DJI only honoring their Phantom 3 warranty if purchasing from dealer (starting 7/18/2016)

The 54$ question is Why? What is the reason for doing this?
It makes it harder to sell below MSRP. They may also be trying to get retailers to handle the initial warranty claim and only hit DJI if the retailer can't handle it.
It helps to shut down 'grey market' products although I don't know if that is a big issue for DJI. It might be in Europe where the CE RCs have less output power than US units, leading people to want to buy a non sanctioned product.

Nikon has done this for years, much to the annoyance of photographers everywhere so it probably doesn't violate any US statutes. But it is sort of a **** move since it's going to catch people unawares.

Caveat Emptor!
 
I purchased my P4 thru Amazon on the 7th of July but the order was filled by a company (SSE) out of New York City. Based on what I read today I guess mine would be covered.
SSE is an authorized DJI dealer.
 
Per an email from DJI, they are now only honoring their Phantom 3 warranty if you buy your from an authorized DJI dealer


So they're saying that products bought directly from DJI will no longer have warranties? Only those from authorized re-sellers?

Really? That may not be what they intended, but that's what they said, If you read it carefully. DJI needs to hire more proofreaders.
 
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This enables them to essentially fix the price on the market. All of the unauthorized places are the places which have $$ deals, below the DJI msrp. Prevent warranties, people stop buying and Dji chooses market price.
 
Msinger, I didn't see SSE listed on DJI's site as an authorized dealer. I may have missed it, but as a person I trust to be "in the know" I'll take your word for it. I don't anticipate needing any warranty service.


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Msinger, I didn't see SSE listed on DJI's site as an authorized dealer

SSE.png
 
This enables them to essentially fix the price on the market. All of the unauthorized places are the places which have $$ deals, below the DJI msrp. Prevent warranties, people stop buying and Dji chooses market price.

I wonder, though, if this works well in the big picture?

That is, isn't it possible that thousands will not think or know about it and buy their drones and then become new "DJI Haters" (and there is already a big club!)....???

Time will tell. But when their dealer map doesn't even work for me in two browsers it can't be a good thing!
 
One can only assume they are overloaded with too many units to service and not enough manpower to make so many mistakes lately.

The chances of this being the reasoning is about zero....not saying they are busy or not or whether they make mistakes, just that they are doing this more in order to try and keep the prices high and keep some dealers happier, etc.

Also, my thinking is that the P4 is an expensive bird to make and they cannot afford the price to be driven too far down by discounting. DJI has a habit of being ahead of the curve and I wouldn't be surprised if the production cost of P4 is quite high - they certainly have crammed a lot of new technology in there and the OA (Movidius) chipset cannot be cheap.

My guess is we'll see some good deals on the P3 series, etc. - but that the P4 will stay in a price range where DJI can be profitable.

I heard recently they are up to 6500 employees - they have already won most price wars but they cannot afford to be discount driven - nor should they be if they can offer a better overall value than competitors.
 
DJI dont care about dealers, they dont even want dealers, they want to sell direct now their brand has been built by the dealers. Theyre getting paid for the warranty with every unit they sell, regardless of who retails it their margin is the same. Theyre just cost cutting on an already underfunded area of their business. Perhaps they will now manage to get warranty repairs done in less than 2 months without the BS dodging out of warranty work with spurious claims of user error, thats providing your retailer is on the magic list of course
 
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I purchased a P4 from Amazon seller "Yintatech" on Aug 1st. Its still in transit. I wonder now if I should just return it when it arrives. I don't know if this seller is a authorized seller or if purchasing on Aug 1st is cutting it too close voiding DJI'S warranty.


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I purchased a P4 from Amazon seller "Yintatech" on Aug 1st. Its still in transit. I wonder now if I should just return it when it arrives. I don't know if this seller is a authorized seller
They are not an authorized DJI dealer. If you decide to return it, you can find a list of authorized DJI dealers selling on Amazon here.
 
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now they can provide really [EXPLETIVE REMOVED] service to fewer people.
 
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DJI dont care about dealers, they dont even want dealers, they want to sell direct now their brand has been built by the dealers.
That's a joke to say their brand was built by dealers - IMHO.
And this is coming from a guy who was in somewhat similar (big ticket) specialty retail for 20+ years.

The Internet and the big trade shows...and Amazon...and then the news media and forums like this created their brand.
They are no different than Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and most other modern companies - in that, of course, they love the direct sales (more profit, closer to the customer, etc.).

At the same time they probably value their bigger dealers as well as those who provide repair, add-ons, building of the higher-end (S series, etc.)....

The reality of our times is that unless a dealer/distributor/importer, etc. adds something VERY valuable to the equation, the internet is going to assure they are cut out of the deal....as perhaps it should be. In the "olden days" of retail, a product would usually retail for 4 to 5X what it cost to make - sometimes more. Now you are buying stuff a Drone for $1200 that may have cost $600 to make.

If you want to pay $2K plus for that same drone...well, then, the dealer and distributor can fit into the equation. But the public - by and large - has decided not to.
 
Curious if this violates any warranty slash consumer protection laws in some states?

" For customers in North America, please note: DJI products purchased after July 18th, 2016 are covered under warranty only if they are purchased from DJI authorized dealears "

Hate to say this, but DJI just takes advantage of the flaws in the law...
Maybe US customers should blame their country / states rules and laws, and not DJI...

In Europe, any manufactor and/or reseller, have to honor the FULL WARRANTY of any sold product for at least 2 years.
No manufactor / seller rule can go below this, provided you have the invoice of the purchased product.
 

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