Appauling DJI Support Experience
I reached out to DJI support on 25 of December with my issues. The issue was sent internally in DJI with the promise I will get response within 24 hours. Instead of that I only got the response today - on 4th of January. 10 days instead of promised 24 hours!
And the response I got is useless. DJI representative has not even read my case nor has looked at the video I shared. They came back talking about what mobile device I have even though my case is about Mavic 3 Classic and DJI RC controller.

The Issue
I cannot pair the controller with the drone.
Here is what I was doing and how:
https://youtu.be/MVn7dpLZdlE

Just watched your video.  My suggestion is to update the RC2 from Assistant 2 then try again.

Also remove the memory card from the drone, corrupts cards in the drone or misnamed files on the card have been known to prevent pairing. Whilst you are at it, remove the card from the controller as well.
Calibrate the controller.

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out and we do apologize for the trouble. Please download the DJI Assistant 2 software on your computer using the link below and please update/refresh the firmware of both aircraft and controller. After that, try to link them again using the combination buttons to further isolate the issue:

DJI Assistant 2 software: https://www.dji.com/downloads/so ... sumer-drones-series

Using Button Combinations

1. Power on the aircraft and the remote controller.
2. Press the C1, C2, and Record buttons simultaneously until the status LED blinks blue and the remote controller beeps.
3. Press and hold the power button of the aircraft for more than four seconds. The aircraft beeps twice after a short beep, and its battery-level LEDs blink in sequence to indicate it is ready to link. The remote controller will beep twice, and its status LED will turn solid green to indicate linking is successful.

Notes:

• Make sure the remote controller is within 0.5 m of the aircraft during linking.
• The remote controller will automatically unlink from an aircraft if a new remote controller is linked to the same aircraft.
• Turn off the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi of the remote controller for optimal video transmission.

TonyPHX Posted at 1-3 13:48
Just watched your video.  My suggestion is to update the RC2 from Assistant 2 then try again.

I have DJI RC, not RC 2. The drone is Mavic 3 Classic.

Just to remove these doubts: both the drone and the controller are on the latest firmware.

I have two controllers. Both are DJI RC. One controller I was able to pair and another one I could not pair. The one I could pair I will have to return to the owner. I managed to update the drone to the latest firmware. And the controller is also on the latest firmware.

All of this was done BEFORE I recorded the video.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 1-3 15:20
Also remove the memory card from the drone, corrupts cards in the drone or misnamed files on the card have been known to prevent pairing. Whilst you are at it, remove the card from the controller as well.
Calibrate the controller.

Yes, I read about the cards issue and the video in my first post was recorded with no cards in neither drone nor controller.

DJI Paladin Posted at 1-3 22:24
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out and we do apologize for the trouble. Please download the DJI Assistant 2 software on your computer using the link below and please update/refresh the firmware of both aircraft and controller. After that, try to link them again using the combination buttons to further isolate the issue:

DJI Assistant 2 software: https://www.dji.com/downloads/softwares/dji-assistant-2-consumer-drones-series

On the video I recorded and shared in my first post both the drone and the controller were already on the latest firmware. I tried it all now again with the same result.

On the video I did not use the combination of buttons on the controller you suggested now but was instead doing it via the Connection Guide.

I tried now with the combination of buttons you suggested. The controller flashes blue and keeps beeping annoyingly and the drone battery is also showing running led lights - both are in pairing mode. Yet no pairing takes place. I waited for 5 minutes of this annoying beeping - see no point waiting any longer.

I read that all the firmware is up to date but did you do that over the air using the app/controller or the assistant 2 program as suggested? Using the Assistant 2 program you can "refresh" the firmware which is the first troubleshooting step and is always recommended.

Try this method, it is just a little different. Connection Guide/Mavic 3 Classic/Camera View(top right)/menu(three dots)/control scroll to bottom then connect to aircraft. Yes it is basically the same, but might trip different switches in the software.

