I had an issue with my Mavic Air drone, which either didn't connect to remote because of solid yellow status light, or connected, only to shortly disconnect from the drone. This made the drone unusable, sadly this right before my travels to Thailand. Now, according to DJI support site, I could either send in my drone for repairs or use the DJI care insurance I purchased for "much faster" turnaround time (assuming that's because I probably would be sent a brand new drone). However, the drone was less than 6 months old, and still under DJI manufacturer warranty.  I didn't want to use my DJI insurance, because it wasn't a breakdown I caused by crashing it (I never crashed or mishandled the drone), but also... I didn't want my drone replaced with one that will have a new serial number. The reason I wanted my Mavic Air drone repaired, because I had my FCC registration, expensive liability insurance, and all international permits and country specific paperwork for that serial number. Instead of a repaired drone, I got a replacement with a new Serial Number. This was a waste of hundreds of dollars and many hours of work to prepare country-specific paperwork. If I knew I wouldn't get a repair, I would have upgraded to a Mavic 2, because I would have to re-do the paperwork anyway. So, quite inconsiderate policies from DJI with respect to repairs associated with the main board malfunction. Please actually do the repair, not just replace it. But then again, reading a few posts on this forum, I haven't heard or anyone actually getting a repair. If that's the case, DJI should address it in their policies to not confuse people, or stipulate in which cases the drone can / cannot be repaired. Now I have to redo all the paperwork, and re-insure the drone. "Thanks" DJI, I appreciate the new drone, but I really wanted my drone repaired.

It is the normal pratice to send outt a different one - usually refurbished, but occasionally new.  They will repair yours, but that will be used as someone else's replacement.

Hi VanHellin, we are very sorry that the drone was replaced instead of being repaired which cause hassles on registering the FCC, about this, we have explained in our policy that products and components presented for repair may be replaced by refurbished goods of the same type rather than being repaired. Appreciate your understanding and sorry again for the inconvenience caused.

Hence, I suggest DJI reviews their policies and implement changes to the policy that take into account such issues, or at least provide support options that take into account such things.

Regulations are only tightening worldwide, and more and more users, especially areal photography, videographers, surveyors, travelers, youtubers, etc. such pros or semi-pros may be much more invested into registrations, liability insurance, in multiple areas / countries. In the US, all drones must be registered and display on the drone's exterior, a registration number of the drone with specific SN. Another example, in Thailand, regulations require specific drone SN registration with several governmental authorities, such as Thai Aviation Authority (CAAT), and NBTC Communications Authority, and to obtain those approvals, drone pilots must furnish liability insurance for a certain minimum amount. Those documents all rely on the serial number of the drone.

DJI may choose to ignore the issue, but it may come back to bite them in the future as these issues will become prevalent.

VanHellin Posted at 3-21 07:06
Hence, I suggest DJI reviews their policies and implement changes to the policy that take into account such issues, or at least provide support options that take into account such things.

Regulations are only tightening worldwide, and more and more users, especially areal photography, videographers, surveyors, travelers, youtubers, etc. such pros or semi-pros may be much more invested into registrations, liability insurance, in multiple areas / countries. In the US, all drones must be registered and display on the drone's exterior, a registration number of the drone with specific SN. Another example, in Thailand, regulations require specific drone SN registration with several governmental authorities, such as Thai Aviation Authority (CAAT), and NBTC Communications Authority, and to obtain those approvals, drone pilots must furnish liability insurance for a certain minimum amount. Those documents all rely on the serial number of the drone.

Hi VanHellin, we thank you and welcome this suggestion raised. Being one of the leaders in the drone industry, we at DJI constantly learn from our customers and will ready to embrace the challenges being given by other governing bodies with other regions regulating user drone experience. DJI envisions in catering superb customer experience in providing exemplary customer support representing the best of its kind. Again we appreciate you for using this platform on adding some thoughts in which we have to consider and making sure that these are not only seen and be taken for granted. Thank you for your continued support in DJI.