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Do not let your Inspire Fly Away
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mattsimok33
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I send this warning to my fellow pilots in the DJI community. Fly aways are an unforunate risk when owning a drone there are many failsafes in place to prevent this from happening, however they still do occur. My case was rather unusual and had the terrible exerperience of watching my Inspire fly away never to return. The problem is not so much the fly away, but the customer service you will likely recieve when attempting a resolution. You see I've been in contact with DJI for over a month now. I've placed countless phone calls, filed out case report forms, and responded to many e-mails. Yet no resolution has been reached. I will typically recieve an email one week from the day I respond to the previous, usually the email contains information that was already received. You will place a phone call to their office and they will elevate your case and then you will not recieve anything for another two weeks. It's a process that is most infuriating, a process that leaves you desirng more. Gone are the days where customer service is a top priority. I take to the forums to warn my fellow pilots of the travesty that is DJI's customer service, some already know of the issues, some yet to see. Weekend responses are out of the questions and vacations are taken a plenty. Us working folk suffer as we cannot stay on top of there limited hours. We are stuck in this abyss in which we fail to see any progress being made to a final resolution. I hope many of you will never have to deal with this, and for those of you who have, I hope your experience is much better than mine has been.

To DJI, if you are reading this, I've sent 3 emails that have yet to be responded to, hopefully that can change.

~Sincerely, a loyal customer
2016-2-14
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RichJ53
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Sorry man... I have seen this posted before and DJI has been inproving their customer service. I hope that DJI TIm, ED, Ken or Dave can help you get the answer you are looking for.

Ed helped me when I had a battery issue (even though it did not get replaced)  He was very kind and wanted to help.

I hope my 3K bird doesn't decide to go for a unscheduled trip and leave me hanging out to dry...

Rich
2016-2-14
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R&L Aerial
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It's typical of any business, people are paid to study just how many times someone will attempt to contact a business with an issue before they will get frustrated and go away. They have us all figured out. This is why they don't respond, they play games, they try and frustrate you, they know how hard it is to be taken to court so they just done care. They roll there eyes and laugh. Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about cause my wife works for a place that does the consumer studies.
2016-2-14
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DJI-Tim
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I'm sorry for your loss and experience with our service!  please tell me your ticket number, so i'll take a look at it and do my best to find a solution for you!
2016-2-14
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Mowog2
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Typical #DJI service levels. They just keep send usless emails that add nothing to the case then they just go silent on you.
2016-2-14
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LICENSED PILOT
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It would help us all if you gave us the details, or the logs, so we may learn something from your mishap. Thank you.
2016-2-15
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vonbaron1
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And that's why I will never purchase another DJI product no matter what.  Period
2016-2-15
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mattsimok33
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DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-2-14 19:54
I'm sorry for your loss and experience with our service!  please tell me your ticket number, so i'll ...

They only provided me with a request number (151647)
2016-2-15
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mattsimok33
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DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-2-14 19:54
I'm sorry for your loss and experience with our service!  please tell me your ticket number, so i'll ...

They only provided me with a request number (151647)
2016-2-15
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mattsimok33
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LICENSED PILOT Posted at 2016-2-15 14:30
It would help us all if you gave us the details, or the logs, so we may learn something from your mi ...

I'll share the details...

It was a typical day of flight nothing out of the ordinary, battery levels had been checked, everything was charged, no issues whatsoever. I had about 20 Satellites connected I was taking some photographs looking at my screen and back at the aircraft. Upon looking back down at my screen I noticed the DJI go APP said it was disconnected. I wasn't concerned, I simply turned the app off, and back on, but there was no aircraft conneceted. This took about 30 seconds to 1 minute, at this point when I looked up the aircraft was gone. Mind you the battery was at 76%, and the voltage was totally fine. The flight logs never recorded presumbly due to the midflight disconnect. The RTH was set well above the height of any trees, and the GPS point had been recorded. The remote also showed no aircraft connected.
2016-2-15
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Sir Shepherd
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mattsimok33@gma Posted at 2016-2-15 21:25
I'll share the details...

It was a typical day of flight nothing out of the ordinary, battery leve ...

Do you attempt to perform the RTH function? If so what happened? If not why didn't you? I hate to hear about your loss, and I know it sucks the big one! I hope DJI takes a hard look at what happened, you'll need flight logs I'm certain to prove this was an incident to fault DJI with.
2016-2-15
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DJI-Tim
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mattsimok33@gma Posted at 2016-2-16 11:22
They only provided me with a request number (151647)

alight, thank you! we're working on it
2016-2-15
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americanrawlins
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this is my biggest fear is that my i1 will fly away. we shouldn't be dealing with these issues to begin with! We just paid $5,000 for a machine that seems to me like 50/50 chance of it flying away! But yet now we register these and what happens when this "fly away" lands on someone and kills them..... Then will DJI FIX THIS??????? They are so worried about stupid geo fence crap but yet the damn thing can fly off to god knows where?!?!
2016-2-16
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DJI-Ken
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americanrawlins Posted at 2016-2-17 05:00
this is my biggest fear is that my i1 will fly away. we shouldn't be dealing with these issues to be ...

