Dunked the bird!

Thread update........
Its been a few weeks since my "incident" and so far, everything has been good. I took the bird out for a quick flight today and when doing the pre-flight checks, I noticed what look like the "usual"stress cracks around the screws on one of the arms! They are very minor and must be fresh, because I thoroughly checked the bird after the incident and have checked it several times since, so I know that they are recent.

If I was to return it to DJI, would they look at the flight logs and blame the "incident" for the damage and likely refuse to replace under warranty? How long are flight logs stored/retrievable?

It currently flies with no issues at all, but if the cracks get increasingly worse, then at some point it will effect the bird!
 
  • Like
Reactions: cr6
Stress cracks are a known issue, and definitely not related to a mishap. I can't see them denying you frame replacement for that issue under warranty even if you dunked it - thats not the reason you are returning it to them.

Certainly they will see the intrusion markers pink, you your mileage may vary.

Oh, when are you changing your username to Nemor ? :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: cr6
Stress cracks are a known issue, and definitely not related to a mishap. I can't see them denying you frame replacement for that issue under warranty even if you dunked it - thats not the reason you are returning it to them.

Certainly they will see the intrusion markers pink, you your mileage may vary.

Oh, when are you changing your username to Nemor ? :)


Even though everything works perfectly now, if they were to replace the shell under warranty, how likely is it that they will try to sting me for replacing some other components (once they see the logs and see that there has been a crash) claiming that these other components are damaged? After all they are in business to make money!

You have lost me with the Nemor comment I'm afraid! o_O
 
Even though everything works perfectly now, if they were to replace the shell under warranty, how likely is it that they will try to sting me for replacing some other components (once they see the logs and see that there has been a crash) claiming that these other components are damaged? After all they are in business to make money!

You have lost me with the Nemor comment I'm afraid! o_O

IMO, you can decide what to let them do or not when they make their report. It's a crap shoot, thing is the bird is flying fine, so ...

Ugh, my bad - wrong spelling.

Namor ... :)

Namor - Wikipedia
 

Gotcha ;)

This is something else I have been thinking about lately too, waterproofing the drone. I have seen a few youtube clips of people trying differing ways of waterproofing electronics and i am convinced there must be some way of doing this with a drone, at least so far as to protect it for several minutes until it can be recovered, or for the occasional rain shower! Have DJI missed a trick there or is it a cunning ploy to get us all to pay out for water damage ;)
 
Would increase price itself, testing various methods, for if they tout it as waterproof, you open yourself to liability should said waterproofing fail.
 
Would increase price itself, testing various methods, for if they tout it as waterproof, you open yourself to liability should said waterproofing fail.

I agree, but i imagine people would be wiling to spend more for a drone that would withstand, for example, a heavy rain shower. For anyone who uses their drone for commercial purposes, it must be a pain in the arse when you can't fly, purely due to a bit of rain (of which we have plenty here in the UK!). I would willingly spend more in the knowledge that I could fly and therefore earn money, even in poor weather conditions.
 
Nice, but considering it is an aerial camera platform, you're not going to get much if you try movies or photos when up in poor weather conditions.

We don't do photo ops in the 407 in poor weather conditions either .......... Just Sayin ....
 
I agree, but i imagine people would be wiling to spend more for a drone that would withstand, for example, a heavy rain shower. For anyone who uses their drone for commercial purposes, it must be a pain in the arse when you can't fly, purely due to a bit of rain (of which we have plenty here in the UK!). I would willingly spend more in the knowledge that I could fly and therefore earn money, even in poor weather conditions.
It is not impossible to waterproof a drone so that it would survive an occasional rain shower. Making it survive a dunking, especially in salt water, is much more difficult. Then there is also the issue of recovery. Since it does not float, it may never be found.
 
So, after a few more successful flights I decided not to take any chances with the stress cracks, so I sent the drone back to DJI last week. Tracking shows it arrived with them this morning, so fingers crossed they will replace the shell under warranty and not try to charge me because of the "incident"

How long do they generally take to email their findings to you? How are they for dealing with this sort of issue. Will they try and charge me for repair and see if I complain or are they usually very fair?

I am going on holiday on the 8th Feb and would love to take it with me-what are the chances it will be sorted out and returned to me by then?
 
I have received a quote through from DJI today and they are saying both the drone and camera need replacing, at a cost to me of 828GBP !!!!!!!

As far as I'm concerned this is ridiculous, because I didn't return it to them because of a problem with the camera or an issue with "workings" of the drone, I sent it back to them because of stress cracks - a known and identified fault!!!

All they have done is send me two pictures of the water indicator inside the drone and are claiming now that the whole lot has to be replaced because of water damage. No mention of the issue I returned it for, i.e. Stress cracks.

It would appear that they have opened it up, seen the water damage indicator and decided that everything is due to water damage!!

Not impressed one bit with this from DJI.

I know it has been in water, I know the indicator proves that, but that isn't why I sent it back to them.

Has anyone else had similar problems and had the matter resolved in your favour, or can I expect them to stand firm and insist I pay for a replacement?

I have escalated the matter and been told someone will contact me within 48hrs, but I don't hold up any hope at all that they will help and if that is the case then my drone days are over, because I can't afford £800+ for a replacement.

I appreciate that, until I have heard back from them, that the matter is in limbo, but what options do I have from peoples experience with DJI?
 
Wow, sorry man. At that price I would tell them forget it and to send it back and fly it with the cracks.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

That is exactly what I would have to do if they refuse to replace the shell under warranty. The only concern then would be a question of when, rather than if, the cracks got so bad that they caused a serious issue!

I will reserve further judgement until I hear back from them, but as previously stated, I don't hold up much hope if I'm honest!

Has anyone else fought their corner and had DJI back down on an issue?
 
C'mon guys, someone else must have had similar issues with DJI?

Anyone wish to share their experiences?
 
Just get it back and enjoy it, you got lucky and that's the end of it, my old phantom one had loads of stress cracks but they never caused a problem, when they appear on my p3 i won't bat an eye lid. Dji have always had p1ss poor customer service that's why I never even consider warranty, once you've bought it you are on your own.

Sent from my P01Z using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Just get it back and enjoy it, you got lucky and that's the end of it, my old phantom one had loads of stress cracks but they never caused a problem, when they appear on my p3 i won't bat an eye lid. Dji have always had p1ss poor customer service that's why I never even consider warranty, once you've bought it you are on your own.

Sent from my P01Z using PhantomPilots mobile app

If they refuse point blank to replace the shell, I will be asking for it to be returned, because i refuse to pay for a manufacturing defect.

Like with most things, you only tend to hear about the poor customer service and I know DJI have had their fare share. Time will tell on this one!
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,091
Messages
1,467,576
Members
104,974
Latest member
shimuafeni fredrik