Hello,
my name is David, I’m a professional photographer (war journalist) http://www.davideziegler.com/

I would like to open a claim about my Phantom 2 vision +.
Today I had issue with my Phantom 2 vision +, something unusual happen.

Indeed, today by 1pm I take my Phantom 2 vision + to Baker beach, San Francisco for a flight and a footage. As usual I use the GPS way point to set my phantom and start to record image.

After preparing my Phantom 2 vision + check list, and set the way point, I press done on my Iphone 5 with the app dji ground station. The My Phantom 2 vision + was supposed to fly 5 way point for a total of 1347ft, altitude 250ft. My phantom start to flight at the first way point, when the Phantom was almost reaching the first way point, (the first way point from home was by 550ft) the ground station show “Connection has been lost with Phantom” at this very moment the ground station app got trouble, all the way point has been lost on the map, and every option was freeze on the app.

I saw my phantom going straight, he was not going to the pre selected way point, I try to click return home option but the home bouton was in grey clear color not accepting to be click. In no time I lost sight of my phantom,  the phantom (aircraft logo) was not on the map, and my location neither. I try to with to camera and see if I was able to see anything, but the ground app station show “Connection has been lost”   Unfortunately my Phantom never back home.

I try anything, but no sight of the Phantom, he flight straight till I lost it from my sight.
I invested several buck with this Phantom, extra battery, propeler, flying case, and I would like to open a claim for this issue.

Thank you to let me know if there any email contact for this kind of claim.

Best regards,
David.

Contact support@dji.com

Did you calibrate the compass before flight?

ghostmaster Posted at 2014-11-24 07:03
Contact

Did you calibrate the compass before flight?

Yes, I calibrate it. Before each flight, I always follow the check list, and I have always the red manuel from dji to be careful step by step. GPS locked, and green light.

davidziegler@da Posted at 2014-11-24 07:05
Yes, I calibrate it. Before each flight, I always follow the check list, and I have always the red  ...

Thats really strange and sad... Hope DJI can help you but dont get hopes.... Most of the times they will only offer you 20 or 30% discount in a new one...

I just spend $2000 for the Phantom including extra battery, propeller, flying case, fast charger, so even with 30% I'll be afraid about this issue happen again.

And yes it's sad, I was really enjoying the image I got, and I was considering to buy INSPIRE 1 for my agency.
We are 5 war photographers and we opened a year ago our own agency, and I was getting into aerial image.

I got this phantom only 3 weeks ago, and I was trying to get involve the others photographers of the agency with me in this adventure.
But today, this issue make me realize how this drone can be not so reliable and can get lost in a minute because the app got trouble.

I read the manual, and I read that if any problem happen, your phantom always back to home. Well not this time.

Sorry i cant help you as much as i want, but really try to email DJI and wait for their word... Im not a big fan of this Wifi controlled camera phantoms, i enjoy the gopro phantom 2 with h3-3d. I use it since the phantom 2 came out in december 2013 without any problem since yesterday when my older lipo batteries got blocked by the dji firmware update.

DJI should test firmwares in a small group of beta test users before release this to public, people can get hurt with this...

I already emailed the support.
Thank you for your help ghostmaster.

I will wait dji word. I'm not feeling to let this go this way.  Everybody seems happy about Phantom back home if any trouble or low battery, and the option button "return home", When I saw the map on the app with no more way point and no more the "aircraft logo" everything erase, I though "my phantom will back home, but seeing the Phantom flying away, I press the return button of course, but no chance, he flight away.
I was enjoying to make image and I was planning to travel and make great image, but i lost confidence on dji product right now.

And you right, somehow my phantom will land somewhere, and I hope he land in a no people place., without hurt anyone.

Very frustrating!  I wish you luck!  

Sorry to hear of your loss David. For what it's worth, perhaps you can tell us what you mean by " I try to click return home option but the home bouton was in grey clear color not accepting to be click".

Let's see if we can learn something from this.

To help others:

Use NAZA mode with lower S1 switch set to fail safe home,,, so simply switching S1 to bottom position Phantom will come home,

Write your name and phone number with a big reward on the body of the Phantom!!!!

gsp171@mchsi.co Posted at 2014-11-24 11:43
To help others:

Use NAZA mode with lower S1 switch set to fail safe home,,, so simply switching S1  ...

