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TFL snubbed by Rivian: video

BigE

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Hate to beat a dead horse, but I was watching Inside EV's (27k subscribers) and they noted that Tom M. (Tom by the way is a Chef) is at the Rivian Breckenridge event and how TFL had put out a video on how they were not invited. TFL Truck (Andre at TFL is an Engineer) has 922K subscribers and over a Million on all their channels. Kyle said that he felt TFL made some "Amazing Points" about the issue TFL has with Rivian. Many on here should heed Kyle's sentiment, yes, MT did the TAT with Rivian. We don't know MT's relationship with Rivian and thus this is why we need other outlets' perspectives. Apologies in advance if this upsets any Fanboys.
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paariv

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I should stop responding at this point (earlier autocorrected to “pony” which makes sense given this dead horse) but a few final words from someone who doesn’t consider himself a Rivian “fanboy” but sure has learned to hate TFL from this (look, I’m being up front about my bias!).

1) This is about one single embargoed event only. TFL hasn’t been banned by Rivian or told they’ll never get a truck. They just didn’t get an invite to one capacity-limited event.

Their reaction to this minor “slight” is wildly disproportionate to what happened and makes them seem both unprofessional and biased.

2) TFL shouldnt have expected an invite to this specific event in particular. They do not respect embargoes (and were banned from some Ford event from it!), and publicly revel in breaking them. And this one’s embargoed. Why should Rivian trust them to respect the rules of this event?

I don’t like embargoes either! But they are pretty normal and don’t indicate anything nefarious. And if you won’t abide by them you really shouldn’t be surprised when this has consequences.

There are lots of other outlets who’ll be releasing coverage soon. I’m excited to see all of it and learn if MT had a reasonable reaction or if they got out the knee pads in exchange for an early exclusive. TFL’s absence from this mix of coverage doesn’t bother me given that it sounds sufficiently broad for a first event.

alright. Gotta put this thread on ignore and get outside!
 

Coast2Coast

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Rivian and any company for that matter get to decide who is invited to company events, and this is a relatively small, first time, invitation only event. Rivian decides where to hold it, who is invited, and what invitees get to do with the Rivian trucks. All of this is completely normal and appropriate.

We don't know if TFL was in the running to be invited. We do know they and scores of others were not invited to this first event, but that doesn't mean they won't get a shot in the future.

But, if I were Rivian, I wouldn't invite TFL to future launch events. They are acting like entitled whiners, like they should be able to jump the line because they're the self-proclaimed best. No other reviewers of trucks, EVs and new automobiles have taken to the airwaves to complain. Wait your turn like everyone else. Rivian gets to decide who reviews their trucks.
 
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Tatnai

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alright. Gotta put this thread on ignore and get outside!
I agree the pony/horse is past dead, it is in the frozen leftover french soup at this point.

The post from @BigE about Kyle is the first new info we've had in here in many pages. That said, I come to the same conclusion as before. A media outlet running an opinion piece complaining about being snubbed doesn't endear them to me or increase my confidence in their level of professionalism. Hearing about their broken embargoes in the past solidifies that. It is one thing to drop an opinion piece about an endemic issue affecting the car review industry at large, it is another to just whine about yourself. TFL has not been barred from reviewing Rivians in the future, they can do so just like anyone else, but it is Rivian's prerogative who they invite to these smaller events and who gets loaner review vehicles and when, and what metrics they use to pick who does. Anyone not on that list can borrow or buy one when they can and do the same, and if that one media outlet is what some people need to make a decision, they can certainly choose to wait for that. We will get plenty of upcoming reviews to gauge how good this vehicle is before buying it and compare to the MT exclusive review.

That's my thread summary. Back to trying to decide between Midnight and Forest Green...
 

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paariv

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For everyone that criticized TFL for complaining about not being invited or that only "legitimate" media outlets were there. You were wrong. There are some rando YTers that got invited, so TFL could just as easily have been there, especially since they are in the area where these vehicles were made available.
I was right to criticize them for throwing a fit. Yes, they could have been invited. But they weren't and aren't entitled to anything. And the broad cross-section of reviewers means we got plenty of perspectives. Theirs wasn't crucial.

Their entitled whining is ESPECIALLY galling in light of their history. This was an embargoed event, and they proudly break embargoes and then whine about the consequences (Ford). If you break the rules as they do, you need to own the consequences. They don't.

And finally, this was a single event. They're not banned forever from getting a review vehicle, they just didn't get first access. Boo f-ing hoo.
 

sevengroove

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Does anyone know how I can stop this thread from showing up under "latest posts"? I've already clicked "ignore" up top but that doesn't seem to be doing anything.
 

Sdvictor

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And finally, this was a single event. They're not banned forever from getting a review vehicle, they just didn't get first access. Boo f-ing hoo.
In the end, it's about video clicks and monetization. They wanted to be able to post a video at the same time the others have to ride the frothy review buzz.
 

paariv

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Does anyone know how I can stop this thread from showing up under "latest posts"? I've already clicked "ignore" up top but that doesn't seem to be doing anything.
Me too. Jumped back in even though I tried to disable alerts. I even see "unignore" at the top of the page, but no "actually, really ignore I mean it this time" button.

Have unchecked "watch this thread" below this input box; if I disappear, we'll know it worked.
 

Diddy123

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Now that I see how many reviewers got invited, I can see why TFL was surprised they didn't make the list or even get a reply.

That said, their whiny video was in very poor taste, and did not improve my opinion of them. (and I really like the TFL guys generally)
 

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Tatnai

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Me too. Jumped back in even though I tried to disable alerts. I even see "unignore" at the top of the page, but no "actually, really ignore I mean it this time" button.

Have unchecked "watch this thread" below this input box; if I disappear, we'll know it worked.
It will disappear when everyone stops replying to it....
 

Pherdnut

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Now that I see how many reviewers got invited, I can see why TFL was surprised they didn't make the list or even get a reply.

That said, their whiny video was in very poor taste, and did not improve my opinion of them. (and I really like the TFL guys generally)
IMO, you don't get left off of a list like that with their numbers unless somebody's decided you may have bias against your product. At the gaming mag I worked at in the late '90s, we'd write mean reviews all the time. Sometimes we went a little overboard and strayed into bashing the company itself for having a history of mediocrity or we legit disliked something that a lot of other mags were a little too nice about, which made us look biased. That's when people would stop sending review copies sometimes.
 

dleewla

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I was right to criticize them for throwing a fit. Yes, they could have been invited. But they weren't and aren't entitled to anything. And the broad cross-section of reviewers means we got plenty of perspectives. Theirs wasn't crucial.

Their entitled whining is ESPECIALLY galling in light of their history. This was an embargoed event, and they proudly break embargoes and then whine about the consequences (Ford). If you break the rules as they do, you need to own the consequences. They don't.

And finally, this was a single event. They're not banned forever from getting a review vehicle, they just didn't get first access. Boo f-ing hoo.
Calm down bro. Why you so angry?
 

RivianXpress

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Gimme a break! I used to like these guys but this Rivian crap is making me drop them. Stop pouting is right - you just want more clicks in this world that thrives on conflict.

The damn trucks aren't ready for the full test that you run at this point - you guys break embargo and just wait your damn turn!
 

Sgt Beavis

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TFL just released a 2nd video on the subject.



EDIT: Nothing really new here. Feel free to skip it.
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