My Spark battery fell out at 265ft. The battery, 2 motors, control arm, camera/fumble were damaged. My battery was made in July 2017, before the battery tabs were updated in Oct or Nov 2017 due to this issue. I sent my spark to DJI Sep 13th, they received it Sep 18th. I got a quote Sep 25th for $145 for the repair. I have sent 5 emails to them explaining the situation that the battery just fell out and should be covered under the warranty as this is a known issue and has been covered for other customers.  I also noted that DJI undated the battery tabs in late 2017, if there wasn't an issue, why would they make the change to make the tabs bigger? As of today I haven't received a response to any of my emails. If there's any DJI folks read this any assistance would be great. Case # CAS-2227091-V8S7P9

Hi Andrew, sorry for the crash accident, our support team has replied each of the emails you sent to explain why the warranty service cannot be provided, did you receive them all?
We are keeping improving our products but this doesn't mean the product has the defect, we will need to analyze it case by case.
Upon checking your case, no crash was found in available flights, and you were using 3rd Party App (Litchi), which are unable to be analyzed by our data analysis team, therefore, the warranty service cannot be provided, thanks for your understanding,

Mindy,

Thank you for the quick reply. As I said in my post, I haven't received any replies since I received the repair quote Sep25th. I'm sure I read somewhere that using a 3 Party app doesn't void the warranty unless the app caused the crash. In my case the app didn't have any issues during the flight, this was simply a case of the battery falling out. How is it that I can view the flight data and get 3500 lines of info but DJI can't?

Here is a quote from DJI-Ken
"If there was a malfunction while using Litchi and the aircraft was intact and sent in and the flight analysis team verified a malfunction and had nothing to do with using a 3rd party app then it would be covered under warranty."

If DJI can't analyze the flight data from the Litchi app, how can they tell me if it was or wasn't caused by the app, they can't. That being said, I can view the Litchi data and I saw the battery fall out. This was obviously a battery tab malfunction. If there wasn't an issue with the batteries falling out or potentially falling out, why did DJI update the battery tabs in late 2017?

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-6 08:41
Mindy,

Thank you for the quick reply. As I said in my post, I haven't received any replies since I received the repair quote Sep25th. I'm sure I read somewhere that using a 3 Party app doesn't void the warranty unless the app caused the crash. In my case the app didn't have any issues during the flight, this was simply a case of the battery falling out. How is it that I can view the flight date and get 3500 lines of data but DJI can't?

I am not sure where you are at but i do now that in the U.S a company has ti be able to prove beyond a doubt that any third party alterations are the direct cause of the accident in order to deny a warranty claim.

Might be something worth looking in to if you are in the states since I cant think of any possible way using Litchi could be blamed for a battery falling out.

Thanks Hedsic, I'm in California. What makes it frustrating is that DJI made a change/update to the battery tabs, so they knew there was a problem. With them saying they cant analyze the Litchi data because its a 3rd party app, seems like a bunch of bologna because it made on their SDK. I don't have an issue paying for the repair but this wasn't an app issue or pilot error.

Here's the battery. As you can see, the damage is on the part that is on the inside of the drone.


The outside of the battery has no damage.

battery

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-6 10:34
Thanks Hedsic, I'm in California. What makes it frustrating is that DJI made a change/update to the battery tabs, so they knew there was a problem. With them saying they cant analyze the Litchi data because its a 3rd party app, seems like a bunch of bologna because it made on their SDK. I don't have an issue paying for the repair but this wasn't an app issue or pilot error.

Here's the battery. As you can see, the damage is on the part that is on the inside of the drone.

We have no idea why you didn't receive the reply email from our support team but each of email has been replied. Please check the screenshot below. (Since you have seen the screenshot I posted, they will be deleted for the safety concern)
The data analysis result is that No crash found in available flight data log. Since you were flying with the third party APP, the flight records in the Litchi are unable to be analyzed, but your frustration will be escalated to the appropriate team to follow up, we will have someone to contact you in working hours, hope there will be a good outcome.

Mindy,

I have email customer service again and provided my phone number. I was told not to sent the battery, probably due to it being damaged, as you can see from the pictures.

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-7 07:59
Mindy,

I have email customer service again and provided my phone number. I was told not to sent the battery, probably due to it being damaged, as you can see from the pictures.

Yes, if the battery was damaged, we do not recommend to send in for the safety concern, your case is following up by the higher team, please wait patiently for the further communication, thank you.

Lesson learn. If you use a 3rd party app (Litchi) it will void the warranty. Even though the battery falling out is a known issue that they have address and updated the battery tabs. Be warned folks use 3rd party app at your own risk.

