Black Friday 2017

abwRN · Nov 13, 2017

Jack Matthias said:
I think it would be easier to see the black one

I don’t want someone to see me...

GadgetGuy · Nov 13, 2017

How is it in this day and age that we still tolerate Black Friday?

It's not PC. Why aren't the African Americans up in arms over this? Columbus Day became Indigenous People's Day, and Red Friday would surely surely be objected to by the Native Indians. Oh well. Enjoy the bargains!

GadgetGuy · Nov 14, 2017

Here are all of Best Buy's DJI Black Friday deals---No P4P listed

F3honda4me · Nov 14, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
If you had actually used B&H for a return, you would know that the above statements about the B&H return/exchange process are untrue. Yes, they require you to call a 3rd party, but that drone company answers the phone live, without having to wait on hold or leave a message, takes your return information, emails you a free return label, and my three P4P refunds were each processed by B&H within 24 hours of receipt by the 3rd party.

On the other hand, my DJI direct purchased P4P refund, after returning the unopened sealed P4P shipping box to Los Angeles, took 6 weeks to be credited back to my account, with every excuse in the book for the delays!

B&H rocks, without sales tax, and will also price match! Please don't sell them short, based upon lies perpetuated by others, to try and get you to buy through their own affiliate links, which offer no returns at all!

To start, I take great issue with the fact that you are calling me a liar.

I have actually used BH for a return. I am speaking from first hand experience. And that's why I said what I did. When I went through it I first had to contact BH photo about a DOA DJI product, who had to then get back to me once they contacted the 3rd party. After two days, BH said they contacted the 3rd party and that I could now contact them and gave me their number. I called them, and they said they'd get back to me once they had the full information from BH? They then finally got back to me (this whole process took about 7-8 days by the way) with an RMA. I shipped it back, and waited for a full WEEK after they had actually received it and still heard nothing. I contacted them and BH after 5 business days of hearing nothing and they said my return was still processing. 3 business days later they finally issued the refund. The entire thing took almost 3 weeks. This was in April of this year so it wasn't some busy holiday season.

F3honda4me · Nov 14, 2017

GadgetGuy said:
When was this?

Of the four P4P's I bought from Best Buy with a 45 day return policy as an Elite Plus member, every one of them were defective in some way. On my last P4P from them, I wanted to buy yet 5th one from them, to make sure it was a good one, to replace the 4th defective one, which was the best of the four, but still defective. However, I was told I could not return a nondefective drone, even to exchange it for a defective one I had previously purchased, so I returned the 4th defective P4P for a refund instead, and bought a new replacement from B&H. Best Buy then cancelled my return privileges on all future purchases. The last replacement P4P bought from B&H was problem free. Best Buy DJI inventory is all from the same defective DJI stock, and there is no way to verify the exchanged unit is from a newer or different batch than the one you already bought. That's been my experience. YMMV.

End of october. I've bought two P4P from best buy. Of the two, one was bad (the one I just bought) and I exchanged it for another that is problem free.

keeganxt said:
Got a price alert from BH tonight, current price is $1326. Not sure if this is a temporary price match deal or if this is early BF pricing.

I understand if someone has been burned by BH somehow. But I've been shopping there for around 15 years both for my freelance business and my full time video production gig. They've never failed me and are a true resource to actual professionals in the creative industries.

When it comes to non DJI stuff, I completely agree. We use BH for a ton of stuff, as my wife has been running her own photography business for 15 years now. But my experience with them with DJI soured me, so I just don't use them for DJI, but still use them for all other photographer equipment. If others have a different experience in the return process for DJI stuff, then that's great!

AerialZ · Nov 14, 2017

F3honda4me said:
To start, I take great issue with the fact that you are calling me a liar.

I have actually used BH for a return. I am speaking from first hand experience. And that's why I said what I did. When I went through it I first had to contact BH photo about a DOA DJI product, who had to then get back to me once they contacted the 3rd party. After two days, BH said they contacted the 3rd party and that I could now contact them and gave me their number. I called them, and they said they'd get back to me once they had the full information from BH? They then finally got back to me (this whole process took about 7-8 days by the way) with an RMA. I shipped it back, and waited for a full WEEK after they had actually received it and still heard nothing. I contacted them and BH after 5 business days of hearing nothing and they said my return was still processing. 3 business days later they finally issued the refund. The entire thing took almost 3 weeks. This was in April of this year so it wasn't some busy holiday season.

