http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... ra=page%3D1&lang=en
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... age%3D1&lang=en

Not saying anyone broke the law in the criminal sense.  I'm saying that the way the law reads the burden of proof lies with the manufacturer, and in absence of proof the law requires that they honor their published warranty.  I'm not in anyway an attorney, but I went through this with the issue I had with my Hyundai and got quite the education.  The only wild card here is that the drone is gone. So what I was saying to the OP was that his best option would be to push this to the court room and see what DJI has for a pain threshold. I'm guessing they don't want a lot of bad press.  I'm guessing they don't want to spend a lot of money fighting this either.  For them it's a $300 deal. Not really worth it to fight. My guess is they will cave just like Hyundai did.  Does the guy have a case if they fight back?  Who knows. I think he does, but I contest it will never get that far. It's small claims so it's easy to file at least in the US.

Assuming the OP gets an RMA and pays to send it back....that's when the process starts. DJI cannot be accused of not standing behind something if the customer doesn't return the item as stated in the published material.

Maybe I am looking at the wrong warranty?

Gary, are you saying that if my Phantom gets lost in the middle of a lake - I can claim, and win in court, that it was defective without returning it to DJI?

DJI has to do what they think is right. If they cave to the first person to apply pressure, they then have to cave to everyone. How would you feel if your friend dropper their iphone in the toilet and they gave her a new one, and then you did the same and they told you no go?

Consistency of some kind is important. If I was DJI I'd say nothing - no offers of anything...UNTIL the unit was sent back for inspection as per the warranty. Offers of a discounted unit are over and above the warranty....

However, that's somewhat of a good idea for a future warranty - prorate - something like
1. Within the first 30 days defective units can be returned or replaced.
2. 31-90 days they will offer a new unit or repairs at 50% off
3. 91-180 days they will offer 40% off
4. Remainder of full year you get 30% off....

etc.

I sold heating equipment for many years and it had warranties of that type. Many of them were much worse....they only offered you the PART pro-rate, so they would send you a hunk of steel at 50% off if your boiler got a leak.

myron@iwantlemo Posted at 2015-3-24 07:15
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... ra=page%3D1&lang=en
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthre ...

He's the man!

Also.....
http://www.uavrepairshop.com/

in reply to everyone.  I do have the phantom.  I swam out and recovered it from the ocean floor. DJI have NEVER asked me to send it back for inspection.

No my guess is the very first thing that will be of issue is the fact that the drone is lost and not recoverable, and the argument will be who is at fault for that fact.  You could argue that the OP is perfectly willing to let DJI inspect the unit for fault but since the Dorne dropped from the sky that is no longer possible.  So again the burden of proof is not on the consumer.  In regards to your thought process regarding DJI having to do the same thing for everyone???  Since when?   Somebody brings you to court you've got a cost benefit analysis to do. If it cost less to just send the guy a new one than that's what they do.  They have already demonstrated a tendency to grease the squeaky wheel by moving the 30% to 50% as an offer in compromise. These things are a distraction that's why most companies don't even bother contesting this type of stuff.

gary.ok@hotmail Posted at 2015-3-24 08:22
No my guess is the very first thing that will be of issue is the fact that the drone is lost and not ...

PLease read above. I am the OP. I have the drone! I recovered it from the ocean floor! I repeat DJI have NEVER asked to send the unit back for inspection! They offered me 30% discount if i returned the RX. I told them this was unacceptable.
I dont know what other people are doing with their drones, but in 4 months of flying it nearly every day, i have never crashed or had a fly away until the day it dropped from the sky.

Their claim is because i lost the SD card and therefore video footage they will not honour a warranty claim.

Sorry when I posted your post about having the drone was not there yet. Anyway sounds like you got there canned answer.  Just my opinion but as I have said many times I would fight like hell with them.  They are gonna throw that out and see who will be dumb enough to accept it.   Write them a very specific letter with a specific time frame for a response, and if they don't make it right take them to court.

simon@simsurf.c Posted at 2015-3-24 08:26
PLease read above. I am the OP. I have the drone! I recovered it from the ocean floor! I repeat DJI ...

Hmm interesting about the sd card and video. I will always record every flight going forward just in case. Has it dried out and have you tried turning it on? Does it have any physical damage? Were any of the motors running or did it literally drop like a rock indicating a possibly battery power failure? Maybe they can't properly diagnose if there was a part malfunction since it crashed into in salt water so that's why they said not to send it in?
Since you do a lot of flying over water consider getting something like this.

http://www.amazon.com/FPVfactory ... raphy/dp/B00KHGUC6E

rdc4444@hotmail Posted at 2015-3-24 09:48
Hmm interesting about the sd card and video. I will always record every flight going forward just i ...

the battery melted and caught fire so i havent tried to turn it on again. The motors feel all seized up anyway.

