Dragons den UK... drone business
- Thread starter Neon Euc
- Start date
Peter Jones certainly has the gift for selling himself to people who place way too much weight on his words. The company he is refering to is Jessops, which he bought in 2013 after it went into recievership. It's mainly a camera retail store network with some excellent product lines including DJI.
Anyway, here's the full video of him buying access to the details of many hundreds/thousands of commercial and potentially hobby drone users in the UK who in future will probably be flying under the Jessop banner with Jessop purchased equipment. Make of it as you will, but to me it looked like a lamb to the slaughter.
Anyway, here's the full video of him buying access to the details of many hundreds/thousands of commercial and potentially hobby drone users in the UK who in future will probably be flying under the Jessop banner with Jessop purchased equipment. Make of it as you will, but to me it looked like a lamb to the slaughter.
Peter Jones certainly has the gift for selling himself to people who place way too much weight on his words. The company he is refering to is Jessops, which he bought in 2013 after it went into recievership. It's mainly a camera retail store network with some excellent product lines including DJI.
Anyway, here's the full video of him buying access to the details of many hundreds/thousands of commercial and potentially hobby drone users in the UK who in future will probably be flying under the Jessop banner with Jessop purchased equipment. Make of it as you will, but to me it looked like a lamb to the slaughter.
Agree with the comments except - "Dronesafe Register" is not mandatory for Commercial (or hobbyist) drone operators.It's not a company per se it's just a register and advertising medium for drone operators and Peter Jones to say " the reason DJI came to UK and Europe was a company I own" is questionable. He will not get access to the hundreds/thousands of operators unless the CAA makes it mandatory to register with Dronesafe Register (unlikely). I'm sure Frank Wang would raise his eyebrows.
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From experience, Jessops upholds the cruddy after sales customer service as laid out by DJI. The (open box) P3Pro which they supplied to me had a problem of some sort which I proved to be the micro SD card. I put in a brand new one and it worked fine. As it was in my possession less than a week, I took the P3, faulty card plus all relevant (Jessops) receipts to the nearest (Glasgow Centre) shop.
The little twat of an assistant almost got a smack in the mouth with his “I know better than you” because he had a P4 and he “knew” that I was wrong. He was not going to exchange the card as the manager “said he was out to lunch!” Anyway, the Phantom would have to be returned to Jessop Central for evaluation!
Aye right!! My choice was either exchange the card or I would leave the lot on the counter for a refund of the full price.
OK, I was going to wait for him (manager) to return before I started causing a shouting match in a pretty busy front shop. I stood on my crutches for a good 30/45 minutes, yes that’s where my PP title originates, before the little idiot ‘communed by telepathy’ with his gaffer and grudgingly handed me a 64GB SanDisk card. He didn’t have a 32GB and declined my offer of payment for the difference in price. He had tried to check the card but it was ‘unreadable’ for some reason. Surprise, surprise!
The P3P was obviously a faulty return and simply passed on as open box with the hope that the next purchaser would not start kicking up a stink over a £20 SD card. My recommendation for Jessop supplied drones is a big fat zero. Stick with a specialist drone supplier with a good reputation.
Why does the guy in the Den claim the U.K. consists of Wales and South of Middle England. Not a whisper about that little northern backwater called Scotland! Do we now need to form the SAA to cover Ecosse? Oh! What fun there will be come Brexit ... but that is a whole new ballgame.
Right, I have wittered enough. Someone else have a shot.
The little twat of an assistant almost got a smack in the mouth with his “I know better than you” because he had a P4 and he “knew” that I was wrong. He was not going to exchange the card as the manager “said he was out to lunch!” Anyway, the Phantom would have to be returned to Jessop Central for evaluation!
Aye right!! My choice was either exchange the card or I would leave the lot on the counter for a refund of the full price.OK, I was going to wait for him (manager) to return before I started causing a shouting match in a pretty busy front shop. I stood on my crutches for a good 30/45 minutes, yes that’s where my PP title originates, before the little idiot ‘communed by telepathy’ with his gaffer and grudgingly handed me a 64GB SanDisk card. He didn’t have a 32GB and declined my offer of payment for the difference in price. He had tried to check the card but it was ‘unreadable’ for some reason. Surprise, surprise!
