My first drone repair experience

Joined
May 15, 2020
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Age
80
Location
Elk Grove, California
Recently I was gifted a DJI Phantom 3 4K. The good news was it had only been flown once. The bad news was it hit a wall on the first flight. My friend was very discouraged and even though he bought new props (He broke one and scuffed another) he never attempted to fly it again. It sat in a box for 2 or 3 years and once he heard I was flying drones (I’m a Newbie) he sent it to me in a box. He said he didn’t want to see it again. I looked it over, installed the new props and flew it a couple of flights. I did discover a few minor Squawks the worst of which was the remote Controller would not charge beyond 34% and the Drone would lose contact with the RC at about 200 away.

  • I decided to send it in for service. Because I’m in California and because another Forum member had good luck with DJI in Cerritos, CA, I sent it in for repair. Here is the story of how the whole experience went.
  • I called the number I had for DJI and the phone was finally answered after a 20 minute hold. A person in a land far, far away said I would be contacted about repairs and I left my phone number.
  • The next day I got a call from Shenzhen, China. After a brief conversation I was told to go to a Web page, fill out a form and print a UPS Prepaid label to Cerritos, which I did.
  • On the 21st of May, I took the prepaid shipment to the local UPS Store.
  • On May 26th at 11:00 in the morning (After the Memorial Day weekend) the package was delivered to DJI. At 4:00 in the morning on May 28th, it was officially logged in at DJI.
  • On the same afternoon, May 28th, the damage was assessed. The same day I was notified of the damage and was told it would cost $350.00 to repair, including all taxes and no charge for shipping in either direction.
  • I paid the Bill at 10:20 pm that same evening, May 28th.
  • On May 29th & June 1st I watched the “Progress” of the repair online as the site went from Repaired to Conducting Flight Test and finally waiting for Quality Assurance. See my attached photo.
  • I’m writing this on Tuesday June 2nd. I have my UPS Tracking Number and all of the Serial Numbers of the components that are being sent to me. If the guys in the Dirty Brown Truck do their job, I will have my Drone on Thursday, June 4th. According to the Serial Numbers, It is NOT the same Drone I sent in so I’m sure it is a Refurbished unit. The Serial Numbers are of January 2020 manufacture date.
I regard this as good service and a fair price. Considering the Holiday, this whole process was less than two weeks including shipping. I’ll let you know how it flies later in the week.
 

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I've always had great luck with DJI to. Not to long ago they replaced my phantom 4 pro smart controller, after it locked up on me , for only $1 They said the could not do it free because of a small crack on the back off it, but $1 seemed more then fare to me?
 
Great story. Let us know how it turns out. Like Capt KO said: not a bad price. Sounds like DJI has a great customer support. 2 weeks and lots of good communication. That's better than I have experienced with other Chinese companies.
 
Great story. Let us know how it turns out. Like Capt KO said: not a bad price. Sounds like DJI has a great customer support. 2 weeks and lots of good communication. That's better than I have experienced with other Chinese companies.
It's kind of ironic and sad but at the same time that I was dealing with DJI I was dealing with Dell Computer. I ordered a new PC a month ago and when it got down to the expected delivery date -4days, I got an email which said there was another month and a half delay. They gave me a phone number to call, which I did. I talked to 5 Reps and began each conversation with this, "I am hearing impaired and would like to speak with an On Shore Representative". Until the 4th Rep, none of them even responded. The 4th guy said all of Dell's Customer Service is in India, none left in the US. I was trying to find out why it would take a company the size of Dell, 2 1/2 months to build a PC. The 5th Rep said the factory was short of a part. I asked, "What part?" She didn't know. I asked, "Where is the factory?" She said Mexico. A large American company, who's sales and support are in India with the factory in Mexico and you can't find out what the Hell is going on with your order! BUT, a Chinese company gets it right! It is sad and embarrassing. Sorry for the rant, but the comparison just astounded me.
 
Recently I was gifted a DJI Phantom 3 4K. The good news was it had only been flown once. The bad news was it hit a wall on the first flight. My friend was very discouraged and even though he bought new props (He broke one and scuffed another) he never attempted to fly it again. It sat in a box for 2 or 3 years and once he heard I was flying drones (I’m a Newbie) he sent it to me in a box. He said he didn’t want to see it again. I looked it over, installed the new props and flew it a couple of flights. I did discover a few minor Squawks the worst of which was the remote Controller would not charge beyond 34% and the Drone would lose contact with the RC at about 200 away.

  • I decided to send it in for service. Because I’m in California and because another Forum member had good luck with DJI in Cerritos, CA, I sent it in for repair. Here is the story of how the whole experience went.
  • I called the number I had for DJI and the phone was finally answered after a 20 minute hold. A person in a land far, far away said I would be contacted about repairs and I left my phone number.
  • The next day I got a call from Shenzhen, China. After a brief conversation I was told to go to a Web page, fill out a form and print a UPS Prepaid label to Cerritos, which I did.
  • On the 21st of May, I took the prepaid shipment to the local UPS Store.
  • On May 26th at 11:00 in the morning (After the Memorial Day weekend) the package was delivered to DJI. At 4:00 in the morning on May 28th, it was officially logged in at DJI.
  • On the same afternoon, May 28th, the damage was assessed. The same day I was notified of the damage and was told it would cost $350.00 to repair, including all taxes and no charge for shipping in either direction.
  • I paid the Bill at 10:20 pm that same evening, May 28th.
  • On May 29th & June 1st I watched the “Progress” of the repair online as the site went from Repaired to Conducting Flight Test and finally waiting for Quality Assurance. See my attached photo.
  • I’m writing this on Tuesday June 2nd. I have my UPS Tracking Number and all of the Serial Numbers of the components that are being sent to me. If the guys in the Dirty Brown Truck do their job, I will have my Drone on Thursday, June 4th. According to the Serial Numbers, It is NOT the same Drone I sent in so I’m sure it is a Refurbished unit. The Serial Numbers are of January 2020 manufacture date.
I regard this as good service and a fair price. Considering the Holiday, this whole process was less than two weeks including shipping. I’ll let you know how it flies later in the week.
Despite their spotty reputation I have had nothing but good luck with DJI. The few contacts I have had with the company have been fair and reasonable. Glad you also had a good experience with them even during this COVID mess. I guess ever experience is different.
 
It's kind of ironic and sad but at the same time that I was dealing with DJI I was dealing with Dell Computer. I ordered a new PC a month ago and when it got down to the expected delivery date -4days, I got an email which said there was another month and a half delay. They gave me a phone number to call, which I did. I talked to 5 Reps and began each conversation with this, "I am hearing impaired and would like to speak with an On Shore Representative". Until the 4th Rep, none of them even responded. The 4th guy said all of Dell's Customer Service is in India, none left in the US. I was trying to find out why it would take a company the size of Dell, 2 1/2 months to build a PC. The 5th Rep said the factory was short of a part. I asked, "What part?" She didn't know. I asked, "Where is the factory?" She said Mexico. A large American company, who's sales and support are in India with the factory in Mexico and you can't find out what the Hell is going on with your order! BUT, a Chinese company gets it right! It is sad and embarrassing. Sorry for the rant, but the comparison just astounded me.
People still buy Dell computers based on the excellent reputation the company USED to enjoy many years ago. Today, Dell computers are mostly junk. Customer Service is a joke. It's sad to see how a really great company was destroyed when "The Suits" moved in and took over.
 

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