P4P CRASH: tips for dealing with DJI Care Refresh...

[zander lane]

...flight #401 was when I left situational awareness behind and concentrated on getting a nice orbit shot around my buddy's paddling crew instead of paying closer attention to my surroundings - unfortunately I forgot there was an island with trees and I didn't realize how close I was and was focusing on the device screen more than looking at the craft and orbited sideways into a branch 60' above the rock jetty - broken: two legs, three props, top and bottom hull and an arm - cam/gimbal seems to have miraculously remained untouched and still functions - motors still fire up - QUESTION: I have the DJI care refresh service and was wondering if anyone who's been through this grinder had any helpful hints for navigating the repair process? - thanks!!!

 

[zander lane]

...and follow up question: do I now un-register this craft with the FAA and re-register the replacement craft?

 

[Yarome]

...and follow up question: do I now un-register this craft with the FAA and re-register the replacement craft?

Dunno about your first question, but this one.. no. YOU are registered.. not your craft. You can put your current FAA# on the replacement (or the same number on any number of drones you might own) and you're good to go.

On edit: Dang.. that's gotta sting.

 

[WayneMHK]

Dunno about your first question, but this one.. no. YOU are registered.. not your craft. You can put your current FAA# on the replacement (or the same number on any number of drones you might own) and you're good to go.

On edit: Dang.. that's gotta sting.

Unless.....you're a commercial pilot?

 

[zander lane]

...yes; part 107 certified...

 

[Yarome]

Unless.....you're a commercial pilot?

Oh.. then yes. Since you were required to provide make model and serial it would need to be removed from your registration account and the new one added. Sorry... I guess I generally assume (a$$ U & me... I know) most folks are not. 107's generally specify when asking. My bad!

 

[zander lane]

...thanks yarome - that's what I was thinking - and sorry, will post my certification status next time!

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

Be prepared to deal with the biggest group of unprofessional bozo's on the planet when you send your Phantom in to DJI repair!! I am living the nightmare right now and I have to tell you they are the worst!!
Good luck!!

 

[macoman]

Be prepared to deal with the biggest group of unprofessional bozo's on the planet when you send your Phantom in to DJI repair!! I am living the nightmare right now and I have to tell you they are the worst!!
Good luck!!

I thought that their customer service improved recently... I guess I was wrong.

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

My P4P was five weeks old when the internal GPS crapped out. Below is a screen shot of the case. Endless unanswered emails, chats with fools don't don't have a clue, one threaten me to "send us the money or we will send keep the drone" ( I really loved that one), it was warranty plus I have refresh... So yea they suck...

 

[sshephard]

I think Drone Nerds in Florida is an authorized DJI repair center. I sent my P4P in to them in early February and, aside from the fact that they had no P4P parts (nobody did) at the time, once the "slow boat from China" arrived to the US with the parts, their service was excellent. My drone didn't have the DJI Care Refresh and my crash wasn't pilot error and not likely covered under warranty. Thus, I sent mine there rather than deal with what others seemed to be dealing with when sending directly to DJI. But because this wasn't the Refresh or warranty process, I can't say if they handle that for DJI or not. But it may be worth a call.

 

[zander lane]

...was totally aware they are not winning any customer service awards, but was looking for any tips to get through the process with as little collateral damage as possible - like: should I go to the service center in person? is that even possible? do I return the battery that came with the unit or the battery that was used during the crash?

...not looking forward to this process...

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

Well if you are close to Carson, CA that is where the repair center is. As for what to send in all I had to do was send in the P4P, no battery, controller and other parts.

 

[zander lane]

...ok, final resolution: I got a brand new p4p from the DJI care refresh program and it didn't cost me anything and didn't count against the (2) replacement limit for the year!

...THE BAD: around 72 interactions over (2)+ months by email, chat and phone; they constantly treated it as a repair not an insurance claim and at one point after like six weeks threatened to send it back untouched if I didn't pay several hundred dollars for a repair bill!

...THE GOOD: after finally achieving the holy grail...getting a Supervisor on the phone (...cue the angelic choir music and the clouds parting for the golden sun rays!), he was able to figure out the convoluted mess of one hand having no clue what the other hand was doing and to compensate for the nightmare provided me with a new p4p (...looked very new and I have recently flown a half dozen batts over the last week with no problems so far!) without affecting my care refresh policy at all or charging me a dime, so I can still crash it two more times in the next six months!

...OVERALL: not a horrible customer experience.

...well, I mean, yes, it was absolutely horrible for any normal US-based company's customer service, but this is, ya know, DJI...so, horrible? yes, but it's always a little less horrible when they give you free stuff at the end to make up for the previous horrible! - heh-heh!

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

I had the same threat with a so called manager on the on-line chat... told me I needed to pay. A day later I was getting the message repair at no charge. DJI is the biggest POS when it come to customer service!