I do not know if DJI products are the best in the market or not, but you guys have one of the worse technical supports I have experienced. As many other users (as you can seen in forums, youtube and drone websites) I had problems updating the drone firmware to the latest version. Even though I followed the installation tutorials step by step it failed and I had no other option but to send the drone to the DJI offices in America. After a month waiting I got the feedback saying that I need to pay over 200 USD to get my drone fixed because the firmware malinstallation is not covered by the product warranty. Given the fact that the same issue is reported by so many users and that is not produced by a costumer mal use, how could you charge your customers for this? You guys really need to do something about your drones software. Updating firmwares of any kind of device is not supposed to be this troublesome and it is very likely that the issue is not the steps you made your customers follow or us doing them wrong, but the quality of your software. You should recognize this and stop charging customers for your mistakes.
I find this really insulting. I have no option but to pay to get my drone fixed but I will make sure other customers or potential buyers realize how bad your technical support is.  I am really dissapointed and I will never use any of your products ever again.

Good luck finding a competing product half as good.
There's a reason that DJI has >70% of the ready to fly drone market.
Your Phantom would have flown perfectly without any updates.
There are a number of ways to get an update to work and plenty of people to help out if needed.
Most users manage to get by just reading the instructions.

Nice rant, but we have heard all that before, and it does not affect DJI's sales even the tiniest amount. Try reading the manual before sounding off.

I hear you and don't mind the rant from the other two. I want to see what will they do if they were in your shoes.. I will be upset too if I got slammed with a $200+ to fix a firmware. This is really uncalled for. If I were you, PM one of the Admin, Mindy or Ken they are pretty good at helping customers and see what they can do for you. Good Luck!

Really sorry for your experience.
Did you check on the forum for a solution to your update issue before you sent it in?  
There are a lot of great people here that will jump in to do their best to help with a variety of issues......and usually you can get the answers you need.
Hope it works out for you.

Good luck!

I am the E Posted at 2017-5-24 17:15
I hear you and don't mind the rant from the othe two. I want to see what will they do if they are in your shoes.. I will be upset too if I got slammed with a $200+ to fix a firmware. This is really uncalled for. If I were you, PM one of the Admin, Mindy or Ken they are pretty good at helping customers and see what they can do for you. Good Luck!

The moment a poster puts up something like this: I am really dissapointed and I will never use any of your products ever again. you know for sure they only came here to complain. If that is the case, why would anyone bother to help them.

Geebax Posted at 2017-5-24 18:22
The moment a poster puts up something like this:  I am really dissapointed and I will never use any of your products ever again.  you know for sure they only came here to complain. If that is the case, why would anyone bother to help them.

Maybe because of good Karma or maybe helping other human being in distress or maybe I always see the good in people or maybe being helpful and comforting is better than being an ass. You can choose!

Geebax Posted at 2017-5-24 18:22
... If that is the case, why would anyone bother to help them.

Because he's had a bad experience with DJI and he wants to vent to people who'll no doubt share his frustration. Hey, we've all been there, Geebax. I'm in that frame of mind myself with a P4 stuck on beta firmware for the last 5 months. My partner just says I shouldn't be 'cranky poo' about it - hmmm, ok...

But anyway, it's true. The forum may have been of help before he went to 'end game' and sent the craft in for repair. Perhaps he'll try the forum next time - there's some very clever people keen to help up here.

He just needs a spark of karma to assist him in making his frustrations disappear like a vanishing phantom. Inspire him to do so and it will be a breeze instead of a typhoon of disappointment.

I'm sorry you are experiencing difficulties. Could you please provide me with your case number so I can look into it?
We're constantly working to improve the experience for everyone. Appreciate your feedback.

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-5-24 18:45
Because he's had a bad experience with DJI and he wants to vent to people who'll no doubt share his frustration. Hey, we've all been there, Geebax. I'm in that frame of mind myself with a P4 stuck on beta firmware for the last 5 months. My partner just says I shouldn't be 'cranky poo' about it - hmmm, ok...

But anyway, it's true. The forum may have been of help before he went to 'end game' and sent the craft in for repair. Perhaps he'll try the forum next time - there's some very clever people keen to help up here.

Its an even money bet you won't even hear from him again. Only one post to his name and this is it. As far as he is concerned, he has given DJI a 'right good telling off' and that's it. Anyone who comes here asking for help usually gets it, but in this case he did not even ask.

