i bought a phantom 3 standard from jb hifi last july, and on the third flight, the drone just decided to fly off without any inputs or planned flight path.
i am an experienced RC pilot and builder, and have built and flown dozens of rc aircraft, jets, gyrocopters, 3d helicopters, scale aircraft, turbines, micro and indoor and have built and flown many drones since the mid 1990s.
ive flown them since before lipo batteries and for my day job i am an engineer who specialises in reliability enigneering, and manage a defence capability, so i know drone and flight stab technology extremely well and i can assure you that this fly off was not user error.

the drone flew off without control and luckily for me, it collided with a tree, otherwise it looked like it was going to fly away completely, and i wonder how i would make a claim if this occurred (?)

i researched problems on the internet and found numerous references to people having the same experience, and as such i didnt think it would be a problem (getting a replacement) when i took the drone back to jb hifi.

however, the jb hifi repair agent claimed that the drone did not contain the footage, and that the crash was user error. The JB HI person then found out that the repair agent hadnt even looked at the footage.. (wtf?)

the footage was supplied - it was still in the drone, and as i stated, i know what user error is, and these days i rarely make a mistake with any RC vehicle. I fly complex 3d in helicopters and i know how to control backwards, upside down reversing in my sleep.

the drone took multiple phone calls to get back. in fact, i havent picked it up yet..after handing it in in December. (it was a couple of months before i could take it out and then another couple of months before i flew it again). JB HIFI did not return phonecalls and often did not return emails. No emails advising of the repair status were even sent.

the person i was speaking with just suddenly went to work at another store  (completely dropped the ball after 2 months of phonecalls) after telling me that they would call me first thing monday - after we spoke the previous thursday.

the entire situation has been terrible. I'm told that JB HIFI ended up paying the repair agent $100 to fix the drone...which i wasnt happy about as i wanted an updated replacement.

i dont think this is good enough as there is obviously something not right with the firm or software, and i expected a new drone as a replacement, with the latest firm/soft ware so the incident didnt happen again.

I asked JB HIFI if i could just get a refund and i would choose a different product because i only purchased it because i was told that the DJI support was good.

From where i sit, the support has been terrible.

my intent is to raise this issue with australian consumer affairs, but i wanted to give you a chance to action it. It isnt clear if DJI even know about this issue. (jb hifi could just be B.S'ing me)

I actually expected DJI to look at the telemetry- i didnt think that footage would tell any story as its the telemetry that provides the evidence. I have never been asked about the flight parameters, which i find amazing. thats the first place i wouldve gone in my assessment of the issue.

maybe posting this here will assist others and perhaps get some action...

Post the flight log.     http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/

ALABAMA Posted at 2018-2-19 13:36
Post the flight log.     http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/

i havent got it back yet.
also, thats kind of irrelevant now.
what is relevant is the support mechanism and advice given as well as the duration of the handling.
you seem to be implying that if i'd posted the log here, the basis for the return couldve been determined that way (?) - and based on that DJI would take commercial action ? yes?, no?.

not being argumentative, but lets say i posted the log (which i will do) and it showed what i am saying, would DJI then swoop in and correct it?

cos if thats the case, thatd be great and would save alot of hassle and misinformation.

cheers.

tnewman72 Posted at 2018-2-19 14:04
i havent got it back yet.
also, thats kind of irrelevant now.
what is relevant is the support mechanism and advice given as well as the duration of the handling.

First you need to understand that this is primarily a user forum, there are DJI moderators on here, who may offer to chase up the issue, but you are not talking to DJI engineering people. Having said that, your best option is to upload the flight log as suggested, because it is in your phone or tablet as well as in the aircraft. Experienced members can then examine the log and give an opinion on the likely cause of the incident. A moderator may then offer to take up the case.

Also, just so you know, JB HiFi do not have a clue, they simply sell the things, you need to be conversing with people who know what they are talking about.

Sounds to me that your gripe is with jb hifi not dji repair here in australia there is only one repairer who is located in Melbourne ive had my drone there twice now.
Never had any issues with them there repair times on both occassions was fast. In fact on the second time in they replaced the drone with a new one.
I think your claim against dji Australian repair centre is unsubstantiated and you should be concentrating your efforts more towards jbhifi instead.
If you do have a claim against the Australian repair centre then by all means go ahead and persue it but im just letting you know that there are many satisfied people out there that possibly may not agree with you.

Good to hear. I posted to explain my scenario and let DJI know of it.
I suspect the repair agent is the issue but I couldn't be certain.
What I do know is the JB hi-fi expressed other frustrations with the agent and they told me that the agent assessed it as user error before even seeing any footage.
So someone is not being exactly accurate. From the replies here it's probably JB hi-fi I agree.
Given that's the probable case, DJI should know that their product is suffering from poor after sales behaviour.
All I know is JB telling me that the repairer is a problem and I've been told it's user error and it's been 2.5 months.
They told me I'd be texted for pickup last Friday. No text.
Based on that, it's painted a picture of poor DJI support.

Thanks to all the respondents. Very helpful.

Ok your best option i believe would be to stop going through jbhifi and contact dji service directly and find out for sure what is happening thus cutting out the middle man and incorrect or corrupted information being relayed to you. You can contact them via the support pages within the dji go 4 app.
Then at least you will have correct information to base things on.
If it does turn out to be a user error then ask them to explain what you did wrong. Dont just jump to conclusions without any evidence.

