Sent in for lost signal, returned back with new problems

[Nobler]

I had to send off my month old p3s to be repaired for lost signal problems a couple weeks ago. They returned it back to me after replacing the remote and an esc control board. Repair cost was on them.

Right out of the box from "repair", the new transmitter is missing the device holder... They replaced the shell (idk why but that's fine) and the seams on 2 sides are not lined up properly... The left front motor has a screw that's cross-threaded and not screwed down all the way on the mount... Last thing, the right front motor looks to be sitting crooked on its mount.

Kinda upsetting

I noticed the shell pieces weren't fitting correctly as soon as I picked it up out of the box.

The prop tips are pointing directly at each other. I can understand a hair or two difference in height between the tips but this looks a little excessive to me. I don't think the motor is properly mounted.

Anyways, this is my experience so far. I'm staying calm right now. Still waiting to hear back from DJI..

Inspect your machines thoroughly when you get it back from repair folks, it just might come back with more issues than it went out with.

 

[Gary M]

Thats comforting (Not....) I just sent mine in to them for the same issue. Does it at least connect better now?

 

[Nobler]

I have no device holder, one of the motor screws is cross-threaded, another motor is sitting crooked on the mount, and the two pieces of the body shell aren't put together correctly.... That said, why would I test transmitter connection with a broken-*** quadcopter that's not safe to fly??

Did you read any of the first post?

Thats comforting (Not....) I just sent mine in to them for the same issue. Does it at least connect better now?

 

[Gary M]

Wowwwww dude. I just asked a simple freikin question. You seem to try to make me look stupid for asking, but any newbie drone pilot knows that you could check to see if your signal issue was fixed just by turning it on and seeing if it hooks up properly without actually flying it.

 

[Phantom fool]

Yeah, maybe they sent you someone else's broken drone.



Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[DroneDestination]

To be fair, at least for the device holder, DJI clearly says they are not responsible for any additional accessories sent with the drone. However, I think you should contact them for a re-repair for the shell, screw, and motor issues.

 

[Nobler]

Wowwwww dude is right.....

This thread is not about signal problems between the tx and p3. This is about crap repair service.

Fyi, my connection problem was happening 10'-400' altitude and 300'+ away from my location and video was always perfect. So I can't REALLY test it just yet... I had no connection problems at 2' away before I sent it in. I'm sure it "hooks up" as you say but that's not what the rma was over. And it was definetly not an rma for missing device holder, shell pieces out of alignment, motor sitting crooked and a cross-threaded motor screw like it's about to be.

With the new problems I will not be inserting the battery in this thing because I don't want DJI saying it was something I did during a flight. This newbie is only covering his ***. A newbie would get it back, pop a battery in, spin some props on and go flying.... I'm the newbie right?

I posted this in hopes people would notice and think about inspecting more than just what their machines went into repair for in the first place. As you should do the second you get yours back from repair. You can thank me later for any screw ups you find on yours when it gets back to ya. Have a nice evening, dude.

 

[Nobler]

To be a little more fair, this was purchased Fed 24th and messed up on March 27th out of the blue.. Nothing I did on my end caused it to mess up. I was told to send in my tx and p3. They send it back with an invoice showing they replaced $300 worth of components including a new tx. You'd think the guy working on it would have noticed the device holder hanging off my original tx, but evidently he didn't. No big deal.. A billion dollar plus company can afford a $.03 piece of plastic that should already be attatched to the thing from the factory in the first place.

Am I crazy in assuming this?


P.s. I'm well aware of their return policies, that's why I only sent in the p3 and the tx. I returned it with the gimbal gaurd as well so my camera wasn't dancing around to and fro, why did I get that back and not the device holder? Not trying to be rude, just saying..

 

[RodPad]

Yeah, that sucks, the device holder, I don't send in, but most people would never take it off the remote. I can never get the remote back in the box with the device holder anyway. I have sent my P3S in twice, two different issues. Came back fixed both times.
The cross threaded motor, oh my god. As somebody else asked, same unit. Did you check serials / Mac address's?
Note there was a post on the motors being crooked, which was confirmed that all four do have a small angel, equal of coarse.

Both of you guys are very frustrated about sending your units in for repair.
I have sent them stuff three times, the last one was my fault, except I still not sure about the battery. Had to pay about $300.00 for that repair.
I agree, I wouldn't have started it up yet ether.
Anyways, enough stress. Good luck, update what happens, none of us wants to send a unit that is defective.

Was this sent to California?

 

[Nobler]

Yeah, that sucks, the device holder, I don't send in, but most people would never take it off the remote. I can never get the remote back in the box with the device holder anyway. I have sent my P3S in twice, two different issues. Came back fixed both times.
The cross threaded motor, oh my god. As somebody else asked, same unit. Did you check serials / Mac address's?
Note there was a post on the motors being crooked, which was confirmed that all four do have a small angel, equal of coarse.

Both of you guys are very frustrated about sending your units in for repair.
I have sent them stuff three times, the last one was my fault, except I still not sure about the battery. Had to pay about $300.00 for that repair.
I agree, I wouldn't have started it up yet ether.
Anyways, enough stress. Good luck, update what happens, none of us wants to send a unit that is defective.

Was this sent to California?

I cannot confirm that it's the same unit I sent in other than the purple arm stickers and the s/n on the box matches the rma complaint form I sent in with it. My info and registration number was written on the bottom of the one I sent in but like I said, this came back with a new shell. So until I connect it to the go app I guess I won't be able to tell 100% if it's the same internals.

