DJI has the worst customer serice I have ever seen. I had my Spark fly away from me a while ago. I went to look for it where DJI told me the last location was, yet it was not there. I looked multiple times, with Search and Rescue friends (who search for missing people) and could never find it. I finally reached out to DJI and I told them what had happened and their case result team said that it was "pilot error" yet after only one minute of flying I told for it to RTH. I tried talking with people from DJI's support phone line multiple times, it began with them saying that it would take 2-4 days to review the case and then they would call me back. Once they called me back they didnt provide me with any new information. I asked to speak with their case specialistst who had reviewed the case and they would not let me. ALL I WAS TRYING TO DO WAS UNDERSTAND MORE OF WHAT INFORMATION THEY GOT. I fianally asked to speak with their manager and they said that the manager would have to call me back the next day, and asked what time would be best for me. I waited until the next day and never recieved a call, so I ended up calling them. They told me that the manager would call me the next day, but I had already told them that I could only talk that day. I tired to work with them and told them I NEEDED a call back by 8 the next morning. I called them at 8:10 after not yet receiving a call and I was told that their manager was not in the office and would not be in for an hour and that he would call me "within the day". I told them that I needed to speak with a manager now beacause I would not have time to talk durring the day. They did not make that happen. They asked when I woul be able to talk and when he could call me back. I told them that between 10:30 and 11 that day or between 5 and 6. I recieved a call that day, unfortunalty not between the times I told them I could answer, so I was unable to pick up beacause I was in meetings. I ended up caling them again at 5 asking to speak with the manager. They told me they couldnt transfer me to him, so I told them to have him call me back. They then said that he would be able to call me within 20 minutes. I told them that would work, yet if he doesnt call me within 20 minutes, that I would contact them again asking to speak with him. He did not call me back, so after 30 minutes I called them asking to speak with him. They said that he REFUSED to speak with me, which was completely outrageous, due to the fact that I had not spoken with him yet or received any clarity from them. After having them commmunicate with my lawyer who was sitting with me at the time, the women I was on the phone with hung up on us. THAT IS COMPLETELY OUTRAGEOUS. It is unacceptable for the comapny I am speaking with and looking to gain clarity on this issue with to hang up the phone. After the phone call I checked me email and saw that the manager had asked for an expension to call me back, because he was on the phone. I DID NOT SEE THIS UNTIL AFTER HE REFUSED TO TALK WITH ME. Then his next email stated " I was notified that your attorney tried to call us." This is absoluley false due to the fact that she was sitting with me and listening to the conversation, she never tried to call them. I have spent countless hours on the phone with DJI and there hasnt been any resoultion. I have also spent countless hours looking for my drone. Had I found my drone this issue would not be present. The hours I spent on the phone with them had many hours of me being on hold or people "reviewing my case" for 15 minutes at a time.


In the future I will not buy from DJI and I will make sure that friends and family know not to buy from DJI. After speaking with the customer support, one of the people helping me made it clear that they did not want to keep a customer happy by helping to provide them with a non-faulty device, and that they would rather loose thousands of dollars through the connections I have through organizations that will not be using DJI in the future.  
THIS HAS BEEN THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED, AND THE DRONE DID NOT RESPOND TO MY COMMAND.

DO NOT BUY FROM DJI.

Why don't you post your flight log and let folks check  it out?

I agree with Alabama. Post up your flight logs to

https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/Upload/

Let the rest of us take a look at what happened. Maybe someone on the page can give you the info you need. It may not recover your drone but it might offer you some closure.

I stand corrected. I saw the flight data an Admin provided from what you sent to them in another thread and see that you already did upload your flight data on this thread back in June https://forum.dji.com/thread-152651-1-1.html

Looks like between the analysis given by another rep on your flight logs along with what a DJI Admin posted in a different thread as well. It was 100% pilot error no doubt about that. It sucks for sure and I am sorry you lost your drone. It probably doesn't feel any better knowing it wasn't caused by a DJI error but in this case there is just way too much evidence showing there was no malfunction at all so I would not expect DJI to be on the hook for anything at all. Sometimes these things happen.

Now regarding your issues with customer service I do not agree with the way they treated you there. Hopefully DJI is able to pull the records and use your examples for coaching and training to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

Explain how it was pilot error if I pushed return to home and it did not return until the last few seconds of battery.

Hi Eva. We're sorry to hear about your experience with our support team. We'd like to dig deeper with the case so we can briefly explain why our Analysis Team concluded it's a Pilot Error. Can you please provide the Case Number? Thank you.

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-9-26 10:47
Explain how it was pilot error if I pushed return to home and it did not return until the last few seconds of battery.

