Warranty Work

[tcope]

So I sent my my V+ to DJI a few weeks ago for warranty work. It appears the ESC on one motor is failing. When I called and explained this the person said he would put down that the motor failed. I found this a little odd but figured the repair people would determine what was wrong. I sent in the information along with a link to the video I posted on 7/31/2015 showing the issue.

Now, I bought the V+ on 1/23/2015. The ESC has a 12 month warranty. I called DJI and reported the claim on 1/22/2015. So I think you see where this is going.

Today I get the "bill". It's to replace a motor and "WM301 BLDC V2 PCBA". I looked it up and that is an ESC. Total bill is for $86. Very reasonable. $65 of this is labor. They state that it's out of warranty.

I just sent a reply that I made the claim within the warranty period and explained that this was all that was required. I won't get into it much further here but this is correct and also think about this... if someone offered a 365 day warranty they would never need to honor that entire time. If you had a failure on day 365 how would someone ever get it into DJI on that same day? This would make the promise of the 365 day warranty impossible. So again, it's when the _claim_ is made and I can also show that the failure occurred within that time frame.

I don't recall but if they don't, DJI should ask the caller for the purchase date when a claim is reported. I don't know of any warrantied item that is longer then 12 months so they should raise this issue initially. But that I not my real issue.

I also don't feel that the motor needs to be replaced. If anything I can see the argument that it's not wise to replace one without the other.. and truth is, I'd be more than happy to pay that part and labor charge.. but I think that they might be adding that in because of the initial report they wrote down and perhaps because it make it look more like it's out of warranty (motors are warrantied for 3 months).

I thought I'd start this thread for informational purposes and I'll update it as information comes in.

 

[dirtybum]

Just to add to your dji experience, I sent my phantom three in to DJI with an RMA, after evaluation they sent back a bill saying my phantom three was not warranted because it wasn't on the current firmware at the time of the crash. I argued with them that yes it was and that the latest firmware out at the time of our conversation was not out yet at the time of my crash. To which they got back to me two days later and said you're right it's coming back to you free of charge. So moral of that story and yours ,sometimes they are either ignorant or just try to get one over on you and if you don't argue with them and stand up for what's yours, then you will get taken advantage of. Good luck friends

 

[tcope]

A small update...

DJI did not appear to be responding to my reply and the "ticket" was "closed". So I sent a new email, directing them to the prior ticket. I received a reply a few hours later as follows:

"Unfortunately you sent the drone in 8 months after the initial trouble was reported. You should have sent it in for diagnostic/repair in July of last year. I do apologize but the warranty will not be valid in this claim. Please let us know how you would like to proceed."

To me it's clear that the person responding does not have a clue as they are really saying they won't honor the warranty as I did not send them the P2 when this happened, 8 months ago. This does not really address the real issue... the claim was _made_ within the warranty period as required and I also have documentation to show that the failure occurred within that time as well. I think part of the problem at this time is that the person DJI has addressing this issue does not really understand the legal aspect of this situation.

How I would like to proceed? I'll be replying with a copy of a small claims Complaint for a court where I live to see if they want to change their minds before it's served. I'm hoping this will bonce it to someone has a better ability to understand.

 

[tcope]

According to DJI's last email, I should have sent the P2 into them when the failure occurred in order to secure service under the warranty. As I mentioned above, I don't see that the person DJI hired has a good grasp of warranty issues.

15 U.S. Code § 2304 - Federal minimum standards for warranties
...
"(b) Duties and conditions imposed on consumer by warrantor
(1) In fulfilling the duties under subsection (a) respecting a written warranty, the warrantor shall not impose any duty other than notification upon any consumer as a condition of securing remedy of any consumer product which malfunctions, is defective, or does not conform to the written warranty, unless the warrantor has demonstrated in a rulemaking proceeding, or can demonstrate in an administrative or judicial enforcement proceeding (including private enforcement), or in an informal dispute settlement proceeding, that such a duty is reasonable.

 

[dirtybum]

Good luck, even if it's not their 'newest machine"& their new biggest seller, you did pay alot of $ and are entitled to a warranty

 

[tcope]

Just an update... as usual there has been no response even though I replied to their email (as they asked me to do) and then sent another email to them. The deadline was approaching so I thought I'd do what I had to do before... open up another ticket in order to point out that they were not responding to my emails.

Within a few hours I received a response from Mr. Chen, DJI's corporate attorney. He requested documents to show when the claim was filed and a copy of my purchase receipt. I'm sure DJI has all of this but he would be in a different department. I sent him my initial email sent to DJI on 1/14/2016 as well as my purchase receipt dated 1/27/2015.

I'm guessing as long as he agrees, this matter should be solved very quickly. However, we will see.

