BorisZ
lvl.2
Flight distance : 90348 ft
United States
Offline
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Dear all,
I was a big fan of DJI drones and I was their loyal customer since 2014, I remember I built my own F450 Flamewheel ARF kit with NAZA M-Lite flight controller as my very first GPS drone, I put more than 100 hours on that kit, I loved it so much. Later on I bought the Spark, Mavic Air, Mavic Pro, Mavic Mini and Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom. I enjoyed flying them all. I'm fully aware that DJI doesn't have the best customer service, I've seen the forums and YouTube videos, but as a RC hobbyist myself, I started flying Align flybar helicopters way before quadcopters got popular, I was confident that I didn't have to get involved with DJI support because I do know how to fly them. I guess my luck finally ran out after I recently purchased my DJI Mavic 2 Pro.
The Mavic 2 Pro was heavily discounted in late December, 2019. It was still pretty expensive but I couldn't pass up the deal, I ordered mine on Adorama and got it right before 2020. Exactly 15 days later, while the drone was hovering right above the home point at around 100ft height, it suddenly fell. It was in the air, hovering stand still, on a perfect sunny day with light wind, without pilot input, it fell off the sky. The drone impacted the ground so hard, the gimbal and camera got completely ripped off, both rear arms snapped off, motors bent, frame all cracked up, vision sensors stopped working. Basically the drone is destroyed beyond repair. I was in shock, none of my DJI drones ever did this to me before, how come this one just fell off the sky while hovering?? A two weeks old practically brand new Mavic 2 which I spent nearly $1,400 dollars, completely gone on that day.
At this point, I knew this is the time I had to deal with DJI support. I had my doubts but I had no choices. First I emailed them and asked why and what caused the crash. I hope they could analyze my fight record and determine a cause, and I was certain the drone was defective. The first rep emailed me back and sent me a shipping label for repair. I relied, again saying I'd like DJI to determine a cause first before I sent my drone in, because I DIDN'T crash the drone, it did on its own, this shouldn't be a repair case. She replied and changed the case from repair to data consultation. Then I synced all of my flight records to the cloud from my DJI GO 4 app.
Some days later, a second rep replied to me, he simply told me: "According to the analysis, the result is inconclusive. Unable to determine the cause of the crash using the flight records provided." And he did not provide any other information regarding what to proceed next. I replied asking what's the next course of action, I asked would DJI be responsible for it since this should be considered workmanship defect. He relied and asked me to manually export the flight records folder and upload them on Google drive for further analysis. Again, he asked me the same question, "description of the incident", which I already explained to the first rep. I wrote a long email and provided everything he asked for, couple days later, he replied to me and saying : "Thank you for your patience. We just received the result of the investigation. According to the analysis, the crash accident was not caused by any human error." But then again he offered no further actions. So I asked him again, WILL DJI COVER THIS UNDER WARRANTY OR NOT? He finally replied and said I could sent in the drone for replacement.
I thought this is over, I sent in the drone, they replace it and ship it back right? Wrong, completely wrong, if that was the case, this article would never existed. After sent in the drone, DJI service center replied and notified me what they received, they said the replacement would be sent to me in 5-7 business days. I waited nearly two weeks, no updates, no drone, no replies. So I emailed them again...
A third rep replied to me and basically told me to just keep wait longer. I did, some days later, the fourth rep emailed me back where the true nightmare began.
He told me the service center took another look at my flight record, and said " the accident was caused by an external factor. Something hit the unit when it was hovering. With the final result, we can only offer you a 15% discount." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Basically DJI can just change their words and decision anytime they want right? My drone crashed because it hit something, this is total BS. He kept on saying it hit something because I yawed left and caused an impact. Come on DJI, how does a hovering stilled craft with left yaw cause any impact, The drone was 100ft in the air, with no attitude adjustment, no roll and pitch movement, I yawed left and it ran into something? This is probably the most unprofessional excuse you could ever give to a customer. I emailed him back and told him not only their just changed their mind from a replacement to a 15% discount was unacceptable, I also told him the analysis was a joke. On that day, I took out my Mavic Mini, I flew the Mini to the exact same height and same GPS coordinates, I shot many photos of what's below the drone and what's around it. (obviously there's nothing, no OBSTACLES at that spot, tree lines and houses are all below 30ft, I live here, and I know the neighborhood) I provided all the evidence to him and tried to proof the drone did not HIT anything. Later his reply was the same, "you hit something, I'm gonna only offer you 15% discount."
At that moment, I decided I won't put a single dime nor waste more of my time on a DJI product ever again. I told him just ship the wreckage back to me as is, DJI doesn't want to stand behind their product, I won't do business with them again, simple. I wasted over ONE month talking to FOUR different reps and ALL they did was break the promise, blame the customer and make you spend more so they can profit more. I've never seen such a shady company and what I had to go through was absolutely obnoxious. They made me sick, they just don't want to commit oh maybe the props failed or the motor failed. All they see is I yawed, the drone's accelerometer registered a shake, it falls and crashes, and it's your problem, your fault.
DJI, I'm not stupid. I've been flying RC aircraft for almost 20 years, and your reason of denying me is beyond ridiculous.
I'm sorry the story is getting this long, this is what I experienced with DJI support, I do not expect DJI will make this right because nobody seemed to care, all their replies were looking scripted. At the end of the day, they just keep blaming you. This story is not intended for DJI reps, this is for all my fellow drone enthusiasts, I hope you don't have to ever deal with DJI customer service in your life. If you want good support team, you need to buy from other manufactures. If DJI support ever let you down, you shouldn't be surprised.
I'm slowly getting rid of all my DJI drones, if DJI doesn't care about you, I'll do the same. |
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