DJI if your listening I am bewildered with the current service I am getting.  I was recently flying my DJI Mavic 2 Pro down in Malibu catching some surfing video.  I am meticulous about the care of my drone. The drone was opperating flawlessly as always, but suddenly the camera started to flip around and parameters on my drone went crazy (Screen Shot Below) and the drone started to increase in altitude (altitude of -2119.2ft) on its own flying out over the ocean never to be seen again. The drone never returned home as advertised that it would. I have been receiving prompt correspondence as it relates to my case, however nobody seems to want to address what happened and why it didnt come back. The drone was within 100' of me at time of the incident. The rep I am working with has offered me a discount on a new drone, but she also mentioned that there is a free data analysis service that is offered but since I am out of my warranty period it would cost $65. Why doesnt DJI want to investigate this regardless out of safety concern?? This was a flawlessly working drone that decided to fly out over the ocean and not use the RTH feature. If I was next to LA and it took off this would be a huge safety issue. I specfically bought this drone for this feature because of the concern with safety.
Here is a snip directly from your website as it relates to the RTH feature. You need to revise this whole page to let people know DJI doesnt provide a "failsafe" product. Its falsly advertising your products capabilities.
Failsafe RTH:

Failsafe RTH happens when your drone loses signal for 3 seconds when using the remote controller or 20 seconds if using Wi-Fi. When it kicks in it will do one of three things depending on how you have set it up. Firstly, if you have it set to RTH then it will ascend to the set RTH height and start to fly back to you, and once you get the signal back, then you can cancel it. Secondly, if you have it set to Hover then your drone will just hover in its current position, so you can walk towards it and re-establish your signal. However, if you fail to re-establish your signal and the Battery RTH is triggered then the drone will either return home or land depending on your Battery RTH settings. Thirdly, it can be set to land, so it’ll just land in its current position.

Case #: CAS-10885424-Q9D9M9

We're truly sorry to hear your feedback on the results of your case. We'll communicate it with the team relevant to further assist with the matter. Please keep an eye on your email from time to time. As always, should you need to contact us for any reason, please know that we are always here to help. Anticipating your kind understanding.

DJI Diana Posted at 10-22 16:08
We're truly sorry to hear your feedback on the results of your case. We'll communicate it with the team relevant to further assist with the matter. Please keep an eye on your email from time to time. As always, should you need to contact us for any reason, please know that we are always here to help. Anticipating your kind understanding.

Diana I haven't received a response yet. What should I expect to see/hear from DJI?  Here is where I left it with the rep. Its their response followed up by my response.  I am just looking for some clarity. Maybe you can assist??  See conversation below.

Dear Luke,

Thanks for getting back to us.

As we have stated in the last email, the aircraft is out of warranty, we are sorry that we are unable to proceed with the free data analysis service.

The data analysis is to analyze the cause of the flight accident and determine the responsible party. For this case, if you would like to review the flight record and perform a data analysis service, you will have to pay the data analysis fee, which is USD$65. And please kindly note that the data analysis result will not affect the discount plan of this case.

We are looking forward to your decision.

Should you have more questions, please feel free to let us know.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. Have a nice day.


Best Regards,
Dora

Dora,

What happens with the analysis data?  I am trying to interpret your message.  "The data analysis is to analyze the cause of the flight accident and determine the responsible party. " As it relates to your note shown in red. What does this mean? What determines the responsible party? What are the parameters?  Before paying for this service it would be nice to know what I am buying with the analysis of the data? What determines fault? The drone flew off, i dont know what determines fault of DJI in my case. It would be nice to know.

Once we come to a resolution, what are the steps to getting back into a drone?  Do you guys still have the Mavic 2 Pro?

Thanks,

Luke

LukeL Posted at 10-25 11:27
Diana I haven't received a response yet. What should I expect to see/hear from DJI?  Here is where I left it with the rep. Its their response followed up by my response.  I am just looking for some clarity. Maybe you can assist??  See conversation below.

Dear Luke,

Hi, Luke. We're sorry for the delay in the update on your ongoing case here in DJI. We've reviewed the case and upon checking, we regret to inform you that the unit is already out of warranty period, therefore, the data analysis can't be provided freely. In a warranty situation, the data analysis is automatically given if the drone experiences any mishap such as collision, hard landing, or flyaway. The data analysis will help our team to review your flight records in order for us to check if the cause of the incident is a non-pilot error or a pilot error. Hence, the warranty result will be based on the outcome of the data analysis. However, this could only be applied if the unit is within the warranty period and can't be applied by default if the drone is out of the warranty period.