Hellsgate Posted at 2018-2-19 15:32
Ok your best option i believe would be to stop going through jbhifi and contact dji service directly and find out for sure what is happening thus cutting out the middle man and incorrect or corrupted information being relayed to you. You can contact them via the support pages within the dji go 4 app.
Then at least you will have correct information to base things on.
If it does turn out to be a user error then ask them to explain what you did wrong. Dont just jump to conclusions without any evidence.

i appreciate your reply, however ive been around these things for a long time.

the only conclusion i can confidently state is that this was not a user error.

if the logs do not provide insight either way, then i can not rule out firmware or software issues, which appear to exist based on user reports.

based on my background, its even a possibility that log files record phantom inputs that cant be discerned from a real input. excuse the pun.

we see that in military uavs and often that leads to months of debugging. so i understand your advicxe to not jump to conclusions, but its difficult to not conclude that there is/was an issue when the drone just starts to fly off on its own and no user inputs affect it as it does so.

what the issue is, i dont know. the issue around support appears to be one from jb hifi based on the responses here, which is definitely possible.

because the drone has been with jb for 2.5 months, i cant go to it for an upload.

either way, DJI should be interested in the user experience, hence me posting mine here. whether it by by agent or proxy it doesnt really matter as the message ive been painted is one of DJI difficulties.

I'm sorry for the unpleasant experience first. Generally, if the drone is still in warranty period, data analysis is recommended if you suspect it is not pilot error. Could you tell us your case number here? We'd look into the exact status and try our best to help.

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-2-19 18:17
I'm sorry for the unpleasant experience first. Generally, if the drone is still in warranty period, data analysis is recommended if you suspect it is not pilot error. Could you tell us your case number here? We'd look into the exact status and try our best to help.

Hi Susan.

To be honest, my son (whom i bought the drone for) emailed DJI and support directly and when he didnt get a reply, we contacted the distributor (JB HIFI), who replied straight away.

So thats what set the ball rolling here.

It was/is under warranty, but since it has taken so long to get fixed, we have lost nearly 3 months of the warranty period.

I havent been given any case number from anybody. I wasnt aware of the process - i foolishly was relying on JB HIFI to provide all the info i needed, and much of it seems to be inaccurate or misrepresented. As someone said earlier- they dont have a clue.

I called them again today and they advised that they spoke with the repair agent who told them it had been repaired, but needed to be tested, which would take 2 days. That was 10 days ago.

they (JB HIFI) failed to text me on Friday as they promised. So they keep blaming the repairer, and/or DJI.

What they told me when we first provided the drone was that they needed the footage. We left the footage on the drone. So we thought it was odd to be asked about where it was. (they can view it and the log straight from the drone itself). That being said, they told me that the repairer said it was user error - BEFORE they asked for the footage.  JB HIFI actually paid $100 for the repair. (!?)

I still found it odd that they asked for footage. data log and telemetry made more sense to me. Maybe JB Hifi decided to rename "flight log" to "footage" ?.

For whatever reason, JB HIFI would rather Phantom have a bad reputation than themselves. It seems that they are the problem.

But, the no reply from DJI support sent me on the path to contacting the seller, which has turned out to be a real mess.

Can the warranty be re-set? I can see if i have a record of the original email sent to support.

thankyou for your reply.

tnewman72 Posted at 2018-2-19 19:37
Hi Susan.

To be honest, my son (whom i bought the drone for) emailed DJI and support directly and when he didnt get a reply, we contacted the distributor (JB HIFI), who replied straight away.

Thanks for getting back to us. The case number is very important for us to track the exact status in our system, so please double check with the dealer whether they can help. Also, there will be ticket number if you send emails to DJI Support successfully, please kindly offer your ticket number and email address as well, we'll investigate and keep improving. Appreciate your understanding.

tnewman72 Posted at 2018-2-19 19:37
Hi Susan.

To be honest, my son (whom i bought the drone for) emailed DJI and support directly and when he didnt get a reply, we contacted the distributor (JB HIFI), who replied straight away.

Well looks like you may get some real answers if you can get that info to susan.
Good luck

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-2-19 20:04
Thanks for getting back to us. The case number is very important for us to track the exact status in our system, so please double check with the dealer whether they can help. Also, there will be ticket number if you send emails to DJI Support successfully, please kindly offer your ticket number and email address as well, we'll investigate and keep improving. Appreciate your understanding.

Hi Susan,

ill have a look, but not confident that i have that. everything was via jb hifi.

i do appreciate the forum community and the response timeliness since ive come here. shouldve come here originally.

the other reason i wanted to post this saga was to also let DJI know the way that the re-sellers are framing these situations.

If i hadnt come here, i would be walking around thinking DJI was a no-go zone.

Cheers, Tim

sorry, because it went through them, i need to ask jb hifi for the case number details.  i was given a jb hifi case number which doesnt relate to anything.

tnewman72 Posted at 2018-2-20 19:47
sorry, because it went through them, i need to ask jb hifi for the case number details.  i was given a jb hifi case number which doesnt relate to anything.

Thanks for your update. Please provide us if you get the case number so we can help you deal with the problem and speed up the progress.