The phantom dropped from the sky like a rock while i was flying at about ten metres height above the water.

If you have flown that thing each day for 4 months and never crashed you are the new Chuck Yeager - well, even better since he crashed a number of times.

That amount of flying is probably more than most other people do in two years.

In any case, good luck with your claim.

According the flowchart at:
http://www.dji.com/service

They probably determined that it crashed into water it was useless to send it back for inspection. That's probably true in most cases as they would have a hard time figuring anything out at that point.

As far as Gary's "be a PITA and you will eventually get something", that's simply not the case. DJI has more money, resources and time than most of us do. Thousands of people have crashed and lost their Phantom. MANY thousands. I'd be amazed if anyone can find a couple dozen examples of them being taken to court and/or giving free units or repairs to avoid such! Sure, they give them to journalists or other people who are big influencers, but not to your average joe.

Having been in retail, manufacturing, importing and other such trades....gary is right in this sense. If any customers wants to spend endless amounts of time being a PITA they can usually eventually get something a bit more than the average person. However, when you add up all the hours and aggravation - AND, you figure on these facts:

1. It could have been your fault, gods faults, gopro's fault, the fault of your FPV setup, the US Navy's faults, etc.
AND
2. If you get a new Phantom and do the same thing - you WILL lose it again....

So you get to decide.

If I were you I would take the 30% off discount. Is it really worth all the aggravation, time and money to fight over a $1100 drone?  I've mentally prepared myself for,the day my drone malfunctions and comes crashing down. I just hope it happens later and not sooner. by then maybe there will be drones available with fail safe features or parachutes to help mitigate in flight malfunctions and crashes.

rdc4444@hotmail Posted at 2015-3-24 10:43
If I were you I would take the 30% off discount. Is it really worth all the aggravation, time and mo ...

I dont see how you can accept this. If the drone malfunctions the product is faulty! It seems basic to me. And its more than $1100 when you add the FPV setup. Around $1500AUS to replace what i had not including a new gopro.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-3-24 10:27
If you have flown that thing each day for 4 months and never crashed you are the new Chuck Yeager -  ...

I dont understand how people are crashing their drones so much? They are easy to fly. I have 4 months of video footage, where i havent crashed in one single instance. You take off, fly around, and land? I dont know why that makes me special?

Honestly I feel your pain. I just think you are wasting your time fighting it in a no win situation IMHO. Based on your own descriptiion of what happened it sounds like you had a defective battery and complete battery power failure which unfortunately is not covered under dji warranty. That and the fact you crashed into water and have no video of the accident and I really don't understand how you can expect a brand new phantom. If you really feel you have a strong case then please move forward and let us know how everything turns out. I wish you the best.

How is a defective battery not covered by a warranty? In Australia if you buy a phone and the battery fails you get a new phone replaced. If a product fails the company is obligated to repair or replace the product. What will the video show thats so special? It will just show the phantom dropping from the sky in about 1 second and then underwater? The can check the phantom and battery which caught fire and melted. I have witnesses who will say exactly what happened in the small claims tribunal.

Quick question Simon, Did you buy the Phantom from an Australian dealer or direct from DJI over the internet ?
Australian consumer protection law states that the supplying dealer is your first point of contact in any warranty claim.
Also, who did the modifications to the Phantom, FPV / gimbal / iOSD etc. ?  

simon@simsurf.c Posted at 2015-3-24 10:53
I dont see how you can accept this. If the drone malfunctions the product is faulty! It seems basi ...

This is the attitude of many of the newer buyers - but it simply has not been the case in this hobby for the last number of decades.

Therein lies the confusion....

It's like we're back in the 1910 era with airplanes - people expected them to crash. Finally, by about 1930, they advanced to the point where they rarely crashed.

However - up until recently no R/C hobbyists that I know of expressed that "It should simply work" attitude - I have only heard it in the last year or so.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that expectation - just that it has not been the case for the history of this hobby. Therefore it's unlikely that a manufacturer would expect their customers to feel this way.

It may be that this hobby is not for you. That's not a critique, just a statement of fact. If you expect the above (it works or they replace - even if you destroy it), I don't think any craft is going to satisfy you.

I spent a year flying $30-$100 quads and destroying every one of them....that way I didn't feel as bad when I lost them (and I lost two quads with cameras to the wind!).

