[edster]

Ordered in Oct '21
Got confirm config email 8/30
Got checklist email 8/31

I started going through the checklist process. Emailed guide, who was not "Assigned" as far as I can tell. I'm assuming person is my guide because the email address starts with "guide", but there was not anything that said "I'm your guide".

Anyway, since I'm looking at outside financing I asked questions about that, for which I was told finance and insurance steps could wait until later. All fine and good. I guess they are my guide.

Heard nothing since then until 9/7, with message saying my gear is on the way. This particular gear being my home charger. Which is great and I already set up a time with my electrician to install it this Friday (9/15). True to tracking, charger was delivered today (9/12)

What I find odd is, I have not heard anything additional except the gear shipment notice since 8/31. I'm not sure if we are truly under contract, so I thought it odd that they sent it. I suppose they have my 1k deposit so they have something in consideration for the charger. Not sure what happens if the truck is delivered with some issue that would cause me not to take delivery.

According to the email with my "guide" that I exchanged, they try to send the charger "At least 5 days prior to taking delivery", which is great way to handle it if all goes according to plan. I would think they would be calling to plan a delivery sometime next week, or even this week. I guess I'll send another email to see if I can get some clarity.

Is this consistent with the delivery experience of others?

 

[atebit]

If you go into the Rivian app, click on the person-looking icon & click “Ask us anything”, does a screen appear revealing your guide?

Did you e-sign the Pre-Buyer Agreement yet? Do you have a VIN? You have 7 days/1000 mikes to try out the truck & get a refund if you don’t like it. But unless the delivery process has changed, YOU won’t be able to drive it until you e-sign the transaction on the delivery specialist’s pad.

 

[edster]

If you go into the Rivian app, click on the person-looking icon & click “Ask us anything”, does a screen appear revealing your guide?

thanks, I see there that my guide is assigned. Appreciate the tip. It would be nice if the email actually said something to the effect of “I’ll be your guide through this process”

 

[atebit]

If you’re familiar with “Hurry up and wait”, in the Rivian world it’s “Wait and hurry up”.

 

[AmerikanMatt]

I’d like to say I’m in a similar position, but ALL of my steps are 100% complete - including full payment (they have all $92k in cash and have had it for over a week now), full coverage insurance and registration……. However I have no idea if a truck with my VIN number even exists yet. I have absolutely zero indication of when to expect my truck. The “schedule delivery” button is still greyed out in my step 8/8.

I went ahead and had the charger installed a week ago, thinking delivery was eminent, and I have two private-party offers on my current vehicle but I can’t sell it because I literally don’t know if I’ll be without a car for a day, or a month, or a year.

Super frustrating to have my money collecting interest for Rivian and not being able to handle my personal business like selling my car because I have no idea where my truck is. They shouldn’t accept payment until they’re ready to deliver.

I guess I’ll just keep checking my app every 20 minutes. Lol.

 

[atebit]

Call your Guide.

 

[edster]

I have no idea if a truck with my VIN number even exists yet.
I went ahead and had the charger installed a week ago, thinking delivery was eminent, and I have two private-party offers on my current vehicle but I can’t sell it because I literally don’t know if I’ll be without a car for a day, or a month, or a year.

sorry to hear about your troubles. Oddly enough I do have a VIN and I was basically told the finance and insurance could wait until closer to delivery. Very inconsistent messaging. Why would they take your money.

and I was sitting here thinking that receiving the charger was a positive sign. Thanks for your story

 

[atebit]

Gear Shop items are fulfilled without regard to vehicle delivery timeframes. Witness all of us that are still waiting for their (now all-black colorway) all-weather floormats.
I would say that given their track record, shipping out the EVSE in advance of the vehicle shows unprecedented forethought on their behalf.

 

[AmerikanMatt]

Call your Guide.
View attachment 8049

UPDATE:

I called my guide....... My guess is that I would have had more luck bashing my head into an extremely hard object for 10 minutes and allowing myself to slip peacefully into a self-induced coma......

