Hi guys,
I am just curious, we all see issues reported everyday, and DJI agents also replied quickly  (highly appreciate that).
And up until now, I see that all threads end up with "Please extract the flight date....", so I am curious, has anyone actually got the feedback after that from DJI?
If yes, can you please share the answer or the solution from DJI to you, because that would help other to avoid the similar case and know what to expect if similar situations happen.
Thanks.

im curious to know whats the results of these analysis... haha

Yes, whatever happened to all these "Spark fell from the sky" reports...that oddly seem to not occur anymore !?

I'm still awaiting the reply - we will see

Webdrone Posted at 2017-7-12 02:21
Yes, whatever happened to all these "Spark fell from the sky" reports...that oddly seem to not occur anymore !?

My Spark fell out of the sky and was lost. It was just hovering over a lake at about 15ft above the water and 220ft from me. I was flying with the remote watching it. Launched with 100% battery and the logs show 76% left when it shut off. No error warnings on the log. It just ends. AC was not retrievable. Refresh was purchased but cant be used because I cant find the SPARK.

I contacted DJI and sent all the flight logs they requested. It was an obvious critical battery malfunction. I had over 50 flights previous to this incident on my SPARK. I have hundreds of flights logged with my P4s and dozens of flights on a relatives Mavic Pro.

I'm continuing to pursue my claim. There are many people in the same boat that I am. At this point I'm not sure I would ever spend another dollar on a DJI product.


They are refusing to replace the drone at this point and offering 30% discount on a replacement. I didn't accept.

More times than not, dji are very shy when it comes to sharing what might have happened.

Having said that dji have been very fair in there judgement 's of crashes, if there is a malfunction they will replace AC , and are very consistent about this.

One thing we must all remember there are a lot of new flyers first time drone owners, who can be anxious to get drone up in the air, and sometimes the necessary precautions are not taken.

Lots of crashes owners blaming dji, is not a new phenomenon when it comes to launches like spark, it was the very same with Mavic, and I see the same mistakes been made by newbies, and although a lot of them feel dji is at fault, if they look at themselves and what they might have done wrong, a clearer picture will develop.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-12 11:09
More times than not, dji are very shy when it comes to sharing what might have happened.

Having said that dji have been very fair in there judgement 's of crashes, if there is a malfunction they will replace AC , and are very consistent about this.

I think if it wasn't for lots of reports of disconnecting controllers, sparks flying off randomly, gestures not working then people wouldn't be in doubt about the spark

Blackforce Posted at 2017-7-12 11:30
I think if it wasn't for lots of reports of disconnecting controllers, sparks flying off randomly, gestures not working then people wouldn't be in doubt about the spark

I do hear what your saying, but hundreds of thousands of these AC are out there working fine, I realise gesture mode needs refining its new to drones and basically we are all beta testers here and I'm sure dji will improve this technology with updates.

I've had great days with gesture (excluding dronie increasing height) I also had some frustrating days, but I'm confident this will improve.

I've had no problems with disconnecting with remote, but because this is new, I take time out to be on the right channel, to fly in the right areas, i.e. Areas with little interference. I've had some problems getting connected but got that sorted out with something that suits me.

I think if people are patient this is not an out of the box throw it up in the air toy, it takes a small bit of know how and a little bit of time, and I'm convinced if others do this they will get the best out of this little drone.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-12 11:09
More times than not, dji are very shy when it comes to sharing what might have happened.

Having said that dji have been very fair in there judgement 's of crashes, if there is a malfunction they will replace AC , and are very consistent about this.

They admit they don't know what happened with my "crash". They don't seem to want to admit that some of them seem to shut off in flight and drop. It has to be a catastrophic defect as they cant point to anything that I did wrong in the flight logs. It just shuts off and drops. I was watching it when it happened. Unfortunately it was over a lake and I can't retrieve it.

I'm a confident pilot. I've owned multiple drones from multiple manufacturers. I'm not a newbie and don't get stressed out when flying. The distance next to my screen name is only a small fraction of my experience with DJI drones. My incident was not pilot error. I expect DJI to do the right thing and won't settle for anything less.

