I AM AT MY WITTS END WITH DJI!!

[Fla_nugz8504]

Ok so, where to start.... on 8/16/2019 I was flying a brand new spark I had just gotten from Walmart while they had them on clearance. This was the 3rd day I had owned it and the 2nd flight. I have 2 other sparks and am very familiar with them, and have even replaced a gimbal and downward sensors on one. I was flying outside of my house which I do daily. At 249 ft it made a sound that was very quick and short and then free fell. The leds on the front stayed illuminated the back did flash but very irrationally. I say this because I am very aware Of the battery issues of the earlier model batteries. I always listen and feel for the click and instinctively tug on it a few times before I take off.

It fell onto a roadway which was clear at the time I planned on going across which I was starting to do when it fell. However I was unable to get it before it was ran over. While getting what o could out of the road I slid the battery back on to the body of the drone so my hands werent so full. I took pics and wrote dji. Sent flight records then was askedto send the drone in. When I go to get the drone which was in the back seat of my car I see the battery is swollen and looked to be oily, I pulled on the tabs but the battery had pressed against the body of the drone and when I pulled on it I heard what I guess you’d call a light “hissing” sound at that point I worried about what might be coming out and when I looked into it I learned that these are pretty volitile once comprised. So I wrote dji back and asked what I should do. This is where the frustration began. When I wrote about the battery. It was a whole new tech who had no idea about any deatails of my case. He told me that I should pack the drone and battery and ship it and not mention the battery or it’s condition. I questioned the tech and if they would be a good idea. He said again that if they won’t accept it and ship it in that condition then I should see if it could sneak by them. At that point I said I wasn’t comfortable doing that. Then I was passed off to another tech. who again. Had no details and again asked me these same generic questions I had been asked and answered 2x before. And that then continued for 2 months. I was told it was being escalated then they’d ask what the details of my case were. Very basic details. My name. Address. Dji account sn of the drone. Very. Basic. Info. And this is 2+ months in. Overall at that point I was on the 5-6th tech. Each as clueless as the last. Then just recently I was told that I needed to provide the flight records before my case could move forward. I did that in the first week. I should also add that after reviewing the data dji said it was not pilot error and aren’t sure what happened, and needed to look further into it. And that’s as far as I ever got. After that I was just passed around. Told to wait 2-3 days as an escalation specialist would be contacting me.

I am very disappointed with my treatment. I have been very supportive of dji as a company. It doesn’t matter if I bought only one spark from them. They should still stand by they’re product and have customer support. Sadly. I have given them far more of my money than just that spark. When I first contacted dji I mentioned I wasn’t really seeking any monetary reimbursement or anything like that. I wanted to know what happened. It could have hit a car. I have other sparks to fly and other drones. I wasn’t trying to bust any balls. I wasn’t being aggressive. It’s almost as if they tried to make this bad, obviously I know they didn’t, but I can’t imagine being that successful and being this unprofessional. I’ll pay the email thread if I need to. It’s months worth of emails on almost a daily basis with a few longer spans here and there. And does anyone have any words of encouragement or tips or tricks? I’m all ears.

 

[Luno]

I’m gonna assume your in America. In Australia our consumer laws are pretty clear, you don’t go straight to the manufacturer. The responsibility of replacing or finding out about a replacement from a defective product is on the place that you bought it. We also have something called reasonable use or expectation, which basically gives anything mechanical or electronic 1 year in which if it fails
Regardless of warranty or insurance on the product the product must be replaced or refunded.

So hopefully you guys do something similar which means your problem should be directed at the place in which your bought it and if it was faulty or defective within 1 year you should definitely be given a refund or replacement but through the place in which you bought it.

An example is I like to play Xbox. I use a more expensive controller called an elite controller, these things are notorious for breaking bumper buttons. I bought my first elite maybe 4 years ago. I am now on my 8th and I have never paid for any other then my first. Because no controller has made it past 1 year and it is a reasonable expectation of use that it should. I take it back to the store I brought it from tell them it’s broken from normal function. Occasionally they tell me something wrong like oh you have to go to Microsoft or that’s not covered. I remind them that it is under the consumer laws and have a brand new controller in my hand within minutes.

