Hello.
I would like to know where goes the borderline of having your drone repairde within warranty. In my case the gimbal went grazy and tilted something like 30 degrees. It also tries to level itself continuosly. See the which shows the problem. The drone is Phantom 2 Vision+, two months old and it has newer hit major crashes, but of course couple of minor ones. Nothing has newer been broken and to me there is no marks of uncorrect handling. This can be seen from the video, too.

I contacted the support in Germany and they sent me an RMA.  I sent the device for warranty repair in August. After waiting almost three months the gimbal is still not repaired and the support now started to claim that it is not a warranty case and that I must proof that I did not cause the problem. How can I do that?

I have stated several times that the gimbal is broken and it is not result of any fall. I have seen several similar breaks discussed in different forums, so this is certainly not the first case with this kind of failures.

What should I do to get it repaired? Just accept to pay the repair, even if it is a clear fault in the device, not caused by me?

Is there some other place to contact, because the conversation with the support does not obviously lead to any solution?

Thanks for any comments.

With the delicate P2V+ gimbal, there are no major or minor crashes.
There are just crashes...
It does not take much at all to damage the P2V+ gimbal.
Many pilots would be better served to begin the learning curve flying multirotors with something other than the Phantom flagship...

Any crash, even a minor one can cause damage to the V+ gimbal. Especially vulnerable are the ribbon cable, the roll and pitch sensor shafts. The roll sensor shaft can get lose inside the housing with higher g-force impacts which then can result in issues later on when the shaft slides out of position due to normal vibration / movements.  

swomilan Posted at 2014-10-23 22:09
Any crash, even a minor one can cause damage to the V+ gimbal. Especially vulnerable are the ribbon  ...

It really seems so! I hope that buyers of P2 V+ will be informed better about it. Let this be a warning for those who consider of the purchase.

Thanks for your replies TJ Gilbert and swomilan.

My point was also, that in case you once happen to make a "not so complete landing", then if the gimbal much later stops working, I (and everyone) can be sure that it is not a warranty case.

Is there such thing as warranty with these things? I think DJI can always say that you must have landed unsuccesfully. If that is the case and I have no choice than pay $700 even if was not my fault, then I am very disappointed as a consumer.

But as you said, you had crashed, so it was your fault, no need to be disappointed.
The warranty clearly states that any crash will void it.
Sorry but treat it as a lesson learned and try not to crash in the future.

johnwarr@live.c Posted at 2014-10-23 23:52
But as you said, you had crashed, so it was your fault, no need to be disappointed.
The warranty cle ...

And welcome to the world of RC flight!
Warranties on flying contraptions like we have were never even a consideration until the ease of operation of the UAVs brought in a new breed of pilot that expects warranties...
And I say "expects" because it remains to be seen that more generous warranties will ever exist.
We that have done it all our lives are used to cra$hing, $aving up $, repurcha$ing/rebuilding, and cra$hing again!
Crazy hobby... right?

FWIW, there's another thread on this same topic here on the DJI forum where the Phantoms are getting classified as cameras, and qualifying for accidental damage warranties.
I'm waiting to hear about the first crash into the side of a tree being covered...  

johnwarr@live.c Posted at 2014-10-23 23:52
But as you said, you had crashed, so it was your fault, no need to be disappointed.
The warranty cle ...

Falling from 10m is the same thing than than falling from 30cm? Is that what you mean?  

I have seen several mails posted here and in different forums about similar fault: the gimbal is not working OK. Isn't there any possibility at all that there could be something wrong in gimbal itself in some cases?

BTW, I tried to read again the  disclaimer but I still didn't find what you said it "clearly states". Where did you find it?

On this very website.....

2. Following situations are not subject to warranty service conditions:

a. Crash or burning caused by non-manufacturing factors.
b. Damage caused by unauthorized modification, disassembling or shell opening which did not follow the instruction of official manuals.
c. Damage caused by improper installation, or incorrect use or operation despite of the guidance of manuals.
d. Damage caused by unauthorized modification of circuit, mismatch or misuse of battery and charger.
e. Damage caused by any flights which didn’t follow the instructions of the manuals.
f. Damage caused by operation in bad weather (i.e. strong wind, rain, sand/dust storm, etc.)
g. Damage caused by operating the unit in an electromagnetic interference environment (i.e. mining area, radio transmitting tower, high-voltage wire, substation, etc.).
h. Damage caused by operating the unit in a known environment with interference with other wireless devices (i.e. transmitter, video-link, Wi-Fi signals, etc.).
I. Damage caused by operating the unit with a weight greater than safe takeoff weight.
j. Damage caused by forced flight when components have been aged or damaged.
k. Damage caused by reliability or compatibility issues when using unauthenticated third-party parts.
l. Damage caused by operating the unit with a low charged or defective battery.

"Falling from 10m is the same thing than than falling from 30cm? Is that what you mean?"
Pretty much so...
I've seen, personally, a 15m crash just break an arm on an F450, and everything flew fine after repairs.
I've also heard, not experienced personally, of a Phantom falling off a workbench and never working properly again.

Crashes are that flukey with this type equipment.
It's like when you drop a packaged dozen eggs, and only a couple break.
And they're in the middle of the package.
Why not all?
  

If I were a top dog at dji I would press my folks to come up with a cost effective device like a planes "black box" to log incidents of high g measurements, component behavior, tx positions. This would validate an owners claim that problems they want corrected under warranty was not the result of a crash or a crash they caused. Of course one would hope it would be sophisticated enough to show when a component failed and then caused an accident. But thats all a pipe dream, I feel for dji in their efforts to deal with customers problems, knowing that the probale cause of most of the problems are operator error and essentially everyone is going to crash sooner or later - or like me there's not many things I haven't run into.