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-12 11:48
They admit they don't know what happened with my "crash". They don't seem to want to admit that some of them seem to shut off in flight and drop. It has to be a catastrophic defect as they cant point to anything that I did wrong in the flight logs. It just shuts off and drops. I was watching it when it happened. Unfortunately it was over a lake and I can't retrieve it.

I'm a confident pilot. I've owned multiple drones from multiple manufacturers. I'm not a newbie and don't get stressed out when flying. The distance next to my screen name is only a small fraction of my experience with DJI drones. My incident was not pilot error. I expect DJI to do the right thing and won't settle for anything less.

I've seen many over on Mavic where they just dropped out of the air, complete power shut down, a lot dji have replaced aircraft, and rightly so, if it's a malfunction that's not pilots fault.
But you will also find on the back of your crash or malfunction, their will be 10 others who will say same thing happened, whether it did or didn't.

I hope dji recognise your crash was malfunction and replace your drone. Good luck.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-12 11:58
I've seen many over on Mavic where they just dropped out of the air, complete power shut down, a lot dji have replaced aircraft, and rightly so, if it's a malfunction that's not pilots fault.
But you will also find on the back of your crash or malfunction, their will be 10 others who will say same thing happened, whether it did or didn't.

Thanks

Here is my flight log.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/N653KZDOIHYTJPXF4EM7/

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-12 13:50
Thanks

Here is my flight log.

Hi BriRi , looking at those logs they don't show much , everything looks fine , log obviously cut short after what can only be a power cut, I've seen similar over at Mavic forum with sudden power cut no explanation, and dji have given warranty, I don't see why they wouldn't.

They may be able to get more from your flight log, see if you can get some answers from them and maybe come back and share here.
Good luck...

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-13 11:13
Hi BriRi , looking at those logs they don't show much , everything looks fine , log obviously cut short after what can only be a power cut, I've seen similar over at Mavic forum with sudden power cut no explanation, and dji have given warranty, I don't see why they wouldn't.

They may be able to get more from your flight log, see if you can get some answers from them and maybe come back and share here.

Exactly what I thought. DJI thought so also after reviewing logs.

My SPARK is somewhere in the bottom of that lake so I can't return it to them.

They offered to give me 30% off on a new one. They refused to warranty the defect that they agreed the logs showed. I think they should replace the drone (100%).

I really don't know what to do at this point. I keep asking to speak with a supervisor and they refuse. I'm still stuck emailing the same person that originally took my claim. How can they refuse to let me speak to someone higher up the chain? I've never heard of a company refusing to allow a customer to elevate a complaint to a supervisor/manager. No successful companies anyways...

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-13 11:38
Exactly what I thought. DJI thought so also after reviewing logs.

My SPARK is somewhere in the bottom of that lake so I can't return it to them.

Well surely they have to tell you what caused crash, or sudden loss of power, they can't just fob you off like that.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-13 12:00
Well surely they have to tell you what caused crash, or sudden loss of power, they can't just fob you off like that.

You would think...


Here is the response



Hi Brian,

Thanks for your patience.

For your claimed case CAS-764980-S5Q2M9, we have already finished the analysis, and the result is as follows:

1. The aircraft was controlled by pilot in GPS mode;

2. T=03:51, h=4 m, d=64.2 m, the pilot was pushing yaw stick to the right, then the flight record ended suddenly.

With the record ended without any sign of abnormality, we could not verify what happened afterwards.

We truly appreciate your support for DJI, and especially applied for a 30% off coupon for aircraft without charger and remote:

http://store.dji.com/product/spark

If you would like to accept the offer, please reply to my email for example “I accept the offer”. Should you have more questions, please feel free to let me know.

Best Regards,

@@@@@@

DJI Tech Support

http://www.dji.com/

Funny that they say since the record ended they don't know what happened... Unless it was in teleported into another dimension it must have shut off where it was... Otherwise the telemetry would have shown change in altitude or position etc... Since it was over a lake I believe any rational person would therefore assume it fell into the lake rather than defying gravity.

Back to your point, they continue to "fob" me off.

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-13 14:27
You would think...

Last movement yaw right , so how would that drop the spark into the water, I would ask them to have another look at this, there is no sign of pilot error.

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-13 14:27
You would think...

Have you told them that you don't except the 30% offer?

LintStalker Posted at 2017-7-13 15:02
Have you told them that you don't except the 30% offer?

