DJI has had the drone for 5 days now . No contact or anything . Even after several calls and emails . Was told 2-3 days for "assessment" ... This just keeps getting dragged out and kicked around ...... Really really I feel like I'm getting screwed ... I just want this damn thing replaced ...... But I don't even think I'm going to get that far ..... This sucks , this customer "service" is just as bad as I read everywhere else .... Don't know why I thought I'd get good treatment ...

Your situation is not unusual.  Just have to be patient and let the process run its course.

Woke up to this in my inbox. Mistake number one is if they think I'm going to pay for a battery failure. Mistake number two is they haven't even sent me an invoice so I don't even know what the hell this message is about...

After several calls with DJI,  I finally got the invoice and apparently they are going to cover this under warranty.. now to see if I can get it back in a timely manner I have a car show to do in two weeks.... And I really want some more aerial footage....

You will probably get a replacement quicker.

You sound like a petulant child, throwing your toy doll out of the pram. Just be thankful that DJI are covering this under warranty at all, never mind complaining about how long its taking them! Reading through your comments is like reading the diary of a 12 year old girl. The fact is, you took off without a fresh battery, that is YOUR fault. No two ways about it! The sheer amount of threads about this exact same issue, its clear you have done zero background research, not to mention the official DJI instructions that have also been posted and highlighted for you. Id be super duper nice to DJI for the fact they aren't telling you to go away!

Thank you for your observation, but I am not a whiny child more like an angry consumer who spent over $400 for something...

At the end of the day this is the first drone that I have owned , my experience in the RC world has always been with cars trucks and boats... and you can drive any of those with 67% battery without worrying about a damn failure. How was I supposed to know that a drone would crash from the sky if you did not install a 100% charged battery every single time you take off from the ground? To me taking off at 67% battery was perfectly acceptable and safe, as I've mentioned several times before. There's no need to be arrogant and rude in your reply.

In fact you could've just kept that to yourself. After my first go around with DJI and the controller problem, I did not have high hopes for this, and with the first few bits of correspondence I had back-and-forth with the DJI on this issue was not leaving me very excited either for a positive resolution.

I guess if you just have the money to throw out there and keep throwing away when something happens that's fine, but not all of us are that lucky and we have to be very on our toes about getting service on something we pay what in our eyes is a lot of money.... Good day!

zu_lu Posted at 2018-5-30 07:51
You sound like a petulant child, throwing your toy doll out of the pram. Just be thankful that DJI are covering this under warranty at all, never mind complaining about how long its taking them! Reading through your comments is like reading the diary of a 12 year old girl. The fact is, you took off without a fresh battery, that is YOUR fault. No two ways about it! The sheer amount of threads about this exact same issue, its clear you have done zero background research, not to mention the official DJI instructions that have also been posted and highlighted for you. Id be super duper nice to DJI for the fact they aren't telling you to go away!

His flight log clearly indicates a battery with a bad cell.  Even with a 100% charge, this still would have happened.  DJI has evidently arrived at the same conclusion, hence the warranty coverage and replacement at no charge.  No need to be so critical.  

"How was I supposed to know that a drone would ..."
So far i never has heard of anybody got hurt by reading and following the manuals carefully, specially when sending 1½Kg+ up in the air this would be a very good idea to do beforehand.

Enjoy your replacement & Fly safe.

ALABAMA Posted at 2018-5-30 08:35
His flight log clearly indicates a battery with a bad cell.  Even with a 100% charge, this still would have happened.  ...

Sorry, but I don't agree with this.  I completely agree that the battery was bad.  It had a bad cell.  The OP deserves a replacement battery.

What I don't agree with is that, "even with a 100% charge, this still would have happened..."  

I believe that if he had followed his manuals instructions and if he had followed his battery safety guidelines, he would not have lost his Phantom in a crash.  

These aircrafts are programmed to issue warnings when there are obvious battery problems.  They are programmed to auto-land when a battery cell drops below 3.3 volts.  In this case, the aircraft did not auto-land when a battery cell dropped below 3.3 volts.  Why?  

It's obvious to me that the reason is because the OP decided to launch with a battery which was not fully charged, which is contrary to what is stated in the owner's manual, and it's contrary to what is stated in the battery safety guidelines.  He either didn't bother to read these documents, or he didn't read them comprehensively, or he deliberately decided not to follow the advice.  

One can argue that the AC should have auto-landed.  One can argue that the FW needs to be fixed so that the AC auto-lands when a cell reaches critical level regardless of whether the pilot follows DJI's advice not to launch with a partially charged battery.  Still - we've seen countless examples of drops from the sky - and one of the common denominators is a launch with a partially charged battery.  There is something about a partially charged battery which confuses the software and puts the battery into a position to shut itself off mid-flight without warning.  We've seen it over and over.  It's extremely rare for it to happen with a fully charged battery.  I'm not sure it has ever happened.  

Meanwhile DJI specifically states that the pilot must launch with a fully charged battery.

I am happy the OP is apparently getting a new or fixed Phantom, but maybe he could be just a little bit more humble in his attitude towards DJI, considering the obvious fact that his own deliberate actions are - at least indirectly - what caused the loss of his Phantom.  

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-5-31 04:57
Sorry, but I don't agree with this.  I completely agree that the battery was bad.  It had a bad cell.  The OP deserves a replacement battery.

What I don't agree with is that, "even with a 100% charge, this still would have happened..."  

Agree with you about his attitude Mark. but I really think that the battery was defective from the get go.
It would have happened no matter what.  Just my opinion, but I am often wrong.

I guess we will just have to assume that I did not read them comprehensively. And that my prior experience with RC's lead me to believe that 67% battery was perfectly fine to take off with. So I guess I'm ordering extra batteries, and every single time it touches the ground I will just replace the battery before I take off again. Seems pretty ridiculous to me, but whatever it is what it is. You're right, apparently not fully charged battery confuses the firmware. Perhaps that something I should look into as I'm sure by now they realize that people take off without fully charged batteries....

And perhaps I should change my attitude with DJI, but you also have to be mindful of the fact that this is not the first time that I've had to deal with them, and the first time was never rectified... So of course I come into this with a chip on my shoulder.

So , a replacement drone , my old controller , and NO BATTERY ! Geez DJI , get it together ! Not even gonna argue anymore .... Guess it's off to Best Buy to drop 120$ on a battery ....

Looks like to me they're sending you one.

Nope, it actually says it excludes the battery and charger. Two phone calls and three emails later has confirmed my suspicion is that they are not shipping a battery. And that it is off to some other department to determine if they will replace it or not

It's just dumb really, they have determined battery failure caused this problem but they will not replace the battery... At least not at this point, I guess whatever other department they sent the claim to can decide ultimately that they will provide a battery but that will be at least a week later