A month ago, I took the Spark out for some flying time... but the Spark didn't want to behave properly. Two crashes ensued coming from erratic drone behaviour without my controller input aka runaway flights. The flight logs and the flight records on the DJI Go app confirm that the Spark did not receive any input from my controller - even as I attempted to regain control. No warning message popped up as well. Details of crashes below for completeness.

First crash: Drone take-off followed by some time hovering at 1.2m to stabilise. Suddenly the drone accelerated forward and crashed straight into some low-lying bushes. The propeller guards took the brunt of the impact force. Upon inspection, no visible damage to the Spark.

Second crash: Following the first crash, I decided to give it a second go. I put the drone into beginner mode as there were a few people sitting about 70m away and a nearby road (my safety first thinking cap was solidly working). Again take-off, hover for a minute... and bang, drone accelerated forward rapidly - this time towards the road. My attempts at regaining control were not registered by the drone. When the drone reached the perimeter of beginner mode cone, it swerved and started circling until it crashed into an open grass area. I believe that it landed on its belly before flipping over because when I recovered it, it was upside down. Again upon inspection, no visible damage to the Spark.

I contacted DJI support to understand these abnormal incidents and was told that I needed to send the drone in for them to conduct data analysis - they did not request me to upload the DAT files, which is a procedure that I saw documented on other forum posts. I questioned the reasoning behind sending the drone in but was met with the response "This is what the process is". So I shipped the drone.

Earlier this week, I received a quote from the North America repair centre; apparently the Middle Frame Semi-Finished Product Module (excluding ESC and motor) need to be replaced. Total cost of repair comes up to $77 ($12 for parts and $65 for labour). I have repeatedly asked for DJI to tell me what kind of damage or where the damage is but they simply replied  with
"Just to set your expectation, once the product was sent to our service center. It will be diagnosed as a whole. The decision of the repair center is absolute and its for the aircraft to work as new so this is all necessary. There are lots of factors why the product will be uncontrollable, most of the time its because of the GPS signal. Not to worry, we will do our best to make it work as new so you won't experience the same thing".

My attempts at requesting for them to provide me with damage photo were rebutted with the above standard reply. From my thorough inspection of the Spark prior to shipping, no visual damage was observed; my record photos confirm that (Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ucwbbppj5yotipu/AABYlyqjLbAHMyMw0cFjcwT8a?dl=0; and before I get asked, I am temporarily based in Canada and not Hong Kong - hence dealing with NA repair centre) unless I am missing something.

I believe that the repair would only be for minor cosmetic scratches. Here I am wondering if I should just request that my drone be shipped back to me UNREPAIRED. Any advice welcome! (PS DJI won't send me the damaged part if I cough up the money for repair as my DJI Care has expired).
This DJI support experience is so bad that this will likely be my last DJI product.

Hi deamon85, we are so sorry for the crash accidents and the unpleasant experience with our support team, I managed to get your case number via your Forum account, and there is no data analysis was applied, your concern will be escalated to the appropriate team to double evaluate, we will have someone to contact you about the details of the evaluation, please wait patiently, thank you.

DJI Mindy Posted at 2018-10-11 22:37
Hi deamon85, we are so sorry for the crash accidents and the unpleasant experience with our support team, I managed to get your case number via your Forum account, and there is no data analysis was applied, your concern will be escalated to the appropriate team to double evaluate, we will have someone to contact you about the details of the evaluation, please wait patiently, thank you.

Hi DJI Mindy,
Thanks for the follow-up. I did receive a voicemail from DJI support this weekend but was unavailable to take the call. However the voicemail is not very clear (accented voice). I hope that they will call again in the next few days for the details of the evaluation.

deamon85 Posted at 2018-10-14 19:43
Hi DJI Mindy,
Thanks for the follow-up. I did receive a voicemail from DJI support this weekend but was unavailable to take the call. However the voicemail is not very clear (accented voice). I hope that they will call again in the next few days for the details of the evaluation.

Sure, we will inform the team to contact you again in working hours, please wait patiently, thank you.