This is an open letter to DJI: Dear DJI, Are you guys on drugs ???? You have had my Phantom 3 Pro for 3 MONTHS now for repair and I still don't have it back yet! It crashed when it suddenly decided to shoot off at random and crash into a wall... after a few weeks of flawless flights including 500m up and 4.1km out. After several phone calls and messages, DJI has [size=14.6667px]never addressed the reason it took off on me or anything. I only got the bill. So since they only considered it a repair, I have to eat the cost of getting a new $200 CAD battery due to the fact the crashed one was destroyed. I messaged about if DJI might meet me half way by giving me a free replacement battery or selling it to me at cost. Surely that battery can't cost DJI more than $50 to produce, so it's not that hard of a pill to swallow. In good faith, I sent in the CAD $225 repair cost on Aug. 26 (via PayPal) . I received an email on Sept. 19 stating that my Phantom was shipped... with n[size=14.6667px]o tracking number! On Sept. 23rd you guys confirmed the Aug 26th payment to start the repair. HUH? What kind of mind games are you trying to play on me? On Sept 17th I called again. A guy named Johnathon said he "understood" my concerns and about getting DJI to possibly toss in a replacement battery. He said he would send in an internal memo so that someone would contact me to discuss. IT NEVER HAPPENED. I called again today (2 weeks later) and talked to another person. He didn't sound like he really cared. He also said he would pass on an internal memo to get someone to adress my concerns. He said it was technically out of his hands. I asked him whom should I call instead. He said I should just send messages via the open ticket that was created for my repair. This is the same open ticket where no one replies. That ticket was closed 20 days ago and marked SOLVED. How the hell is it solved when I don't even have my quad back yet? I had to open another ticket to try and comunicate with DJI. Obviously with no reply from you, I was wasting my time. In every call and text, I have comunicated in a friendly and respectfull tone. I think that's done now. It feels like DJI is just brushing off one of it's customers. It feels like I'll eventually get my quad back and never get the battery issue resolved, nor have had the chance to fly my almost $2,000 toy at any length before it becomes too cold to do so. I'm really starting to get pissed... and I'm a very patient person. I don't know what to do anymore. Francis

Here's background on my accident:


My Phantom 3 Pro just went nuts and killed itself !


I was going to fly it over some very old abandoned saw mill. I did the usual... turn on remote, then turn on Phantom 3 Pro (firmware 1.2.6), then start DJI Pilot (v1.2.0) app. I picked it up after it initialized and did compass calibration and put it on the ground. There are the familiar green "safe to fly" bar at the top with 17 satellites connected (P-GPS)


I started the motors, and after a few seconds, made it lift off the ground just over 1m, A few more seconds, then raised it to about 2-3m. Slowly moved it forward for a few meters... so far so good... then BAM! It just full throttled forward and traveled 87m before smashing into the side of a wall. I initially tried pulling back on the right stick to force it to slow down and go backwards, but nothing worked. It happened so fast (to me). The stricture it flew into was (in elevation) a few meters lower than where I was standing.


I managed to locate it using it's last known location and picked up the drone, some broken blades, and the disconnected battery (fully charged). It's 2 1/2 hours later and the battery is pretty warm.


I put in a new battery and started it up. It sees satelites, the gimble initiates and I can see video. I unscrewed the damaged lens cover and the main camera seems fine). I can start the motors (no props on) and the crashed motor also runs, but it's slightly rubbing against the crushed drone arm. It feels like all I need it a new drone body.


I've had absolutely flawless flights. I've gone 500m up and also tried 4.1k out. Not a single issue until today. What more should I do? Call DJI or something?

i love flying my drone, but i find it very hard to tell anybody else to get one =[ (this is very bad for DJI marketing - when customers love your product yet still dont recommend it)

the main reason? customer "support"

btw have you tried to upload you flight to check what may have gone wrong? http://healthydrones.com/main?flight=last
havent had issues so i havent really used the site for an abnormal flight

Oh man i am so sorry for you to endure such horrible outcome and be dealt with like that. I too feel scared to recommend the DJI to my friends and afraid they will end up in a situation like you and blame me for it.

Yes, with everyone who is impressed seeing my Phantom in action I always have to add that they are known for terrible communication and service. So, it's buyer beware. I don't want folks to be angry with me for recommending a DJI product if they have problems. Hence the disclaimer when I speak to them about it.