KineticAlex Posted at 1-3 23:33
On the video I recorded and shared in my first post both the drone and the controller were already on the latest firmware. I tried it all now again with the same result.

On the video I did not use the combination of buttons on the controller you suggested now but was instead doing it via the Connection Guide.

Thank you for keeping us posted and we're sorry for the trouble. In this case, we highly recommend you contact our team at https://www.dji.com/support to see the best possible option for you to send the unit to us. You may also have the option to contact the dealer where you purchased the unit to check for their after-sales policy. Should you have other inquiries, please don't hesitate to reach us. We appreciate your understanding.

jmb63 Posted at 1-4 05:33
I read that all the firmware is up to date but did you do that over the air using the app/controller or the assistant 2 program as suggested? Using the Assistant 2 program you can "refresh" the firmware which is the first troubleshooting step and is always recommended.

It was done over the air for both and the Assistant found nothing new.

DJI Paladin Posted at 1-5 02:18
Thank you for keeping us posted and we're sorry for the trouble. In this case, we highly recommend you contact our team at https://www.dji.com/support to see the best possible option for you to send the unit to us. You may also have the option to contact the dealer where you purchased the unit to check for their after-sales policy. Should you have other inquiries, please don't hesitate to reach us. We appreciate your understanding.

As per my very first message I already contacted support and got response after 10 days that indicated the DJI support did not even bother to read the issue. They came back with advice on how to reset a smartphone even though my issue clearly indicates no smartphones are involved.

I have now somehow managed to overcome the binding issue. I just kept trying and finally it worked. The way that worked is via the Connection Guide. I tried this a number of times before it worked.
And what is also interesting is that it worked in the last seconds of the 60 second countdown - very tight and close to timeout. That makes me wonder if for some reason previous runs it was taking a bit longer and was breaching that timeout.
I am a bit at a loss in understanding why it worked now and not before. But at least they drone and the controller are finally bound.

Thank you everybody who jumped in to help with advice.

KineticAlex Posted at 1-6 21:21
It was done over the air for both and the Assistant found nothing new.

Yes, but did you see the option in the assistant 2 program to "refresh" the current firmware (even if it is up to date)?
"Refresh" is different than just looking to make sure the firmware is current as you did.
That refresh does help a lot of concerns especially if it was a bad firmware update that was done over the air...Even if you did find a way to get it to work that refresh of the current firmware is handy to know and might be useful going forward and is usually one of the first troubleshooting steps.

jmb63 Posted at 1-7 04:41
Yes, but did you see the option in the assistant 2 program to "refresh" the current firmware (even if it is up to date)?
"Refresh" is different than just looking to make sure the firmware is current as you did.
That refresh does help a lot of concerns especially if it was a bad firmware update that was done over the air...Even if you did find a way to get it to work that refresh of the current firmware is handy to know and might be useful going forward and is usually one of the first troubleshooting steps.

Yes, Refresh is available despite the current version is the latest but right now it is a mute point since somehow the binding happened on one of numerous attempts. And those attempts were without forced refresh via Assistant.

Next time try assistant 2 like I suggested.  Saves a lot of time.

KineticAlex Posted at 1-6 21:30
I have now somehow managed to overcome the binding issue. I just kept trying and finally it worked. The way that worked is via the Connection Guide. I tried this a number of times before it worked.
And what is also interesting is that it worked in the last seconds of the 60 second countdown - very tight and close to timeout. That makes me wonder if for some reason previous runs it was taking a bit longer and was breaching that timeout.
I am a bit at a loss in understanding why it worked now and not before. But at least they drone and the controller are finally bound.

Thank you for keeping us posted. We're glad that you have managed to isolate this linking issue that you have experienced. Just a friendly reminder, please make sure that both aircraft and controller must have the latest firmware to avoid any firmware incompatibility issues when linking. Feel free to contact us if you have other inquiries. Have a nice day ahead!