As far as the motors go, a cross-threaded motor screw is totally unacceptable even though it would probably be ok. I'm an auto/diesel technician by trade so cross-threading anything is a big no-no.

The tilt of the motors makes perfect sense to me and I know exactly what you are talking about, I can see it in the rear motors when I point the prop tips at each other. There's a slight upward angle at the tips in the inside, the outside drops down a little. Mine is not correct on the front motors. Either one is angled too much or one is sitting too level at the mount.

Yes, it was repaired at their California facility. And yes guys, I'm very frustrated about this.

 

[dg8882]

Hey Nobler, looks like we got the same **** technician repairing our crafts.
3 weeks ago I suffered an ESC failure mid flight and rescued my phantom from a neighbors tree. Sent in my phantom to have a bent motor axle fixed and a new board for ESC fail. I got it back this weekend and the motor was fixed but main board was not so ESC was sill broken and my bird is still completely flightless.
So it has been made clear that they don't bother to actually do test flights over there in the Cali repair center.
If you are going to send it back, i wish you luck on round 2 of repairs. I just dropped off mine to day to go back after complaining greatly to DJI directly and on twitter. Hopefully they got the message on what I am expecting from them.

 

[RodPad]

What is funny, you should have seen how stressed I was just replacing the gaskets on the injector pump for this which I have owned since 1997.

I believe I am mechanical and electrical knowledge, but I hate working on stuff.

I cannot confirm that it's the same unit I sent in other than the purple arm stickers and the s/n on the box matches the rma complaint form I sent in with it. My info and registration number was written on the bottom of the one I sent in but like I said, this came back with a new shell. So until I connect it to the go app I guess I won't be able to tell 100% if it's the same internals.

As far as the motors go, a cross-threaded motor screw is totally unacceptable even though it would probably be ok. I'm an auto/diesel technician by trade so cross-threading anything is a big no-no.

The tilt of the motors makes perfect sense to me and I know exactly what you are talking about, I can see it in the rear motors when I point the prop tips at each other. There's a slight upward angle at the tips in the inside, the outside drops down a little. Mine is not correct on the front motors. Either one is angled too much or one is sitting too level at the mount.

Yes, it was repaired at their California facility. And yes guys, I'm very frustrated about this.

 

[Nobler]

What is funny, you should have seen how stressed I was just replacing the gaskets on the injector pump for this which I have owned since 1997.
View attachment 50409
I believe I am mechanical and electrical knowledge, but I hate working on stuff.

Lol, I know what you mean. Working on your own stuff isn't fun.

 

[Nobler]

Hey Nobler, looks like we got the same **** technician repairing our crafts.
3 weeks ago I suffered an ESC failure mid flight and rescued my phantom from a neighbors tree. Sent in my phantom to have a bent motor axle fixed and a new board for ESC fail. I got it back this weekend and the motor was fixed but main board was not so ESC was sill broken and my bird is still completely flightless.
So it has been made clear that they don't bother to actually do test flights over there in the Cali repair center.
If you are going to send it back, i wish you luck on round 2 of repairs. I just dropped off mine to day to go back after complaining greatly to DJI directly and on twitter. Hopefully they got the message on what I am expecting from them.

Yeah, now that I've calmed down and relaxed a little I'm good. Just thankful I noticed the things wrong on the P3 itself and didn't attempt to fly it.

I spoke to the same supervisor I had talked to the first time I had to send it in and he actually remembered me. So I told him what was up, he requested the pics and told me he would get back to me soon.

Hopefully everything goes smooth with both of ours.

 

[Garry C]

I wonder if it's worth the hassle to write down the serial numbers or put out a mark on the inside. It's not uncommon OR bad business for places to just send out another unit. And refurbish yours later. Lots of camera companies will offer this as a faster solution. Whenever there's a human factor in stuff it will get botched.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[RodPad]

I took pictures of the mac address of the remote and bird.
When I sent my unit in August 2015 for Losing Remote Control Signal, which showed up after a firmware update, they sent back a different remote and bird. When I sent in my unit that ran out of battery on RTH and it dropped 225'. They repaired it and the remote and the bird still had the same mac address. What ever it is worth. I like to know.

 

[Nobler]

*update*

I had to call customer support twice yesterday, the first time I called I was number 40 in the queue. Waited 50min, got down to number 2 and the call was released.. So I called right back, and started my wait at number 42 in queue....... Another hour of waiting and I get through to a csr. She tried to help but wasn't much help at all. I was just trying to get the escalated rma rolling so I could ship it out yesterday. I'm guessing she put some notes on my rma but I had more success through emails.

After a few email exchanges they sent my shipping label and an escalated rma number. I had also posted this experience on the DJI phantom 3 forum site yesterday and a company rep commented later last night requesting pics and the rma#. On DJI's forum site it wouldn't let me upload pics from my phone so I told the rep that I had emailed them to DJI customer support earlier Tuesday. I'm sure he has access to them... Anyways, he asked which facility it was going to and that his colleagues would be getting in touch with me soon.

I'll keep this updated as this journey continues. I just hope I get it back and in safe to fly condition so I can test to see if my signal issue was ever fixed. Fingers crossed, everything will be good and hopefully I'll have nothing but good things to say. Stay tuned!!