!!!!!! A really good advice if you buy a DJI drone: For gods sake, do not crash it or do anything for which customer service is needed !!!!!

I was so unfortunate to crash my Mavic Pro drone into water after just 2.5 weeks in possession.


Luckily, I was able to get my hands on the drone, clean it with purified water and dry it on a bag of rice for a week. Unfortunately, the drone behaved strangely when turning it on afterwards and it would not fly. Therefore, I contacted the repair service from which I quickly got the shipment papers and I sent the drone away to be fixed. The ease of that part I was really impressed of!!


After a weeks time, I was told that the repair would be 860 euro (=970 USD) (case CAS-559366-N8Q4K5). I was really surpriced about the steep price, but thought that I would probably receive a new drone body as it was the only thing I sent to them. I kept the battery and controller. I payed - even though the drone made some mistakes in connection with the crash. I payed as I really did not want to fight with DJI over the payment for the repair as I wanted the drone back before a vacation I was leaving for a couple of weeks after.


When I received the drone, I noticed that the serial number was different than before and I was - for a short time - convinced that I had received a new drone. That was until I turned it on. When i turned it on, I noticed a really audible drdrdrdrdrdr sound from the acoustic sensors which can be heard in video 1. Furthermore, about 20 seconds after being turned on, the cooling fan started sounding like a space shuttle taking off (as you can hear in both videos) and the drone got really hot. Both of these observations was before I had even flown the drone.


Video 1
https://youtu.be/dqEhrzEFljs


Video 2
https://youtu.be/4SddZFukdPM



Stupid as I am, I decided to test the drones flying abilities despite something clearly indicating that something was not right. Let us just say that it did not go as intended as you can see on the picture below.






When the drone lifted off. It started flying backwards towards a wall without me touching any of the controls. A half a second before it hit the wall I touched the controls to try to avoid the crash, but it did not respond and then it was too late.


Well... Everything showed that I had received a defect drone. The drdrdrdrdr sound from the acoustic sensor, the INSANELY running cooling fan that started 20 seconds after turning the drone on, the extremely hot drone body after no time and of cause also that the drone flew directly into a wall right after taking off.


I therefore contacted the online chat customer service about all of the issues that had experienced. When finally getting a customer support guy on the line, I had to prove that I had installed the newest software before taking of, that I had not ignored some obvious errors and I had to re-calibrate the drone. After a half hour of different other tasks and sending him several screen shots from my phone on his command, he decided that he could not fix the issue via the chat (which I kinda hinted in the first part of our conversation).


I sent the drone in for repair (again) and then repair case CAS-626768-Z6K2D8 was started. I described all the issues I had noticed in the papers I put into the box together with the drone:


1. The drdrdrdrdr sound


2. The extreme heat the drone produced and the fan running like crazy after 20 seconds


3. That the drone flew directly into a wall at first takeoff.




After 20 days I received a message saying that I had to pay 126 euro (=142 USD) for new propellers and two drone arms with the following remark:


"No warranty, pilot fault. 1)Aircraft took off and worked at ATTI mode at t=64s, until t=68s when aircraft turned to work at OPTI mode. 2)Aircraft will drift at ATTI mode, because aircraft positioning function was not able to work at ATTI mode, it needs pilot to control the aircraft in every moment for maintaining the position. 3)Aircraft drifted at ATTI mode, then pilot pushed pitch stick backward, aircraft flew backward then crashed at t=69s near ground. The props are damaged. The front left and rear left motor arms are damaged."


First of all, the first Mavic Pro I had before the "repair" did not drift at all. It was rock-stable in the air and if it is supposed to drift like it did I will strongly advice you not to take of with a Mavic Pro near any kids or other living creatures and to keep a safety distance of more than 20m (60 feet) when taking off. And that is NOT reflected in all the videos put online by DJI. Furthermore, I am pretty sure that I pushed forward and not backward on the stick without anything happening, but I do not have access to that data, so DJI can write whatever they want to get more of my money.


Second of all, the other issues I had written to them about were not mentioned at all. I do not want a drone back with only new propellers and new arms. Something is clearly wrong with it and the issue was not that it was crashed into a wall. It was that somehting was clearly wrong from when I got it after the "repair" and the reason why it flew into a wall - not the damage after the impact.




The following customer "service":


I contacted the customer service through the message/mail function. I wrote something like I have just written above and we had a loooong conversation where after he promised me that they would made sure that the decision was re-evaluated. After some days, I checked the repair status and nothing had changed. It still said that I had to transfer money.


Then I wrote this to the same thread:

"Anyone there?

