Hi

I have care refresh for my avata. This weekend I had a minor crash. The drone just hit a bunch of grass on the ground. But this made the avata go totally crazy. I could not stopp it (I switched to normal mode) It didn't react at all on my stick inputs. The avata just flew with high speed away.


DJI-Support says, that the crash damaged the drone and made it go crazy. I admit, that the small crash was my fault. But why should I pay the fly away fee of 205 Euros and not just the normal repair fee? If I had crashed the drone much harder, so that i broke into pieces, DJI would charge me the smaller repair fee of 55 Euro.


Whats your logic, DJI? Do I have to pay more, because I didnt crash it hard enough?

As seen in this thread it's also a common problem, that Avata tends to fly away on its own:

https://forum.dji.com/thread-286221-1-1.html

Someone else experienced the same problem and how did DJI react?

Hi, there. I apologize for the inconvenience caused. I was able to locate your case number using your forum account. Upon checking, this appears to be a flyaway case. If you send the damaged device to our facility for a comprehensive diagnosis, we will offer you a repair cost once the damaged assessment is completed. However, since you were unable to recover the aircraft, that's why a Flyaway replacement was provided. Thank you.

How can I recover the aircraft, if the shown location on the map isn't correct? It shows the location of the crash. But as I wrote, the drone flew away without reacting to stop button. I could also not activate the beeping. I was searching serveral times, also with the help of my wife.

I think it's not fair to treat this as a fly away case, as it wasnt me, who flew the drone. The drone didnt react as designed. After loosing control connection it should have climbed to 30 meter (as configurated in the settings) and fly back home. But the drone flew away at high speed to a complete different direction.

Camello77 Posted at 1-16 02:49
How can I recover the aircraft, if the shown location on the map isn't correct? It shows the location of the crash. But as I wrote, the drone flew away without reacting to stop button. I could also not activate the beeping. I was searching serveral times, also with the help of my wife.

I think it's not fair to treat this as a fly away case, as it wasnt me, who flew the drone. The drone didnt react as designed. After loosing control connection it should have climbed to 30 meter (as configurated in the settings) and fly back home. But the drone flew away at high speed to a complete different direction.

I understand. Thank you for the information. If you are unable to recover the aircraft, a flyaway case will be created. Not to worry, I'll forward this information to our relevant team for further checking. Please keep an eye on your email for future updates. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you. None of the implemented tools to recover the drone did work. Wrong position on the map. Beeping could not be activated. And the video stored in the goggles also doesnt help because it doesnt show, where the drone finally landed/crashed.

Camello77 Posted at 1-16 12:05
Thank you. None of the implemented tools to recover the drone did work. Wrong position on the map. Beeping could not be activated. And the video stored in the goggles also doesnt help because it doesnt show, where the drone finally landed/crashed.

Thank you for providing the details. I'll forward this to our relevant team for further assistance. Rest assured that this will be taken care of and handled accordingly. Thank you for your understanding.

DJI doesn't change their mind. They treat this as a normal fly away. Like as if I flew away the drone too far and it lost contact.

My only mistake was, that I did a minor crash. Unfortunately I did not crash I hard enough, so the drone was unable to fly anymore.

DJI thats not consumer orientated!!! You know, that there is a problem with the avata to fly away even after minor colllisions. There are enough reports about this behaviour!

But in my oppinion its a warranty case, if the drone flies away by itself! No fee to pay at all!!!

Camello77 Posted at 1-18 00:51
But in my oppinion its a warranty case, if the drone flies away by itself! No fee to pay at all!!!

Hi Camello77, unfortunately as it is confirmed the aircraft was steered manually when colliding with an obstacle, your case sadly is not eligible for a free replacement. Our relevant team has updated you via e-mail and offer the solution. Hope you could consider of it. If you have any further question, you could reply us by e-mail and we will further follow.

Camello77 Posted at 1-18 00:51
But in my oppinion its a warranty case, if the drone flies away by itself! No fee to pay at all!!!

@Carmello77 I think you have a misconception of the meaning of "flyaway". The term does not me that the drone flew away under the pilot's control and was lost; on the contrary "flyaway" refers to exactly the situation you described: the drone flew away autonomously and did not respond to your commands. You were unable to regain control (at no fault of your own) and it flew off and was lost.