To be fair, this is a Rivian problem and NOT a guide problem. My guide - Angelique - is as nice as can be...... and is trying desperately to provide great customer service in the face of impossible questions like:

"Do you really think it's fair or reasonable that you have $90K of my money and that I am saddled with insurance premiums and payments against my auto loan due and accruing, and you can't even tell me whether my vehicle is 1 day out or 60-days out?"

I asked her politely to contact the "delivery team" to inquire about WHERE my truck physically is (Phoenix AZ is much different than Bethesda Maryland for example) and maybe with that information we could reasonably make some assumptions...... she told me "I'm sorry but I can't contact them. That's not how the process works. I have to wait for them to contact me, but they may just call you direct, so if they contact you first, please let me know".

So essentially, I know as much or more about the whereabouts of my vehicle than my Guide does. Again, this is a Rivian internal communication issue...... so for those of you about to start "THE PROCESS", just be patient. It's kind of a rocky, frustrating road......... with blind turns at every corner and really no indication of where you're headed or how long the journey is....... buckle up.......

(Heaven forbid you have a trade-in as part of your payment process..... at least I'm selling my vehicle private party so I'm not walking for a month.... ).

I know it'll be worth it though.... I'll keep everyone posted on how my situation turns out.

Oh these 1st-World problems......

 

[AmerikanMatt]

My guide called back just now. My guess is that despite my attempts to hide it, she sensed my frustration.

She called to tell me that she called the delivery team they told her "For SURE by the end of the month, you'll have your vehicle".

That's great news. As I said, my guide was never the problem. Angelique is really great.

As G.I. Joe used to say when I was a kid:

"........and knowing is half the battle.........."

 

[scottsanders250]

My guide called back just now. My guess is that despite my attempts to hide it, she sensed my frustration.

She called to tell me that she called the delivery team they told her "For SURE by the end of the month, you'll have your vehicle".

That's great news. As I said, my guide was never the problem. Angelique is really great.

As G.I. Joe used to say when I was a kid:

"........and knowing is half the battle.........."

I hear you, @AmerikanMatt , I've had a round about journey too. We picked an R1T out of the Shop on 24 Aug with a 9000 VIN. Prior to that, I'd confirmed a configuration with my guide and requested a factory pickup since I'm in Chicago. After we clicked yes to the Shop truck, I got on the phone with the Rivian insurance guy the next day who was able to tell me the truck was still at the factory and not at my local service center. I had a call with my guide a few days later to confirm a factory pickup and she said the truck was already on its way to Chicago. I've been to the Chicago service center a dozen times looking for the truck since 26 August and have a few calls and emails from my guide saying that its on the way.
Fast forward to last night when I get an email to schedule delivery and a factory pickup is an option. I go through all of the steps to confirm it and unless there is another Rivian glitch, we'll be picking up in Normal on Saturday. It'll be just my luck that I get down to Normal and they tell me the truck is actually in Chicago (or even better, on the way down Saturday, I pass a car carrier going to Chicago with a bunch of similar looking R1Ts!).
Regarding the insurance and financing, I waited until today, the day after deliver was scheduled, to pull the trigger on the bank sending funds and the insurance kicking it. I know the horse is out of the barn for you, but for others reading this, I'd recommend doing everything up to the final signatures and then waiting for Rivian to say the truck is ready for delivery before pulling the final triggers.

 

[Wookie5]

I'm not quite in the same boat, but close. I've finished everything but payment as my guide (Erik) said to wait until delivery before sending money or turning on insurance. I completed everything on 8/31 and drive by the Phoenix Service Center daily (I'm less than 10 miles away) looking for my truck. I'm trying to be patient and understand the guide only has limited information. I'd rather they take an extra day or two and make sure everything is great before I take delivery.

That said, the Phoenix SC is BUSY. There are at least 20 vehicles on the lot - a mix of R1T and R1S. There was a truck unloading another 5 or 6 today. None were Forest Green so I'm still waiting 😁.

I'm super excited, but want to give everyone time for the process to complete. I've already got one vehicle that was built on Friday afternoon (Lemon Law buyback in progress) and really don't want another one.

