Your Rivian Guide Experience- Meet Expectations or Less Than Stellar? (Knowledge, Helpful, Responsiveness?)

elihertz · Jan 27, 2023

Wondering about overall experience others have encountered with guides.

Our first left us underwhelmed and a tad concerned. Had our first guide call on their initative. Found that answers to two questions i posed during the call were simply incorrect. Guide's answers didn't match with what could be found on publically facing Rivian web site after the call, left me more confused than informed. Also our first attempt with post call contact was less than stellar. After first guide contact i called number we were given, went to voicemail which promised a call back "within one business day". Almost 4 business days later, no callback or response.

We're not close to delivery yet, so guessing they are focused on more short term needs which is fine, but didn't build confidence. Inaccurate information on first call and slow/ lack of responsiveness has me questioning and concerned about value add we can expect from guides.

Would love to hear experiences from others who have engaged with Guides. Also wondering if anyone has requested a change in guides mid process if perhaps the assigned guide needs more ramp up and training time? Thanks in advance for sharing!

R1S, Large Pack, 21 " Wheels, Ocean Coast with Dark Ash Wood, Red Canyon
Preorder date: 5/17/2020
First Guide Contact: 1/11/2023
Delivery Date: Unknown

Hankenstein · Jan 27, 2023

My guide has been very pleasant to talk to on the off chance I can get ahold of her. She seems to know nothing useful which I suspect is absolutely not her fault. I think I sent 7-8 texts and got a response to one.

I honestly don't know what the guides are for or I am bad at asking probing questions. There has been 0 value added beyond what I can get in canned emails. Not a bash on my guide, but a serious question about the guide program.

mabowden · Jan 27, 2023

My guide, Kareem, was awesome. Now, since I have been on the forums so much, I had very little questions and had reviewed the 8 steps process in detail. My only questions revolved around payment types, and one snafu due to the way our joint bank account is setup (bank would not let only me on the check which meant we had to redo the purchase agreement).

tgo10000 · Jan 27, 2023

My perception was that guides have too many customers and are overburdened(poor communications, etc), which shouldn’t be surprising. RS confirmed they are assigned more customers than what most people would guess.

That being said I’d rather depend on them for things only they can help me with and do my own research when I can. I really can’t think of any dealership experiences that were great and overall for me the Rivian experience was better without question.

Count Orlok · Jan 27, 2023

I was assigned a guide for my R1T... the same person I had for my R1S. My expectations are low so I can avoid being disappointed.

Sully151 · Jan 27, 2023

My first Guide was awesome. It was interesting that he really pushed me to not add the UBS on my S, was pretty available (would always text back same day), was generally just a good guy. He recently got a promotion. He says he still plans on being at my delivery because we have been talking for a year.

I don’t have a lot of contact with my new Guide. A couple of back and forth emails, but he seems ok. I’m about to text him some questions, so we will see…

JeffADK · Jan 30, 2023

My guide was/is KatyG, and she was/is fantastic. My delivery was during the quarter-end push at the end of September and I was impressed at the level of personal attention that she was able to provide despite the fact that they were deluged trying to push vehicles out. I requested delaying my delivery until the first week of October for personal reasons, and Katy graciously resolved that issue for me also in spite of the SC pushing for me to travel to Brooklyn to pick up in October. I still have occasional email interactions with her regarding my Rivian experiences.

I think some of my positive experience was due to scheduling calls with my guide using Rivian's Calendly app. I might have waited a day or two for a mutually available time slot, but I had 30 minutes of predictable undivided attention from Katy every time. My summary is that my guide provided a tremendous added value to the Rivian customer relationship and buying experience.

Donald Stanfield · Jan 30, 2023

I've had two guides now, both of them have been excellent. My first guide, Hilary, got promoted/moved to the insurance division and she was super responsive and helpful and generally pleasant. My new guide Adam is also great. I don't deal with him much anymore, and my truck is already here and working well, but any time I do reach out it has been a pretty good experience. I asked him about plates when that was still an issue and he solved it for me and I got my plates well within the temp tag expiration when that was still somewhat of an issue with Rivian and their third party.

JPC · Jan 30, 2023

I don't have a guide assigned, so this is a bit of a tangent. But several months ago the chat feature on the website was somewhat useful. I asked for a First Mile and clearly had a real person trying to help. Now all you can get is canned copy-paste answers that aren't even responsive. I just tried to ask some questions and I'm not even convinced it was a real person. Seemed more like bad AI with limited response-tree options.

CharonPDX · Jan 30, 2023

My Guide *NEVER* reached out to me proactively. Only ever responded to me after I initiated conversation, and usually more than a full business day later.

VHRivian · Jan 30, 2023

I have had contact with a couple of guides. My primary guide has been out on maternity leave for quite some time, but her backup has been very responsive. I don't reach out often, but when I do I receive helpful responses relatively quickly. I hope that continues as I get closer to delivery this spring.

zefram47 · Jan 30, 2023

Was assigned a guide several weeks ago and haven't heard a peep from them other than the form email saying they were my guide. That said, I haven't reached out to them yet either since I'm still in limbo waiting for a delivery estimate.

EVnewb · Jan 30, 2023

Our guide Cassidy was a nice POC for some info and a bit of information we weren’t privy to. Her initial responses weren’t always accurate or timely, but we gave her a lot of leeway because Rivian kinda left the front door open and they have been herding a ton of cats.

I think the guides are unnecessary, but glad we had a constant contact we could reach out to with questions or requests.

DTown3011 · Jan 30, 2023

Hankenstein said:
My guide has been very pleasant to talk to on the off chance I can get ahold of her. She seems to know nothing useful which I suspect is absolutely not her fault. I think I sent 7-8 texts and got a response to one.

I honestly don't know what the guides are for or I am bad at asking probing questions. There has been 0 value added beyond what I can get in canned emails. Not a bash on my guide, but a serious question about the guide program.

I agree that my guide has been extremely pleasant to talk to when we've actually talked live (once). In the beginning, I asked them what was the preferred method of contact and they said text. Since then, I have probably sent 10 different text messages with no reply. The only replies I get these days are via email. When I do get replies, they are always standard "stock" answers with no personality or insight. Company line type information. When I have gotten out-of-office replies, I have used [email protected] and have been MUCH more helpful. Just my experiene.

ORFynder · Jan 30, 2023

My guide Zach has been amazing! Took care of all my needs in a timely manner. Still stay in contact with him even after my R1T was delivered in June and consider him a friend. Have plans to hopefully meet up with him again when I am in SoCal

Your Rivian Guide Experience- Meet Expectations or Less Than Stellar? (Knowledge, Helpful, Responsiveness?)

Satisfaction level with assigned guide: Helpfulness, Knowledge, Responsivness

My guide has been stellar in every way.

My guide has been helpful, but fell somewhat short in several areas in knowledge or responsiveness

My guide has not met expectations, limited value added.

elihertz

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Hankenstein

Well-Known Member

mabowden

Well-Known Member

tgo10000

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Count Orlok

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Sully151

Well-Known Member

JeffADK

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Donald Stanfield

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JPC

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CharonPDX

Well-Known Member

VHRivian

Well-Known Member

zefram47

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EVnewb

Well-Known Member

DTown3011

Well-Known Member

ORFynder

Well-Known Member

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