And I second F3honda4me's experience with the horrible 3rd-party company B&H chose to work with for drone RMA's. I purchased my first P4P through B&H as I also have many years experience using them for video and photography gear. I bought two P3P's through them in past years and never had a single problem. The first P4P was delivered with a faulty gimbal and needed to go back. The unprofessional idiot that answered the phone sounded stoned and wasn't very easy to work with. I immediately purchased a replacement as they stated it would take 1-2 weeks AFTER they received the return to process my refund or send out a replacement. Long story short, that would have been 3+ weeks to receive a replacement, which is absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly why I suggest that people buy through box stores like Best Buy when they offer the equipment needed and have easy return policies. It is well worth paying sales tax to be able to get a replacement without tying-up a significant amount of money waiting on ridiculous processing times.

F3honda4me · Nov 14, 2017

For those also wondering, it's worth noting that best buy currently has extended holiday return policies. Purchases made October 29 through December 30, 2017 have an extended return period through January 14, 2018. I actually took advantage of this last year with a DJI mavic for Christmas. I had bought a Mavic Pro for myself first week of november. I ended up also getting one as a gift from my wife who hadn't realized I'd already bought one (LOL). I was able to return the best buy one no problem after the first of the year.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-t...cy/pcmcat260800050014.c?id=pcmcat260800050014

F3honda4me · Nov 14, 2017

$1285 today on BH for P4P by the way. Buy from BH directly or if you prefer local find someplace like a best buy that will price match!

DJIPhantom 4 Pro Quadcopter

Dronefriend · Nov 14, 2017

249 USD for iPad 2017 on Best Buy Black Friday people

Dirby · Nov 14, 2017

I did not see ant p4p battery in best buy black Friday sale.

keeganxt · Nov 14, 2017

Adorama is at $1285 for the P4P as well.

Dronefriend · Nov 14, 2017

I gotta say, dropping only $300 in price after a full year.. that year I did drone jobs that paid off all of it and more.
And even if I hadn't, it was definitely worth it buying it at launch.

It's so good a model I don't think I will sell it for at least another year. Fits my needs just perfectly and highly affordable. Grown really attached to the piece of plastic as well, I might not want to get it sent in and repaired/exchanged for a refurb. Idiotic but true..

Bakersfield Quad · Nov 14, 2017

F3honda4me said:
For those also wondering, it's worth noting that best buy currently has extended holiday return policies. Purchases made October 29 through December 30, 2017 have an extended return period through January 14, 2018. I actually took advantage of this last year with a DJI mavic for Christmas. I had bought a Mavic Pro for myself first week of november. I ended up also getting one as a gift from my wife who hadn't realized I'd already bought one (LOL). I was able to return the best buy one no problem after the first of the year.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-t...cy/pcmcat260800050014.c?id=pcmcat260800050014

Whew, I almost bought my P4P there!

GadgetGuy · Nov 15, 2017

F3honda4me said:
To start, I take great issue with the fact that you are calling me a liar.

I have actually used BH for a return. I am speaking from first hand experience. And that's why I said what I did. When I went through it I first had to contact BH photo about a DOA DJI product, who had to then get back to me once they contacted the 3rd party. After two days, BH said they contacted the 3rd party and that I could now contact them and gave me their number. I called them, and they said they'd get back to me once they had the full information from BH? They then finally got back to me (this whole process took about 7-8 days by the way) with an RMA. I shipped it back, and waited for a full WEEK after they had actually received it and still heard nothing. I contacted them and BH after 5 business days of hearing nothing and they said my return was still processing. 3 business days later they finally issued the refund. The entire thing took almost 3 weeks. This was in April of this year so it wasn't some busy holiday season.