Can't wait to send in my P3P when it crashed due to the bad "cold" firmware. I need to get off my butt and do that asap. It would have never worked like this but I would have loved to have DJI make me a deal on both the P2 and P3 and just give me a discount off a P4.

 

[tcope]

Response from DJI was that they would not honor the warranty. The short end of their email is that by waiting 2 months to mail in the Phantom it effectively extended the warranty period. In many cases I think they would be correct. However, I uploaded a video showing the issue in 7/2015. I also notified them of the _exact_ issue on 1/14/2016 (prior to the warranty expiring). So I have very good support that the failure occurred well before the warranty expired.

I game Mr. Chen the link to the Youtube video as perhaps he does not know it exists. I also thanked him for his time and explained I'd file suit on 4/8.

Just to be clear... DJI would then need to hire a local attorney to show up in court and plead their case. I suspect if they don't change their minds before I file that once they are served that they will offer to repair the drone at that time. However, I'd not settle for less then the repairs and my additional expenses (court costs and service fees). All of this over what would cost DJI about $20. IMHO the smart thing for them to have done was to make their point initially and then if I provided the facts that I did, just honor the warranty and show good customer service. It would cost them about $20. Instead they earn this post.

 

[tcope]

Update: DJI emailed me back and explained that they discussed this matter and would go ahead and repair the Phantom. I would like to be clear about a couple of things... DJI is not admitting that the warranty is covering the repairs, only that they will repair the Phantom at their expense. They also asked that I not discuss this matter with anyone. I have declined that stipulation as I feel that it's more fair to DJI and DJI customers to understand how this matter was handled. So I'm waiting to see if they will still repair without me agreeing to "remain silent" on the matter.

 

[yorlik]

Excellent and very thurough logical approach. Thank you very much for sharing!

 

[tcope]

Must say, I'm a little shocked. I explained to Mr. Chen that I would be happy to agree to the first 3 stipulations (that the Phantom is not being repaired under warranty and that I acknowledge that this takes care of the damages) but could not agree not to discuss this issue publically. He emailed back that he understood and explained that they did not want other people in the situation to know that they were going to repair the Phantom as those customers would become upset that their Phantoms were not repaired. While Mr. Chen made it sound like this was better for customers, it's clearly not. DJI could still deny those request for repairs anyway. I _really_ thought they would understand my point and agree to repair the Phantom. Nope. Mr. Chen emailed me back and... well, in his own words:

"Thank you for your time and understanding. I regret that item 4 did not earn your consent. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this issue in further details.

Thank you again, and I hope you have a good evening."

Keep in mind, DJI has confirmed that the damages occurred within the warranty period and that I notified them within the warranty period. The reason they won't repair the Phantom is that they received it after the warranty was up and they are putting all of their chips on the following wording, "DJI agrees to repair or replace a product during the warranty period...". Agrees to repair or replace because of what? Damage or failure of the drone... so _that_ is the trigger. To further my point, if it's as DJI claims then the warranty period offered by DJI could never be honored by them as if the Phantom failed close to the end of the warranty (1 day, 2 days, 3 days, etc.) than the person could never get it to DJI before the warranty expired. They will _have_ to acknowledge that they would accept the Phantom after the warranty period and still repair it under warranty. The warranty is written by DJI and as such, anything it does not specifically address goes in favor of the consumer.

All of this over an $86 repair that would probably cost DJI $30 out of their pocket (prior to the lawsuit). I also pointed out to Mr. Chen that if DJI let this case go to court and the judge ruled in my favor that there would then be case law to support repairs being made after the warranty was up (as long as it could be shown that it failed within the warranty period). If they avoided this ruling then they could always claim the Phantom had to be received prior to the warranty expiring.

Normally this is the point where I'd guess that once I file and serve DJI that they would offer to settle (the amount of course would be much higher at that time) but now I'm not so sure DJI understands the big picture. I think most of us already know that they don't understand how important good service is to business. A part of me is almost looking forward to filing the lawsuit and seeing what happens. I could care less about the $86, its really about holding a company accountable for their actions.

 

[tcope]

Final email from DJI was, sorry to hear that. So it appears they won't repair unless I agree not to tell anyone about what I'm going through to get warranty service.

So I filed suit yesterday and will be serving DJI via Certified Mail. Claimed damages are around $1500 ($400 for the drone as if DJI won't repair, I don't know of any sure way to get it repaired), $500 attorney's fees (I'm surrounded by attorneys) and filing fees. If I were to guess, once they are served they will contact me to work out a deal. It will be much more then just $86 at that point. _If_ that does happen, they would require a release that would obligate me not to discuss the settlement. I would sign that. So if that happens I could only post that it was settled, not the amount. But with DJI, who knows... they may even just take a default and have me try to collect. As mentioned above, I'll keep this thread updated.