TLDR: If you end up crashing the drone and want to take advantage of the DJI Care, make sure you do catastrophic damage otherwise you're wasting your time and money.

So I bought my drone and of course got the DJI Care Refresh because who wouldn't buy it when it advertises things like "DJI Care Refresh is an effective, comprehensive warranty for DJI products, offering you greater peace of mind every time you fly" and "For the Mavic Pro and Spark, the aircraft, gimbal, camera, battery and propellers can be replaced".

I (maybe naively) was under the impression that I was buying a care service that would repair minor damage for 12 months but if it was a more expensive total or near total loss, I could opt for a replacement with an additional fee.

Armed with this misunderstanding, I was more adventurous with my drone than I would have been otherwise and ended up contacting a rock face and dropping about 8 feet. Impressively, the drone still flys great but one of the rubber gimbal suspension bands broke so the gimbal was shaky.

Thinking "Great! I'm so glad I bought the refresh so I can get this quickly taken care of and get back in the air" I sent my drone in to do the repair option. It took about a week for them to recieve it and another few days to look at it and everything was smooth up to this point.

Then I get the quotes... my choices were either pay $137 to have it fixed ($65/hr labor x 2 + $7 in parts) or pay $79 to have an entire refirbed unit sent out to me because of a $7 dollar part.

As it turns out, the only thing the $99 Care Refresh bought me was the option to spend another $79/$129 and get a replacement drone within the first 12 months. That's a great deal for a catastrophic damage but a tremendous waste of money if it just needed a simple repair.

Had I realized that beforehand, I wouldn't have considered the Care Refresh at all and just been more careful. Not having already paid $99 I would have also been much more willing to pay the $137 to get it fixed... Although $65/hour seems really steep to me, I understand the repair techs need to eat too.

After a unsatisifying phone call, I requested to just have drone sent back unrepaired which they said they would do and email me a tracking number. Then I called back the next day after not getting an email to confirm that they are just sending it back. Fast forward another week of not hearing anything, I had to call back and apparently my request to have it sent back didn't go anywhere because they were still waiting on my money to replace it.

As awesome as the drone is and the initial buying experience was, I can't help but have a bad taste from the misleading DJI Care verbiage and subpar customer service. At this point the drone has now been stuck in this Care process longer than I've had it to fly.

Maybe I'll be able to update with a more positive experience if I need to take advantage of the replacement option.

I waited three weeks for the first replacement and it was defective. I contacted DJI and was sent a shipping label to return the defective Mavic Pro. I was forced to wait until the defective DJI product was received in California, processed, examined, and a repair decision was made. Finally the replacement for the defective replacement was shipped to me. This process took a week and a half. In total I was without my Mavic Pro for a little over a month! The replacement for the defective Mavic Pro should have been 2 day shipped to me as the defective DJI product was in shipping to California.
Last, the second replacement I received has obvious signs of use. 1/4 of the protective stickers that are present on a new Mavic Pro were on the second replacement. In addition, while I inspected the second replacement, I found 4 structural screws to loose! I am well aware the replacements under the DJI Refresh program are "reconditioned". There appears to be no quality control when it comes to replacements under the DJI Refresh program.

As a new owner of a Mavic Pro this post interests me as I haven't yet bought DJI Care Refresh as waiting for it to arrive, should be here tomorrow.

My question now is, should I buy DJI Refresh Care or use something like https://www.backmeup.co.uk/drone-insurance instead?

Granted the hoops might be bigger to jump through with another insurance product but atleast it lasts more than the first 12 months.

Really intrigued to see what people recommend and how they have their Mavic covered.

MavMatic Posted at 2017-7-19 09:35
I waited three weeks for the first replacement and it was defective. I contacted DJI and was sent a shipping label to return the defective Mavic Pro. I was forced to wait until the defective DJI product was received in California, processed, examined, and a repair decision was made. Finally the replacement for the defective replacement was shipped to me. This process took a week and a half. In total I was without my Mavic Pro for a little over a month! The replacement for the defective Mavic Pro should have been 2 day shipped to me as the defective DJI product was in shipping to California.
Last, the second replacement I received has obvious signs of use. 1/4 of the protective stickers that are present on a new Mavic Pro were on the second replacement. In addition, while I inspected the second replacement, I found 4 structural screws to loose! I am well aware the replacements under the DJI Refresh program are "reconditioned". There appears to be no quality control when it comes to replacements under the DJI Refresh program.

And what's extra irritating about this is that only 12 months are covered. With a month of the coverage being totally wasted with the drone in transit, it makes it even less worth it in my opinion.

We are sorry for the mishap and unpleasant experience, would you happen to provide me the case number so that I can look into it and expedite the process to ship your drone out as soon as possible?
Unfortunately, the duration of DJI Care Refresh cannot be extended after repair. We apologize for that. We will try our best to send it back to you soon.

MavMatic Posted at 2017-7-19 09:35
I waited three weeks for the first replacement and it was defective. I contacted DJI and was sent a shipping label to return the defective Mavic Pro. I was forced to wait until the defective DJI product was received in California, processed, examined, and a repair decision was made. Finally the replacement for the defective replacement was shipped to me. This process took a week and a half. In total I was without my Mavic Pro for a little over a month! The replacement for the defective Mavic Pro should have been 2 day shipped to me as the defective DJI product was in shipping to California.
Last, the second replacement I received has obvious signs of use. 1/4 of the protective stickers that are present on a new Mavic Pro were on the second replacement. In addition, while I inspected the second replacement, I found 4 structural screws to loose! I am well aware the replacements under the DJI Refresh program are "reconditioned". There appears to be no quality control when it comes to replacements under the DJI Refresh program.