My apologies. I wasn't calling you a liar. I was assuming you were simply passing along the same boilerplate I have read elsewhere, with no other basis for it. I shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion so easily with you. So many people have repeated this same line over and over again without ever using B&H, that I mistakenly assumed you were as well. All I can say is that your experience was entirely different than mine in January of this year with two P4P's and one P4P+. You described your experience and I described mine. Your more recent experience raises concerns for me, too. I am hoping that your experience is not the new norm, and was just a unique problem that occurred in April, which has since been eliminated by B&H. Bear in mind that B&H takes all Jewish holidays off, which are not normal holidays for the rest of us, which might have contributed. From the day I called B&H to first request my returns, until I had my money back was 10 days, including 5 day ground shipping. I was given the 3rd party phone number in my first call. The 3rd party answered, took down my reason for each of the returns, and emailed me a return shipping label. Within 24 hours of receipt by the 3rd party, my refunds were processed by B&H. I hope that is still the case. Considering that DJI themselves took 6 weeks to process a credit card refund, after receiving the return, even 3 weeks doesn't sound that bad, although B&H clearly dropped the ball in your case. Mea culpa.

GadgetGuy · Nov 15, 2017

F3honda4me said:
For those also wondering, it's worth noting that best buy currently has extended holiday return policies. Purchases made October 29 through December 30, 2017 have an extended return period through January 14, 2018. I actually took advantage of this last year with a DJI mavic for Christmas. I had bought a Mavic Pro for myself first week of november. I ended up also getting one as a gift from my wife who hadn't realized I'd already bought one (LOL). I was able to return the best buy one no problem after the first of the year.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-t...cy/pcmcat260800050014.c?id=pcmcat260800050014

Took advantage of that today on a new Osmo+, after getting Best Buy to price match B&H's $592 price, as Best Buy was still charging $649!

GadgetGuy · Nov 15, 2017

AerialZ said:
And I second F3honda4me's experience with the horrible 3rd-party company B&H chose to work with for drone RMA's. I purchased my first P4P through B&H as I also have many years experience using them for video and photography gear. I bought two P3P's through them in past years and never had a single problem. The first P4P was delivered with a faulty gimbal and needed to go back. The unprofessional idiot that answered the phone sounded stoned and wasn't very easy to work with. I immediately purchased a replacement as they stated it would take 1-2 weeks AFTER they received the return to process my refund or send out a replacement. Long story short, that would have been 3+ weeks to receive a replacement, which is absolutely unacceptable. This is exactly why I suggest that people buy through box stores like Best Buy when they offer the equipment needed and have easy return policies. It is well worth paying sales tax to be able to get a replacement without tying-up a significant amount of money waiting on ridiculous processing times.

I wonder what has happened to the streamlined process that existed back in January! That's not good! Perhaps B&H has changed 3rd party vendors. I definitely agree that buying a second unit immediately and refunding the defective unit is better than trying an exchange. As long as you don't mind tying up your credit line with the second purchase, that's always my preferred choice with any vendor! My only concern with Best Buy was that I couldn't get a non-defective P4P from them, over 6 months, and I waited until the end of each 45 day return period to make sure I wasn't buying from the same stock, but it appears it all was from the same defective batch. Glad the current units are now not defective. Tying up credit line on a credit card is not the same as tying up money. It costs nothing to do so on a credit card, if you are paying off the balance in full each month, and even if not, borrowing $1500 at 18% APR for a month only costs $23 in interest instead of an extra $140 in sales tax. YMMV.

GadgetGuy · Nov 15, 2017

F3honda4me said:
$1285 today on BH for P4P by the way. Buy from BH directly or if you prefer local find someplace like a best buy that will price match!

DJIPhantom 4 Pro Quadcopter

Also, B&H Holiday Returns are extended until February 1st! That's 18 days longer than Best Buy!

GadgetGuy · Nov 15, 2017

Dronefriend said:
I gotta say, dropping only $300 in price after a full year.. that year I did drone jobs that paid off all of it and more.
And even if I hadn't, it was definitely worth it buying it at launch.

It's so good a model I don't think I will sell it for at least another year. Fits my needs just perfectly and highly affordable. Grown really attached to the piece of plastic as well, I might not want to get it sent in and repaired/exchanged for a refurb. Idiotic but true..

Both B&H and Amazon were selling the P4P for $1324 back in April of this year for several weeks, and Best Buy was price matching it, so these current discounted prices are only $40 cheaper than that. P4P is holding its value!