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-12 12:41
Lesson learn. If you use a 3rd party app (Litchi) it will void the warranty. Even though the battery falling out is a known issue that they have address and updated the battery tabs. Be warned folks use 3rd party app at your own risk.

Andrew, I'm really sorry to hear about the experience. We recommend to use our own app to make sure our Analysts can read the flight records without any problem in cases like this that we need to verify the cause of the incident. Hope it clears the confusion. If you need further help, feel free to let us know. Thanks for the support!

DJI replacing my battery with one that has the updated tabs would be nice, but that’s unlikely.

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-12 16:08
DJI replacing my battery with one that has the updated tabs would be nice, but that’s unlikely.

Hi Muffin, upon checking your case, the drone has been shipped out, since no crash was found in the available flight, we cannot say the accident was caused by the battery, please make sure the battery has been installed properly in the future flight as the user manual mentioned, thank you.

i just had the same thing happen.DJI is telling me there was an external impact ...yeah right . i was about 20ft up over the driveway and the battery launched

djiuser_lwtcC4QY3riZ Posted at 2-6 18:14
i just had the same thing happen.DJI is telling me there was an external impact ...yeah right . i was about 20ft up over the driveway and the battery launched

and yes it fully clicked in.

djiuser_lwtcC4QY3riZ Posted at 2-6 18:14
and yes it fully clicked in.

I am terribly sorry for the accident. Could you please provide me with your case number? I will check the details and see if there is anything we can help.

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-12 12:41
Lesson learn. If you use a 3rd party app (Litchi) it will void the warranty. Even though the battery falling out is a known issue that they have address and updated the battery tabs. Be warned folks use 3rd party app at your own risk.

Did you ever get your drone repaired? Same thing happened to us....battery heats up and swells causing it to fall out an drone gets damaged. Shipped the drone to them and got the same run around.  Let me know what your outcome was.

English Muffin Posted at 2018-10-12 12:41
Lesson learn. If you use a 3rd party app (Litchi) it will void the warranty. Even though the battery falling out is a known issue that they have address and updated the battery tabs. Be warned folks use 3rd party app at your own risk.

Did you ever get your drone repaired? Same thing happened to us....battery heats up and swells causing it to fall out an drone gets damaged. Shipped the drone to them and got the same run around.  Let me know what your outcome was.

Dudehomer Posted at 3-13 11:01
Did you ever get your drone repaired? Same thing happened to us....battery heats up and swells causing it to fall out an drone gets damaged. Shipped the drone to them and got the same run around.  Let me know what your outcome was.

Hi Dudehomer, we are so sorry for the crash accident, I managed to get your case number via your Forum account that the flight controller data was corrupted and no crash was found in available flight records, thus the warranty service cannot be provided, the drone has been returned unrepaired, sorry again for the inconvenience caused.

Hi Muffin, I'm in Canada and last week-end i lost the batterry in flight. The drone endup in the river. I found the drone. Contacted DJI customer service. Because I'm over the 12 months waranty period they will not help me. They new the problem and never tried to contact customers to advised them about a potential problem. Any reputable company will take some responsibility for their poor craftmanship. Case #2109529

fans607a3ef3 Posted at 5-7 15:17
Hi Muffin, I'm in Canada and last week-end i lost the batterry in flight. The drone endup in the river. I found the drone. Contacted DJI customer service. Because I'm over the 12 months waranty period they will not help me. They new the problem and never tried to contact customers to advised them about a potential problem. Any reputable company will take some responsibility for their poor craftmanship. Case #2109529

Hi there, we are so sorry for the crash accident and your drone has been beyond the warranty period. The accident reason should be analyzed case by case, sorry that the data analysis cannot be applied in your case because the warranty has been expired. Appreciate your understanding of the policy.

This same thing just happened to me. I had my Spark hovering about 15 feet off the ground as I was simply looking at an air vent on the roof of my house when the battery just fell off and the Spark crashed to the concrete deck and it snapped the plastic housing by the motor. I contacted DJI support and they asked me to send them the video cache and video recording which I did. It shows the drone simply hovering and then goes black from when the battery drops out. DJI support are saying they can't say its their fault and they won't commit to any help on the repair. They told me to just send the drone in and they will tell me what it costs to fix it after they look at it (and if I choose not to fix it they will charge me $60/hour for simply looking at it!. DJI is NOT taking responsibility for a design flaw that is causing their drones to drop from the sky and crash and break (or get lost).