Just checked the Repair Process Inquiry and nothing has changed. It still says:

"The quotation has been sent to your mail box. Please check it.

It will take 1 working day to confirm payment. Please wait patiently"

The next step is not for me to pay. First, I really want an explanation for all of the issues that I had after the first repair that highly indicated that it was not a fully functional drone after the first expensive repair.

The "new" issue is not that it flew into a wall and destroyed two arms and the propellars. The issue is that it made a strange sound and the cooling fan ran like crazy after no time (indicating that something was not right) and also that it was not stable at all when taking of - wherefore it ended up flying directly into a wall.

Kind regards,

Mikael"

And after one day I got this reply:

"Hi Mikael,

Thank you for contacting DJI Technical Support.

As I have checked on your case number, it is in quoted status. The quotation has been sent to your mail box as well as the analysis. Please check it. It will take 1 working day to confirm payment.

Please bear with us and thank you for your patience with this.

Best regards,

Blessie C.

DJI Technical Support"

I was stunned.. I had spent so much time describing the issue without anything happening - it was like everything I had described was just ignored. And now it seemed like the customer support had not even read the previous tread or my latest message at all. I wrote back and said that Blessie must have misunderstood my previous message and suggested that it was read again. Let us just say that I have not yet received a reply.




Tonight I decided to try the customer support chat function again.. After spending TWO HOURS of my friday evening describing the exact same issue again to a very unresponsive customer support person I got so tired of communicating to a wall. He said that he would make sure that the second repair case would get re-evaluated, but when I asked him to send a proof of that to my e-mail, he hesitated, but finally wrote that he could not do that right now, but after 24 hours. To be honest - after my other experiences - I really do not think that I will receive anything. And after that he asked me to give him a good review. I said I would do that when I receive his email. I have taken screenshots of our whole conversation if anyone needs a good laugh.


So status in this moment is:


Drone location: DJI repairshop


Costs (so far):
Mavic Pro fly more combo: 1200 euro (=$1350 USD)


First repair: 860 euro (=970 USD)


Total: 2060 euro (=$2320 USD)


Extra demanded by DJI: (which has my drone): 126 euro (=142 USD)


Do I have a functional drone: NO

Would I get a fully functional drone if I payed the extra 126 euro (=142 USD): NO





Fortunately, I have a good video of the first crash, the rescue mission, the issues I observed when receiving the drone from the first "repair" which will make a really good youtube video of this whole experience - including the customer "service" part. I look forward to finding out what the next step for DJI is - I really hope it is to actually provide some customer service for the first time in my case (maybe the second time as I got the currier label for the first shipment quickly "insert crazy laughing/ crying smiley").

I've escalated this with the appropriate team to address the previous reports. I'll make the request to have the data re-evaluated, but hope you can clear up the following. What kind of area were you flying in regarding this second incident and did you take off while in ATTI mode? Doing the latter will not have any sort of horizontal stability and will only maintain altitude. Any push from wind or any directional force will cause it to drift like that.

Thank you for the escalation. I was flying in a large indoor livingroom which means no wind force at all and no directional force at all. Just a drone flying backward by itself into a wall.

DJI-Jamie Posted at 2017-6-2 16:55
I've escalated this with the appropriate team to address the previous reports. I'll make the request to have the data re-evaluated, but hope you can clear up the following. What kind of area were you flying in regarding this second incident and did you take off while in ATTI mode? Doing the latter will not have any sort of horizontal stability and will only maintain altitude. Any push from wind or any directional force will cause it to drift like that.

Thank you for the escalation - I have heard a lot of promises before, so I really hope that finally this time something happens.

I was flying in a large indoor livingroom which means no wind force at all and no directional force at all. Just a drone flying backward into a wall by itself. Before the first "repair" I had flown my Mavic Pro in the same room a lot of times and had never experienced it flying like that in any direction without me touching anything.

I have read a lot of other threads in this forum. One of the things I am really worried about is that several other customers write that they have received other (older) drones than the one they sent in and sometimes with other flaws than the original ones. To be honest, I think that this is what have happened in this case. The drone I received had another serial number than the drone I sent in, and it was very obvious for me that something was really wrong even before taking off.

As I have written several times, the issue is not the damages it has after the crash it was the drdrdrddrdr sound, the extreme heat it generated in no time and also that it was not stable when taking off and flew in a random direction. All of these things were not something I experienced before the first "repair" . It was only pure luck that it did not break anything and I am happy that my niece or nephew was not in the room at that time.

The main points are:

1. I payed an amount of money that could buy a new drone in the US (inclusive controller and battery), but I only got a drone bode that was clearly not functioning as it should.