Moreover, I'd like to address your concern regarding the failsafe RTHF as well. This feature will automatically be activated when the aircraft gets disconnected from the remote controller for more than 2 seconds. However, if the drone is having with compass problem or a GPS problem due to interferences, the aircraft can't perform the Failsafe RTHF completely and may be caused sudden incidents.

I hope this satisfies your query about the case.

Thank you for your support.

Thanks for the reply Diana.  I do have a question however though.  My drone wasn't having compass problems or GPS problems. The weak GPS signal only came into play after the drone started to run wild. Do you any other ideas what could have happened?
The screen capture below shows the drone just before everything went offline.  If you look at the actual parameters of the drone they are super crazy, but the weak GPS signal didnt show up until after.

LukeL Posted at 10-25 19:30
Thanks for the reply Diana.  I do have a question however though.  My drone wasn't having compass problems or GPS problems. The weak GPS signal only came into play after the drone started to run wild. Do you any other ideas what could have happened?
The screen capture below shows the drone just before everything went offline.  If you look at the actual parameters of the drone they are super crazy, but the weak GPS signal didnt show up until after.

We are sorry for your inconvenience. We are unable to make conclusions based only on your pictures and description. Moreover, we recommend you consult with data analysis teams if you really want to figure out what happened on your aircraft. The paid data analysis would be the option for your question. Kindly know that we only offer free data analysis services for the products which are still under warranty.

Can you provide the breakout of what I am provided with paying for the analysis? What determines fault, etc...

LukeL Posted at 10-26 11:52
Can you provide the breakout of what I am provided with paying for the analysis? What determines fault, etc...

Hi, Luke. Thank you for the response. Paying for the data analysis will give you a result or conclusion for a possible reason why the incident happened. However, please be advised that regardless of the result of the data analysis, your quotation will prevail as the unit is out of the warranty period.

DJI Diana Posted at 2022-10-26 15:39
Hi, Luke. Thank you for the response. Paying for the data analysis will give you a result or conclusion for a possible reason why the incident happened. However, please be advised that regardless of the result of the data analysis, your quotation will prevail as the unit is out of the warranty period.

I find this reply very concerning as a potential new customer

i am unsure about in the USA, but under the UK consumer act, a company is still responsible for replacing faulty goods AFTER the warrantee period, IF the fault was present on purchase, ie. the software was inherently faulty, but the fault simply didn't manifest until after warrantee ran out

it seems you are saying that, despite this fact, any data that may be able able to prove this was in fact the case will be withheld by DJI, and even if we pay, we are just paying for the results of an in house unverifiable analysis, not the data itself, which may be pertinent to any case regarding a replacement under consumer protection law, and this makes me feel very uneasy about buying a drone from DJI

This is not the kind of behaviour i would expect from a reputable global brand, as there seems to be nothing stopping them simply doing no analysis and saying "it was your fault", as without the data itself neither the consumer nor third party would be able to challenge that statement

worse, the company could simply set the drones to flyaway after warrantee period was up in order to generate more sales/replacement fees and no one would be any the wiser...

Vaseth Posted at 8-24 10:08
I find this reply very concerning as a potential new customer

i am unsure about in the USA, but under the UK consumer act, a company is still responsible for replacing faulty goods AFTER the warrantee period, IF the fault was present on purchase, ie. the software was inherently faulty, but the fault simply didn't manifest until after warrantee ran out

Hello there! Thank you for reaching out and for the feedback. We respect your position on this matter. Please know that customers can always download and review our after-sales policy at their convenience on our website. Helping and assisting our valued consumers as much as we can has always been our top priority. For additional information about our repair procedure, please contact https://www.dji.com/support. Enjoy your day!

Agreed, this is very concerning indeed. As a new customer I am disappointed in the lack of clarity provided by the dji team regarding this incident.

Furthermore there recent upgrade to the care plan that now includes flyaway cover makes me think that they are actively aware of the RTH not working as advertised.

Nevertheless if a malfunction has occurred and the RTH was not executed then dji is responsible and should cover the cost of a new drone.

Dji do what is right by your customers and take responsibility if you are at fault.

djiuser_v3LTYRUtTWS2 Posted at 3-11 04:19
Agreed, this is very concerning indeed. As a new customer I am disappointed in the lack of clarity provided by the dji team regarding this incident.

Furthermore there recent upgrade to the care plan that now includes flyaway cover makes me think that they are actively aware of the RTH not working as advertised.

Thank you for reaching out. We understand your concerns and would like to inquire about any specific issues you may have encountered recently. Please feel free to share details with us, thanks.