I don't believe you have said anything wrong, untrue, or inappropriate here. The majority of DJI customers are happy, but it should be recognized that some of their products do have issues, and their customer support is seriously lacking in many areas. That is not an uncommon sentiment. I am not sure why it's so greatly frowned upon when a customer comes here to vent about perfectly legitimate gripes. Updates performed as instructed by the manufacturer should not cause problems to the equipment. In turn, the customer should not be held financially responsible for repairs deemed necessary after performing (whether successfully or unsuccessfully) such updates.

Is it common for companies to charge customers when problems arise from updates (failed or otherwise) released by those companies?

To those replying here, would you not be upset if Apple or Samsung charged you to fix your mobile device that had been damaged only because you attempted to update the device per the manufacturer's recommendation?

I'm just wondering why people on this forum seem to take it so personally and seem so offended when other members post their gripes. Even if your experience is not shared, even if you have no empathy, must you be so coarse?

theGrindLab.com Posted at 2017-5-25 03:54
I don't believe you have said anything wrong, untrue, or inappropriate here. The majority of DJI customers are happy, but it should be recognized that some of their products do have issues, and their customer support is seriously lacking in many areas. That is not an uncommon sentiment. I am not sure why it's so greatly frowned upon when a customer comes here to vent about perfectly legitimate gripes. Updates performed as instructed by the manufacturer should not cause problems to the equipment. In turn, the customer should not be held financially responsible for repairs deemed necessary after performing (whether successfully or unsuccessfully) such updates.

Is it common for companies to charge customers when problems arise from updates (failed or otherwise) released by those companies?

Well said, well said. For some unknown reason, the forum space periodically attracts shills for DJI who bizarrely will defend it even when the company is blatantly wrong. No one can deny that DJI has some of the worst communication and customer service of any company, period.

RonHarper Posted at 2017-5-25 08:06
Well said, well said. For some unknown reason, the forum space periodically attracts shills for DJI who bizarrely will defend it even when the company is blatantly wrong. No one can deny that DJI has some of the worst communication and customer service of any company, period.

Thank you for chiming in. I'm not trying to attack others in the forum. I just don't understand why some are so easily provoked by perfectly understandable complaints.

theGrindLab.com Posted at 2017-5-25 03:54
I don't believe you have said anything wrong, untrue, or inappropriate here. The majority of DJI customers are happy, but it should be recognized that some of their products do have issues, and their customer support is seriously lacking in many areas. That is not an uncommon sentiment. I am not sure why it's so greatly frowned upon when a customer comes here to vent about perfectly legitimate gripes. Updates performed as instructed by the manufacturer should not cause problems to the equipment. In turn, the customer should not be held financially responsible for repairs deemed necessary after performing (whether successfully or unsuccessfully) such updates.

Is it common for companies to charge customers when problems arise from updates (failed or otherwise) released by those companies?

I second that. Even DJI admin don't even act or respond like these two.

If you want to grow as a company you always have to listen to your customers complaints, suggestions and good word.

You don't be rude or shuns them away otherwise sooner or later and no matter how big you are or how powerful you are you will go down like all the other companies before them.

I am the E Posted at 2017-5-25 08:58
I second that. Even DJI admin don't even act or respond like these two.

If you want to grow as a company you always have to listen to your customers complaints, suggestions and good word.

Right. The DJI staff who respond here seem to genuinely want to help. I would assume the support staff on the phones want to help too. It's really unfortunate that there is sometimes an apparent disconnect from phone/email support WANTING to help and actually being able to.

theGrindLab.com Posted at 2017-5-25 11:06
Right. The DJI staff who respond here seem to genuinely want to help. I would assume the support staff on the phones want to help too. It's really unfortunate that there is sometimes an apparent disconnect from phone/email support WANTING to help and actually being able to.

You are right Grind, but what irritates me the most is DJI admins are ALWAYS courteous and want to help no matter how upset or frustrated the customer is whit their situations but some members here act like they own the company and are so rude to other members. Simple, you don't have anything helpful to say just shut up, don't be rude and don't put other members down.

it's a mindset, some of us come to vent or complain and ask for help or support.. Some Of us just come to voice frustration... Forums ARE for getting help.. if you do not want help, go elsewhere.. If you want help, ask for it, and 99% of the time you will get it. It's that simple. Ah.. u may not always get what you thought you gonna get.. but that's life ;)

Labroides Posted at 2017-5-24 15:38
Good luck finding a competing product half as good.
There's a reason that DJI has >70% of the ready to fly drone market.
Your Phantom would have flown perfectly without any updates.