 

[RoarRoar]

I’m not a fan of their customer service at all. Next time I will get my service from a third party.

 

[SoccerRef12]

Should have taken it back to Walmart within their 30 day return policy. They are excellent at replacing or refunding defective products that they sell.

 

[RotorWash]

Ok so, where to start.... on 8/16/2019 I was flying a brand new spark I had just gotten from Walmart while they had them on clearance. This was the 3rd day I had owned it and the 2nd flight. I have 2 other sparks and am very familiar with them, and have even replaced a gimbal and downward sensors on one. I was flying outside of my house which I do daily. At 249 ft it made a sound that was very quick and short and then free fell. The leds on the front stayed illuminated the back did flash but very irrationally. I say this because I am very aware Of the battery issues of the earlier model batteries. I always listen and feel for the click and instinctively tug on it a few times before I take off.

It fell onto a roadway which was clear at the time I planned on going across which I was starting to do when it fell. However I was unable to get it before it was ran over. While getting what o could out of the road I slid the battery back on to the body of the drone so my hands werent so full. I took pics and wrote dji. Sent flight records then was askedto send the drone in. When I go to get the drone which was in the back seat of my car I see the battery is swollen and looked to be oily, I pulled on the tabs but the battery had pressed against the body of the drone and when I pulled on it I heard what I guess you’d call a light “hissing” sound at that point I worried about what might be coming out and when I looked into it I learned that these are pretty volitile once comprised. So I wrote dji back and asked what I should do. This is where the frustration began. When I wrote about the battery. It was a whole new tech who had no idea about any deatails of my case. He told me that I should pack the drone and battery and ship it and not mention the battery or it’s condition. I questioned the tech and if they would be a good idea. He said again that if they won’t accept it and ship it in that condition then I should see if it could sneak by them. At that point I said I wasn’t comfortable doing that. Then I was passed off to another tech. who again. Had no details and again asked me these same generic questions I had been asked and answered 2x before. And that then continued for 2 months. I was told it was being escalated then they’d ask what the details of my case were. Very basic details. My name. Address. Dji account sn of the drone. Very. Basic. Info. And this is 2+ months in. Overall at that point I was on the 5-6th tech. Each as clueless as the last. Then just recently I was told that I needed to provide the flight records before my case could move forward. I did that in the first week. I should also add that after reviewing the data dji said it was not pilot error and aren’t sure what happened, and needed to look further into it. And that’s as far as I ever got. After that I was just passed around. Told to wait 2-3 days as an escalation specialist would be contacting me.

I am very disappointed with my treatment. I have been very supportive of dji as a company. It doesn’t matter if I bought only one spark from them. They should still stand by they’re product and have customer support. Sadly. I have given them far more of my money than just that spark. When I first contacted dji I mentioned I wasn’t really seeking any monetary reimbursement or anything like that. I wanted to know what happened. It could have hit a car. I have other sparks to fly and other drones. I wasn’t trying to bust any balls. I wasn’t being aggressive. It’s almost as if they tried to make this bad, obviously I know they didn’t, but I can’t imagine being that successful and being this unprofessional. I’ll pay the email thread if I need to. It’s months worth of emails on almost a daily basis with a few longer spans here and there. And does anyone have any words of encouragement or tips or tricks? I’m all ears.

Sorry for your troubles. Sounds like DJI really dropped the ball on this one and you've been more than patient. Have you tried posting about this issue on the official DJI forums? Maybe their mods can try and escalate it for you. Kudos for not sending that battery in like requested.

 

[Dougcjohn]

I'd agree, it'd be a Walmart return... if it wasn't destroyed in the drop, and receipt proving Battery was just a few days old & obviously bad; a return/exchange probably wouldn't even been challenged.

On the DJI Service... sorry to hear your series of events. Their service used to be very poor and had a bad reputation. A year or so back, they revamped their USA service center (no experience outside USA) with improved processes, communication, and services. My last 5-6 service issues have been great overall, my only negative is sometimes getting case underway takes a bit. I've found them to be better "now" than other brands. I personally like the way they issue a pre-paid shipping label, and keep you informed of progress, and if customer paid, sending a statement and continues on a prompt repair with paid return shipping. On paid, I've been impressed what they've covered that I expected to customer pay... that too has been a major improvement. Example: purchasd on ebay, 2 different buys on older Z3 camera with known issues or failure points. Sent to DJI service planning to pay for rebuild... get notice cameras repaired and retuned... impressive!

