I have just purchased my first drone a few weeks ago. Had a great time flying it and testing it out.I noticed it has a hairline crack near the front left motor. I spoke with a guy on DJI chat support who seemed rather unconcerned about anything.I emailed chat support who have simpled said to send it in for repair.

Would appreciate some views - would you send this back in for repair ? It is minor but i scared it develops. Is there anything i can treat the small crack with to save sending it in?

If it new from a store I would get an exchange. However if it's second hand I would get it looked at you don't want it dropping out of the sky possibly causing an injury or damage to property.

Can't edit posts on mobile. But just to add to previous. I wouldn't attempt to fly my aircraft if it showed any visible damage. I'd get it repaired professionally.

It will have to get a lot worse before it will cause a flight problem, but it is not right, aircraft should not have cracks in the load bearing structure.

I'd carry on flying that and having fun for a while, check on the crack before every flight.   It may not get any worse but my guess is that it will over time.
Send it in for replacement when you wont be wanting to fly it for a while, it will be covered by warrantee for as long as the warrantee lasts, not sure if that is 6 or 12 months for that part.

If you bought it from a local store you might be better off returning it immediately since that way you will get a replacement new one, if you send it in for warrantee you may get a different reconditioned one returned.

It wouldn't be an issue right now, but it could get worse over time. You can try going back to your dealer for an exchange, but I do not know if their exchange policy would cover ones that have technically incurred some damage. If they're not able to provide you with a replacement, then you could send the unit in for service when you have the chance.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-4-27 11:34
It will have to get a lot worse before it will cause a flight problem, but it is not right, aircraft should not have cracks in the load bearing structure.

I'd carry on flying that and having fun for a while, check on the crack before every flight.   It may not get any worse but my guess is that it will over time.

Shells normally do not have a warranty. I have seen shells replaced at no charge, however, if it's a recent development in the shell after a few flights and there's no sign of abuse via a crash, aggressive flying, modifications, etc.

Many cracked shells report for the P4 ....Mine hasn't had any yet but as I am running out of warranty and reading about the nice improvements made to the frame of the P4P and P4A I guess that the now defunct P4 I dread the moment they appear, which seem inevitable as there is obviously a design fault that DJI will not acknowledge for obvious reasons...

DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-4-27 12:46
Shells normally do not have a warranty. I have seen shells replaced at no charge, however, if it's a recent development in the shell after a few flights and there's no sign of abuse via a crash, aggressive flying, modifications, etc.

I think it is fairly clearly a manufacturing fault in which case UK law allows the purchaser to request a repair or a replacement at any time up to 6 years from the purchase date, assuming that it was bought within the UK.

Dnerve Posted at 2017-4-27 13:11
Many cracked shells report for the P4 ....Mine hasn't had any yet but as I am running out of warranty and reading about the nice improvements made to the frame of the P4P and P4A I guess that the now defunct P4 I dread the moment they appear, which seem inevitable as there is obviously a design fault that DJI will not acknowledge for obvious reasons...

think i might go back to the retailer , they make racing drones and do repairs and have decent stock of DJI stuff. been binge reading on this and too many horror stories on DJI support. The drone is solid in terms of how well it flies and gimbal and all, i really don't want someone else refurb for a small crack.

Also seems like its part of the DJI Phantom DNA especial with the p3 series with stress cracks.

It's fairly common on the P3, but I've not seen many reports for the P4 series.  There are a few, some of them bad, but it is certainly not normal for a P4.

New shells for the P4 are reasonably cheap, if the aircraft is good otherwise then sending it in and getting a refurbished one back is not necessarily desirable.  
However since it is almost new, the retailer is the obvious first choice.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-4-27 13:26
I think it is fairly clearly a manufacturing fault in which case UK law allows the purchaser to request a repair or a replacement at any time up to 6 years from the purchase date, assuming that it was bought within the UK.

I'm more familiar with the standard DJI warranty periods, though I am aware that there are variations depending on the region and their consumer laws. If that's the case for the UK, then shell issues like this (barring non warranty crashes) shouldn't be an issue.

Shouldn't be an issue anyway considering how many of these have cracking problems. You can bet DJI knows there's a problem with the shells.

I'm just wondering now if they are gonna try and get out of replacing mine because of the small holes I made to stop the cracks from spreading.

Sprtbkrydr Posted at 2017-4-30 12:45
I'm just wondering now if they are gonna try and get out of replacing mine because of the small holes I made to stop the cracks from spreading.

That might just have knocked you out of the running.
Hope you reach a reasonable solution.

This happened to my P4P as well, but a bit worse, i had DJI CARE REFRESH and sent it back to DJI, they are now fixing it for free for me