Kit shortage

[Koko Ed]

I finally was able to pay for our FLL teams registration and I find out that we won't be getting out Mindstorms NXT kit til about mid October! What?
I called the people at LEGO Education to find out what happend. They said there is a backoreder and they had 7000 kits to start out with. There's about 5,200 teams signed up. Where are the rest of the kits?
If the kit of parts were held up for teams for half of the build season for the FRC there's be virtual riots on these boards. What are the teams without the kits supposed to do?

[Timothy D. Ginn]

Do you happen to know if this shortage also affects the Canadian kits? I know they're from a different distributor; but, the site doesn't say anything about it. The team that I'm starting up is registering tomorrow (it took a while to get everything confirmed).

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Timothy D. Ginn

Do you happen to know if this shortage also affects the Canadian kits? I know they're from a different distributor; but, the site doesn't say anything about it. The team that I'm starting up is registering tomorrow (it took a while to get everything confirmed).

It only mentions problems in the US. Nothing about Canada.
http://register4fll.com/finditem.cfm?itemid=33

[Timothy D. Ginn]

So, I called Spectrum today to find out when the NXT kit, coach manual, field setup kit, etc. were going to arrive and found out they'd lost our team's order (and the orders of a number of other Canadian teams); so... it wasn't coming. They're sorting out that situation now; but, it means that a lot of us will be getting our kits mid-October, too (despite the kits actually having been available), later this week or on Monday of next week. I've learned a lesson: call frequently and check up on things rather than thinking they're under control.

What we've been doing with our kids is watching the kickoff videos, picking a team name, doing teamwork exercises, the programming challenge thing from Skye's guide and a bit of work on the research project. I think we'll end up registering for a later competition because the alternative is just not to go to a regional (and I'd really rather not do that), or organise our own unofficial regional (considering I'm the only one on the team who's done the FLL before this would be quite the challenge).

I've been told that electronic copies of a lot of the coach materials are on the Forum (which would be good because I haven't seen them and have been going from Skye's guide so far). Do you have any other suggestions for those of us stuck getting kits mid-October?

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I finally was able to pay for our FLL teams registration and I find out that we won't be getting out Mindstorms NXT kit til about mid October! What?
I called the people at LEGO Education to find out what happend. They said there is a backoreder and they had 7000 kits to start out with. There's about 5,200 teams signed up. Where are the rest of the kits?
If the kit of parts were held up for teams for half of the build season for the FRC there's be virtual riots on these boards. What are the teams without the kits supposed to do?

We have that problem right now. I'm helping a FLL team locally and i guess they ordered 2 NXT's. and they both have yet to show up and got a email saying it'll be awhile.

[RoboMom]

***For US FLL Teams Pending Receipt of NXT Robot Set ONLY ***

Greetings US FLL Teams:

We have some important information to share with you regarding the shipment of your NXT Robot Set.

NXT robot sets will begin to ship the week of October 16th to teams that paid before September 29th. If your team paid after this date, please contact FIRST at 800-871-8326 to receive a status update on when you will receive your set.

While we understand the wait to receive your NXT robot set has been frustrating, it is important you know that LEGO Education is not responsible for the delay, and in fact have been working very hard to complete orders as quickly as possible. We therefore ask all teams with questions or concerns to direct them to FIRST at the number above or fllteams@usfirst.org, and to please not contact LEGO Education.

Thank all for your continued patience in this matter. Unfortunately, there was no way of anticipating the popularity of the NXT set and our friends at The LEGO Company are working hard to meet customer demand, both for the FIRST program and the general public.

Thank you all again.

Sincerely,

FLL Teams.

[JoeXIII'007]

Just got e-mail notification that the kit is on its way, YAY!
While we have been waiting... I got the team doing its reasearch project, hopefully they'll have that part down by Thursday.

-Joe

[Timothy D. Ginn]

My team finally received the kit (e.g. Registration materials, NXT and field setup stuff) today.