Yes, I've told them I didn't accept the offer and ask for a supervisor to contact me. Repeatedly. They say that their supervisor does not talk with or email customers. I told them service is the key word in customer service and continue to ask to speak with someone up the chain. They continue to offer the 30% and refuse to let me speak with anyone else.

I haven't given up though and will continue to pester them.

I did point out that even their own engineers could not find pilot error or other cause for the incident. I've asked that they have the engineer review again and tell me what I could've done differently. Still waiting to hear back.

I know they are swamped with claims and attempted scams but I sent them everything they asked for. It seems cut and dried. This is obviously a problem with the SPARK. Maybe not all but it seems to be common reading this forum and SparkPilots.com.

It kinda has bummed me out. Haven't flown my P4 once since this customer service fiasco began. I'm closing in on 500 miles of travel  on the P4 so it's seen a few flights;)

I'll keep y'all posted

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-13 16:02
Yes, I've told them I didn't accept the offer and ask for a supervisor to contact me. Repeatedly. They say that their supervisor does not talk with or email customers. I told them service is the key word in customer service and continue to ask to speak with someone up the chain. They continue to offer the 30% and refuse to let me speak with anyone else.

I haven't given up though and will continue to pester them.

Same case as me and my Spark was power cut itself during hovering on the Air. DJI claims that they cannot find out the crash reason as the flight log was stop suddenly.

Why we have to pay the repairing cost for the issue of the Spark ? The cost was even more expensive than the refresh care after discount ! I think no user command and error will case the shut down of the Spark remotely during the flight ! Obviously it was the issue of the Spark or battery. I had check the battery after the accident and it was locked perfectly and can power on back.

Spark power off during flight was a serious issue and not only happen to me and you. Many of the user got this issue before and why DJI not looking at the problem but claim us the repairing cost instead ?

Absolutely disappointed with this company

My Spark also fell from the sky yesterday

I was using the RC and an OnePlus3 Android phone.  I was flying in GPS mode at 226Ft altitude. At  2m 5.7s in to the flight with 86% battery, the screen froze and my drone fell on hard cement. The battery popped out somewhere in the grass, nowhere to be seen, all the props destroyed, one of the motors is slightly bend and the top-case scratched.
I hope DJi will give me a warranty for my spark.
I do have my DJI care refresh and I've sent it and the RC already.
My concern is about safety and a general confidence in a drone which decides to drop like a rock.

Flight log below.
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/M8YOJ169HKRDIRQ03GFS/

Was your downward vision positioning on or off over water?

Since there was no sign of pilot error in the log, the burden of proof should be on them that the crash was not due to technical error. What about a class action?

fans7666527f Posted at 2017-7-14 08:39
Since there was no sign of pilot error in the log, the burden of proof should be on them that the crash was not due to technical error. What about a class action?

What if it hit a bird?

Same thing happened to the Spark we just bought for my wife. She was flying with the remote controller, aircraft was 180 feet altitude and 127 feet away when it disconnected and Spark is gone. Battery was at 76%. Now we're stuck because although we did purchase DJI Care Refresh it is no good without the aircraft.

I think it's a bit of a stretch for someone on this forum who doesn't represent DJI to make claims on their behalf based simply on what they read on this forum that DJI always replace aircraft that malfunction and are very consistent about doing so. One could surmise quite the opposite from also reading what is on this forum.

PimpDawg Posted at 2017-7-14 09:42
Same thing happened to the Spark we just bought for my wife. She was flying with the remote controller, aircraft was 180 feet altitude and 127 feet away when it disconnected and Spark is gone. Battery was at 76%. Now we're stuck because although we did purchase DJI Care Refresh it is no good without the aircraft.

I think it's a bit of a stretch for someone on this forum who doesn't represent DJI to make claims on their behalf based simply on what they read on this forum that DJI always replace aircraft that malfunction and are very consistent about doing so. One could surmise quite the opposite from also reading what is on this forum.

You should read the post before you try to twist what people say, don't be just waffling on for the sake of it.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-14 09:18
What if it hit a bird?

Yeah right, Hallmark. It hit a bird, eh? You seem to think that's highly probable. Why not a meteor or a UFO?

Here is latest reply...

Brian, yes, we are not able to figure out the cause and we agree, you did not do anything wrong. While there was also no aircraft's malfunction found from the existing record.