I very much doubt that losing his aircraft was due to a aircraft malfunction fly away. Actually i have never seen a P3 or Inspire equipment failure proven flyaway. I bet every single time it comes down do the operator not calibrating the IMU or compass correctly.

AND, I just went through all the OP's ticket info and the long time period was mostly due to back and forth communication. And he says weekend responses go unanswered. DJI USA support center is closed on the weekends !
In the end he accepted a very generous offer.
SO, do not be scared of your aircraft flying away IF you have done everything correctly including knowing the manual and having good calibrations and properly set the RTH to your flight environment.
Again, with a P3 or Inspire, I have never see or heard of a flyaway caused by a malfunction if everything was setup correctly.
2016-2-18
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DJI-Dave
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And if you see disconnected do not turn off the app, rather hit the RTH button.


Dave
2016-2-18
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jtalbott
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-18 12:28
I very much doubt that losing his aircraft was due to a aircraft malfunction fly away. Actually i h ...

That is great to know because I fly scared every time I go up! Thank you for taking care of him! Still nervous!
2016-2-18
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Gootch
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-18 16:28
I very much doubt that losing his aircraft was due to a aircraft malfunction fly away. Actually i h ...

Ken, while I appreciate your company line..... the reality of "never" having a malfunction in either the main control systems or GPS technology ever in DJI history is simply not believable. I would understand that calibrations and adjustments as well as pilot errors contribute to a lot of these situations, but having the mindset of, "prove it to me" or "it never happens" make those of us whom might have a similar problem to wonder if we would ever get a "fair" diagnosis. All we as customers want is to feel that you care about us and whether we are "satisfied" with the product, customer service, and attention we deserve for purchasing such an expensive piece of hardware. Pretty simple stuff......
2016-2-18
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DJI-Ken
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Gootch Posted at 2016-2-19 06:46
Ken, while I appreciate your company line..... the reality of "never" having a malfunction in eithe ...

There have been instances with the old Phantoms, but with the P3 and Inspire I have not seen a case yet.
2016-2-18
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Gootch
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-18 17:58
There have been instances with the old Phantoms, but with the P3 and Inspire I have not seen a cas ...

Maybe a better question would be.....  How do you make the determination of "cause", what is the official checklist. Because in this gentlemans case, he lost coms with bird (technically the bird should return if that happens), then he rebooted app. So if the Inspire is "gone" and the data is not complete on the R/C how do you in good faith say "its not our fault"?

Thank you for your reply.
2016-2-18
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DJI-Ken
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PaulKerry Posted at 2016-2-19 07:05
A person fails to do an IMU calibration and their aircraft goes on a sight-seeing tour.

Is this p ...

I have forgotten to calibrate the IMU a few times after a firmware update and it made no difference in flight characteristics, so I can't say why that persons aircraft went out of control on startup.
It's just a suggestion to do it, at least that's what I tell everyone to do as an extra precaution.
2016-2-18
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DJI-Ken
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Gootch Posted at 2016-2-19 07:07
Maybe a better question would be.....  How do you make the determination of "cause", what is the o ...

The app will record the data up until the lost signal. So if he shuts the app off it will still keep the flight logged.
I think a lot of RTH failures can be caused by losing signal and it goes into RTH mode, then the operator may panic and start pushing buttons, hitting the RTH button, shutting off the app and other various things. If it regains signal while your doing all those things its possible to cancel RTH, set a new home point, or maybe even drive it into a wall because it regained RC control but not video.
2016-2-18
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DJI-Ken
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jtalbott@ci.val Posted at 2016-2-19 06:31
That is great to know because I fly scared every time I go up! Thank you for taking care of him! S ...

Nothing to be nervous about as long as you know your aircraft and how everything works.
2016-2-18
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mattsimok33
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Let me address a few things. The IMU was calibrated as well as the compass its part of my pre flight ritual. Also the RTH was pressed after it was gone for minutes, so if It was returning home it would have been seen long before I pressed it. I have seen videos of Inspire's flying away on video, so It is not unheard of.

