Phantom 2+ repair

My 2months old Phantom 2+ is on repair for 6 weeks now,  either DJI don’t haveenough technician or to many Phantoms are coming defectives.

Where did you send it to?
How many pieces did you send?

mixstreme Posted at 2014-10-29 07:32
Where did you send it to?
How many pieces did you send?

They could save a fortune if they accepted certain parts for exchange, but understandably they don't want people fiddling with the delicates...... so all or nothing!

Where did you send it to?HK?
Allowing for the transportation time and customs clearance as well as local weather conditions,it might take a couple of weeks .

  I sent mine to UAV Direct in Liberty Hill Texas because of a motor failure during first flight of brand new Phantom 2 Vision.  After spending $25 to send and insure package, I called three days after they had received it only to be told it was in their warehouse but it would be at least four weeks before they could even get to it.  This is unacceptable.  I should have sent back to Japan for full Paypal refund and just bought another one.  Would have been way faster than this situation I am in now..... $800 to some might not be a lot of money, but to me it is a very large sum for a "hobby toy", and I expect better service than what I am receiving...  If I dont hear from someone by friday of this week, I am going to let paypal refund my payment in full, and start looking for different company to do business with.  
  

mixstreme Posted at 2014-10-29 07:32
Where did you send it to?
How many pieces did you send?

One piece... Moltor Failure on first flight!  Sent to UAV Direct, in Liberty Hill Texas...Authorized DJI service center.

kposton71 Posted at 2014-10-30 22:20
One piece... Moltor Failure on first flight!  Sent to UAV Direct, in Liberty Hill Texas...Authoriz ...

Refund route is very easy using the current sale laws....

Its unfortunate that the servicing side of things are so slow, this is just lack of trust in the many other companies that have applied to DJI.  Trying to keep costs down and control quality has its downside......

But saying that, they are waiving fees for such repairs due to timescales,  this is a positive result and shows its a high concern.

Understand the logic, but as a consumer its not good for you.
I'm sure with time more local service centres will become available....

DONT SEND IT TO HK IT TAKES MORE THAN 3 MONTHS SEND IT TO LAS VEGAS

I had to return my brand new Phantom 2 Vision + to the new DJI repair facility in Torrance CA as I purchased it directly from DJI using the DJI site.   In addition to the cost of purchasing the new unit, it cost me $34 to UPS it back to DJI.   Not that it matters, but I returned everything in one box.   I have read blogs where owners of the unit state the turn around time is extraordinarily long.  

I agree that DJI does not have enough technitions.  I haven't even been able to fly my new unit, not even once.  Apparently quality control isn't very good.  
I have a suggestion for DJI.  Take the defective modules and replace them with a new ones.  You don't even need real technitions for that. Put the defective modules in a basket and let other technitions repair those at some other time.    The turn around times would be greatly reduced/shortened.  
Also DJI's method for customer service where you can find the status of your repair leaves something to be desired.  All the site says is: "Repair Status Update Checked In, Repair Queue Position B2".  It's been that way since I sent it in.  How many repairs are ahead of me?  When will my unit be repaired and shipped to me?  What's the diagnosis of my unit?  

And most importantly, why wasn't my new unit tested before it was sent to me?  Testing would have discovered the problem and saved us both a lot of headaches.  I missed out on filming a Classic Car "Cruise" and a boat Regatta on the lake because the unit wasn't repaired and returned in time.  Those opportunities are now lost.  I was really looking forward to posting those Phantom videos on the respective Car and Boat websites.  

Oh, one last thing.  I live just outside of Los Angeles.  I told DJI on the telephone, that I would gladly drive the unit to their new repair site in Torrance.  I was told "No, we're not set up for that!"  What not? Sony and Cannon are, to name just a few.  It would have been nice to drive to Torrance and have it repaired over the counter the same day.  Let me come work for you as a facility Manager to make the process smoother.

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-3 03:14
I had to return my brand new Phantom 2 Vision + to the new DJI repair facility in Torrance CA as I p ...

Well guys, I just got an email from DJI stating my unit has been repaired and is being shipped back to me.  They received my unit at their new factory in Torrance on Sept 29, 2014, and today is November 7, 2014.  That's about 39 days.  

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-8 03:49
Well guys, I just got an email from DJI stating my unit has been repaired and is being shipped bac ...

Wow,  Im sure as DJI branches out they will see the positive aspects of allowing local agents carry out repairs.
At the moment the postage costs are not really a major concern of theirs.....

Same history with me, 7 weeks later I receive my drone back BUT unfortunately the problem still there plus I have battery error message.
I try my phantom with both of my batteries and both display EMC battery connection error.
I don’t know if it’s the phantom or the battery, I buy my phantom in May and I just use one month.
I may have to send my phantom for repair again and wait another 7 weeks to have  it back and hopefully this time DJI tech fix it right

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-3 03:14
I had to return my brand new Phantom 2 Vision + to the new DJI repair facility in Torrance CA as I p ...

