Help! DJI Repair Quote - Am I being robbed?

[brendon_c]

I purchased the Phantom 4 Pro on 10 November 2017. The very first time I calibrated the aircraft I noticed that the gimbal was trying to move in the opposite direction and making a strange sound. I thought this was normal because I had only just unpacked it from the box. I have only flown the aircraft for a total of 3 hours (20 flights). Never have I dropped it, gotten it wet or crashed it.

Five weeks later I decided to report it to DJI support and they told me I should do an IMU calibration. I did the IMU calibration and the sound the gimbal motors made was terrible, so I recorded it and sent them a video.Their response was to send the aircraft to their Melbourne based repair centre which I did. The aircraft was in pristine condition when I sent it to DJI.

On 20 December 2017 I received a quote for repair ($183.00) of not only the gimbal motor but also the left landing gear with a note saying that the Serial Number might change!

So they're going to repair it and then give me someone else's 12 month old scratched up drone further along in the queue to expedite the repair process (i've heard that this is what DJI does)?

I queried the quote and DJI responded by sending me three photos of the landing gear that seems to show no damage whatsoever? They've even circled a section of a screenshot of the internal wiring saying that it is also damaged, however I still have to pay for this (see attached)?!

The product is obviously under warranty in Australia and according to the ACCC's consumer guarantee laws I am entitled to a free repair or replacement because it is quite apparent that there is no damage to a 5 week old drone that I have treated like a million dollar egg shell.

Has anybody had similar problems in Australia and can anybody offer any advice on what I should do?

 

[With The Birds]

Remind them it was defective out of the box and make it clear you intend to seek the assistance of the ACCC if they insist on dicking you around.

What is ridiculous about this is that it would seem impossible for you to cause the landing gear damage without other areas of the AC being trashed. This is more likely bad assembly in production.

 

[brendon_c]

Remind them it was defective out of the box and make it clear you intend to seek the assistance of the ACCC if they insist on dicking you around.

What is ridiculous about this is that it would seem impossible for you to cause the landing gear damage without other areas of the AC being trashed. This is more likely bad assembly in production.

Thanks. I was shocked to even see anything to do with the landing gear let alone receive screenshots showing the internals.

 

[tevek]

Well given that DJI currently has your drone, ask them to check out the .dat file onboard and prove to you that you had indeed damaged it in some way. If you are confident that you have a solid case for a warranty repair (did you take photos of the quad before you sent it in?), I would certainly dispute their bill and in this country we have additional consumer rights as you have noted. I would be ringing them back and demanding to speak to a supervisor rather than some tech dude who will be of little use.

 

[brendon_c]

I'm very confident that it has nothing to do with me. I only took a video of the front of the drone while I was calibrating the IMU to show DJI the noise that the the gimbal was making. I'll call and chat to a supervisor today. There were no issues with the landing gear (that I knew of) so I didn't bother to take photos or video of it.

 

[John Locke]

It's this kind of support from DJI that make customers resort to other means of getting a good flying craft under warranty. In this situation you want to stick it up DJI's ****. I've known pilots to order a new P4P from Amazon, then swap the new craft with a broken craft (that looks like new of course) and ship it back to Amazon for credit, saying it's non functional. I think Amazon is used to such a high return rate on P4P's because of the inconsistent quality DJI ships. I've mentioned this before, DJI doesn't test or even visually inspect their drones before they box them to ship. This particular problem @brendon_c is reporting could have easily been found by DJI when they powered up the drone to link it to the RC. But they don't bother, hence the high DOA (defective on arrival) rate we see.

I love my P4P, but I too got a defective one. In my case DJI replaced my gimbal/camera assembly, and it has worked great ever since.. I didn't have to resort to gorilla warfare tactics.

 

[tevek]

I'm very confident that it has nothing to do with me. I only took a video of the front of the drone while I was calibrating the IMU to show DJI the noise that the the gimbal was making. I'll call and chat to a supervisor today. There were no issues with the landing gear (that I knew of) so I didn't bother to take photos or video of it.

I'd be absolutely firm, but polite in dealing with the supervisor and making it quite clear that you will escalate this with the ACCC if they do not honour their warranty. @WithThe Birds made a very valid point in that how was it possible to damage the landing gear and not leave a mark on the rest of the AC. The fact that they had to remove an unmarked cover on the landing gear to reveal a damaged wire seems pretty suss to me.
It seems that even if they do stump up for the warranty, you may not get your original drone back according to their quote, so hopefully they would test the unit prior to dispatch.

 

[Dirby]

has anybody noticed that on every estimate that people have posted to get there phantom fixed there is a two hour labor fee of 65.00 per hour?
I have seen this same fee on every one that is posted.

 

[With The Birds]

has anybody noticed that on every estimate that people have posted to get there phantom fixed there is a two hour labor fee of 65.00 per hour?
I have seen this same fee on every one that is posted.