I was also not well taken care of, my issue has finally resolved almost 2 months later and compensation that barely justified what happened. I had to negotiate my compensation every single step up of the way, I had to purchase a new craft because I could not risk losing clients and was not taken care of at all in a timely fashion. I FINALLY was given scraps, after being a loyal customer for so long I am and was beyond dissapointed. DJI's strategy worked, leave customers unhappy long enough and they will eventually settle on something. I have had my P1 fly away, I've had my Inspire Fly away, and my new inspire spin out of control hitting a tree, fortunately it is fine and I WILL not wait for DJI to replace that one. ( at least I have the flight log for the spin out)  

This was a failure of the machine not an a pilot error. I have flown for nearly 2 years and not once I have I had anything like this happen. The flight log has also not ALWAYS recorded even on successful flights, I have numerous times were I found that flights were not being recorded consistently. I've had app disconnects before and regained signal so that too was also not new.
2016-2-19
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mattsimok33
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Sir Shepherd Posted at 2016-2-15 19:34
Do you attempt to perform the RTH function? If so what happened? If not why didn't you? I hate to  ...

I hit RTH after a few minutes of no contact, nothing happened, as for flight logs they didnt record, which has happened before, so I was screwed
2016-2-19
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mattsimok33
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americanrawlins Posted at 2016-2-16 13:00
this is my biggest fear is that my i1 will fly away. we shouldn't be dealing with these issues to be ...

That was my concern which is why I didnt post any lost and found signs, at the result of being responsible for damage, I can only hope and pray no one was hurt. Generally these things are reliable, but electronics fail
2016-2-19
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mattsimok33
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-18 13:28
I very much doubt that losing his aircraft was due to a aircraft malfunction fly away. Actually i h ...

I had to deal with two vacations weeks of the office being closed and I was told by the USA office that they respond on SATURDAYS, which is a weekend! Also most of the back and forth was information being requested that was already sent to me, and I waited 1-2 weeks each time for a reply on the WEEKDAYS.
2016-2-19
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mattsimok33
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-18 19:13
The app will record the data up until the lost signal. So if he shuts the app off it will still ke ...

That is simply not true, my flight log was not recorded, how do you explain that?
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken
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mattsimok33@gma Posted at 2016-2-20 03:53
Let me address a few things. The IMU was calibrated as well as the compass its part of my pre flight ...

Matt,
You accepted the offer and AGAIN, part of the reason it took long was you kept refusing the offers made to you, I still think it was pilot error.
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken
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mattsimok33@gma Posted at 2016-2-20 03:59
I had to deal with two vacations weeks of the office being closed and I was told by the USA office ...

And what do you mean you had to deal with 2 weeks of the office being closed. I wish the office was closed for two weeks, then I could have had a vacation. The US support center is open M-F and only closed on major holidays.
And who told you that the support center responds to you on weekends, again the office is closed on weekends.
And AGAIN, I do not know of one single case of a Phantom3 or Inspire flyaway due to malfunction of the aircraft when all the necessary steps were taken prior to taking off.
2016-2-19
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thomas.straubin
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mattsimok33@gma Posted at 2016-2-19 11:53
I have had my P1 fly away, I've had my Inspire Fly away, and my new inspire spin out of control hitting a tree

Wait! Are you saying you crashed 3 DJI drones in only two years?

Maybe you are just not capable of flying these machines...
2016-2-19
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DJI-Dave
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jtalbott@ci.val Posted at 2016-2-18 14:31
That is great to know because I fly scared every time I go up! Thank you for taking care of him! S ...

Do not be scared to fly...
DJI sells thousands of these things world wide every day.
I wish DJI would provide me with the total number of units sold (Phantoms & Inspires). I think it would help my discussion here. I remember hearing that B&H Photo at one point last year was selling 200+ Phantoms a day. That is just one store. Think about that!

So we are all shaped by our perceptions!!! Here is my perception, and my personal opinion:

There is an extremely large number of Phantoms and Inspires flying everyday. And they are being flown by a wide variety of people with a wide variety of skill and experience. Some guys with zero experience and some like me with 20 years and some with much more than that.

I think the number of guys having trouble is so extremely small compared to the guys that are not. I fly in a very urban environment where everyone knows a lawyer. I also am on the internet everyday in this forum and several others. I read all the horror stories. If anyone should be nervous to fly it should be me. Now, if all of a sudden we had the internet totally flooded on every forum with “flyaways” or "update nightmares"  you bet I would stop flying and not update my personal Inspire or my Phantom3. But it is not and I am not nervous to fly or update. I am not going to stop flying or updating because I keep it in perspective!  Because I see all the good stories also. Like guys with 300+ flights on their Inspire with no problems.
Also because of my personal good experiences. I have about 200 flights on mine.
I have 3 good friends that all bought Inspires because of my personal recommendation. All 3 fly all the time and have never had a problem other than 1 of them was having some video drop out. They are not nervous about flying because they are never on the internet.  I also belong to a flying club where 4 other guys that I know, but are not close friends, fly Inspires. They all know I work for DJI and I would be the first call they make if they had a problem, and so far no calls. I own a total of 12 DJI multirotors and I have been flying DJI for about 3 years with no trouble. So that is what is shaping my perception and my opinion.

