This sounds familiar, so I had to chime in. First let me say, the P3A is amazing, the perfect camera drone, until you have problems.
I saw my first cracks in July. I sent the Phantom 3 in and it was repaired quickly. Then 8 flights in, I noticed the gimbal was rolling right to left and more cracks appeared.
I sent the Phantom in again , and had a terrible time communicating with support. I sent emails that went days without response. I tried sending videos to show examples of the gimbal problem, but the email communication was so slow on the DJI side that it was "repaired" and sent back to me before they had seen the video.
The gimbal was better, but I still saw some rolling. Then 18 flights in, more cracks. The top and bottom shells started separating on one arm, and broken pieces of plastic fell out of the AC.
This Phantom has never crashed, landed hard, or tipped over. The braking is set at 70%.
Apparently DJI has some significant quality control issues.
I contacted DJI, a little frustrated, and was told repeatedly that all they could do is another service request. They did not try to expedite things and even stopped responding to my emails. Due to the bad email response, I did not get an RMA before the holiday weekend, and since they are closed weekends, it looks like almost a week delay just to send it back.
I am a frequent flier, flying five days a week. Since the first problem 8 weeks ago until when I get it back again (mid-September), I will have been ground half of the time. Then I will be worried about more cracks, which is taking a lot of the fun out of flying.
Just as an experiment, I sent an email to Autel. They responded quickly, twice, even though I am not a customer. I have not seen any mention of materials problems and only glowing customer service comments. It appears the x-star premium can have 2+ mile range, which is enough for me.
DJI has likely lost a customer, and friends who were considering a Phantom 4 upgrade have reconsidered. They have been watching how DJI handles my cases, and my situation has shaken their confidence.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using
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