My school pre-ordered our V5 system bundle and some smart motors on August 6th and the only thing we know is that our order is on hold. It has been 8 weeks and our competitions are going to start soon. Are there any updates on the status of our pre-order? I already tried sending an email to both [email protected] and [email protected]
My school also pre-ordered our V5 and we were told that we will get ours in mid-October
I am not sure that anyone here could answer your question if you haven’t gotten a responses from the two e-mail addresses you have already contacted.
I’ve been waiting on a reply from [email protected] for a few weeks as well. On the Saturday of labor day weekend they said they would be shipping again “in about two weeks” for my pre-order from May. That was the last I heard back from them.
We got sent our 2 kits but non of the extra motors or batteries and one battery is already not charging, it says it will send the rest in a few weeks but that was early September and no notice, I have a competition pretty soon and really need those motors, currently only one robot has everything.
So I got an email back from [email protected] saying that vex is “shipping the second batch of Bundles and Motors this week starting with order placed on 7/23”. So hopefully that means that our order and any others that were made around then should be shipping soon. Hopefully when we get our stuff nothing will be broken…
Weirder and weirder - so the implications is that our order of July 19th should have shipped already…
I ordered on July 24 and got a shipping notice yesterday (and nearly wept with joy - but no one needs to know that!)
Got an update from my reseller that my gear was packed yesterday and waiting for tracking number. So things are moving forward.
That is so awesome!
I am personally footing the bill for a new team and the equipment because I believe in STEM!! Learning robotics and computer programming will be very important to the kids, and their future careers. Our FIRST LEGO League team had a great 5 year run. We placed second in our State in robot design and scoring on the table. Since they aged out of FIRST LEGO League, we decided to move into VEX.
Robotics is what they love, and what they excel at. However, I am in a really bad situation. I ordered my kit on July 19th. In reading this thread of others with July orders who have started to received their robots, I got excited. So, I just check my order status and it still has not shipped. When I originally placed the order, the website indicated it would be shipped in August. Great! No Problem. Plenty of time to work through new issues. This is a great STEM challenge for the team! We anticipate a very steep learning curve. If we had received the V5 kit in August, we would have had sufficient time to learn, experiment, and understand the new programming language, and VEX robot construction techniques.
In early September, i sent an email to VEX asking when they will be shipping our order. Their email reply was, “The V5 kits are still pre-order only. We are scheduled to start shipping the Starter Kits late this month.”
We are now in October, and the website is saying 8 weeks before they ship any new orders. This will amount to at least a 3 month delay!
I understand there can be manufacturing problems, and I certainly don’t want a lemon. I am not complaining about that. My question is: Will VEX delay the tournaments by several months to compensate for the lost time in shipping V5s? To me, this would be fair and reasonable. We also need the time!
Thanks,
DavidC
I can’t speak for Vex or RECF or for anything else for that matter, but I’m going to guess Vex would never consider delaying Worlds. They have contracts signed for it years in advance and there is a lot of money at stake. State level competitions are perhaps more locally controlled, so maybe you can lobby for delays in those, though most are as close to the Worlds schedule as is considered pragmatically possible (due to teams needing time to do fundraising, etc.)
Other options depend on whether or not your region is willing to snap out of “Worlds fever” and proceed with a sense of using the Vex platform for education-only, rather than harvesting official trophies, official rankings, etc. If you can break out of the official, Worlds-targeting mentality, then you might be able to work with your local schools, etc. to create your own, unofficial competitions that meet later in the season, beyond the state and Worlds schedules. That could keep the kids engaged and take off the pressure caused by the slow rollout of V5.
Just my 2 cents.
You should call VEX on Monday. Word on the street is that all orders through July 31 have shipped. I ordered on July 24 and received my kits yesterday.
Still waiting for ours which was ordered before yours… so mileage may vary…
I like your attitude on this - it should not be able getting to Worlds. I have seen events held post Worlds so it fits the school schedule and teams can show their very best. I like the idea.
Great minds think alike.
In any case, given the present rate of progress and extrapolating to April, it’s hard to imagine what sort of contest Worlds will actually turn into this year.
Best costumes? Best non-functional decoration?
I would think a small order like David’s shouldn’t be a problem. We ordered ours early as well and initially they delayed our order for being so large (18 kits) but Mr. McDonough proved that they were all going to be in use (15 active teams this year) so that may be the same reason you are not receiving your order.
Last I heard, earlier in the week, it was all packed and ready to go, and I would be getting tracking number shortly. So, either they forgot to send tracking number, or the shipment is no go.
Gear Geeks, Thanks for the suggestion about calling Customer Service. They said the V5 Classroom Starter Kit, that I ordered on July 19th, should be shipping in 2 to 3 weeks. Yea!! Thanks!!
That’s great news. Congratulations.