If it was set to ground station mode and it started its mission, then the waypoints would still be valid despite the loss of connection?
You would have no need for any connection, the only way it could deviate would be for you to cancel or an  inbuilt failsafe or RTH, Is that correct?  Can you manually take control from ground station mode?

Unlucky sir and get advertising around your local areas....  it will land....

Sorry for my English, and I understand that sometime I do not have the right word to explain clearly.

-insitb, about the return button. I use Iphone 5S. When the way point map its open, you can see an aircraft logo (thats the phantom), and at the left side is there a option (between the button trash and the button Done) you can click to make your phantom back to the take off location. I try several time to click but no effect, phantom still go somewhere.

Once the Phantom make he's take off, he took some altitude and then after a fews second of reflexion, he start to go to the first waypoint. After 20 seconds of flying to the first waypoint (give or take), all the waypoints and altitude I make on the map before the flight, has disappear, the aircraft logo also, no more info distance, altitude and speed, and return home button not available.

S1 and S2 was on top position, I switch to S1 bottom but the Phantom never return to home. Thats was my with mission. I understand that i'm a newbie, but I always follow the check list and manuel before each flight, because I'm a newbie.
I see my lovely Phantom go away from me very fast and very far till my eyes can't see it anymore.

I will advertise around of course, I hope I can find it, I was really enjoying the Phantom. my confidence about flying GPS and waypoins its hurt of course.

Thank you to all of you about your concern, I feel supported and not alone. I see that member are more professional than dji staff, who has not give a word yet about my issue. I read on this same forum that customer service of dji is very bad. I wrote a email about this matter to the dji support, so let's see their words.

Again thank you to all of you ,and I wish you great flight and amazing images.

I see what you mean. Yes, once connection is lost, the app will no longer reflect the various options. Then again, S1 also stopped working, so it appears you encountered a pretty serious issue. Perhaps someone with a GPS jammer got too close to your location. Some cars have a GPS jammer built in; perhaps your copter flew over a main road or a car park?

Hope you find your Phantom again.

insitb@singnet. Posted at 2014-11-24 16:47
I see what you mean. Yes, once connection is lost, the app will no longer reflect the various option ...

I would at least be visiting each of the waypoints set as this is the best lead.....
But,  GPS jammer or not, the mission would still stand and the phantom would hover still if it had no gps.

Sounds very strange and will definitely need some investigation as to the actual issue.
Times like this you appreciate and give thought to the extra 40 grams that a gps/gsm tracker would add to your setup.

It is my understanding that when you flip S1 down and back up ground station mode is canceled if you are in range, I purchased the FPVLR.com stage two kit

Confirmed from DJI, flip S1 to get out of ground station:

gsp171@mchsi.co Posted at 2014-11-25 01:09
It is my understanding that when you flip S1 down and back up ground station mode is canceled if you ...

What would be the reaction to that switch flip?
Would the phantom hover?

I fly in NAZA mode with S1 down set to fail safe GO HOME

Hands down the BEST information on the web for control of Phantom: near the end he goes over ALL control options

gsp171@mchsi.co Posted at 2014-11-25 01:09
It is my understanding that when you flip S1 down and back up ground station mode is canceled if you ...

"During a mission you might loose Controller and/or WiFi connection, depending how far you go and what antennas you have.
Don't worry if you loose contact. The P2V+ will continue and complete it's mission.
You might also get controller and wifi signals back when it comes closer to you.
Just remember - you can't take control back or activate RTH in GS when you loose the signals"

http://www.phantompilots.com/vie ... 25244&start=720
20th Nov 2014
Based my answer on this, sorry.

when you loose the signals,,, your screwed,,, one fix to that problem FPVLR.com

I had this happen to me on my first autonomous mission and have been scared since.   I had all the waypoints set and it flew off on its mission.   Everythign looked fine up to the 2nd waypoint.   Suddenly... all waypoints gone.  No line to follow.   In my case however it seemed to continue on its headings and came back to me.   It finished it mission and hovered above my head.  I had no control.   I guess at this point I should have ended the mission or told it to go home.  In my case I just shut off the controller and it landed at its home point.     Scary stuff to watch $1500 fly away from you..   I still don't know what happened to this day.   I ran another mission and it worked fine.   Maybe I hit delete or cancel or something?  I don't know.  It has me nervous though...  