Regarding shipping battery... if it hadn't ignited then I'd ship it... as a precaution, I'd place it in a lipo bag and ship the legal route by USPS and informing them there is a small lipo battery so they place a lipo sticker on box. That insures ground shipment or lipo container in cargo bay.

But again, that would have been after the Walmart Return window expired.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Ok so, where to start.... on 8/16/2019 I was flying a brand new spark I had just gotten from Walmart while they had them on clearance. This was the 3rd day I had owned it and the 2nd flight. I have 2 other sparks and am very familiar with them, and have even replaced a gimbal and downward sensors on one. I was flying outside of my house which I do daily. At 249 ft it made a sound that was very quick and short and then free fell. The leds on the front stayed illuminated the back did flash but very irrationally. I say this because I am very aware Of the battery issues of the earlier model batteries. I always listen and feel for the click and instinctively tug on it a few times before I take off.

It fell onto a roadway which was clear at the time I planned on going across which I was starting to do when it fell. However I was unable to get it before it was ran over. While getting what o could out of the road I slid the battery back on to the body of the drone so my hands werent so full. I took pics and wrote dji. Sent flight records then was askedto send the drone in. When I go to get the drone which was in the back seat of my car I see the battery is swollen and looked to be oily, I pulled on the tabs but the battery had pressed against the body of the drone and when I pulled on it I heard what I guess you’d call a light “hissing” sound at that point I worried about what might be coming out and when I looked into it I learned that these are pretty volitile once comprised. So I wrote dji back and asked what I should do. This is where the frustration began. When I wrote about the battery. It was a whole new tech who had no idea about any deatails of my case. He told me that I should pack the drone and battery and ship it and not mention the battery or it’s condition. I questioned the tech and if they would be a good idea. He said again that if they won’t accept it and ship it in that condition then I should see if it could sneak by them. At that point I said I wasn’t comfortable doing that. Then I was passed off to another tech. who again. Had no details and again asked me these same generic questions I had been asked and answered 2x before. And that then continued for 2 months. I was told it was being escalated then they’d ask what the details of my case were. Very basic details. My name. Address. Dji account sn of the drone. Very. Basic. Info. And this is 2+ months in. Overall at that point I was on the 5-6th tech. Each as clueless as the last. Then just recently I was told that I needed to provide the flight records before my case could move forward. I did that in the first week. I should also add that after reviewing the data dji said it was not pilot error and aren’t sure what happened, and needed to look further into it. And that’s as far as I ever got. After that I was just passed around. Told to wait 2-3 days as an escalation specialist would be contacting me.

I am very disappointed with my treatment. I have been very supportive of dji as a company. It doesn’t matter if I bought only one spark from them. They should still stand by they’re product and have customer support. Sadly. I have given them far more of my money than just that spark. When I first contacted dji I mentioned I wasn’t really seeking any monetary reimbursement or anything like that. I wanted to know what happened. It could have hit a car. I have other sparks to fly and other drones. I wasn’t trying to bust any balls. I wasn’t being aggressive. It’s almost as if they tried to make this bad, obviously I know they didn’t, but I can’t imagine being that successful and being this unprofessional. I’ll pay the email thread if I need to. It’s months worth of emails on almost a daily basis with a few longer spans here and there. And does anyone have any words of encouragement or tips or tricks? I’m all ears.

Did you generate a service request ticket prior to all the calls? If no ticket, they don't have any reference or notes to review.

Any DJI service starts with generating a ticket and case ID. From there, call or online chat.

That would probably help the process and communication.

 

[Fla_nugz8504]

They have drones written into theyre return policy. Attached a picture so you could see what I’d be trying to return. About the ticket number.... I have had 4 given to me. That’s another thing that’s happened. As I’ve been passed around to all these different techs. Every 2-3 I get I’ll have one issue me a new number. And I would post on the dji forum but the ones you see commenting on there I have spoke too through email. Electra, sherrie, red, don, ken and so on.