Thanks a lot for your reply. I am looking forward to do so. And FYI, I did try to skip the updates but my drone did not allow me to do so.

Geebax Posted at 2017-5-24 16:37
Nice rant, but we have heard all that before, and it does not affect DJI's sales even the tiniest amount. Try reading the manual before sounding off.

Thanks. Thinking that an individual action wont have a greater effect on a whole is one of the reasons why the world faces so many problems nowadays. Even though I was 0.000001% of DJI users I would still think my post is worthy.

Tmygun Posted at 2017-5-24 17:22
Really sorry for your experience.
Did you check on the forum for a solution to your update issue before you sent it in?  
There are a lot of great people here that will jump in to do their best to help with a variety of issues......and usually you can get the answers you need.

I did check before sending my drone to DJI offices. I even chatted with the technical support staff, followed their instructions, send them videos showing my drone´s behaviour, but nothing worked. They were the ones who recommended me to sent it to their offices in America.

Geebax Posted at 2017-5-24 20:26
Its an even money bet you won't even hear from him again. Only one post to his name and this is it. As far as he is concerned, he has given DJI a 'right good telling off' and that's it. Anyone who comes here asking for help usually gets it, but in this case he did not even ask.

I guess you were wrong. Here I am again.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-5-24 19:15
I'm sorry you are experiencing difficulties. Could you please provide me with your case number so I can look into it?
We're constantly working to improve the experience for everyone. Appreciate your feedback.

Awesome! Thanks for replying. I will contact the company were I got the drone (they were the ones who sent it to America) in order to get the case number and I will let you know asap.

Cali1988 Posted at 2017-5-25 12:22
Thanks a lot for your reply. I am looking forward to do so. And FYI, I did try to skip the updates but my drone did not allow me to do so.

That's a misunderstanding.
No Phantom will force you to update.
The app will advise that an update is available but it's up to the user to decide whether to do it or not.

Maybe your Phantom needed to go back to be fixed .. maybe it didn't.
DJI make some really good equipment but unfortunately their support people are a lucky dip.
You may get good ones but you can also get real "drones" that haven't a clue and will give appallingly bad advice.  
Send it back is the easy answer when they don't know.
Your are generally better off asking the community for help first.

RonHarper Posted at 2017-5-24 19:01
He just needs a spark of karma to assist him in making his frustrations disappear like a vanishing phantom. Inspire him to do so and it will be a breeze instead of a typhoon of disappointment.

Haha.  Nice one.

I am the E Posted at 2017-5-25 11:17
You are right Grind, but what irritates me the most is DJI admins are ALWAYS courteous and want to help no matter how upset or frustrated the customer is whit their situations but some members here act like they own the company and are so rude to other members. Simple, you don't have anything helpful to say just shut up, don't be rude and don't put other members down.

You are right E, some members here act like they own the company

Bullflyer Posted at 2017-5-25 15:29
You are right E, some members here act like they own the company

Yup Bull, and it is up to us so point them out and don't stay silent and be an enablers.

This forum is for everyone, One for All and All for One... Kind of Corky! lol But you know what I mean!

I am the E Posted at 2017-5-25 11:17
You are right Grind, but what irritates me the most is DJI admins are ALWAYS courteous and want to help no matter how upset or frustrated the customer is whit their situations but some members here act like they own the company and are so rude to other members. Simple, you don't have anything helpful to say just shut up, don't be rude and don't put other members down.

"DJI admins are ALWAYS courteous and want to help no matter how upset or frustrated the customer is"

The downside of this is that some DJI admins give very little help.

Labroides Posted at 2017-5-25 15:59
"DJI admins are ALWAYS courteous and want to help no matter how upset or frustrated the customer is"

The downside of this is that some DJI admins give very little help.

At least they are courteous and they try to help, like (Mindy, Ken).

The point is that someone can give help without being rude, put people down or assume the worst of people. I guess that someone still did not get the point that everybody is pointing out.

If someone wants to give help, just give it or that someone should not say anything and that someone should not assume the worst out of people.

Being a kind human being can go a long way in life!

I am the E Posted at 2017-5-25 15:44
Yup Bull, and it is up to so point them out and don't stay silent and be an enablers.

This forum is for everyone, One for All and All for One... Kind of Corky! lol But you know what I mean!

I am really dissapointed and I will never use any of your products ever again.

These were the last words written by the OP, it doesn't give much clue that he was looking for any kind of help, and the rest of his Opening post was a rant and he never asked for help from anyone , if you read the post it looks like he was trying to round up all the usual anti dji sentiment , and you then end up with thread doomed.