It would be pilot error because it was flying in non ideal conditions with the wind so strong. It didbstart a RTH but wnded up force landing where it was because it detected there was not enough power to get it back to home. The Spark did everything it was supposed to. Pressing RTH isnt going to guarantee it makes it home if the battery doesnt have enough juice to fight the wind and get it back.

I understand you do not want it to be a pilot error. No-one wants it ti be a oilot error. But that doesnt change the facts sunmitted.

THE WIND WAS NOT STRONG. ONLINE THE SPARK IS PROMOTED AS BEING ABLE TO FLY IN 30MPH Winds. I was flying in winds less than 10mph. I went to look for the drone as well, my family and I did a thorough grid analysis and it was still unable to be found. We all work in Search and Rescue and couldn't find it. DJI should be providing me with a large discount because I wasn't able to find it at the corrdinates they provided. IF I HAD FOUND IT AT THOSE COORDINATES THERE WOULD BE NO ISSUE HERE.

My case number was 1191494-Q2R9J0.

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-9-26 12:00
THE WIND WAS NOT STRONG. ONLINE THE SPARK IS PROMOTED AS BEING ABLE TO FLY IN 30MPH Winds. I was flying in winds less than 10mph. I went to look for the drone as well, my family and I did a thorough grid analysis and it was still unable to be found. We all work in Search and Rescue and couldn't find it. DJI should be providing me with a large discount because I wasn't able to find it at the corrdinates they provided. IF I HAD FOUND IT AT THOSE COORDINATES THERE WOULD BE NO ISSUE HERE.

My case number was 1191494-Q2R9J0.

Thanks for the info, Eva. The case number you offered is not matched with your description, we managed to get the correct case number CAS-1911494-Q2R9J0. And upon further checking, this has been handled already by our Managers previously and they have made this clear, please kindly find the data analysis result:

1. The aircraft worked in GPS mode in the flight.
2. At t=00:59, h=22m, d=104m, the aircraft tilted 8.6° pitch and -14.2° roll to resist the strong wind without any pilot input, please kindly refer to the first screenshot.
3. At t=04:26, h=-153m, d=628m, the aircraft triggered the RC LOST RTH, the pilot set the return height 30 m, the aircraft rose and pushed by the wind, it cannot RTH normally.
4. At t=07:47, h=-221 m, d=900 m, the battery was 10%, it triggered the critical low battery auto-landing,the aircraft started to descend,and the flight record interrupted at t=07:50, h=-220 m, d=897 m.

Conclusion: The pilot did not pay attention to the flight environment. The higher the altitude, the stronger the wind. For this kind of situation, we're sorry that we can not offer you the warranty service. If this doesn't match your situation, please kindly point it out, we'd like to double check with our engineers. Thanks for your understanding.

fansbe57bb1b Posted at 2018-9-26 12:00
THE WIND WAS NOT STRONG. ONLINE THE SPARK IS PROMOTED AS BEING ABLE TO FLY IN 30MPH Winds. I was flying in winds less than 10mph. I went to look for the drone as well, my family and I did a thorough grid analysis and it was still unable to be found. We all work in Search and Rescue and couldn't find it. DJI should be providing me with a large discount because I wasn't able to find it at the corrdinates they provided. IF I HAD FOUND IT AT THOSE COORDINATES THERE WOULD BE NO ISSUE HERE.

My case number was 1191494-Q2R9J0.

I understand that, but the wind up where the drone is would be stronger compared to where you are standing. You was almost 900 meters away with only 9% battery. The tablet/phone screen would have showed that you only had maybe half a minute of flight time left. It would have been impossible for it to go that distance in the wind with that little power left.  Because of that, the drone would have either auto landed or used up that 9% while starting the auto landing and took a hard fall down.

Honestly, the only thing anyone could do (DJI included) is give you the info of where the drone was last recorded while it was in the air and that is it. As a person who does search and rescue you should completely understand that sometimes there is only so much one can do to find something missing with the limited information they have access too. The moment the drone is no longer sending a signal (due to power less or any other reason) DJI would have no way of continuing the tracking process for an exact location. No-one would.

Again, I 100% am on your side in regards to the customer service experience. I completely agree that you have every right to be mad about that as well. It was uncalled for and I hope DJI looks in to it. But I think it's a little entitled to demand that DJI offer you a discount on anything. In regards to your missing drone itself, they did nothing wrong at all. IN regards to the poor customer service, many DJI reps on here have apologized up and down for what happened and have provided you very detailed information about your flight logs and what happened using that data (as did many forum members back in June).

Honestly, had the issue been approached in a less threatening way and a more civil and calm way (even though you are upset) in the beginning, There's a good change DJI may have held out a hand and offered some kind of discount (I don't work for DJI so just speculating here). Something tells me if that was an option, it's not anymore though.

Accept the findings and move on.  I feel bad this happened to you, but you're not the first.  Clearly no malfunction and plain careless flying.