Well, unfortunately LIPHANTOM, my Phantom did not come back home, and the $1500 fly away away and away...
As you got the same issue than me, I believe you was worry to see all the waypoints gone. No respond, no hope, just wait and see if this Phantom back to daddy home!

To respond to all of you guy's, concerning by my issue, yes I took the day to look all over the place, I even make flyers and spent hours to distribute them in a reasonable radius.

So far no call, no sign, Phantom still MIA. I keep the hope to find it again. I spent time also to try to re memorize if I've done something wrong before the flight, but as I'm a newbie, before each flight I was following the dji manual step by step.

I want to thank you all again for your concern.
Wish you a great evening.

David.
www.davideziegler.com

Dear David,
You place your trust in us by purchasing our products. We are really sorry for the trouble and the bad memory that we brought to you.  Providing you best service and qulity product is DJI's full responsiblity, however we failed you. As you know, DJI is a young company, fast growing and at the same time, suffering from all kinds of problems. Excellence in every aspect is our objective. Our customers deserve it.  We value your opinion, which will make us better and better. We appologize to you again, and hope the trust between you and DJI will be rebuilt. We will keep trying to improve our customer service system. If you have any other question, please feel free to contact us. May you enjoy your flight! If you want to buy another drone, please contact our sales or agent.

YUHENG Posted at 2014-11-25 18:34
Dear David,
You place your trust in us by purchasing our products. We are really sorry for the troub ...

Hmmm, what a crappy response. DJI I am a professional user and you should be ashamed of yourselves treating a customer who has invested so much money in you with such a patronising response. I would be out of business if I treated my clients this way!!  You have a potentially great product but much to learn about customer relationships.  I think my phantom is great , but with a few issues.  You will get there technically but I hope someone in your PR department can polish up your reactions to product failure. I am sad to write this but I feel so very angry for the OP.  " Please contact us to buy another one indeed-- how very kind of you. Goodnight.

rod@voxvideopro Posted at 2014-11-25 18:50
Hmmm, what a crappy response. DJI I am a professional user and you should be ashamed of yourselves ...

Hmmm, I think it an oddly suspicious response.  I've noticed all the people that actually work for DJI have a user name that includes that; example "DJI-Terry" and when you click on their logo the profile page identifies them as "User Group: DJI team".

YUHENG just registered on 21 nov and is listed as a "Newbie Member" .  Just making an observation

gil@wk.net Posted at 2014-11-25 21:03
Hmmm, I think it an oddly suspicious response.  I've noticed all the people that actually work for ...

THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY SON YESTERDAY.  He invested all of his hard-earned birthday and Christmas money in this thing and watched it fly away over Long Beach Island, NJ.  He is a very technically-minded individual and knows what he is doing, better than the average user.  I think the response you got from this company is EXTREMELY CRAPPY AND UNCARING.  They should do the right thing if they want people to purchase from them again.  I am going to make a claim too and will not rest until I get satisfaction.  My son is extremely heartbroken and devastated over this MALFUNCTION of this VERY EXPENSIVE drone.  DJI, I demand you do the right thing and replace these drones because of this defective product!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Colleen

Thanks Gil. YUHENG is quite new here and she has learnt  from this lesson. Appologies!

David, really sorry for you loss. I guess it could be wifi module lost connection and GPS/compass interferance or other cause. When in Waypoint mode, Go Home command from Tx will be ignored and it will proceed waypoint mission. If your Phantom can still receive Rx signal, switching S1 will make it hover and let you control via Tx directly. Our tech support will reach you shortly to understand the situation.

Hi, Colleen,  we feel very sorry for that too. You are a good father. Our tech will contact you very soon to know more details and provide assistance. Thanks.

EVERYONE SHOULD WRITE YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER WITH OFFER OF AWARD ON YOUR PHANTOM!!!!!

gsp171@mchsi.co Posted at 2014-11-25 22:07
EVERYONE SHOULD WRITE YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER WITH OFFER OF AWARD ON YOUR PHANTOM!!!!!

Unfortunately, there are those that use the flyaway phenomenon as a way to try and get DJI to supply a new machine for free.

Save your time as this wont happen......

If DJI give in to this type of claim, then out of courtesy,  I DEMAND a ribbon cable...... as it blew away in 2 pieces in a November wind with absolutely no interference from me.