The result is inconclusive, not pilot error or product malfunction, but inconclusive according to the record. The 30% offer is already the best offer for you in this case. We really are not able to get higher discount. Even the supervisor also need to offer the solution based on our warranty police, and 30% was the final solution for you.



As the customer in this dispute, shouldn't inconclusive mean that they make me whole and they write off the loss? Its only inconclusive because they don't want to admit that my drone shut off in flight because of some sort of defect.

Could it have been a bird strike, lightening strike or even a large bass jumping out of the lake and eating it whole (while instantaneously shutting down the telemetry feed to my RC/iPhone)??? Sure, I guess....... other than the fact that I watched it shut off and drop right in front of me!!!!!

Pretty ridiculous to use "inconclusive" and "not pilot error or product malfunction" in the same sentence. Contradiction? Yes.

Abhorrent approach to dealing with customers. I agree with you, they should make things right for you when they can't figure out what went wrong while even admitting fault doesn't lie with you. The negative publicity brought on themselves is far worse than writing off a replacement drone.

^^ This is why I am using my State Farm policy for my wife's Spark replacement because DJI rarely admits fault and fighting for it is a fruitless effort.

fans7666527f Posted at 2017-7-14 10:45
Yeah right, Hallmark. It hit a bird, eh? You seem to think that's highly probable. Why not a meteor or a UFO?

I didn't say it hit a bird, but there are two things I'm quite sure of.

1/ you don't know what happened.
2/ it does say in your manual not to fly over water, so taking a class action isn't going to do much good, and to suggest it is ridiculous.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-14 13:12
I didn't say it hit a bird, but there are two things I'm quite sure of.

1/ you don't know what happened.

I recommend that you read again what I wrote instead of stating things that have nothing to do with the issue here. Or, you know what, don't.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-14 13:12
I didn't say it hit a bird, but there are two things I'm quite sure of.

1/ you don't know what happened.

Sorry, but that in no way absolves DJI of its responsibilities. All the warnings and recommendations in the world don't trump manufacturing defect.

It also says avoid trees, crowds and obstacles.... So if it shuts off and crashes into a crowd DJI is not in any way responsible to warranty the drone because you were over a crowd (not talking about responsibility for damage to people or property, just the drone)?

If it shuts off and falls into the top of a tree and can't be retrieved they get a pass by your reasoning.

I doubt very seriously that there would ever be a class action suit because I'm positive that DJI knows there is a problem and is working to correct it before it goes on too long. Their calculation of what percentage have this problem vs likelihood of getting nailed is strongly in their favor. Us little guys don't really have much chance. Its kind of sad that they care more about the extra dollars than they do about customer service and satisfaction.

I'm going to continue to complain though because other people with the same problem may benefit from it. You will also benefit by improved/upgraded firmware.

Warnings are for the most part useless, otherwise Takata would've had a warning "not to get into an accident" on its airbags.... Firestone did warn everyone to check their tire pressures before driving but somehow that darn tread separation issue bit them pretty hard.... Or  "please sign this consent form so you can't sue me after your surgery"... Useless;)

fans7666527f Posted at 2017-7-14 13:52
I recommend that you read again what I wrote instead of stating things that have nothing to do with the issue here. Or, you know what, don't.

That's something you should have done, before you put your foot in your mouth, maybe you should go back and see what I said about BriRi log file ,

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-14 14:06
That's something you should have done, before you put your foot in your mouth, maybe you should go back and see what I said about BriRi log file ,

Again, not the issue: I refer to what you answered to my comment above of course. Please don't think I would be interested in reading all your other postings. But, hey, no problem, your behavior disqualifies you from that I would further communicate with you, so: have a great day!

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-14 14:02
Sorry, but that in no way absolves DJI of its responsibilities. All the warnings and recommendations in the world don't trump manufacturing defect.

It also says avoid trees, crowds and obstacles.... So if it shuts off and crashes into a crowd DJI is not in any way responsible to warranty the drone because you were over a crowd (not talking about responsibility for damage to people or property, just the drone)?

The difficulty here is there seems to be no way of finding out exactly what happened to your spark because there is no dat file, if there was then end result would may have been different.