It would have been so different if he came on here, said what his problem was and the difficulty he had getting it sorted, if he said that dji asked him to send it back under warranty and then tried to charge him

Indeed those who you think you are putting in there place, would have been the first to give him real help .

Sometimes when we are seeking support or help we need to take a good look at how we approach those we need help from.

Looking back isn't going to help you. Moving forward is the thing you have to do.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-5-25 16:23
I am really dissapointed and I will never use any of your products ever again.

These were the last words written by the OP, it doesn't give much clue that he was looking for any kind of help, and the rest of his Opening post was a rant and he never asked for help from anyone , if you read the post it looks like he was trying to round up all the usual anti dji sentiment , and you then end up with thread doomed.

Hall,

I am with you about how the OP approached the issue and also am not putting anyone in their place.

See how myself and  Mindy approached him and how they approached him.

If you want to help people that is fine but it doesn't give you the right to be an A, rude or whatever. It is that simple.

DJI doesn't need anyone to jump the gun every time someone complain. You I are lucky we never had to deal with DJI customers support but you read all the horror stories and frustration that customers are having with customers support and the only way to keep this from happening to us in the future is to keep DJI on their toes and point out any issues that will ultimately effect everyone. I give due when due is warranted but when something is wrong I'll be the first one to pointed out.

I am the E Posted at 2017-5-25 16:50
Hall,

I am with you about how the OP approached the issue and also am not putting anyone in their place.

I think when you get down to the nitty gritty of these things you end up tearing your hair out.

Op couldn't update his drone.
Got no satisfaction on help from dji
Says first he sent it back to dji
Changes this to company who he bought it from sent it back to dji.

So it's very simple company he bought if from must have some obligation to him as he paid the money to them.
Let them fight it out with dji on behalf of there customer. It's strange that a company who sells these drones are not able to update one for a customer, very strange.

Labroides Posted at 2017-5-25 14:57
That's a misunderstanding.
No Phantom will force you to update.
The app will advise that an update is available but it's up to the user to decide whether to do it or not.

Well then maybe we could all learn something new from this. Instead of the "Ready to Go" message a "Firmware Update is required"message popped out and no matter how many times I tried to skip it, it kept appearing and didn't let me fly the drone, so I guess that there are cases in which the drone forces you to update.

And yes, maybe I wasn't lucky enough. I tried at least 3 times with different technicians, they asked me to do several things: turning the drone and the controller on and off, formatting the SD card over and over, download the firmware and install it, pressing a button in the gimbal...but none of those things worked. All that after sending them videos of the drone beeping loudly and behaving "weird". I also sent them the content of the txt file where you can see whether the update process failed or succeed.

I guess my mistake here was to think the "logic answer" (i.e. asking DJI technicians directly) was better and more straighforward than posting in the forum. Unfortunately for me all this happened a few days before the drone warranty expired. Moreover I do a lot of field survey (and by this I mean working in the jungle and remote areas) so I'm not always in front of my laptop.

Not living in America kind of forced to make a quick decision and again I misthought sending it to the DJI offices thinking that they could fix the problem without charging me a thing cuz... well the product warranty was still valid and whatever the problem the drone was experiencing wasn't caused by an user misusing but by an error not even DJI technicians could solve.

Summing up, trusting DJI technical support was my mistake and that's the reason why I am so dissapointed.

Anyways, thanks for your comments and your time.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-5-25 17:10
I think when you get down to the nitty gritty of these things you end up tearing your hair out.

Op couldn't update his drone.

I know man... Believe me I planning on keeping my hair, for now. lol

It's like when someone post I have a problem but don't tell you anything about the issue or what phone or tablet are they using etc. but if I genuinely wants to help people then I will go the extra miles or I wouldn't be here.

I always tell my employees when they deal with customers complaint, "kill them softly with your kindness" and they will turn around and everybody will have a better day!

Cheers!

RonHarper Posted at 2017-5-24 19:01
He just needs a spark of karma to assist him in making his frustrations disappear like a vanishing phantom. Inspire him to do so and it will be a breeze instead of a typhoon of disappointment.

Hahaha, real funny.
Cheers pal!

Phantomski Posted at 2017-5-25 11:53
it's a mindset, some of us come to vent or complain and ask for help or support.. Some Of us just come to voice frustration... Forums ARE for getting help.. if you do not want help, go elsewhere.. If you want help, ask for it, and 99% of the time you will get it. It's that simple. Ah.. u may not always get what you thought you gonna get.. but that's life ;)

Forums are for discussing wathever you want as long as you dont respect others, or use inaproppiate language and I never did.