I'm getting to the point that I have started to ignore such claims and even with other forums, 9/10 times the person making the claim cant answer the most basic of questions or provide any such essential information.....   

This has no bearing on this actual thread, just thought you should see it from DJI's point......

DJI-Terry Posted at 2014-11-25 22:03
Thanks Gil. YUHENG is quite new here and she has learnt  from this lesson. Appologies!

David, reall ...

Hi terry, Thank you for your help. I will wait a word from customer service then.
Hello mixstreme, I'm not waiting for dji re supply me with a new Phantom, I know that never happen. I'm a war journalist, my job it's to run over the world and take pictures and write articles about dramatic situation, I have around me different kind of journalist and, I know there is not a company in this world we are living who re supply your lost machine for a brand new one


I'm French, and in France we have the worse customer service, so I expect not a big deal from any company. Today I live in San Francisco, and I can tell that US customer service is great. In my job I broke hundred of lens and camera, and way more expensive than a Phantom, but fortunately, I have a Canon contract so Lens and Camera are free for me.


I got a issue with my Phantom, its sad yes, because I was enjoying the aerial image, and I was working, planing, to use aerial image for my job.
Like ghostmaster said, maybe dji will make a gesture or a rebate for a new machine after they understand what happen to mine.


Anyway, dji offer a nice way to shot aerial image, I hear and read customer complaining about customer service, I can't tell because so far it is my first trouble with their product.


I wish you a great Thanks giving and nice flight with perfect image.


David.
www.davideziegler.com

davidziegler@da Posted at 2014-11-25 23:59
Hi terry, Thank you for your help. I will wait a word from customer service then.
Hello mixstreme,  ...

I did say this has no bearing on this thread......
BUT.... Obviously, you can appreciate the vast amount of such claims and the numbers that just jump on to try their luck.

You didn't flip any of the switches on the remote when you lost connection in the app did you?

jmtw000@gmail.c Posted at 2014-11-26 10:06
You didn't flip any of the switches on the remote when you lost connection in the app did you?

Nope jmtw000, I didn't touche anything. I've been waiting, and after 15 long very long minute, I switch the Remote control in OFF. I read that if you switch the remote control in OFF, the phantom back home right away.
I wait the 15 minutes because I want to let time to the phantom to go to each way point. 15 minutes was way to long for the way point a pre select, but better to give time that to do something wrong.
PS: I just tried to click the return home buton on the app. And I still waiting a word from customer service.
PS2: my phantom was the V3.0 by the way.
David.
www.davideziegler.com

davidziegler@da Posted at 2014-11-26 10:30
Nope jmtw000, I didn't touche anything. I've been waiting, and after 15 long very long minute, I sw ...

Turning off the remote controller will not make the Phantom return home when it is flying a Ground Station mission. The Phantom will just continue on the mission and return to home when it's finished. This is so it can go out of control range during a mission (same as if the controller is turned off) and the return to home will not be triggered.  If your Phantom was still in control range when you noticed it not following the flight plan you could have flipped the S1 switch down and back up again to cancel the mission and then turned off the controller and it should have come home. But that doesn't really help you now.

I think this guy says it all - if posts on here are anything to go by.

talk2t_c Posted at 2014-11-27 22:06
I think this guy says it all - if posts on here are anything to go by.

https://www.youtube.com/watc ...

Just bought a Phantom 2 Vision + that flew away on its maiden voyage.  Has anyone found and used a gps tracker small enough to attach to the phantom that could locate such a fly away?  

fred@korndorf.c Posted at 2014-11-30 08:33
Just bought a Phantom 2 Vision + that flew away on its maiden voyage.  Has anyone found and used a ...

TK102b from ebay...  in use daily and working fine.....

fred@korndorf.c Posted at 2014-11-30 08:33
Just bought a Phantom 2 Vision + that flew away on its maiden voyage.  Has anyone found and used a ...

I use Marco Polo RC Tracker.  I didn't want to pay $$ per month and it weighs in at about 1/2 a cell reporting GPS.  So far I've not had a use for it except to test that it works.

kenargo Posted at 2014-11-30 11:13
I use Marco Polo RC Tracker.  I didn't want to pay $$ per month and it weighs in at about 1/2 a ce ...

I PAY £1 PER WEEK ON PAYG HERE IN THE UK.......

Easily the best insurance against flyaway .