First Sponser and Rules

[Tom Line]

I'm curious about the rules regarding what it takes to become a First Sponser.

I was under the impression that one of the rules was that you had to be able to deliver parts in a reasonable fashion.

This year, we've had a near disaster where a company (First Sponser) supplying a crucial component to our robot design (the only type of product they make) took our order and promised us a ship date, strung us along for over a week, ignored phone calls to check shipping status, and finally responded that they wouldn't be able to ship us the parts until robot ship week.

We were lucky in that another First Sponser picked up the slack, and managed to get us components shipped UPS red. Hopefully they'll be here Wednesday, but that doesn't make up for the two weeks of build season that we've lost.

Does First have a formalized system to lodge feedback about First Sponser companies?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I'm curious about the rules regarding what it takes to become a First Sponser.

I was under the impression that one of the rules was that you had to be able to deliver parts in a reasonable fashion.

[...]

Does First have a formalized system to lodge feedback about First Sponser companies?

The parts delivery rule is for vendors, not FIRST sponsors. I don't know what the rules are (if any) for FIRST sponsors.

I also don't know about any systems for lodging complaints. FIRST HQ should know, but I wouldn't know who there would be the best to talk to.