I've had my Spark since April, and in May I dropped it in my house on accident (on carpet, landed upside down).  I was headed on vacation for a while, so I didn't send it in for repairs until the 2nd week in June when I was back.  The gimbal was damaged, but the camera still worked and the Spark flew just fine.



I submitted the case online, and owned up to the fact that it was my fault due to a drop in my house.  I sent it in and got a repair invoice about a week later.  I paid it online, then 2 days later got a message saying it was being repaired.  2 more days later it was on it's way back to me.  To this point, I'm really happy with DJI's service level and speed.


Last week, my spark arrives. Except it was a replacement, so I lost my racing stripes decal I had on mine.  I knew it could happen, but it was still frustrating since the repair wasn't serious.  I paired the new unit with my remote and it then took it outside to fly.  I took off and immediately get a compass calibration message as I'm about 20' off the ground.


I land, calibrate the compass and go to take off.  Then the fun starts....  I get an ESC error that says to restart the drone and contact DJI support if it persists.  I restarted the drone multiple times and even switched out the batteries, but no luck.  Today, I chat online with support, who has me go thru a few things like refreshing the firmware, recalibrating the IMU, and deleting/reinstalling the DJI GO4 app from my phone.


I do all of this and nothing changes.  I chat with support again and they tell me to submit another online repair request.  So I've done all of that now, but I'm PO'd that DJI isn't more responsive or concerned that they sent me a junk replacement, especially since I had to pay for the repair.  From all the other situations I've read online, this isn't uncommon.....


I was really happy with DJI's support and products until this went down.  Now I'm thinking I made a huge mistake buying one of their drones.  I'll update once I have more information.


My takeaway from this is that DJI's products are ok, but you're screwed if you have any issues.

Hi funk76, we deeply apologize for this experience you have with the replacement drone. Can I please have the previous repair case that you have so we can assist you on this.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2018-7-2 11:20
Hi funk76, we deeply apologize for this experience you have with the replacement drone. Can I please have the previous repair case that you have so we can assist you on this.

PM sent to you.

funk76 Posted at 2018-7-2 11:53
PM sent to you.

Thanks for the case number, your situation and concern have been escalated to the appropriate department for attention, the team will follow up and take care of your case, sorry again for the trouble caused, we will learn from this and keep improving our repair quality, hope everything goes smoothly this time.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2018-7-2 19:29
Thanks for the case number, your situation and concern have been escalated to the appropriate department for attention, the team will follow up and take care of your case, sorry again for the trouble caused, we will learn from this and keep improving our repair quality, hope everything goes smoothly this time.

Thanks. I’ll update this once I hear from someone.

funk76 Posted at 2018-7-3 07:39
Thanks. I’ll update this once I hear from someone.

We'll keep an eye on the status as well. Hope we can figure this out soon.

Today, I got a call from April, one of DJI’s support managers, and she said they created an escalation ticket and are just waiting to get a report back from the repair dept.  (To confirm my complaint, I’m assuming)

funk76 Posted at 2018-7-4 17:09
Today, I got a call from April, one of DJI’s support managers, and she said they created an escalation ticket and are just waiting to get a report back from the repair dept.  (To confirm my complaint, I’m assuming)

Glad to know our manager has contacted you, hope everything goes well and you will get it back soon.

UPDATE:

I recieved another replacement/refurb drone a few days ago.  I've flown it several times now and it is definitely better, but still not as it should be.   I had a difficult time pairing the drone to the remote, and had to do it 3 or 4 times.  Even after that, it was still randomly disconnecting and reconnecting.  I flew it today and didn't have the issue, so we'll see what happens.

Although I do now have a drone that seems to be working properly, I'm very concerned about the disconnects.  Only time will tell.

Conclusion:  I don't have much faith in the DJI repair facility in Grapevine, TX.  They obviously do not do enough testing on the drones they send out as repaired or refurb'd.  I was planning to upgrade to the Mavic Air in a few months, but, at this point, I don't want to deal with this B.S. any more.  DJI seems to have the ability to make a quality product, but they're repair facility is sub-par.  All this was after my case was escalated by DJI support.  If they can't get it right the 2nd time around, after it's escalated, I don't see any chance they'll try to make it right.

What's really frustrating is the stories you hear about DJI sending people extra props, batteries, etc., but they can barely send me a working drone after I paid to have it repaired.

funk76 Posted at 2018-7-15 16:50
UPDATE:

I recieved another replacement/refurb drone a few days ago.  I've flown it several times now and it is definitely better, but still not as it should be.   I had a difficult time pairing the drone to the remote, and had to do it 3 or 4 times.  Even after that, it was still randomly disconnecting and reconnecting.  I flew it today and didn't have the issue, so we'll see what happens.

We understand that there are things we need to improve and we'll never stop moving forward, may I verify it is the RC keeps disconnecting with the drone or the RC keeps disconnecting with the mobile phone?

DJI Mindy Posted at 2018-7-15 19:12
We understand that there are things we need to improve and we'll never stop moving forward, may I verify it is the RC keeps disconnecting with the drone or the RC keeps disconnecting with the mobile phone?

Yes. As I said, the drone disconnects from the remote.  Not sure how a company like DJI thinks this is a successful business model.