1 Area Rivian Can Immediately Improve
Rivian has been a breakout success in the automotive industry. While Tesla focuses on the same segment of the automotive marketplace, Rivian took it a step further by dialing in and delivering only heavy-duty EVs. Rivian has had great success with its R1T pickup truck, which was named MotorTrend Truck of the Year. It also had a good amount of sales for the R1S full-sized SUV. The company’s tech is even used on a wide scale by Amazon, which entered into a partnership with Rivian to produce their fleet of all-electric delivery vans, or EDVs. Despite the success we’ve seen, there’s been one major issue at play: deficient customer service.
Does Rivian have a customer service problem?
According to the Rivian Owners Forum, Rivian has a major customer service issue. Of course, every driver on the road today probably has at least one complaint about their vehicle, but Rivian’s service issues seem natively bad. Some customers have experienced multiple failed deliveries of their trucks. Others are experiencing delivery delays after they’ve already put over $100,000 down on their trucks.
Other customers can be found on Reddit airing their grievances about their early ownership experience. People are reporting that their truck has issues upon delivery. Inoperable air conditioning alongside a lackluster response from the customer service team was one.
Rivian’s customer service woes are especially tough to swallow because these vehicles are so expensive. According to Rivian, its R1T pickup truck starts at $73,000, which puts this vehicle in the same class financially as some of the highest-priced vehicles in the industry.
These aren’t luxury vehicles, but for the price, people expect good customer service, and rightfully so. These customers could get better customer service at any major luxury brand in the US, and they would probably be paying less for their vehicles.
Growing pains are part of the process
When it comes down to it, Rivian is a new company. They’ve only just recently put their vehicles on the road and are a hyper-specialized company. With this niche business model, they’re going to have some growing pains. Oddly enough, you’d expect customer service to be one of the best aspects of this fledgling company. Sadly, it seems like it still has some ways to go when it comes to delivering customer service.
The hope is that Rivian’s customer service will optimize as the company grows, and it will continue to push the EV envelope. We think the best is yet to come.
