I have contacted about 10 of your dealers East of the Mississippi River. They ALL deny that you sell them the ribbon cables. I am forwarding their responses to the FTC to accompany my complaint. Please let me know the cost of 1 of these ribbon cables.
From: Tenna.Zhang (DJI) <
[email protected]>
To: James McElroy <
[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 2:03 AM
Subject: [DJI] 回复: Fw: Possible Violation of Sherman Anti Trust Act
##- Please type your reply above this line -##
您的请求(22372)已解决。要重新开启此请求,请回复此电邮。
Tenna.Zhan
Tenna.Zhang (DJI)
Aug 22 14:03
Dear James,
Thanks for contacting DJI Technical HQ.
Sorry about the unhappy experience you have in using our products.
Firstly, we want to make things clear to you that:
1. We are selling accessories such as the ribbon cables. You could contact our dealers or contact DJI directly for accessories.
The reason why some dealers would not sell ribbon cables to customers is because the ribbon cable is not easy to be repalcedd by the customers, and some other problems may arise if the customer could not do it correctly. So we suggest customers should be better to return the Phantom to us for replacing the ribbon cable or some other components to avoid additional problems.
If the customer get the ribbon cable from us and replace it on his or her own and some problems arise hence, the customer then would have no reason to blame DJI.
2. Please rest assured that DJI never intends to deny it's responsibilities, cause we are still understaffed at present, so it's really difficult for us to answer all the phones or to process all the emails in time. But we are trying to provide timely and better services to our customers. You could reach us directly by 0086755-2267-3666 if you need some urgent service.
Wish you enjoy flying with DJI.
Your understanding and patience are much appreciated.
James McEl
James McElroy
Aug 21 22:30
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: James McElroy <
[email protected]>
To: "
[email protected]" <
[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 10:26 AM
Subject: Possible Violation of Sherman Anti Trust Act
I recently bought a (model) Drone helicopter from a company called DJI Innovations. After about 10 flights which were controllable, the unit started having a mind of it's own. After a very hard nosedive into the ground a very flimsy ribbon cable sunning from a controller to the camera broke. This is probably a $2.00 piece of ribbon cable. I called DJI numerous times and was hung up on by an automated system that told me they were experiencing heavy calls and then it hung up. I started e-mailing the Los Angeles office of DJI and got no response to e-mails.
I then started looking on e-bay and all of the Hobby Shops I could find on line searching for this ribbon cable. Couldn't locate one but I did locate a number of broken cameras on e-bay with the same problem I have. I started calling DJI dealers. I was advised that DJI refuses to sell them the ribbon cable and that repairs take about 4 to 8 weeks because only DJI has the part. Two separate dealers advised that I should purchase a new camera and mounting system for $679.00 and when the other is repaired sell it on e-bay.
I was also told that the ribbon cables are in heavy demand but that since DJI refuses to sell them to their dealers or anyone else, the only option is purchase a new one or go without the drone for a month or 2.
These people also advised that the replacement of the ribbon cable would cost about $25.00 in labor if DJI ever decided to release them to their dealers. Since these Drones already are a $1,500.00 investment at this point, I have no choice but to buy the new camera for $679.00 in lieu of having it repaired for what I guess would be about $30.00 total.
I believe this is a violation of anti trust laws and that this policy of refusing to sell parts EVEN TO THEIR DEALERS is designed to force buyers to pay for over priced repairs or buying new cameras.