I'm going to quote some stuff from my two books - again, these are my views and opinions....

"About returns and refunds

It is rare for a new quadcopter to have factory defects - more likely, the customer takes it out the box, flies it into a couple walls and then claims it’s broken. In other cases, the customer simply does not know how to calibrate or fly the drone. Many vendors do not accept returns of used quadcopters - as well they shouldn’t - since most damage is of the “you crashed it, you broke it” variety. However, for those cases where something is truly wrong out-of-the-box, the return policies of Amazon and other vendors (and even paypal payment) could come in handy.  Using the Chinese vendors, very popular due to low pricing, usually means that you cannot return the product even if defective in the box. Depending on the vendor, you may be able to get a replacement part for no charge.
Higher end vendors such as Horizon Hobby (Blade Quadcopters) and Traxxas have better customer service, return and warranty policies. However, you will pay more for their machines. It’s up to you, the consumer, as to which makes most sense to you."

"Repair of your DJI Phantom

If you do have an actual initial factory defect, you may find the DJI level of customer service to be less than you expect - this industry simply has not caught up with consumer demands. DJI does have offices all over the world, but in general your best bet is to put a number of flights on your new Phantom in your first weeks of ownership so that you can determine if it is solid and reliable prior to the one month period for returns available through Amazon and many credit cards and paypal merchants.

In terms of customer support, you will get good answers and helpful advise from many of the R/C forums around the net. DJI has some employees who frequent these forums and help with some support. As of 2015, DJI even maintains their own forum on DJI.com - so you can check for answers on the corporate site.

Although the Phantom quadcopters are quite reliable, sooner or later many owners are going to need repair services. In most cases, this is due to operator error such as hard landings, collusions with trees and buildings and landing in water. Very simple repairs and replacements can be DIY (do it yourself) - examples including propeller and landing gear replacement. Those who are handy with a soldering iron can replace motors, ESC (electronic speed controllers) and other common parts.

Warranty service is almost non-existent since most users destroy parts by improper use or crashes. However, quite a few companies provide repair and rebuild services. It’s very likely that more and more repair shops will open as the demand for services now exceeds the supply."

Axeman Posted at 2015-3-24 13:17
I think I will mix me a drink. This is a hobby and it's supposed to be enjoyable.
The whole damn gro ...

I don't think it's a matter of battle lines - more a matter of that new users and shoppers can read this stuff and maybe make a determination if this hobby is for them.

You and I probably subscribe to the "don't fly anything you can't afford to lose" theory, but many people think "I paid for it - it should fly and come back no matter what".  

Maybe DJI needs to have more warnings about the nature of the hobby. I was trained early because none of my first quads ever lasted 3 months. So when the Phantom came along and it worked more reliably, I  was overjoyed. It's all relative...

If I lose my newer P2V+ I'll be frustrated as heck.....I'd probably then buy another P1 which is much more reliable (IMHO, less systems on board) since I do mostly still photography anyway.

Lots of people ask me if they should buy an Inspire. The answer is the same - only if you can afford to crash, lose or repair it. Heck, look at Space-X - they send up these rockets that cost 30 million or more and many blow up on the launch pad or at 100 feet....

While I am not that much of a pioneer myself, I do appreciate those who forge ahead as they light the way for all of us.

simon@simsurf.c Posted at 2015-3-24 14:28
How is a defective battery not covered by a warranty? In Australia if you buy a phone and the batter ...

Yeah I agree however I'm just quoting DJI warranty terms and conditions. Check it out for yourself....

Its under #2 L

http://www.dji.com/service/warranty-service

I was very close to ordering an Inspire 1 but then I thought to myself what if it flew away or came crashing down how would I feel about losing a $3000 drone? That is too much money for me to lose in an instance.  I decided to hold off for now. I have enough phantoms to keep me preoccupied and will wait till I lose one or two before deciding what I should buy next. Hopefully by then there will be drones with fail safe features or parachutes that will mitigate the loss or damage of an in flight failure.

Happens to even the most sophisticated and well maintained flying vehicles in the world... These were under warranty by the U.S taxpayers for the cost of over 2 billion dollars!!!

myron@iwantlemo Posted at 2015-3-23 16:15
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... ra=page%3D1&lang=en
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthre ...

in reply to everyone. My P3 advance drop from ski only few days after purchase. Like all, did safety check and prep work before flying.  After numerous e-mail and few  weeks wait, DJI  closed the ticket no explanation zero zip just closed the ticket. Thankfully I was testing the P3 in my backyard when dropped from ski, no chance of causing an injury to anyone.
Their silence and lack of respect for safety is not acceptable.  If anybody has the same story to tell and live in southern California please contact me.  I am looking to press charges and report them to federal authorities. I have well documented my case plus saved all the flight records prior to uploading to their server.

regards,

Henry A.