Same history with me, 7 weeks later I receive my drone back BUT unfortunately the problem still there plus I have battery error message.
I try my phantom with both of my batteries and both display EMC battery connection error.
I don’t know if it’s the phantom or the battery, I buy my phantom in May and I just use one month.
I may have to send my phantom for repair again and wait another 7 weeks to have  it back and hopefully this time DJI tech fix it right

I just received my phantom back yesterday.  Today I plan to fly it for the first time.  I don't know what to say about your battery connection error.  I hope it is resolved for you.  It is certainly frustrating with the long repair time, especially if you have to return it again.  I went to fill out the "Satisfaction" survey that they send to you after your unit is repaired.  However they closed the ticket and it wouldn't allow me to fill out the survey.  Good luck on your battery issue.

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-12 04:26
I just received my phantom back yesterday.  Today I plan to fly it for the first time.  I don't know ...

hopefully, you are satisfied with the repairs.

roelperalta@yah Posted at 2014-11-12 06:42
hopefully, you are satisfied with the repairs.

Well it works somewhat/sometimes.  The problem was that the Wifi wasn't communicating with my cell Android phone.  My neighbor has a Phantom 2 Vision plus as well and his I phone 5 wouldn't communicate with my Wifi either.  Upon being repaired (they didn't find anything wrong with it but they did update the app), my cell phone (android) and my neighbor's cell I phone 5 kept getting a message that the connection was broken between the Wifi and the cell phone(s) after connecting for a minute or so.  Then my neighbors Phantom 2 Vision plus also had the same problem with his cell phone connecting then the connection was broken.  Yes we only tried one cell phone at a time on each Phantom 2.  We tried his phone on my Phantom 2, and my phone on his Phantom 2.  Then back to my phone on my Phantom 2 and his on his.  All combinations connected with the respective phones but the connection broke after a short time.  A couple days later I took my Phantom 2 Vision plus out to an RC Airfield where there are absolutely no telephone poles or Electric poles within one mile.  The Wifi kept breaking the connection with the cell phone.  It's useless, so I’m going to fly it w/o the camera.

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-15 11:36
Well it works somewhat/sometimes.  The problem was that the Wifi wasn't communicating with my cell  ...

Look in the settings of your phone and see if automatic search for better wifi connection is turned on.  If it is, turn it off, it will shut the Phantom connection off and try to connect to a better wifi connection if it turned on.

how come they cant replicate the issue??

roelperalta@yah Posted at 2014-11-15 11:58
how come they cant replicate the issue??

I presume they can't because it works initially, therefore they think it works all the time.  It takes minutes for it to stop working.

Gerry1124 Posted at 2014-11-15 11:51
Look in the settings of your phone and see if automatic search for better wifi connection is turne ...

Thank you.  I'll try that.

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-16 11:19
Thank you.  I'll try that.

Hey, I tried what you recommended.  That appears to have been the problem.  After going to my cell phone, selecting "wifi" and taking the wifi off "search", I'm not having the problem of the link showing "Broken Connection".  Thanks again.

Irphred Posted at 2014-11-17 09:45
Hey, I tried what you recommended.  That appears to have been the problem.  After going to my cell ...

You're more than welcome,  Glad I could help and happy flying.

I took my phantom to dronefly.com because I buy it there, I explain the situation and they change my old phantom for a new one.
That’s an excellent customer service form doronefly.
They said the issue is with one of the internal boards because we use the old batteries with the new phantom and they work great
thumbs down for DJI customer service and thumbs up for Dronefly.com

I've read all the horror stories about getting Phantoms repaired and I must admit to some trepidation when I sent my P2V+ in on 29 Oct.  I bought it directly from DJI but sent it to DJI Tech LLC in Torrance, CA.  Got the usual email from DJI on 4 Nov "Unit checked in to queue" and figured I'd be in for a long wait.  On 18 Nov I got a shocking email:

We have found that your unit was too damaged to warrant repair in a timely fashion so we replaced Phantom 2 Vision Plus with a refurbished unit. The firmware has been updated to version 3.8, was test flown, and is fully operational.
Your unit has been sent to our shipping department. You will be sent a FedEX tracking number in a separate email once your unit has been shipped out.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact DJI customer support.
Sincerely,
DJI Repair Team
The Future of Possible
DJI North America

SHAZAM! and ZOWIE!  According to FedEX it was supposed to arrive today (latest update now says Monday, 24 nov) so that means a turnaround of less that 4 weeks!  Now I don't know how I managed to get such a quick turnaround but it might be that I reported the problem to DJI within the first week I got the Phantom and my documentation included a rather detailed description of the problem.  The RMA was good for 30 days so it gave me enough time to further investigate the issue by reading about similar problems here on the forum and to try some of the suggested fixes before I actually sent it back (just in case my issue was caused by my own stupidity -- thankfully it was not).  Maybe it helped that I bought another P2V+ the same week I sent the first one off, or that I own a total of 4 different Phantoms.  In any case, my experience was not as bad as I thought it would be and I also felt I could not honestly criticize DJI about their warranty/repair service unless I actually tried it first.  (of course, if that refurbished Phantom they are sending me goes all wonky and decides to fly off into the wild blue yonder on the first flight I might be making an addendum to my glowing review -- fingers crossed!)