The P3P was obviously a faulty return and simply passed on as open box with the hope that the next purchaser would not start kicking up a stink over a £20 SD card. My recommendation for Jessop supplied drones is a big fat zero. Stick with a specialist drone supplier with a good reputation.
Why does the guy in the Den claim the U.K. consists of Wales and South of Middle England. Not a whisper about that little northern backwater called Scotland! Do we now need to form the SAA to cover Ecosse? Oh! What fun there will be come Brexit ... but that is a whole new ballgame.
Right, I have wittered enough. Someone else have a shot.
Anyway, here's the full video of him buying access to the details of many hundreds/thousands of commercial and potentially hobby drone users in the UK who in future will probably be flying under the Jessop banner with Jessop purchased equipment. Make of it as you will, but to me it looked like a lamb to the slaughter.
You are aware that DSR doesn't have hundreds and thousands of members aren't you? - it doesn't even have thousands, not much more than a few hundred.
Jessops are nowhere near the top of the tree for drone supply in the UK
My guess is that this deal will fall through once they start doing the due diligence (like so many other deals on Dragons Den do) andn they find out that the claims made were neither true nor representative of the UK drone industry.
Why does the guy in the Den claim the U.K. consists of Wales and South of Middle England. Not a whisper about that little northern backwater called Scotland! Do we now need to form the SAA to cover Ecosse? Oh! What fun there will be come Brexit ... but that is a whole new ballgame.
Right, I have wittered enough. Someone else have a shot.
why not join Approved Drone Pilots
Approved Drone Pilots - Find a CAA aerial operator here.
it's free and covers the whole of the UK
Hi Andy, the ADP is for certified and I presume liability insurance covered pilots. At the moment I am a purely recreational flier, filling in my retirement time. I could not really justify these costs. My cousin passed his PfCO last year so I’m just part of his ground crew for now. 
Btw, where in the U.K. are you? I’m beside Glasgow Airport.
Btw, where in the U.K. are you? I’m beside Glasgow Airport.
I'm on the south coast, near Hastings - what is worth considering is that the eye watering costs that people pay for their PfCO's are not really required and with a little but of research you can get your PfCO for under £400 (including the payment to the CAA) or even less if you fly as a named pilot on your cousin's PfCO - to set you on your way.....CAP722 is your friend - OK, it's a lot of reading but pay special attention to page 47Hi Andy, the ADP is for certified and I presume liability insurance covered pilots. At the moment I am a purely recreational flier, filling in my retirement time. I could not really justify these costs. My cousin passed his PfCO last year so I’m just part of his ground crew for now.
Btw, where in the U.K. are you? I’m beside Glasgow Airport.
CAP722 is your friend - OK, it's a lot of reading but pay special attention to page 47
Bookmarked for future download and bed time reading.
Hmm! Hastings. I doubt if I’ll be dropping by for a quick coffee.
I don’t think my cousin got much back from £1200 and that was with him staying in his camper van for the 4/5 days of the course.
if you are a named pilot on his PfCO it should cost you about £50, if you go for your own, add the cost of the CAA fees and insurance although the latter can be cut drastically by using FlockBookmarked for future download and bed time reading.
Hmm! Hastings. I doubt if I’ll be dropping by for a quick coffee.
I don’t think my cousin got much back from £1200 and that was with him staying in his camper van for the 4/5 days of the course.
I'm off to bed now
I'm fully aware that he claimed to currently have 400 members, but was intending to expand and also target non-commercial operators. Thanks for asking.
but there's no incentive for hobby flyers to join and there's where the problem starts because many hobby flyers will already be a member of one or more organisations and those that aren't probably won't see any value in joining - it seems an odd change of direction for a company calling itself 'drone safe' if there is no restriction on membership other than owning a drone.
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