After reading all these horrendous DJI customer service stories, I am seriously debating if I even want to sign up for this service. ANY good stories here with refresh? I just read the other thread about someone's drone dying in mid-air and DJI threw him off like a sack of SH*T.
Thoughts?

Yes, it's important to newbies.

I got 4 AC and no refresh. I figured if I am getting a used one than I rather save the money and buy a used one myself. But so far so good. Read the manual, practice, know your environment and you should be good. Also get drone insurance will serve you better.

If you want to wait 4+ weeks to receive a replacement, please go ahead and sign up for Refresh. Definitely a unique experience of waiting.

Zhuo Posted at 2017-2-23 08:04
If you want to wait 4+ weeks to receive a replacement, please go ahead and sign up for Refresh. Definitely a unique experience of waiting.

I would probably think its the same for warranty work though.  So either way if you had to send it in you'll wait. But at-least if its operator fault they will still repair or replace it.

I rather suspect (hope) Care Refresh delays are due to the incredible demand for the Mavic, making it harder to get replacements shipped?

I don't normally buy this kind of warranty, but it seemed a no-brainer as a single crash is likely to damage if not destroy your gimbal.

Zhuo Posted at 2017-2-23 08:04
If you want to wait 4+ weeks to receive a replacement, please go ahead and sign up for Refresh. Definitely a unique experience of waiting.

it use to be 1-2wk turn around but so many people are submitting claims its backlogging the them. You can't fault them for that. Its almost daily someone is posting about flying indoors and crashing, not reading the manual, or just faulty drone

For £99 I'd get it just in case

I would have bought the dji refrech care if I had known how fragile and premature this Mavic really is. Is not all about unexperienced pilots. It can happen to everybody. Even if it is an obvious warranty case its not granted DJI see it that way. I've learned this the expesive way. Buy the care refresh. But the slow customer service is unavoidable  regardless.

get it. deal w the slow customer service, complain enough and maybe you'l get results? (maybe you wont?)

devGOD Posted at 2017-2-23 09:00
it use to be 1-2wk turn around but so many people are submitting claims its backlogging the them. You can't fault them for that. Its almost daily someone is posting about flying indoors and crashing, not reading the manual, or just faulty drone

That's OK IF they were honest about the delay and a prompt update about the progress. Unfortunately DJI kept lying about the real progress. Delay is not the main problem.

I crashed my Mavic into a tree at 20mph and 30 ft up.  The battery was ejected and it fell into a dirt area.  I though it was going to cost me $400+ to fix and DJI repaired it for $103.  I thought the camera was completely ruined but in fact they took it apart and replaced the damaged ribbon cables.  I DID NOT have DJI resfresh.  total process took me 3 weeks from when I shipped it to when I got it back.

And you will not get the same drone.  Sounds like they repair yours and send a refurb.  I checked my serial numbers and they were different.

Even after all of this I still wouldn't have purchased it.  Sounds like most of their repairs are pretty cheap, unless its a complete loss like water damage.  Then the DJI care pays for itself.

I skipped on it.  If it was 5 years maybe but 1 year wasn't worth the $100 imo

I think Care Refresh is kind of a wash.  It might be nice to have it if you happen to encounter a mishap causing significant damage.  Supposedly, you get prioritized in the queue for repair/replacement.  I can't confirm, but if true, that in itself may make it worth the additional cost.  The big issue is that you must be able to recover and return the entire AC.

Another option that I think is actually better, if you don't live in California (apparently CA is excluded), is to acquire a Personal Articles Policy (PAP) from State Farm.  Its treated as similar to insuring a camera, jewelry, watches, etc.  You do not need to have a homeowners policy through SF (PAP is a standalone policy and does not attach to any other policy), carries a $0 deductible, costs around $60 or less for coverage against the original purchase value, and does not require recovery of the AC to file a claim and receive reimbursement.  There is lots of information on DJI's forums (and other drone forums) about PAPs, so before anyone comes on here to try and point out filing a PAP claim will raise your homeowners policy, be aware that no other policy is required.  The worst that could happen is denial of policy renewal should you make multiple claims on a PAP.

I have both, just for my own peace of mind.  I'm likely over covered with carrying both PAP and Care Refresh, but I feel much more comfortable knowing that every loss scenario is covered in case there is a mishap, theft, etc.

would this cover that jello effect crap or the blurry spotty camera issues or is refresh pretty much useful for only user error?

Speed009 Posted at 2017-2-23 12:42
would this cover that jello effect crap or the blurry spotty camera issues or is refresh pretty much useful for only user error?

Warranty will cover that...

Speed009 Posted at 2017-2-23 12:42
would this cover that jello effect crap or the blurry spotty camera issues or is refresh pretty much useful for only user error?

only if its blurry jello of your drone into the ground.

only if its blurry jello of your drone into the ground. But if you did it on purpose you would have to get by the hidden emotion sensor that was built into the latest deliveries. It uses the proximity sensors to detect shame and embarrassment. It then automatically matches that signature with your soon to come complaint of malfunction.