Shalla, I'm having a very similar issue to you. They void my warranty and charge me for all the cost for a reason that they can't extract the flight data from my damaged aircraft even if I have the flight record from the go app. Mine is a month old and also P3A. however, I am located in the Philippines. I'm just thinking how many phantom users out there are at risk for this issue.

Shalla_57 Posted at 2016-4-2 05:41
in reply to everyone. My P3 advance drop from ski only few days after purchase. Like all, did safe ...

Hi Shalla,

What's the update of your case? I have very similar issue.

Shalla_57 Posted at 2016-4-2 05:41
in reply to everyone. My P3 advance drop from ski only few days after purchase. Like all, did safe ...

Other thread that you can use as reference. the same issue.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-35424-1-1.html
http://forum.dji.com/thread-54630-1-1.html
http://forum.dji.com/thread-55659-1-1.html

I purchased a DJI Phantom 4 drone at Best Buy a few months ago for $1,400.00. I didn't use it for a couple months and started using it about six weeks ago. Over the course of using it about 20 times, it malfunctioned on its own and crashed itself into a buildings and to the ground. On the second malfunction, it broke the gimbal. I went to Best Buy with the drone and they did everything they could to warranty the product, but they found that they were not allowed to offer a warranty because DJI does not stand by their product- even for their largest retailer, Best Buy (says a lot when the largest electronics store in the country is not allowed to stand behind a product). I returned the drone to DJI for repairs, explicitly explaining the details of the incident. DJI would not stand by their product. DJI blamed me when it was their product, specifically their forward motion sensors, that failed. The gimbal had been damaged in the crash and did not rotate left to right any more, but it was still attached to the drone by its bracket and servo. DJI took a number of weeks to run diagnostics- they did not run any repairs, I can only imagine how long that would have taken. I explained the situation to DJI, and was never listened to. I realized that the company would not stand by its product so I requested that they return my drone 'exactly as it was sent' if they were not going to fix it. A full week later, I received my drone and found that the camera was completely severed from the gimbal, except for the wire strip which was partially torn. Not only did they not repair my aircraft, they damaged it more, rendering it unusable! Hands down the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Lazy and inattentive staff. Long wait time. They won't stand by their product. They damaged my property while it was in their care. I am telling everyone I know about this, regardless if they are using a drone or planning to. Do not buy any product from DJI. There are much better competitors out there who will respect the price tag they place on their products and actually care about their customers. Best Buy management knew about and warned me of this marked lack of good business practices at DJI when I first considered returning the drone, I should have listened to them, I would have saved a lot of time and headaches.

  

As I am writing this, I am on the phone with Best Buy to recommend they do not carry DJI's product any more. I will also be calling any and all other retailers I can find with DJI products and warning them about my experience.

  

I tried to post my complaint to DJI, labeling all of the review site’s fields at the lowest rating (which was appropriate). I hit ‘submit’ and all I got was a small green label written in Chinese letters with a small ‘x’ button. DJI appears to have set up their review site not to accept poor ratings!

"As I am writing this, I am on the phone with Best Buy to recommend they do not carry DJI's product any more. I will also be calling any and all other retailers I can find with DJI products and warning them about my experience."
News Flash sunshine, nobody cares !
Sorry to be so harsh, but do you really think any national retailer is going to listen to you and not stock the market leader in UAV's just because you say so ?
DJI do stand behind their products and I suggest that the flight logs prove user error on your part, care to share them with us ?

My DJI P4 has just flew away WTF i could actually see it oiss off wtf

Some would say WTF are you doing posting in a 2015 thread on a Phantom 2 with GoPro....
Start a new thread and include your flight logs, then you will get the help you clearly need...

i totally agree the same thing happened to me and they refuse to help even after purchasing extra care

simon@simsurf.c Posted at 2015-3-23 01:31
Can you please tell me where it "recommends" not to fly over water?

I am sorry this is terrible customer service when compared with other companies like gopro. They did not question how i used the gopro. They sent a replacement before receiving my faulty gopro unit!

goo on ya mate I'm going to do the same dji have made my life so hard i wish i ha never purchased the bloody thing

djiuser_qaoHyFm Posted at 2018-1-3 09:59
goo on ya mate I'm going to do the same dji have made my life so hard i wish i ha never purchased the bloody thing

Sir, could you tell us your case number? I'd like to check the exact status and see whether I can help.