I am dissapointed by DJI technical support, that's my feeling... they are bad and should improve their software, that's my opinion. I do recognized I didn't have enough time to check for solutions in the forum, instead I did it directly with DJI technical support.

Having only a couple of days before the product warranty expired and trusting DJI would considered the fact that the problems the drone was experiencing were not caused directly by me (because I didnt crash it or unfollow their video tutorials and technicians instructions) I sent the drone to their offices only to find out I need to pay over 200 USD for something that wasn't my mistake.

It's a mindest... some people prefer not to share their bad experiences and avoid others to get into the same situations, some Of us prefer to do it.

Cali1988 Posted at 2017-5-25 12:35
I did check before sending my drone to DJI offices. I even chatted with the technical support staff, followed their instructions, send them videos showing my drone´s behaviour, but nothing worked. They were the ones who recommended me to sent it to their offices in America.

No....what I said was did you ask for help on the forum?  Not with tech support.

Again I truly believe there are plenty of knowledgeable and helpful people on the forum that can usually solve 99% of the problems that come up.
And usually DJI support staff like Ken, Dave Natalia and Mindy chime in with good tips too.  I know tech support tries, but sometimes I feel, the best answers are on the forum.

Good Luck

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-5-25 17:10
I think when you get down to the nitty gritty of these things you end up tearing your hair out.

Op couldn't update his drone.

It's very easy to jump to conclusions. When I said "I sent it" I just simplified it instead of saying "The company where I got the drone from sent it", cause to be honest I don't think it is relevant.

I am from Panama City, Panama. Products warranty work quite different here. We don't manufacture any of these products like you guys do in America. I'm not only talking about drones, also laptops, phones, you name it. If your device stop working you contact your seller and they will contact the manufacturer as simple as that. Most brands don't have technical support or authorized technicians here in Panama and still companies like DJI sell their goods to them knowing this, so it's not strange at all. At this point I had two options:

1. Trying to have my drone fixed be a random guy I found on the Internet who says he fixes drones here in Panama and losing the product  warranty.
2. Consulting DJI technicians and sent it to their headquarters in America.


My surprise is that maybe the first option would have been better and, as mentioned in other replies  
my mistake was never considering this community in the first place.

Btw,my seller already tried to have the drone fixed for free, they emailed DJI about all these, but it didn't work, they stated that the product warranty doesn't cover fixing errors caused by failed firmware updates.

  

Cali1988 Posted at 2017-5-25 17:15
Well then maybe we could all learn something new from this. Instead of the "Ready to Go" message a "Firmware Update is required"message popped out and no matter how many times I tried to skip it, it kept appearing and didn't let me fly the drone, so I guess that there are cases in which the drone forces you to update.

And yes, maybe I wasn't lucky enough. I tried at least 3 times with different technicians, they asked me to do several things: turning the drone and the controller on and off, formatting the SD card over and over, download the firmware and install it, pressing a button in the gimbal...but none of those things worked. All that after sending them videos of the drone beeping loudly and behaving "weird". I also sent them the content of the txt file where you can see whether the update process failed or succeed.

"I guess that there are cases in which the drone forces you to update"
No ... just wording that makes people think they have to update.  
The app gives you the message and you can happily ignore it and just fly.

btw ... Did any of the DJI help people suggest connecting the Phantom to the computer with a cable and using the Assistant 2 software?
That's usually the easiest way to deal with update issues for the P4 pro and a good way to roll back when you have to.

Cali1988 Posted at 2017-5-25 17:53
Forums are for discussing wathever you want as long as you dont respect others, or use inaproppiate language and I never did.

I am dissapointed by DJI technical support, that's my feeling... they are bad and should improve their software, that's my opinion. I do recognized I didn't have enough time to check for solutions in the forum, instead I did it directly with DJI technical support.

Well, you are right, I guess they ARE to discuss whatever... most of us assume that people just come here to complain, and the pattern is, that they do complain, but often do not come back nor try to figure out what help they can get...  I did not mean to offend either, but it's one of those things that bugs me and many others, because we want to help, and often cannot.. Mind you, some issues are beyond help - due to time or frustration....
Hope you will have an opportunity to get some value out of the forums, as well as from DJI themselves... They DO have one of the best drone families on the market, but.. they are not free from both, technical issues, and.. especially customer service issues..  
Best of luck - hope droning will remain with you, whether it's DJI or another vendor ;)