d give it a try and I made an appt. In the meantime I contacted Rivian and they said they could only replace the windshield and replacement would cost $1800. Plus, I’d have to bring the truck to the Portland service center. Ugh. Fortunately my glass shop patched the chip and it’s been stable ever since. Fingers crossed.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

I think it's very likely that the "customer service" people who worked at the service centers got shwacked and you now have technicians who are forced into being customer facing and aren't thrilled about it.

 

[Governor]

I love how OP asks the question he already know the answer to..."is lazy ass on sofa a Richard?" (paraphrased)

 

[elektrode]

My main Service Advisor did initially contact me back after the repair to Driver+ they performed did not work (I could not observe that anything was done). But then he never followed up the following Monday like he said he would. Nor Tuesday.

I was forced to manually walk through the opaque anonymous chain of calling SAs and re-explaining everything just to get it sent back.

SCs need to OWN the work. Period.

Started educating myself on lemon laws just to be informed.

 

[R1Tom]

Another thing struck me about this service center individual and the attitude. I would think at least some percentage of people with service needs are still at least sometimes affiliated with Rivian and the potential somebody who walks thru the door potentially having an impact on that individuals career, would be enough for reasonable effort, at least for now?

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