That and this...
(Stating the obvious so please do not take offense)
Do not believe everything you read on the internet. We have a lot of competitors that love to lie on the internet to make us look bad. We also have a lot of DJI haters, for various reasons, that also love to lie on the internet. They see a thread with someone complaining  or any other negative thread and love to pour fuel on the fire. So of all the bad stories we read. A big portion are lies or user error, most ((user error)) from what I have read and researched. (But not ALL I know that.) And there is always some risk, nothing is perfect. Also there is a huge number of people flying everyday with zero trouble compared to the number of guys with trouble, that I know for sure!
Think about it. If you go buy a new car and drive it down the road, if it works you just drive it down the road. You don't get on the internet and tell everybody, “Hey guys, my car drives." No, you just drive it and enjoy it. However if your new car breaks down, then you bet, the first thing you do is get on the internet and tell everyone. I understand that and I would do that too.
So I personally keep this in mind also. The internet can skew your perception in a unrealistic and negative way. Most of the guys flying the Inspire are too busy working to be telling everyone how great the Inspire is.

In the 20+ years I have been flying RC the Inspire is the best thing I have ever flown, and the Phantom3 a close second!

I have been a DJI customer a lot longer than I have been a DJI employee.  I was using DJI products for about 3 years before I was hired. However the statement should be modified. It's not that I was a DJI customer and now I am a DJI employee. I am still both. I do have empathy and sympathy for our customers.   And I need to make sure I always stay in that frame of mind. That way I can be better connected to you guys, and that will help me provide better support.


Dave
2016-2-19
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DJI-Dave
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-18 14:58
There have been instances with the old Phantoms, but with the P3 and Inspire I have not seen a cas ...

I agree! Neither have I!


Dave
2016-2-19
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DJI-Dave
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thomas.straubin Posted at 2016-2-19 12:48
Wait! Are you saying you crashed 3 DJI drones in only two years?

Maybe you are just not capable ...



................................deletd my post
2016-2-19
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R&L Aerial
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Gootch Posted at 2016-2-18 17:46
Ken, while I appreciate your company line..... the reality of "never" having a malfunction in eithe ...

What can you expect someone that is associated DJI is going to say to a question like this?  " there not going to admit to anything.
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken
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DJI-Dave Posted at 2016-2-20 05:44
Do not be scared to fly...
DJI sells thousands of these things world wide every day.
I wish DJI wo ...

Very well said Dave !
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken
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R&L Aerial  Posted at 2016-2-20 05:50
What can you expect someone that is associated DJI is going to say to a question like this?  " the ...

I wrote a huge long reply to this then just accidentally closed the wrong box.
I'll just say that DJi is number 1 in the world because they sell high quality reliable products for a great price. If they didn't then someone else would have the market share like DJI does.
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken
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PaulKerry Posted at 2016-2-20 05:59
On the whole, I would have to agree with Dave.

If anyone would be nervous about making flights, I w ...

Cautious, of course you should be. Just like you should be cautious with everything in life that you do. When your careless and don't take precautions and not follow the directions bad things happen.
2016-2-19
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mattsimok33
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-19 12:13
Matt,
You accepted the offer and AGAIN, part of the reason it took long was you kept refusing the  ...

That's fine if you think it was a pilot error you, nor anyone will know... The point is It's not impossible, I wont continue to argue about it.

As for your response time I was issued an Offer over a week from the initial request...that's fine, I didn't not like the offer and I didn't hear back for over 2 week, then I was asked for Information I already provided and I had to wait another 2 weeks, I took to the forums to complain and I got everything resolved within a few days following that. This should not have taken that long, if you guys gave consistent correspondence we could have sorted it out quicker. I only Rejected 2 offers and asked to modify the final.

Look I'm frustrated because of the company handles customer support and issues involving your products , (see OSMO x5 adapter and handle kit) for prime examples of just overall terrible business ethics, I bought the X5 expecting to use it as in the video released by DJI only to find the adapter was coming soon since October.

DJI makes the best drone products around hands down no argument I love your guys stuff, but I dont like how we the customers are treated when things go south.  
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-19 17:28
I wrote a huge long reply to this then just accidentally closed the wrong box.
I'll just say that  ...

That's true right now but it won't be long there will be there will be a lot of competition. It only took 5 years for Samsung to overtake Apple.
2016-2-19
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DJI-Ken
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mattsimok33@gma Posted at 2016-2-20 07:16
That's fine if you think it was a pilot error you, nor anyone will know... The point is It's not i ...

I to am aware of the X5 Osmo thing and I'm sorry it's not here yet.
And I know you are frustrated with what happened.
Customer service is very important to DJI and many things are going on to make it better. Yu have to realize that with the hundreds of thousands being sold customer service may have delays here and there.
Repairs used to take a few months, now we have it down to a few weeks and sometimes shorter than that.
So as time goes on, it's only going to get better and better.
2016-2-19
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