It's difficult, but be patient. There isn't the same level of tracking that you get with Amazon. It will get there.

 

[AmerikanMatt]

Looks like the takeaway from this thread is, don't pay for or insure the truck until you have a definite delivery date. I was told that doing these steps ahead of time would speed things up, but that has not been my experience.

In my experience, there was no benefit to paying or insuring ahead of scheduled delivery.

FWIW - Wookie, I'm also in Phoenix. Drove to the Service Center yesterday and saw both a Limestone R1T and a Limestone R1S out front (My R1T is Limestone so I thought... maybe?). The guys there were awesome and were able to go into the system and track my truck to a transport currently in Nebraska headed to Phoenix.

So now I know - We're closer than we've ever been! See you out in the Wild around Phoenix Wookie. Good luck on your pick-up Saturday! Send pics!

 

[Wookie5]

Thanks AmerikanMatt! I literally drive by every day now. I'm going to have to actually walk up to the door and see if they can do the same for me. Unfortunately, not picking up my Rivian on Saturday - getting rid of a horrible Pacifica minivan and getting the wife something else.

This MAY mean both of our trucks are on the same transport in Colorado or Utah now! Good luck and see you around!

 

[Wookie5]

Also - if you haven't joined yet, look up the FaceBook group Rivians in the Desert - it's a space for Rivian owners and enthusiasts in Arizona. I'm still trying to coordinate a meetup at some point.

 

[AmerikanMatt]

Also - if you haven't joined yet, look up the FaceBook group Rivians in the Desert - it's a space for Rivian owners and enthusiasts in Arizona. I'm still trying to coordinate a meetup at some point.

On it right now..... thanks for the invite.

This MAY mean both of our trucks are on the same transport in Colorado or Utah now! Good luck and see you around!

How cool would it be if we both ended up at the SC picking up our trucks at the same time..... either way I have a feeling when I go pick up my truck I'm gonna see some other dude there and I'm gonna be like "hey are you Wookie?".... lol

 

[Abd37]

I’m also dealing with an incredibly frustrating delivery and buying process. I had 7/8 steps done on mine and had already paid and then they had to pull my vin because it failed an inspection. They have had my down payment for two weeks now and can’t tell me when I will have a new vin. All they will tell me is that the new truck is slated for production which is a garbage answer that doesn’t help at all. I keep asking for shop access to grab something that’s already built since I’m super flexible on config, but they won’t even give me a yes or no answer that. I’ve asked three times and my guide keeps saying that they will ask for access for me and then I never hear anything back.

My guide is really nice, but Rivian is just not giving them nearly enough information to help people when things go sideways. If I didn’t want the truck so bad I probably would have just walked away already.

 

[AmerikanMatt]

Wow abd37. That’s just bad. Here I am…… 2+ weeks since paying, and a confirmation 6 days ago that it had “shipped”, and still no contact.

I am really hoping my inspection goes well. Your situation sounds awful. Can you email RJ?

Keep us posted.

 

[Abd37]

Yeah I might give that a try, but I really hate going going outside the normal channels like that. It seems like it’s my guides lead or whoever she’s asking to try and get me shop access that isn’t getting back to her about it and I really don’t want to get her in any trouble by complaining way up the ladder. She’s been super nice and way more responsive than what I’ve seen people post about for a bunch of other guides, it just seems like she’s flying blind and doesn’t have much support or ability to help me.

 

[edster]

Took delivery of mine today at the Plymouth MI center. They delivered it without the spare and with the tonneau cover locked open. The delivery specialist just had me create a service request for those two things while in the app as we were setting it all up. Otherwise the truck looked great. They took my trade-in with no questions asked. The delivery specialist was likely not someone who is qualified to evaluate used vehicles anyway. My unique buying experience continued to the very end with this brand. So I went from beginning 8 step process on 8/31 to taking delivery on 9/26, with me taking the first available delivery time slot.

It may seem like a mid-sized truck but wow does it fill the garage.