Yep.... wouldn’t think it might take two hours to grab a refurbished AC from the storeroom. Perhaps it’s just the average across the board.

Seriously though my shell replacements (under wattanty) were 1 hour and I got my serial number back both times

 

[Joe R]

I hit a tree at about 65' and I didn't even get the same model back, but I let them slide.

 

[brendon_c]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your help.

Success! After some back and forth emails between DJI, I reiterated that the Phantom 4 Pro was defective when I received it, so DJI has now revised their repair quote to a total of $0.00.

It pays to stand your ground and persevere with them.

Thanks again.

Brendon

 

[tevek]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your help.

Success! After some back and forth emails between DJI, I reiterated that the Phantom 4 Pro was defective when I received it, so DJI has now revised their repair quote to a total of $0.00.

It pays to stand your ground and persevere with them.

Thanks again.

Brendon

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about! Well done and hopefully you are back in the air soon.

 

[With The Birds]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your help.

Success! After some back and forth emails between DJI, I reiterated that the Phantom 4 Pro was defective when I received it, so DJI has now revised their repair quote to a total of $0.00.

It pays to stand your ground and persevere with them.

Thanks again.

Brendon

Good news!!!! It shouldn’t be this hard but it can be with DJI.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Well given that DJI currently has your drone, ask them to check out the .dat file onboard and prove to you that you had indeed damaged it in some way. If you are confident that you have a solid case for a warranty repair (did you take photos of the quad before you sent it in?), I would certainly dispute their bill and in this country we have additional consumer rights as you have noted. I would be ringing them back and demanding to speak to a supervisor rather than some tech dude who will be of little use.

DJI no longer uses the .DAT files, and completely refuses to even look at them. They are eliminating them completely in new aircraft by deliberately not installing an internal microSD card. Instead, they prefer to speculate on what might have happened, because it is suppose to happen, despite all physical evidence to the contrary, in order to deny warranty coverage, and encourage purchase of DJI Care!

 

[tevek]

DJI no longer uses the .DAT files, and completely refuses to even look at them. They are eliminating them completely in new aircraft by deliberately not installing an internal microSD card. Instead, they prefer to speculate on what might have happened, because it is suppose to happen, despite all physical evidence to the contrary, in order to deny warranty coverage, and encourage purchase of DJI Care!

Well that's disappointing given the amount of interrogation some of the folk on here give the onboard data. Given the OP's outcome, I would be thinking that DJI used some sort of qualified rationale to make a determination and that someone's ability to prosecute an argument would not be a 'tool' to validate a claim. God help those who are not of that ilk, don't have an after Care policy or are simply bluffed into thinking that they are at fault. Interesting turn of the events which would be a challenge over here given the rights of consumers in the event of a warranty challenge when there are no obvious signs of abuse or damage despite whether the product is within the warranty period or not (within reason).

 

[GadgetGuy]

Well that's disappointing given the amount of interrogation some of the folk on here give the onboard data. Given the OP's outcome, I would be thinking that DJI used some sort of qualified rationale to make a determination and that someone's ability to prosecute an argument would not be a 'tool' to validate a claim. God help those who are not of that ilk, don't have an after Care policy or are simply bluffed into thinking that they are at fault. Interesting turn of the events which would be a challenge over here given the rights of consumers in the event of a warranty challenge when there are no obvious signs of abuse or damage despite whether the product is within the warranty period or not (within reason).

Indeed! They intend to rely solely upon the synced log files and the .TXT files from the iPad or Android device, and any recorded video. Unfortunately, neither of those will tell you what happened after the RC loses connection, if the video file is corrupted by the crash. Only the onboard .DAT file can do that, but it is apparently too much trouble for DJI to open the shell to read the data from the internal microSD card, when the USB port was damaged, too. So now they have stopped installing the internal microSD cards completely. Go figure!

 

[John Locke]

So now they have stopped installing the internal microSD cards completely. Go figure!

I surmise this is a Brendan Shulman move to have deniability if the craft fails and causes major damage to someone or something. If there is no proof of craft failure, it's the pilots liability. Minimizing liability exposure for DJI is Brendan's job. This also makes the craft cheaper to manufacture, as a side benefit.

Brendan

 

[GMack]

I surmise this is a Brendan Shulman move to have deniability if the craft fails and causes major damage to someone or something. If there is no proof of craft failure, it's the pilots liability. Minimizing liability exposure for DJI is Brendan's job. This also makes the craft cheaper to manufacture, as a side benefit.

Brendan
View attachment 92390

Maybe also why you cannot get any info from DJI as to why it crashed either: "Closed mouths equal ineffectual lawsuits."

 

[Dirby]

I never did find out what made my p4p crash.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I never did find out what made my p4p crash.

Who paid the cost of repair?