2. The second repair case does in no way take into the account the things that was wrong with the drone also before it crashed or the reason for its crash. I do not want to just get the propellers replaced and get two new drone arm attached. I want you to make sure that the drone body is replaced.

3. As you saw in connection with the first "repair", I am willing to pay even a large amount of money if an issue is my fault. I am in no way going to pay for things that are not my fault even though it is a much lower amount. Especially not when I know that the product I will get back has not gotten the issues fixed that was observed. I know that you have good cards in your hand since you have my drone (although not functioning as it should). The only way I can fight back is online and believe me, I will.


The really crazy thing is that it is now more than 2 months ago that I crashed a functional drone and I am still fighting with you in this case. BTW, I missed bringing the drone on the vacation I wanted because of this dragging out like crazy.

Unfortunately it sounds like you made some beginner mistakes, mainly flying indoors without knowing how the aircraft will behave. The noise from the sensors is normal ( it sounds like you put it right up to your phone mic). The heat and fan noise are normal...it gets hot! Flying it into a wall when you don't have experience flying indoors is also normal. ;)

Jeff7577 Posted at 2017-6-3 03:54
Unfortunately it sounds like you made some beginner mistakes, mainly flying indoors without knowing how the aircraft will behave. The noise from the sensors is normal ( it sounds like you put it right up to your phone mic). The heat and fan noise are normal...it gets hot! Flying it into a wall when you don't have experience flying indoors is also normal. ;)

Hi Jeff,

I have flown several other drones indoor before - Including the Mavic Pro a lot of times.  I do not see flying indoor as a problem as long as you have enough space around you. I estimate that I had flown the "pre-repair" Mavic Pro 30-40 times in the exact same room without any problems. The drone took off and was steady in the air.

After the repair, the drone took off and flew directly backwards heading to the wall. I did not touch any of the controls when it did so until the last second. Are you telling me that your drone takes of in a random direction when you take off instead of being stable? Because then I think that you might have an issue with your drone too..

In regards to the sounds. I can only compare with my "pre-repair" experiences. After the repair, the drdrdrdrdrdr sound was very audible and could be heard even after placing the drone on the floor and standing with some distance - that was not the case before the repair. Of course an acoustic sensor gives out sound waves, but usually its not in the audible wavelengths.

And again. Before the repair, the drone did not get burning hot in 20 seconds. Unfortunately, I did not measure the temperature before and after to be able to prove this. All I can say is that the internal fan went to the fastest speed in 20 second and that is not usual and never happened before the repair. It almost sounded like a vacuum cleaner. If your drone also do that after 20 seconds, I again think that you have an issue with your drone, because the drone I got straight out of the box did not behave like this.

I do not see how experience can stop a drone from flying into a wall directly by itself.

Mikitjang Posted at 2017-6-2 23:03
Thank you for the escalation - I have heard a lot of promises before, so I really hope that finally this time something happens.

I was flying in a large indoor livingroom which means no wind force at all and no directional force at all. Just a drone flying backward into a wall by itself. Before the first "repair" I had flown my Mavic Pro in the same room a lot of times and had never experienced it flying like that in any direction without me touching anything.

We do sorry for the unpleasant experience, Jamie has escalated your case to designated department, who are going to take care of this for you as soon as possible. Please sit tight while we’re reviewing it, we will keep you updated.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-6-4 02:20
We do sorry for the unpleasant experience, Jamie has escalated your case to designated department, who are going to take care of this for you as soon as possible. Please sit tight while we’re reviewing it, we will keep you updated.

I am getting a bit tired of communicating with you over e-mail. The response time is really really really slow. The two last times I have written to you I have had to wait for four days for an answer (however, one of the two times was over a weekend) and now I have waited for three days without an answer since the last email I sent to your customer service (no weekend included).

The last e-mail I got from one of your employees said that it was clearly my fault that the drone crashed as I took of in ATTI mode and that I made a pilot error. Furthermore, I was told that the two other observations (insanely running fan and drdrdr sound) was only natural. I was, however, offered an extra battery because of my troubles.

My (yet unanswered) reply was:

"Hi DJI support,

You are right, I did start the drone in ATTI mode. This was indoor and no wind was present - therefore it should not have drifted at all. And to be honest, it was not just a slow drift, it was a substantial drift which the drone never did before the repair. Same room, same everything. I updated all software before flying and was not asked to calibrate anything before flight. I really do not get it. Could a damaged propeller have caused the drift?

