I'm looking to buy a spark fly more package and have found to save a fair amount of money by buying it from China and not the UK.

Just wondered if this was correct:

Warranty will still be 12 months, but the spark must be posted back to China for warranty?
I can buy DJI care fresh over here in the UK when I register it and the care fresh will be good to use in the UK only?
If I didn't want to go down the warranty route and didn't have care fresh, could I still send it for repair in the UK but I'd have to pay all postage costs and repair costs?

Thanks
Chris

Firstly, make sure that the company you are buying it from are legit, DJI resellers - you can check out their list of resellers on the website. Also check to see if the price includes import taxes and UK VAT- given the LiPo's this can be very expensive to pass customs. With regards to the warranty - you must purchase and activate DJI care refresh within 48 hours of registering the drone on your DJI account. TBH I am not too sure if buying the refresh separately from the company where you bought the drone will be upheld. I would suggest buying the drone from a UK based authorised reseller or directly from the DJI official on line store - imagine if the drone was broken when you unboxed it and you couldn't get hold of the seller... Be very careful who you buy from, especially on line and those who are not authorised to sell DJI's products and not in the same country as you!

Hi, you would definitely have to send it back to the country of purchase for warranty. I’m not 100% sure about Dji refresh. My thinking is that because it’s linked to the serial number of your drone and they know where that has been purchased from that again it would have to go back to the country of purchase.

I purchased my spark from a Dji dealer in the uk but still had to send it to Dji in Holland for a recent refresh claim. So I don’t think there is anywhere in the uk you can send your drone back to in any case under Dji refresh.

To me it sounds more hassle than it’s worth to buy from China no matter what the saving.

I can buy DJI care fresh over here in the UK when I register it and the care fresh will be good to use in the UK only?
Correct. If you use care refresh, your DJI 'China' drone would go to the nearest DJI dealer in your country/region, not back to China  

Chris, thanks for your support to DJI. Here are the answers for your questions for reference:

Warranty will still be 12 months, but the spark must be posted back to China for warranty?
Different parts have different warranty period, please check the details here: http://www.dji.com/service/policy
Customers can obtain warranty service only at a designated DJI repair center in the region where he/she purchased the product, which means you must send the drone back to China for warranty in the future.

I can buy DJI care fresh over here in the UK when I register it and the care fresh will be good to use in the UK only?
At the moment, DJI Care Refresh only works within one coverage region. If you purchase DJI Care Refresh in UK, you can use DJI Care Refresh to replace your product at DJI's official EU service center, which locates in Netherlands.

If I didn't want to go down the warranty route and didn't have care fresh, could I still send it for repair in the UK but I'd have to pay all postage costs and repair costs?
Accroding to DJI After-Sales Policy, depending on part availability, customers can obtain cross-regional repair service at an additional charge.

Please keep us posted if your have any further query.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-10-15 18:29
Chris, thanks for your support to DJI. Here are the answers for your questions for reference:

Warranty will still be 12 months, but the spark must be posted back to China for warranty?

Hi C.rex.

I can't answer your questions but I have just done what you are proposing and bought from TomTop in China. I ordered the fly more combo for the price of a single spark - so quite a saving. I ordered at the same time time as I ordered some accessories from Amazon UK and the China package arrived here in France first. Shipping was free and customs taken care of by them. It only took a couple of hours to clear customs at CDG. (I was following on their track package facility).

I did try and check if they were an "authorised" seller on the DJI website but it was all in Chinese characters so good luck with that!

I thought resale price management had been made illegal in UK a long time ago. Checking UK prices they all seem to be the same so not sure what is going on.

I did read on the internet that EU law obliges the manufacturer to honour warranty whoever the supplier was. I am not sure how that will apply after Brexit . But as Abraham Lincoln is famously quoted as saying "don't believe everything you read on the internet".

MikB Posted at 2017-10-15 20:50
Hi C.rex.

I can't answer your questions but I have just done what you are proposing and bought from TomTop in China. I ordered the fly more combo for the price of a single spark - so quite a saving. I ordered at the same time time as I ordered some accessories from Amazon UK and the China package arrived here in France first. Shipping was free and customs taken care of by them. It only took a couple of hours to clear customs at CDG. (I was following on their track package facility).

Mik, if the drone you bought is Chinese version, it will need to be sent back to China for warranty service, otherwise, you will need to pay additional charge to obtain cross-region repair service.
Good luck with you. If there is any problem, please keep us posted.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-10-15 22:20
Mik, if the drone you bought is Chinese version, it will need to be sent back to China for warranty service, otherwise, you will need to pay additional charge to obtain cross-region repair service.
Good luck with you. If there is any problem, please keep us posted.

I am fine with that Mindy the way I look at it is this.

