Dear DJI,

You have made and I am sure will continue making great products. I am a proud owner of a Phantom 4 since July 2016. My Phantom has traveled with me to many places, from the hills and beaches of Australia, to photographing the cityscape and islands of Malaysia and to the blue of the Maldivian sea. I have captured many great memories with it, and have advocated and recommended it to friends who have tested mine and have purchased the same drone. I wish the drone could do more, experience more with me. Unfortunately, this did not last very long.

I started to notice that the Controller was not charging fully (the last LED does not light up when charging) and discharges quickly (I could barely finish 1 flight before the Controller's battery goes flat). I sent it in to a DJI Authorized Store in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia (Sky Inspiration Sdn Bhd Malaysia) on 24 March 2018. I thought it would be a quick battery change and thought nothing of it. I did not hear from them after sending it in. I am travelling to China on 27 April and would love to take the Phantom along on another adventure.

Sensing something amiss, I gave them a call, and was quickly responded to with "All repairs are delayed because our technician is on Emergency Leave". I debated that I have sent it in weeks before, and they said they will check and return my call. 15 minutes later, they did call me back, bearing the very confusing news a "fried" Controller board, and they suspected that I have overcharged the Controller. They quoted me a RM1200 (~USD300) charge to repair. A new Controller can be bought from the Online store for USD319. They also said that this is a normal issue with the Controller.

I posted in the forums seeking for help, and I was asked for a case number from the Authorized Store. The Store explained that they could not create a case, and Support email said otherwise. Emails were sent back and forth, and finally, all Support could do was to tell me that my drone is out of Warranty, which I have told them in the first place, and it was silence from them afterwards. The DJI Forum moderators changed my Thread title (removed my Bad Customer Service! remark from the title) and "ended" the Thread by basically saying I'm on my own (either send the Controller to us for checking or pay the Store to repair it).

This afternoon was the final straw. I took time off and went on a 30 minute drive  to the Store to collect the Controller to sent it to HK on my own as the Store was not answering me on the status of my Controller. They looked everywhere for my Controller, the shelves and the store rooms and could not locate it. The staff there told me, "Your Controller is not here, we can only check it on Wednesday as our Manager is on leave.". I told them I am travelling on Friday, and they told me to check back on Wednesday. I even told them that I have sent it a month before, and in his defense, he told me they had 800 items to repair and it will take a long time to check. They sent me away.

I am no longer a proud owner of a Phantom drone. I have lost faith in the company in supporting its customers. All I wanted to do was to get my drone in the air again. It's been a month, and I am right where I started when I sent my Controller to the shop. I have never said that I did not want to pay for the repairs, all I want is to understand what went wrong and how to care for my drone for it to not happen again. Buying the drone was a big investment, and I would like to keep it flying.

Why am I writing this?

1. If the Controller does overcharge and can "fry" the board and if it is a normal occurrence, a notice should be issued to all Phantom owners to be careful as it may be a fire hazard. Charging a drone controller should not burn my house down.
2. I am not feeling very comfortable if a member of your staff tells me that there are 800 items in queue to be repaired. Are DJI products THAT unreliable?
3. Again, I have mentioned to Support that I understand that my product is out of Warranty, and may need to pay for my repairs, but I would like an accurate diagnose of the issue with my Controller and how to avoid it in the future.

Sincerely,
Jenn Yung

I love my P4P.  I love how it works, I love the images and the "FUN" factor is out of this world.  That said I have had to send an item in that was covered under warranty and even then it was 3 months to get it replaced (not even fixed, just replaced).  DJI is famous for good products, but also famous for very poor customer service.  I love my drone and fly it whenever I can, but I shutter to think I might have to use your customer service again.  It's a really bad experience.  You didn't keep me posted on the status, you missed the deadlines you set for yourself and your chat folks were nice, but not the least bit helpful.  

MrRobert5823 Posted at 2018-4-23 07:15
I love my P4P.  I love how it works, I love the images and the "FUN" factor is out of this world.  That said I have had to send an item in that was covered under warranty and even then it was 3 months to get it replaced (not even fixed, just replaced).  DJI is famous for good products, but also famous for very poor customer service.  I love my drone and fly it whenever I can, but I shutter to think I might have to use your customer service again.  It's a really bad experience.  You didn't keep me posted on the status, you missed the deadlines you set for yourself and your chat folks were nice, but not the least bit helpful.

It's really sad to know that many face issues with their customer service. And I agree with you completely, great products but really bad customer service. I'm hoping they give me an answer soon, or I will really have to make this public an write an open letter, and share it with my photography community.

Again, today the technician called me to tell me that my Controller main board is burnt up but they don't know why and I would need to pay ~USD300 to get it repaired. What is going on DJI?!

We have updated your previous post: https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... p;extra=#pid1321473 Please keep us updated there, thank you.