I will chime in here about my own DJI warranty replacement. I also bought my original P3P from a local dealer. After the crash, which I knew I could document as a warranty failure, I immediately bought a replacement P3P from the local dealer, with the understanding that if DJI replaced my original unit, they would refund my purchase price on the second, because I knew the process of replacement or repair would take some 6+ weeks, and I wanted to get right back to flying! Unlike the OP, I did get very lucky and find the crashed aircraft, but the camera and gimbal were nowhere to be found and are still missing to this day, ripped off on impact on a tile roof, according to the map. I was able to recover the .DAT file from the aircraft and a graphic rendering of it from mapsmadeeasy.com, as well as the recorded 4K video from the micro SD card, and the Log file on the tablet. Armed with those four items, I called DJI support in Los Angeles and opened an RMA ticket. The rep insisted I had to send in the aircraft before anything could be done, and then in 6 weeks they would make a determination, after examining the aircraft. I refused to send it in until agreement could first be reached on the
cause of the crash, because I had all the electronic data that would establish the cause available to send attached to an email immediately. No need to send in the aircraft except for corroberation and wait 6 weeks for someone to "look" at it. Eventually, a support manager took over the case, and agreed with me. He requested all the files, I emailed them to him, and two days later, he agreed to an expedited RMA warranty repair with a 3-5 business day turnaround, after receipt of the unit. However, he said I would either receive a refurbished unit or a repair on mine, and not a new unit, if I sent him my crashed unit. I told him that was unacceptable, as I wouldn't accept someone else's refurbished/crashed drone, which might still have hidden defects that might cause premature failure over water, leading to no recovery! He told me that if I had bought it directly from DJI, he could replace it with a new one, but since I bought it from a dealer, only my dealer could get a new one from their dealer channel rep. Obviously, I needed a new one to replace the new stock of my dealer for my refund.
Armed with the 3-5 Business Day Expedited RMA Warranty Repair Order from DJI, I went back to my dealer, who then accepted my drone carcass and ruined battery, and submitted it to their sales rep. A week later, they received a new unit in exchange, and refunded my original purchase price on the first unit.
So, listen to
Bladestrike! He knows whereof he speaks!
The end user must open the RMA first, not the dealer! If I hadn't laid the groundwork
myself first, with DJI, and wrapped it up in a pretty bow for the dealer, I would have been SOL with someone else's refurbished crashed drone, instead of another new one in a box!
Over 9 hours, 350,000 feet, and 84 flights on the replacement P3P!
Good luck with your replacement. I hope you find the unit. It makes replacement so much easier. If I hadn't found mine, I wouldn't have had much of a leg to stand on.