If it falls into a tree and can't be recovered I'm sure same result would occur.
My answer was to the post regarding taking a class action, maybe you should go read the thread posts.

I think we may get a clearer indication of how dji handles a case where AC is recovered and dat file analysed.

While it may be a manufacturing defect, the problem is you have no way of proving it. If you had your dat file then both you and dji could prove what happened.

I'm sorry you didn't get your warranty, but maybe time will tell a different story.

fans7666527f Posted at 2017-7-14 14:13
Again, not the issue: I refer to what you answered to my comment above of course. Please don't think I would be interested in reading all your other postings. But, hey, no problem, your behavior disqualifies you from that I would further communicate with you, so: have a great day!

I did read your post and I did answer it,

Hi guys, sorry that I did not create this thread to make war but just to know what is going on with those cases and what to expect from DJI. So, guys, please do not take this personal.
More update with the cases and DJI repsonses would be appreciate but please keep it cool.
Thank you,

Phung Do,

Sorry to get sidetracked earlier.

From extensive time on the forums as well as PhantomPilots over the last couple of years it seems that DJI would warranty certain flyaway instances when the pilots P3/4, Inspire or Mavic would take off never to be seen again. Those cases had only flight data from the controller/phone to analyze. Frequently these flight would be lost in the ocean. Many cases over many previous DJI platforms were replaced with new or refurbed aircraft.

From my personal experience, and from what I have been able to research on this forum and also SparkPilots, it appears that DJI has decided to change course and not warranty aircraft that were lost by whatever cause.

In fact, it appears that they are charging individuals for Refresh replacement when it appears it should have been a warranty issue.

This is troubling to me not only because I lost my SPARK, but I'm also concerned that this is a bad precedent going forward for all of us.

I'll probably just sell my remaining fly more combo stuff and stick to my P4.

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-14 17:48
Phung Do,

Sorry to get sidetracked earlier.

Thank you for your feedback.
According to your case, and Mr.Hallmark's comment. Can I come to a conclusion that you'd better wear a sport cam when playing Spark to record as a proof if the drone suddenly falls from the sky?
This is actually a really sensitive case where as being a user, I would definitely want a compensation from DJI since that is totally not pilot's fault.
However, put myself in DJI's shoes, they also cannot compensate to every cases all around the world, and also do not have the ability to check the validity of each case.
I do think rather than offering 30% percent off, DJI should try to come up with some better method to check the crash, and assure customers deserve the compensation.
I am not taking sides here, but let say Mr. BriRi's Spark crash is not his fault, then offering 30% is quite nonsense because who would pay more to buy another faulty product, even it is 50% off.

I agree also that if DJI cannot detect the issue, how can they fix. So, rather than trying to fix something they don not know, should they try to develop somekind of hardware to protect the drone from being damaged (parachute for drone for example, just saying ^^),

Even though I had not have serious technical issue with Spark so far, but from the cases report, especially Mr. BriRi case, I started feeling a bit reget selling my DSLR to buy Spark.

Appreciate more thoughts from other users as well.

However, we all must agree that DJI is not fair to customer.
Let say cases are there, all around the world, everyday. If DJI is confident with Spark, they should let us know that: "Dear customer, we have tested carefully and assure that Spark is working correctly", then I will accept that.
Or if they think Spark still have issues, they shoud say:"Dear customer, we believe Spark still having unknown issues, we are trying to figure it out, in the meantime, please do not fly and wait until xxx days for us to release the fix", then I would be happy and wait for them.

Now, they are going in the Grey zone, they are not confident in their work/product, and not have the guts to accept their fault either. I don't think that is an ethical economy. I sometimes (maybe not the truth) got a feeling that I am paying to be a guinea pig, paying to be a tester so that DJI can improve the product and get more money in the future (Again, this might not their intention but that is what they make me feel now).

Hey, I do agree with Mr. Hallmark in another post that every new drone got issues at the release, even Mavic, Inspire 2,.. However, shouldn't DJI do something different in the latter drone, rather than going with the same strategy and treat customer as the guinea pig to improve their product? It doesn't sound ethical to me.

For now, the biggest question from all the Spark users to DJI: WHEN THERE WILL BE NEW FIRWARE, AND HOW MUCH CONFIDENT YOU ARE IN FIXING THE ISSUES WITH NEW FIRMWARE?