Prometheus Xex Posted at 2015-10-1 04:41
Here's background on my accident:

sorry for your troubles. it is absolutely mind blowing that such a great product could have such an abysmal customer care! i havent had any dealings with DJI support or CS but from the still ongoing horrible experiences with CS, all it takes is for another company to come out with a product as good as the P3 and with a better CS and then it will be good bye DJI!! Some people may say we only hear the bad experiences but in my opinion there are too many nightmare stories where there really shouldnt be any, if there was good communication from dji to its' customers. It all boils down to communication DJI!!! I just dont get why they cant fix this big issue, it really is pretty simple!
good luck francis, hope all turns out well

Hi Francis.

Don't worry about it,you 're not alone with this...
Me too i had a crash with my P3A on August,the only difference that mine run autonomously against a tree not a wall,the shell broke and one of the arms bent.
Mine one was 1 month old,38 flight 36610 meters on his flight log,without any major issue before.
Some day before i up dated the firmware,1.3.20,i encountered lot of difficulties in uploading it,and it was first time i had problem with up-date...several attempt before got success...don't explain why..
At a certain point i was landing it ,and suddenly didn't respond to command,he was endowed of his own intelligence.i try to switch from P-A-F mode ,but none,drone wasn't responding at all.
At one point he accellerated at full blast,and run into a tree..
I bring it to the dealer where i purchased,and sent a few days later to italian distributor,this in Agust, the 18.
After having written to DJI CS,and to the distributor too,without having much support,i pushed the dealer to force distributor to get up!!!I did what i could,and i was able to do...
Yesterday ,my dealer told me that finally my P3A has been sent to Germany,wich is the hub for DJI here in europe..on 29 Sept.,one month and half of  idleness...if the time are these,if i'm lucky i can give my P3A back for Christmas....
I still don't understand why many hasn't encountered any issue and many others are having any kind of trouble...excluding the one's who self destroied their beloved drone for inexperience or bad use,the rest who operate it with care following the DJI manual instruction's and operating it and updating strictly following manual dictat..
It seems to me that untill a certain production block things went well,after,maybe for increment production or what soever reason seems to me that less care has been putted on building..this is my consideration...
I think DJI use customers as a field tester,not checking the whole spectrum of possible sw bug..not easy sure but i can't explain certain phenomena.
Customer service had to be "a little bit better",in consideration that i payed in cash,a product wich is not cheap,and i pretend the customer service up to the money i payed for this expensive flying fan.

Yes...  Their support is run by low level,,, off the road employees. They keep the money for themselves... They'll never waste it on 'support' the way we think about 'support'....  for them it's just a pain in the ass, doesn't make them much moneyy..... Not like the 700-800$ margins on these new ones. Fixing them is not a cash cow.. They'd rather have us buy another one... which... Cough, cough... Some of us do.

UPDATE:

Well you'll never guess what happened. I finally got it back. It looked like they replaced the controller (it had the original wrapping on it). I also think they replaced the quad too because the motors had those little stickers on them like it was new. I was sad to see nothing about the spare battery, so I ordered another one.

A week later I got a notification that something from DJI, via FedEX came. I went to pick it up and it was a battery, but without the HDMI mod I also ordered. I was going to call DJI about what happened to it, but didn't have the chance for two days. I got a call from my wife saying something came to the house. She opened it and it was another battery and the HDMI mod I ordered.

So DJI sent me a new replacement battery after all! Yes I glad they did it, but I wished they would had let me know they were sending it so I wouldn't have to have bought my own replacement battery. I now have three batteries.

Go figure.

Prometheus Xex Posted at 2015-10-23 01:50
UPDATE:

Well you'll never guess what happened. I finally got it back. It looked like they replaced  ...

I have 4 batteries, you can never have enough batteries

Prometheus Xex Posted at 2015-10-22 13:50
UPDATE:

Well you'll never guess what happened. I finally got it back. It looked like they replaced  ...

Glad to hear everything in the end worked out for you.  I too may be dealing with them for a repair and believe me I'm nervous as well.  Most of us at some time in our lives has worked for a company that their main focus is on customer service.  Whether it's a supermarket, outside/inside sales, office building, we're always dealing with the service our customers come to expect from us.  Standard SOP's (standard operating procedures) always state near the top about giving our guests the service they deserve, making even the wrong customers feel as though they are right.  Lets face it, without customers, there are no businesses.  Not on specialty business like DJI that offer a small range of products (in comparison to Walmart).  

wamuBugMe stop this ........ sPAM REPORTED