What percentage of Sparks are returned under warranty? Whatever your answer, that is the risk I am taking. I would guess it is pretty low. Less than 1% ?

I do not have a DJI facility just round the corner so I am going to have to post it somewhere. it just depends on the address I put on the front.

Regarding cost, whether it is postage to China or a surcharge to have it fixed elsewhere, it is going to be less than the savings I have already made. They are made in China anyway.

In the event of a warranty repair, will I have to return it to the supplier or a DJI facility in China?

Now I have finally figured out how to get it in the air I am VERY happy with it.

MikB Posted at 2017-10-15 22:53
I am fine with that Mindy the way I look at it is this.

What percentage of Sparks are returned under warranty? Whatever your answer, that is the risk I am taking. I would guess it is pretty low. Less than 1% ?

Having made my last post, it occured to me that I had no idea where DJI was based. I looked it up and to my surprise read "Headquartered in Shenzhen, widely considered China’s Silicon Valley"

I had always assumed it was based in USA.

MikB Posted at 2017-10-15 23:03
Having made my last post, it occured to me that I had no idea where DJI was based. I looked it up and to my surprise read "Headquartered in Shenzhen, widely considered China’s Silicon Valley"

I had always assumed it was based in USA.

Yes, we are Chinese company.
If anything happens to your drone, you can contact your dealer firstly, if they cannot get it fixed, they will send back to China for warranty service.
Hope you have a great time on flying.

Great response, thanks!

For info the possible saving is around 1/3 the cost if bought from China. That includes postage and taxes etc. A massive saving and that's why I'm asking.

It sounds like the warranty will possibly be hard to instigate and complete, it will also be costly with the warranty.

I guess there's a gamble in hoping you don't have issues and if you do have issues and purchase refresh you can always use this.

If the saving wasn't as great I'd definitely purchase in the UK.

c.grex Posted at 2017-10-16 04:52
Great response, thanks!

For info the possible saving is around 1/3 the cost if bought from China. That includes postage and taxes etc. A massive saving and that's why I'm asking.

Hope your drone will not need to be sent back to China for warranty service in the future, it will be time-consuming.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-10-15 18:29
Chris, thanks for your support to DJI. Here are the answers for your questions for reference:

Warranty will still be 12 months, but the spark must be posted back to China for warranty?

Hi,
I realise I'm joining a topic from a long time ago, I'm trying to find out if things have changed between 2017 and now.
We live in the UK. We have purchased a drone online from China. We haven't activated it yet as we wanted to be ready to purchase Care Refresh for the drone.
We are getting conflicting advice from DJI as to whether we have any coverage from the warranty if the drone is flown in the UK, and also whether we can have the benefits of the care refresh as it won't be purchased in the same region as the drone.
I would appreciate any help or up to date advice if anyone has had recent experience with this.
Thanks
Jan

Fx860e Posted at 7-14 02:09
Hi,
I realise I'm joining a topic from a long time ago, I'm trying to find out if things have changed between 2017 and now.
We live in the UK. We have purchased a drone online from China. We haven't activated it yet as we wanted to be ready to purchase Care Refresh for the drone.

Hi there, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused you. To ensure that you can enjoy the services normally, DJI Care Refresh and the corresponding product must be purchased from the same country or region. Meanwhile, the warranty services are covered only for the region where the drone has been purchased. Thanks for your understanding.

DJI Thor Posted at 7-14 04:10
Hi there, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused you. To ensure that you can enjoy the services normally, DJI Care Refresh and the corresponding product must be purchased from the same country or region. Meanwhile, the warranty services are covered only for the region where the drone has been purchased. Thanks for your understanding.

Thanks for getting back to me.
Does that mean that I won’t have any cover if I fly the drone in the uk and it develops a fault?

Fx860e Posted at 7-15 07:57
Thanks for getting back to me.
Does that mean that I won’t have any cover if I fly the drone in the uk and it develops a fault?

If the drone is purchased from China, you will not be able to purchase DJI Care Refresh (UK version) for the drone in the UK, as the drone and DJI Care Refresh must be purchased from the same country/region.
And the global warranty is not supported, if the drone needs a repair, the customer needs to pay for the repair in the service center in Europe. To apply for warranty service, the drone may need to be sent back to China.
We hope this provides you with some info.

DJI Susan Posted at 7-15 20:49
If the drone is purchased from China, you will not be able to purchase DJI Care Refresh (UK version) for the drone in UK, as the drone and DJI Care Refresh must be purchased from the same country/region.
And the global warranty is not supported, if the drone needs a repair, customer needs to pay for the repair in the service center in Europe. To apply for warranty service, the drone may need to be sent back to China.
We hope this provides you with some info.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate  that.

Fx860e Posted at 7-16 02:52
Thanks for your help, I appreciate  that.

You're welcome. Thank you for your understanding.