Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Your order from WCP, shipped by us, is set for delivery by 10:30am tomorrow.


We did? That is news to me. We had no idea how many people would order from where so we took our best guess. We also decided to drop ship for each other when needed. We have drop shipped almost 100 orders for our distributors because we couldn't get stock to them in time. We also have had them drop ship about 20 orders for us for items that we shipped too much to them. I figured I should share with you the facts. Any time there are three potential places to get a part, someone will run out first. This is just how it is. I guarantee we will do better with the balance next season and will do whatever it takes to make sure teams get the parts they need this season.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul
I messaged you with the specific information regarding numbers and such

I do have a question though...

If the delays on the pinions were US delays why did Amanda indicate that this was a customs issue that you have no control over?

I did not make the call on why we wanted to use the 14T pinion over a smaller one....that was the drive team design call... so I can't help you figure out why we did it.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Wow. we another shipment of our order, but STILL it is missing the most important parts. Its missing:
1 18T 1/2 hex bore gear
16 18T 1/2 hex bore sprockets
6 14 Tooth pinions (I know that these are stuck in customs)
2 30T 3/8 Hex Bore gears
4 1/2 hex versaplanetary output shafts

The pinions and the 30T gears, its ok, but the other parts really SCREW our build schedule over. We ordered these at the beginning of build season, and none of those were ever told they were delayed. WHEN are they going to be back in, and will they be shipped overnight, because they are delaying us hard now.

Sorry to rant, but after never hearing about them being backordered, to see them backordered seriously irks me.

I also emailed WCP early today asking about this order and an order we placed saturday. Any way I can get a response on that?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Well... At this point, we're giving up and making our dog gears ourselves. We've been told they would be shipped within the week for the past three weeks. My frustration with vex isn't that they're out of stock, I get it, without knowing the game, it's tricky to predict demand. What does get me is that the gears were ordered while they were in stock, and still haven't arrived, weeks later. Like the previous poster, our pinions aren't here yet, which isn't critical for us, but it's disappointing to order stuff a few days after kickoff, while it's in stock, and have it not arrive.

At this point, we're redesigning our transmissions, frame, bearing blocks, shooter pivot, shooter cam, pickup pivot, and pickup drive stuff to work with parts that we have. We've dumped hundreds of dollars into vex parts that were guaranteed to get here a week ago, only to have them delay us.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

All,

We need to know two critical pieces of information:

1. Who you ordered from.

2. Your order number or who actually placed the order

Without those, we can't help you. For those of you who think redesigning everything before you actually give us this information will be faster, believe me, it won't.

Please give us this information and we can help you.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul, It's been asked before but the answer has usually been along the lines of "we're putting all of our dog gears towards WCP WCD gearboxes" but now that that's out of the way..

what's the estimate on when dog gears are coming back in stock? I'm looking to purchase some different ones to get a different spread on our WCP WCD DS gearbox. No rush, but it'd be good to know.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I PM'd you with the information from our orders.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

[Emphasis Mine]

Paul,

Despite how based or unbased some of Damp's statements were, I believe this particular statement is spot-on.

I constantly felt like I had to be nagging WCP (and then later, Vex) for the latest scoop on when I could expect each individual part to arrive.

Regardless on where WCP/Vex stands, this is the feeling that teams like mine got. We can't trust Vex. Not because stuff hits the fan (which it always will), but because it took a lot of monitoring/asking/nagging/digging to find out just how delayed our build would be because of it.

Maybe it is too much to ask, but an email giving updates on product delays regarding our specific orders would be fantastic. For example, when your website says parts shipping 1/15, and then you discover that you can't manage to ship them out until 1/24, an email to us regarding this delay would be huge, especially since we've already "bought" the items. Maybe this could even be automated? Also, better partial order shipment notification would be invaluable as well.

Of course, we know the whole VP team is going to do everything they can to prevent critical part shortages next season, you guys work hard to put some of the best products on the market. However, when stuff goes wrong, can I trust Vex to be straightforward with us, directly, about where things really are?

Paul, I appreciate the patience, understanding, and shared concern you've expressed on this thread.

-Mike

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I have received a few requests, via PM, for status updates on their WCP orders that were sent directly to WCP customers from the VEX warehouse. I have responded to all requests with detailed information, including tracking numbers. I have felt my sales team and I have been completely up front with the situation, but some customers have felt like we are not being completely up front. So here is the status:

1. 14T and 13T pinions - We received an initial batch in early January and shipped out orders that were in VEX's system until we ran out. The remaining batch (several hundred) is stuck on a truck in a shipping yard (more on that later).

2. Individual dog gears - We received an initial batch at the same time as the pinions. This initial batch was based on a % over WCP's sales last year. That batch was supposed to last the entire build season. The remaining items (again, several hundred) are stuck on same truck as #1. What we are doing in the interim is working with WCP to make dog gears out of regular gears. I am hopeful that WCP will have dog gears at the end of this week.

3. WCP DS gearboxes. We have filled all order requests given to VEX, either direct from customers or from our distributors. We are shipping the remaining WCP gearboxes direct to WCP and they will only be available from WCP until we get the gears from #2 above.

4. Versahub with 1/2" hex - We completely ran out of the entire order from this year (3,000). We are currently converting the 1/4" hole versions into 1/2" hex and are shipping as we get the modified versions. For those of you that ordered and still don't have them, this one is completely on me. We had inventory set wrong on our web site and kept them in stock after they were sold out. We expect to fulfill the remaining back orders before the weekend and be able to put them back on the web Monday or Tuesday of next week.

5. CIM Motors - Stuck in customs for almost 3 weeks now. We, unexpectedly, received an order for almost 6,000 CIM motors from FIRST late in the Fall so that FIRST could put 2 more CIM motors in the KoP. Did you notice you received 4 in the KoP? You can thank FIRST for that awesome addition, but that left us extremely tight on CIM motors and the delay in customs has killed us. If you have an urgent need for CIM motors, then I suggest you get them from AndyMark.

6. MiniCIM motors - We simply sent too many to our distributors. They both have them in stock and can ship immediately. Please work with The Robot Space or West Coast Products for these items.

7. Various individual gears - They are all stuck on the same truck as the pinions. I am prioritizing on gears that need to be in kits first, but I expect most gears to all be in stock no later than next week. These gears arrived in LA on January 16th and cleared customs on the 20th. Our shipper has had them since then with no rational explanation as to why they are not in Texas yet. My shipping team had several interesting conversations with the shipper over the past few days and I expect to get the gears within the next few days.

I hope this clears up any communication issues.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul, thank you for this list. This is the list you guys should have released a long time ago.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul,

Any idea when 3ft hex shaft will come back in stock?

Paul, I have sent you a pm about our order. Thank you.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

It is out of stock for the rest of the season from our warehouse. I believe both The Robot Space and West Coast Products still have stock.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Thanks for the update. The Robot Space is out of stock when I checked tonight. I placed an order (#495) at West Coast Products (who still lists it as "ships before kickoff") last week for four 3ft pieces and some versa frame gussets. Still haven't heard a status on that order.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Brendan,

That was apart of our drop ship with VEX. Your order was delivered today, PM'd you tracking #.For any customers wondering, orders 341-513 if shipped partial were filled by VEX for us.

We have a few pieces of 3 foot 1/2" Hex Stock left.