Again, when I first reached out to them I said I just wanted to know what happened. Wasn’t looking for a replacement, or 30% off. (which they give to people who fly them into they’re ceiling fan, but have yet to even offer). I wasn’t grounded because of it. I had other drones to fly, including a spark. I was genuinely curious as to what happened. I watched the whole thing happen and it was not just power loss. Something happened. The battery that was on it was not the one that I got with the drone, someone mentioned showing them the battery and that it was brand new. The one on it had 4 charge cycles. It was a 2nd gen battery I believe based on manufacturing date. I could be wrong. 10/2018. However even with the first gen batteries. They didn’t fall out as long as they were put on correctly and checked, and that’s something I do Every. Single. Time. I do it without thinking about it. Idk. Like the title says. I’m at my wits end. Idk what to do. Just give up? Keep giving them my money? Quit the hobby? Because personally I couldn’t continue and not use dji. At least not yet. So I can’t do both. I want that new mavic mini SO BAD. I just have a real hard time talking myself into giving them anymore support. Because the first time it was theyre turn they didn’t show up. I got 6+ new drones that have been activated on my account and I’m sure they can see that.I showed up. This isn’t my first crash or my first total loss but this is the first time that I feel there was nothing I could have done that would have changed the outcome of that flight. So I reached out. And here we are.

 

[Fla_nugz8504]

Did you generate a service request ticket prior to all the calls? If no ticket, they don't have any reference or notes to review.

Any DJI service starts with generating a ticket and case ID. From there, call or online chat.

That would probably help the process and communication.

I hear ya on the battery. But if you go to dji official website and go to repairs it says clearly Do not ship damaged batteries under any circumstances if you do it’s not replaced. They’re dangerous. All it takes is moisture. Idk it just one of those things I’d prefer not to play with. If they won’t ship it there’s a reason. If they don’t accept them there’s a reason. And if they got the drone. What are they gonna do with it. It was ran over several times. The main board is mangled. What’s left of it. They said the flight records showed it wasn’t pilot error so in my eyes there’s the close of the case. However. I do want answers. I sent them pics. They agreed there would be nothing useful to get from it. Then I was emailed by someone new and they said they would send a return label and directions on how to pack it. And we’d start allllll over.

 

[Dougcjohn]

I hear ya on the battery. But if you go to dji official website and go to repairs it says clearly Do not ship damaged batteries under any circumstances if you do it’s not replaced. They’re dangerous. All it takes is moisture. Idk it just one of those things I’d prefer not to play with. If they won’t ship it there’s a reason. If they don’t accept them there’s a reason. And if they got the drone. What are they gonna do with it. It was ran over several times. The main board is mangled. What’s left of it. They said the flight records showed it wasn’t pilot error so in my eyes there’s the close of the case. However. I do want answers. I sent them pics. They agreed there would be nothing useful to get from it. Then I was emailed by someone new and they said they would send a return label and directions on how to pack it. And we’d start allllll over.

I hear ya... it’s frustrating at times.
Although, I would utilize the label and send it to them... that’s more forward step than you’ve gotten so far... once in their hands, you’re more likely to get past the Ft end filter personnel.

Not sure how you got it started, but I discovered if you call / screen chat and they issue a case, it’s a call case, not a service case... personally I’m not sure what the difference is either.

I always create a service request first, that generates a shipping label most of the time... if not, ignore and create another one in a different way or slightly different response to generate the shipping label. Print the case ID sheet and reference that going forward.

Although your smashed craft may present a challenge.
If they (DJI) can provide any written statement on voltage failing and not you action... you may have a valid argument with Walmart too... Manager.

Sorry for your headache... Good Luck

 

[Macinfo]

That's very unfortunate , seems odd if the traffic was light that a motorist would still run it over unless they were blind or didn't care, how hard could it be to move a touch out of the way to not run it over.

Hopefully you can get some reasonable resolution, customer service these days seems to always be a challenge. They want to save a dime at your expense, looking for excuses

 

[Fla_nugz8504]

It’s a busy 4 lane road. I just try to cross when it’s light. There’s a light a block either way. I don’t know how I can get resolution. I just got an email from the manager that I was told to wait for and wasn’t working for the week. And she asked me to send the flight records in.....which again. I’ve done. Multiple times.