MavMatic,  we apologize for the unfortunate experience with our products. We have made it clear in DJI Care Refresh policy that each time you request a replacement, you’ll receive a replacement unit that is new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability.
If the replacement is defective one, we still suggest to send it in for another replacement. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-7-19 18:58
We are sorry for the mishap and unpleasant experience, would you happen to provide me the case number so that I can look into it and expedite the process to ship your drone out as soon as possible?
Unfortunately, the duration of DJI Care Refresh cannot be extended after repair. We apologize for that. We will try our best to send it back to you soon.

What do you mean the duration of DJI Care Refresh can not be extended after the repair? So if I were to pay the $137 to effectively have the blades replaced for me it would void the rest of the DJI Care Refresh?

fansb70281b3 Posted at 2017-7-20 12:07
What do you mean the duration of DJI Care Refresh can not be extended after the repair? So if I were to pay the $137 to effectively have the blades replaced for me it would void the rest of the DJI Care Refresh?

I mean if you send in the drone for repair and it takes 15 days to get it back, the DJI Care Refresh warranty will not be extended another 15 days. You have our apologize for this.

This is disappointing to hear.

So after calling back twice again last week and being assured I would be put in the "priority" queue and would be getting my drone back by this past weekend, I just now received and automated message saying it will be shipped within two business days from today.

At this point, I purchased the drone on June 21st. Received it the 23rd (awesome initial 2 day shipping). Had it for 10 days when I got too adventurous. Opened the repair case on July 5th, shipped it on July 6th.. UPS ground didn't get it to DJI until the 12th (can't complain too much about UPS ground). On the 13th I got a repair payment invoice and immediately called to just have it sent back. Called again on the 14th to confirm. Again heard nothing after the call. Called again on the 19th after patiently waiting a week. Still didn't get any email after the call as promised. The last call was on the 20th which left with me with the promise of getting the drone back by the weekend and I FINALLY got a email confirmation today (the 24th) only to tell me it is being prepared to be shipped.

Assuming it takes the 2 business days as stated on the email for them to stick a label on it and another 6 days for UPS to get it back to me... I'm not going to have it by this weekend either which is a real bummer for my travel plans.

I know there must be some process but it has literally taken two weeks to for them to do nothing else except sent it back.

For those keeping score, I've been able to enjoy the drone for 10 days since buying it and had it stuck in this Care process for 18 days (this will probably be 26 days by time I actually get it back).

If anyone reads this who is considering the Care Refresh, my (strong) opinion at this point is to just save your money and frustration and fly carefully. And it wouldn't be half as bad if the customer service side of the process would actually just follow through with what they tell you on the phone. I hope it's possible to get a refund on the Care Refresh.

fansb70281b3 Posted at 2017-7-24 08:40
So after calling back twice again last week and being assured I would be put in the "priority" queue and would be getting my drone back by this past weekend, I just now received and automated message saying it will be shipped within two business days from today.

At this point, I purchased the drone on June 21st. Received it the 23rd (awesome initial 2 day shipping). Had it for 10 days when I got too adventurous. Opened the repair case on July 5th, shipped it on July 6th.. UPS ground didn't get it to DJI until the 12th (can't complain too much about UPS ground). On the 13th I got a repair payment invoice and immediately called to just have it sent back. Called again on the 14th to confirm. Again heard nothing after the call. Called again on the 19th after patiently waiting a week. Still didn't get any email after the call as promised. The last call was on the 20th which left with me with the promise of getting the drone back by the weekend and I FINALLY got a email confirmation today (the 24th) only to tell me it is being prepared to be shipped.

So sorry for your unpleasant experience,  as we mentioned before, please provide us your case number so we can look into it. We care much about your feedback, will learn from it and keep improving to provide you all more professional service.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-7-19 18:58
We are sorry for the mishap and unpleasant experience, would you happen to provide me the case number so that I can look into it and expedite the process to ship your drone out as soon as possible?
Unfortunately, the duration of DJI Care Refresh cannot be extended after repair. We apologize for that. We will try our best to send it back to you soon.

I've replied to you. Please keep further communications to direct messages or email. Thank you

DJI Mindy Posted at 2017-7-19 19:00
MavMatic,  we apologize for the unfortunate experience with our products. We have made it clear in DJI Care Refresh policy that each time you request a replacement, you’ll receive a replacement unit that is new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability.
If the replacement is defective one, we still suggest to send it in for another replacement. We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Send the replacement back for another one? Come on Mindy!!!! How about DJI sends me a valid, usable, contract abiding Mavic Pro?
When I receive confirmation of the 2 day shipping for my THIRD replacement I will happily ship the second Defective replacement back.
What you are asking of me now is to ship DJI's second defective replacement back to California, wait wait wait and wait for DJI Repair to receive, process, repair? or replace, and ship.
This will total in excess of 12 days!
That's 12 more days without using the Mavic Pro. Also 12 more days off my DJI Refresh agreement for factors that were beyond my control and fully DJI Repairs liability.
Does that sound fair to you?
Where is the customer service in that?

MavMatic Posted at 2017-7-25 09:33
Send the replacement back for another one? Come on Mindy!!!! How about DJI sends me a valid, usable, contract abiding Mavic Pro?
When I receive confirmation of the 2 day shipping for my THIRD replacement I will happily ship the second Defective replacement back.
What you are asking of me now is to ship DJI's second defective replacement back to California, wait wait wait and wait for DJI Repair to receive, process, repair? or replace, and ship.

Thanks, I have received your PM.
I understand your frustration and sincerely apologize for the unfortunate experience with repair team, your concern has been escalated to local team to look into, we will have someone to contact you about the further resolution after review.
Your patience will be highly appreciated.