As @Dirty Bird explained, DJI treats these cases differently than crash repairs because you have nothing to return to them to prove that you are not just making a fraudulent flyway claim. I know it sucks, but try to think of it from the vendor's POV... They have to protect themselves or tons of folks would try to scam the system.

patiam Posted at 1-20 14:17
@Carmello77 I think you have a misconception of the meaning of "flyaway". The term does not me that the drone flew away under the pilot's control and was lost; on the contrary "flyaway" refers to exactly the situation you described: the drone flew away autonomously and did not respond to your commands. You were unable to regain control (at no fault of your own) and it flew off and was lost.

As @Dirty Bird explained, DJI treats these cases differently than crash repairs because you have nothing to return to them to prove that you are not just making a fraudulent flyway claim. I know it sucks, but try to think of it from the vendor's POV... They have to protect themselves or tons of folks would try to scam the system.

If it flies away on its own, I dont need a care refresh! Thats a warranty case because its a malfunction of the drone.

Camello77 Posted at 1-20 23:22
If it flies away on its own, I dont need a care refresh! Thats a warranty case because its a malfunction of the drone.

A flyaway can happen for multiple reasons, only some of which are "warranty cases" as you put it. Electromagnetic interference, damage from a crash (sound familiar?), intentional control seizure, etc.

Regardless of the cause, if you can't understand the business and financial considerations behind the reason DJI doesn't just give a brand new drone to everyone that claims theirs had a flyaway, then maybe another hobby is in order.

Do you work for DJI? You sound like you do.

You seriously think its acceptable, that a drone flies away on its own after a crash? Thats a dangerous behaviour. The drone could collide with a airplane or hit people or cars on the ground.

Would anybody think its o.k. if a car would accelerate and drive on its own after an accident, ignoring the driver pushing the brake?

Obviously the manufacturer has to implement a safety feature to prevent that.
As you can see in the reports on this forum, there are plenty of cases, when the avata did fly away even after minor bumps.

And by the way: DJI has all the data from this fly away case. They see it in the log files, that the drone did fly without reacting to my inputs.
I dont demand that they give everybody a new drone, who flew too far away till they could not fly back safely.

Thats what in my oppinion is a fly away caused by the pilot.
A drone going mad and flying away on its own is a warranty case because of bad engineering.

You are failing to separate whether a flyaway is a good or bad thing and DJI's policy on warranty/refunds in these cases.

Obviously flyaways are bad, for all the reasons you mentioned and more. To argue otherwise would be a waste of time, which is why we aren't doing that here.

Your suggestion that I might work for DJI is hilarious- I am a customer only, albeit an "Enterprise" one that uses DJI UAS professionally (as well as recreationally). If you've spent any time on this forum outside of the consumer sub-forums you'd know that, and that I am an extremely vocal critic of DJI's policy, documentation, support, and product shortcomings when I encounter them. I own and manage dozens of DJI drones, both consumer and enterprise. My use of DJI products is more driven by need, availability, and cost/benefit than anything else;  I'm no DJI fanboy, let alone an employee. Not that I should have to defend my stance to you or anybody, but there you go.

You seem hung up on this flyaway scenario caused by the pilot flying too far away. I submit that such occurrences are a very small minority of flyways, and that the term really is meant to apply to (using your flowery words) "A drone going mad and flying away on its own". I've already explained why that is not always a "warranty case". And you seem to refuse to understand the business policy aspects of this issue. I'm not interested in arguing this further.

That's all I have to say, other than to curse myself for yet again wasting my time responding to consumer sub-forum threads.

Care refresh is an insurance covering pilot errors.
Why do I have to buy an insurance covering engineering faults of a product? Thats the responsability of the manufacturer.

It doesnt matter if I have or have not care refresh, DJI is responsible for designing her drone in a way that it is able to fly away against the will of the pilot.

I bet the Avata is your "My First Drone™", isn't it?

No, but the first DJI drone.

Obviously I did not fly long enough their drones to become a fanboy.

Camello77 Posted at 1-22 22:54
No, but the first DJI drone.

Obviously I did not fly long enough their drones to become a fanboy.

Just because you're not getting the answer you want, you resort to calling people names?

Grow up and take responsibility for your own actions.

Now I expect you to comeback with some lame response, calling me names as well....

Maybee you should read my post right. I did not call anybody any names. I just talked about myself.

But I think it makes no sense to discuss anymore.
I was expecting DJI to respond here and explain its strange warranty policy.