Have you examined the drone yourself? The definition of ultrasound is sound with a higher frequency that the human ear can hear. Before the repair, I could not hear the ultrasound, but after the repair it was very noticeable. The only way I could share the sound was through a video and I know that it might not be fulfilling as the sound was much more pronounced when closer to the microphone, but less pronounced that in reality when not near the microphone. For me, the important thing is that there was a clear difference from before/after the repair and this is what I want to be addressed.

In regards to the heating - which I still think is an issue. Of course the drone fan also ran before the first repair, but this was after longer time and it did not go directly to the highest level in which it sounded like a huge vacuum cleaner in no time. Again, the only thing I can compare with is how the drone behaved before the repair.

Can you at least tell me what was done to the drone? Did I get another drone body and if so, was this new or refurbished? Or was some of the internals from my drone moved to another drone body?

I have noticed that several other repair customers reports that they have received old Mavic Pro drones after shipping their newer drone in for repair. Maybe the differences I notice in behaviour is that I have received an older replacement drone which did behave differently than the new one I had before I sent it in for repair…!?

I thank you very much for the offer in regards to the extra battery. Although I might be a pain in the butt, I would still like to know why the drone acts differently than before before I pay for another repair. For all the money I have spent on a drone I really want to be sure that the drone I get is fully functional.

Kind regards,

Mikael"

I really hope that I can get an answer to my questions. It is not that I cannot pay the money for the extra repair, I just want to be fully sure that what I am getting for those money is a drone functioning as well as before I crashed it the first time.

Furthermore, I only think it is fair that I am informed about what repair work that was carried out on the drone in connection with the repair - or if I got an older refurbished drone. I am not imagining that the drone behaved differently that before the repair, I noticed that from the first time I turned it on.

Regards,

Mikael

Mikitjang Posted at 2017-6-8 12:36
I am getting a bit tired of communicating with you over e-mail. The response time is really really really slow. The two last times I have written to you I have had to wait for four days for an answer (however, one of the two times was over a weekend) and now I have waited for three days without an answer since the last email I sent to your customer service (no weekend included).

The last e-mail I got from one of your employees said that it was clearly my fault that the drone crashed as I took of in ATTI mode and that I made a pilot error. Furthermore, I was told that the two other observations (insanely running fan and drdrdr sound) was only natural. I was, however, offered an extra battery because of my troubles.

We totally understand your concern, I have forwarded this to local appropriate team to follow up, we will keep you updated,  your patience is highly appreciated.

Hey I just had a Ronin shipped to me..was supposed to get my Phantom 4 Pro back, but received this instead.  Talked to 4 different agents all whom were very sorry and "highly appreciated my patience" as if i had a choice.  Going on week 7 and still no hope of getting my P4P back, oh did i mention I have DJI doesn't care refresh?  As an added bonus I was told that Fridays are very busy and would receive a call monday..lol what a joke.  If i ever get my drone back who the hell knows what will be wrong with it and it'll have to go back again for 3 months so they can "highly appreciate my patience" FYI i have no patience to be appreciated as most of the folks getting screwed over here... go ahead and ban me again because of the accuracy of my name!

DJI Still Sux Posted at 2017-6-10 21:40
Hey I just had a Ronin shipped to me..was supposed to get my Phantom 4 Pro back, but received this instead.  Talked to 4 different agents all whom were very sorry and "highly appreciated my patience" as if i had a choice.  Going on week 7 and still no hope of getting my P4P back, oh did i mention I have DJI doesn't care refresh?  As an added bonus I was told that Fridays are very busy and would receive a call monday..lol what a joke.  If i ever get my drone back who the hell knows what will be wrong with it and it'll have to go back again for 3 months so they can "highly appreciate my patience" FYI i have no patience to be appreciated as most of the folks getting screwed over here... go ahead and ban me again because of the accuracy of my name!

We will not ban you just would like to help to solve the problem. I feel so sorry to hear that the drone was been delivered with the wrong one. Would you please provide the case number to me? I'm sure local team is working on it and will contact you as soon as possible. I will help to follow up your case and wish you can get your drone back shortly.

dji are the biggest scammers in this world I've had the same problem and the won't help me out at all I'm very disappointed in there service and would advise everyone to stay well clear

dji are the biggest scammers in this world I've had the same problem and the won't help me out at all I'm very disappointed in there service and would advise everyone to stay well clear

djiuser_qaoHyFm Posted at 2018-1-3 09:53
dji are the biggest scammers in this world I've had the same problem and the won't help me out at all I'm very disappointed in there service and would advise everyone to stay well clear

Sir, I've read your reply in this post(https://forum.dji.com/thread-98670-1-1.html), could you tell us your case number? We'd like to help.