I bought the care refresh and had to use once due to a bad crash...my fault (glad I purchased and the experience was easy so I thought). I received my replacement yesterday and started setting it up and activating only to find out that an LED(front left) was not operating properly. It might turn on or it might turn off or it might even dim to faint then nothing. I even refreshed the firmware via DJI assistant and a usb cable. The LED acted strangely during this process and was the only one that was RED(when it worked)...It is like it was telling me something...like error codes. Well my gut said don't test fly so I didn't. Even the fan was acting weird....so ....  I waited almost three weeks to receive my replacement and here I am boxing it back up to send out again. I have mixed feelings right now. How could the replacement Drone be tested and pass???? That was my first thought. I also ran the S/N and it appeared to be a new one from the factory but just not sure. Oh well, see what happens now....was hoping for a better experience. I am still happy I bought Care Refresh...just hope I don't forget how to fly due to the length of time.....lol...I have patience

I like the feeling to have care refresh. It somehow gives the feeling that you won't need it because you have it. At least I never had to use it for my Spark and I hope it will be the same with my MA. But I don't regret having bought it for both.

As an insurance against something that is unpredictable  - or at least has a risk profile where an accident or mishap is a higher probability as a beginner drone flyer - then it makes sense. I took one out with my first 'as new' purchase of my MPP - and like others here it gives me peace of mind. Sometimes if you don't have cover, you can make mistakes because you are worrying too much and crash the drone because of this! Its a case of 'how much cost is worth not having the worry' ... you may regret spending the money a year down the line with no crashes, but then again you'll be very happy you took it out if you crash the drone next week!

As ridiculous as it is, they do cover the batteries, BUT, you have to send the whole unit in.   Then wait weeks.  "Refresh" is a joke.  I think it has elements of "bait and switch" in the fine print.

fanscecc0f0c Posted at 2018-8-13 11:03
As ridiculous as it is, they do cover the batteries, BUT, you have to send the whole unit in.   Then wait weeks.  "Refresh" is a joke.  I think it has elements of "bait and switch" in the fine print.

Hi, sorry for what you had experienced, however, the aircraft needs to be sent to our repair facility in any case that you need to use the DJI Care refresh. There will be a DJI care refresh express through online as well for faster processing of the replacement of your drone. Again, we do apologize for the inconvenience.

Absolutely worth it. I crashed it Full speed on sport mode into a tree and it landed in the ocean May 12, 2019. I dropped it off at UPS on the 13th. Took 2 days to ship. I uploaded the flight data and had a shipping confirmation a few days later. I rec'd updates at least every 24hrs. I received my replacement drone today on May 20, 2019. Maybe it was faster bc im in Hawaii but man, im impressed. 8 days from the day I crashed it and for pilot error? Thats unheard of. And i didnt even purchase the expedited refresh plan.

Ben VanBeurden Posted at 5-20 21:30
Absolutely worth it. I crashed it Full speed on sport mode into a tree and it landed in the ocean May 12, 2019. I dropped it off at UPS on the 13th. Took 2 days to ship. I uploaded the flight data and had a shipping confirmation a few days later. I rec'd updates at least every 24hrs. I received my replacement drone today on May 20, 2019. Maybe it was faster bc im in Hawaii but man, im impressed. 8 days from the day I crashed it and for pilot error? Thats unheard of. And i didnt even purchase the expedited refresh plan.

Hi Ben, thanks for sharing your positive experience with our customer service, glad to know everything went smoothly and fast, which gives us motivation to keep going on, hope you enjoy flying and fly safely.

Dji service was all good until I had a crash now using care refresh has undone it all
Difficulty getting the Return label sent to my email was was just the start. After repeatedly going through the ticket process and many stressful phonecalls later to dji I took the unauthordox steps to screenshoting the label and printing the ticket myself, the problem is the  case numbers that I sent and what are on my account are different so unable to check the status online. Calling dji is hard work, A bad phoneline & bad accent is hard to understand and sounds like theyre speaking underwater but worst is their bad attitude . Apparently my drone is somewhere in the building but hasn't been updated. Its only been in there for 5 days but if its anything like waiting for their previous emails I'm not holding my breath . Dji sort out customer services as bad mental health isn't  something I had but i have earned plenty of grey hairs with this level of service

Dji service was all good until I had a crash now using care refresh has undone it all
Difficulty getting the Return label sent to my email was was just the start. After repeatedly going through the ticket process and many stressful phonecalls later to dji I took the unauthordox steps to screenshoting the label and printing the ticket myself, the problem is the different case number are logged onto my case  by dji so now I'm in the dark to the status of my drone. Calling dji is hard work, A bad phoneline & bad accent is hard to understand and sounds like theyre speaking underwater, and in most cases a bad attitude from the operator . Im told to wait for another email from them as its somewhere in the building & due to covid it might be a while before its updated ,I first reported this mid may and still awaiting now its the back end of June  I've never had bad mental health but this episode has left me with many grey hairs. ...to be updated

I've owned a Mavic Pro for 3 years. Never needed a repair. But...

I bought a Mavic Mini that NEVER worked. I sent it for repair a few months after I bought it and paid $187 more for the repair. Is it worth it? ON PAPER maybe.