Beware ordering Mavic from Amazon

erkme73 · Oct 5, 2016

I, too, was surprised to see the charge on my Amex within moments of placing the order on Amazon. I started a chat session with Amex to simply confirm whether it was acceptable/proper for a merchant to charge a month before shipping. They said a merchant can charge the moment I authorize the payment method. There is no obligation by any merchant (from Amex's perspective) to withhold the charge until shipment. I guess I was under the false assumption that charging was done at the time shipments are sent out. Then again, I rarely ever pre-order anything.

Artinsocal · Oct 6, 2016

erkme73 said:
I, too, was surprised to see the charge on my Amex within moments of placing the order on Amazon. I started a chat session with Amex to simply confirm whether it was acceptable/proper for a merchant to charge a month before shipping. They said a merchant can charge the moment I authorize the payment method. There is no obligation by any merchant (from Amex's perspective) to withhold the charge until shipment. I guess I was under the false assumption that charging was done at the time shipments are sent out. Then again, I rarely ever pre-order anything.

This might be only an "authirization" for the purchase amount. Did you ask Amex if it was authorized? Thats what DJI did with my card but the authorization dropped off after 4 days.

erkme73 · Oct 6, 2016

Artinsocal said:
This might be only an "authirization" for the purchase amount. Did you ask Amex if it was authorized? Thats what DJI did with my card but the authorization dropped off after 4 days.

For now, it's just a 'pending' charge. But, the agent said those drop off after 8 days if they don't finalize it. So, it may be just an authorization for now, but clearly Amex says merchants are authorized to immediately charge a customer's card even if the merchandise doesn't ship for months. I set up a notification for the pending charge to alert me when it changes status - either drops off or becomes a full (disputable) charge. I'll post here when I get the results.

msinger · Oct 6, 2016

The authorization from my Amazon pre-order dropped off my credit card account after about 5 business days.

Ed209 · Oct 6, 2016

msinger said:
The authorization from my Amazon pre-order dropped off my credit card account after about 5 business days.

You're right...I had a full charge on my Amex and now it's gone.

Artinsocal · Oct 6, 2016

KingDad1985 said:
I ordered my Mavic from dji directly and was fully charged a few hours later , I also ordered an extra battery off of amazon and I just got the email this morning saying it shipped. So I'll have a battery soon

You ordered a battery for your Mavic and they already shipped it? What dealer did you order it from on Amazon?

uavdude · Oct 7, 2016

You don't want to buy from anyone who is not an authorized DJI dealer. It won't be worth it if you ever need to use the warranty.

Agreed - but there is a lot of misconception out there - DJI does not put the "little guys" on their website list unfortunately.

dronejunkyev · Oct 7, 2016

Ordered from amazon LLc (lots of buying options under other sellers) but my card hasn't been charged yet.. Amazon customer service said it won't charge it till it ships. The other retailers seem to be charging right away

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Artinsocal · Oct 8, 2016

Update! DJI has now charged me for my Mavic! So to sum it all up. Ordered Mavic on 9/29 from DJI. They authorized my debit card but fell off 4 days later. Then yesterday, 10/7, they again authorized my card again. I'll update if the authorization falls off again.

h3nno · Oct 8, 2016

I don't get the problem here? You have to pay for the drone anyways? Why not just pay now instead of in a week? You think Amazon will just steal your money?

RadRich · Oct 9, 2016

I'm surprised in this day and age people still want to be first in line, lol.

darkneo · Oct 9, 2016

RadRich said:
I'm surprised in this day and age people still want to be first in line, lol.

You haven't heard of an iPhone... Have you? [emoji12]

kmaluo · Oct 9, 2016

RadRich said:
I'm surprised in this day and age people still want to be first in line, lol.

I for one enjoy being on the cutting edge of technology. Probably why I like Android. Lol

Leenanj · Oct 9, 2016

If you don't want your CC charged then don't pre order, simple as that.

How do they know your card will be good a month from now or you
just change your mind.

If they are going to reserve a drone for you they need a confirmed commitment
on how many to order and reserve.

There are dealers that will take a smaller amount deposit if you want
to pre order that way.

If you order a part you have to pay in advance for there trouble.

I don't understand the problem here.

geolopez73 · Oct 10, 2016

Best way....wait until it comes out at the stores in case something goes wrong! I bought my P4 at the Apple Store, "Nothing" ever went wrong with it and has flown like a champ since it came out the box!!! But you never know!

ngvuanh · Oct 10, 2016

Artinsocal said:
Update! DJI has now charged me for my Mavic! So to sum it all up. Ordered Mavic on 9/29 from DJI. They authorized my debit card but fell off 4 days later. Then yesterday, 10/7, they again authorized my card again. I'll update if the authorization falls off again.

Wait, second charge usually indicates that they prepare for shipment.

Sent from my SGP771 using Tapatalk

msinger · Oct 14, 2016

jebril said:
I first thought that this drone will never crash

Drones are easy to crash if you don't know what you're doing

WWK888 · Oct 14, 2016

jebril said:
I first thought that this drone will never crash because it says that it avoids obstacles but after doing detail searches that came to my mind by searching YouTube "dji mavic crash" and "Phantom 4 crash" I was shocked and I had cancelled my order on time before it shipped Thank God when I found out.

Seriously? LOL

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