- Joined
- Jun 7, 2014
- Messages
- 43
- Reaction score
- 2
I'll be the first in line to post a good review when I have had a good experience, but I'll also be first in line if I have a bad experience. I'm not sure if this post will be perceived as crying over spilt milk or being a cry baby, but here goes anyway.
I bought my Phantom 2V+ in June from B&H Photo mainly because of their reputation as having outstanding customer service. There are plenty of online retailers selling Phantoms all at exactly the same price, so when deciding who to purchase from reputation was the deciding factor for me. Had fun with it for a couple of months, and yes I had a crash. I'm sure most new pilots have.
I took it out for a flight one evening and one motor would not start. Long story short, I took it to 2 different hobby shops. Replaced 1 ESC and 1 motor. No luck. Swapped ESCs and motors from one position to another to verify that they were in fact working. Still no luck. At this point I'm thinking, I know the ESCs and motors are all operational but when connected in the rear left position they do not work. So it must be the main board, right???
Hearing all of the bad news about getting repairs from DJI directly I figured I wouldn't even waste my time contacting them. At this point I contacted B&H. It was outside of their 30 day window but I figured what the heck, lets see if they can do anything for me. Not really expecting much, I was surprised when they issued an RMA to send it back for exchange. I was extremely happy and ready to sing their praises everywhere I had a chance. I mean, what kind of a company takes back a used product after 40-50 days? Pretty cool.
Now at this point I should say that I was VERY upfront about what work had been done to the Phantom, both by the hobby shops AND by myself, in an attempt to diagnose the problem. At this point they could have to me to go pound sand but I will cut and past "I appreciate that you checked the unit out before coming back to us. I will extend the return for you as a courtesy. Please send the unit back to us and we will exchange it for you. "
This is where things fell apart. I received an email on 8/12 telling me they had received my Phantom and to allow up to 3 days to process the return. On 8/18 I get a voice mail from someone wanting to talk to me about my return. I call back and leave a voice mail. No reply. Call again. No reply. Etc... Finally about 1 1/2 weeks later I manage to catch him at his desk. He says the Phantom has been crashed and has been worked on by unauthorized repair centers. I told him that this was all disclosed BEFORE the RMA was issued, that it is not unusual to have a crash (minor body damage BTW) and how would he have any idea what shops did the work and if they were authorized or not? If that was going to be a problem they should not have issued an RMA in the first place. He says he will talk to his bosses and see what they say. No reply for over a week so I start calling again. When I finally get through he states they cannot exchange the unit and would I like a quote for repairs? I said yes.
Waiting, waiting, waiting. They've had my Phantom for almost 2 months now. On 10/7 I finally send a nasty email to customer service asking for the status of my Phantom and stating that at this point I would just like to get it back, fixed or not. Later that night I receive a reply stating "To try and expedite the process for you, I asked one of my support agents to follow up on this and to get back to you with more info as soon as he gets it. " More waiting. Two more weeks waiting......
Today, 10/22, I get a call telling me they will replace the shell (not sure why, other than cosmetic damage) one ESC and one motor for $580. I inform this person that is only $107 worth of parts and he says there is labor also. $473 worth of labor, really? To replace a motor and ESC that have both already been verified as operational? At this point I told him to just send it back to me.
So there's my story, take it as you will. I'm sure they are still a great company to deal with, as evidenced by the many great reviews. But my dealings with them.... not so much. Am I wrong to be upset? I didn't expect them to do anything at all, but the length of time it has taken (2 1/2 months) and the apparent gouging to replace 3 parts that in my opinion don't need replaced, has left a very bad taste.
I guess I'll be buying a $59 main board this weekend and we'll see if that fixes the problem. Thanks for listening.
I bought my Phantom 2V+ in June from B&H Photo mainly because of their reputation as having outstanding customer service. There are plenty of online retailers selling Phantoms all at exactly the same price, so when deciding who to purchase from reputation was the deciding factor for me. Had fun with it for a couple of months, and yes I had a crash. I'm sure most new pilots have.
I took it out for a flight one evening and one motor would not start. Long story short, I took it to 2 different hobby shops. Replaced 1 ESC and 1 motor. No luck. Swapped ESCs and motors from one position to another to verify that they were in fact working. Still no luck. At this point I'm thinking, I know the ESCs and motors are all operational but when connected in the rear left position they do not work. So it must be the main board, right???
Hearing all of the bad news about getting repairs from DJI directly I figured I wouldn't even waste my time contacting them. At this point I contacted B&H. It was outside of their 30 day window but I figured what the heck, lets see if they can do anything for me. Not really expecting much, I was surprised when they issued an RMA to send it back for exchange. I was extremely happy and ready to sing their praises everywhere I had a chance. I mean, what kind of a company takes back a used product after 40-50 days? Pretty cool.
Now at this point I should say that I was VERY upfront about what work had been done to the Phantom, both by the hobby shops AND by myself, in an attempt to diagnose the problem. At this point they could have to me to go pound sand but I will cut and past "I appreciate that you checked the unit out before coming back to us. I will extend the return for you as a courtesy. Please send the unit back to us and we will exchange it for you. "
This is where things fell apart. I received an email on 8/12 telling me they had received my Phantom and to allow up to 3 days to process the return. On 8/18 I get a voice mail from someone wanting to talk to me about my return. I call back and leave a voice mail. No reply. Call again. No reply. Etc... Finally about 1 1/2 weeks later I manage to catch him at his desk. He says the Phantom has been crashed and has been worked on by unauthorized repair centers. I told him that this was all disclosed BEFORE the RMA was issued, that it is not unusual to have a crash (minor body damage BTW) and how would he have any idea what shops did the work and if they were authorized or not? If that was going to be a problem they should not have issued an RMA in the first place. He says he will talk to his bosses and see what they say. No reply for over a week so I start calling again. When I finally get through he states they cannot exchange the unit and would I like a quote for repairs? I said yes.
Waiting, waiting, waiting. They've had my Phantom for almost 2 months now. On 10/7 I finally send a nasty email to customer service asking for the status of my Phantom and stating that at this point I would just like to get it back, fixed or not. Later that night I receive a reply stating "To try and expedite the process for you, I asked one of my support agents to follow up on this and to get back to you with more info as soon as he gets it. " More waiting. Two more weeks waiting......
Today, 10/22, I get a call telling me they will replace the shell (not sure why, other than cosmetic damage) one ESC and one motor for $580. I inform this person that is only $107 worth of parts and he says there is labor also. $473 worth of labor, really? To replace a motor and ESC that have both already been verified as operational? At this point I told him to just send it back to me.
So there's my story, take it as you will. I'm sure they are still a great company to deal with, as evidenced by the many great reviews. But my dealings with them.... not so much. Am I wrong to be upset? I didn't expect them to do anything at all, but the length of time it has taken (2 1/2 months) and the apparent gouging to replace 3 parts that in my opinion don't need replaced, has left a very bad taste.
I guess I'll be buying a $59 main board this weekend and we'll see if that fixes the problem. Thanks for listening.