Crashed my Phantom, what's my best repair option?

Xanthe_2871 · Jan 17, 2017

Hello Phantom Pilots!

I just got my first big drone, a Phantom 4 Pro, about a week ago. Today I crashed it into a tree... I want to repair it but I'm not sure how I should go about it. I could buy the DJI Care Refresh thing, that would be $150 plus $100 for the first replacement, so that's $250. I could also mail in the drone without DJI Care Refresh but then I don't know what it will cost. DJI's chat rep told me it depends on the damage, so now I have no idea if the repair would cost less than $250 or not.

I'm hoping you guys can help me with this. If I explain the damage then hopefully you can tell me what option would be better for me! Thanks in advance!

Just to be clear, DJI knows I crashed into the tree, they know exactly how bad the damage is, since it is only cosmetic they have accepted me into DJI Care. They offered to repair the shell for $215 which I have accepted. They will also take that time to further examine the Phantom and if they agree that there is no mechanical damage, which there is not, then my DJI Care will start from that date. There is no FRUAD or LYING here, and DJI was happy to work with me.

If anyone is ever in my shoes I highly recommend you tell the truth right away, DJI is surprisingly flexible!

Here's what the damage looks like:

prylarbek · Jan 17, 2017

Parts bin. Once down, they are never the same. Trust me, I've been there. Just buy a refurbished one

Norval · Jan 17, 2017

Damage seems to be too extensive. Send it for a evaluation and possible repair.
About the possibility of purchasing the DJI care AFTER the crash, doesn't seem feasible....

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

With The Birds · Jan 17, 2017

You need a new shell. Hopefully that's all.

DJI care very unlikely an option unless your prepared to lie and they don't check the logs when they repair. Just imaging smashing your car and trying to get repaired under a policy after the event. It would be ridiculous to think it's possible to hedge your bets like that.

If you have reasonable proficiency with repairing complex electronics order a shell and landing gear and take it from there. If not send it to DJI for a quote.

Xanthe_2871 · Jan 18, 2017

prylarbek said:
Parts bin. Once down, they are never the same. Trust me, I've been there. Just buy a refurbished one

I already spent $1500 on this drone, how much less is a refurbished one?

With The Birds · Jan 18, 2017

Xanthe_2871 said:
Well, if you crashed your car off road with no witnesses, you could store it in your garage until you had a plan, it's not like the insurance company would know when the crash happened.

After playing with it a bit it seems the damage is purely cosmetic. There are no warnings in the app and flight went smoothly. Only issue was the gimble, it was keeping to far to the right, even though it moves in all directions just fine.

It seems like I might be able to get protection after submitting a video of the gimble panning up and down, then the drone flying up, left, right, down, forwards, backwards, then 20 meters up and 200 meters away. It can do all of those things in it's current state.

Yes, I could. If I was prepared to commit fraud. Not To mention all the honest people paying increased premiums to service the claims of cheats and bludgers.

As I mentioned above- new shell, landing gear and having regard to your camera issue possibly a yaw arm and you should be good to go.

Xanthe_2871 · Jan 18, 2017

With The Birds said:
Yes, I could. If I was prepared to commit fraud. Not To mention all the honest people paying increased premiums to service the claims of cheats and bludgers.

As I mentioned above- new shell, landing gear and having regard to your camera issue possibly a yaw arm and you should be good to go.

Mmm, if I crashed it next week how would that be different, really? I mean, I have a protection plan on my phone, it was $100 and I've never used it... to be honest even if I hadn't crashed today I was already considering the DJI Care, so in the end does it really make a difference?

If DJI helps me here it will greatly improve my view of them, right now I don't know what to think yet. If they deny me, I'll probably never buy a DJI product again. Is it their fault? Of course not! But they can take a small loss now if it means I come back later and buy a $4000 Inspire, or whatever, in the future. It should be worth it to them to have and keep a happy customer!

Besides, if the damage is as you say, $250 would certainly cover it. It's not like I ran over the drone with my car for a cool shot knowing it would be covered, I'm a new customer who made an honest mistake and DJI has the power to fix that mistake.

With The Birds · Jan 18, 2017

i can't grasp your position here. Let's forget DJI for a moment. If I understand your position correctly it's cool to claim on an insurance policy for a loss or damage that occurred prior to the date of effect of the policy? And manufacturers should make good on damage caused to a product by the end user that most would expect not to fall within warranty coverage just so we remain loyal to them. I must say that is an interesting take on the perception of entitlement.

I would caution you re the DJI care route. Even if you convince them the AC was in perfect working order on the date of sign up they will, I expect, deny the claim given the log file will not support any story that the crash occurred after the date of effect of coverage. They may even find the log file of the actual crash (date stamped) is still present. You could of course, assuming it flys well enough, deliberately damage it to the point that the internal memory card can't be accessed. I will leave that with you.

You asked earlier what a refurbished AC might cost. I doubt P4P's are available yet (being so new) however as a guide i think the P4 was around $800USD (including controller).

djcWI · Jan 18, 2017

Xanthe_2871 said:
If DJI helps me here it will greatly improve my view of them, right now I don't know what to think yet. If they deny me, I'll probably never buy a DJI product again.
.

I really don't think they will care if you buy from them again. I am also sure they will check the internal flight log. You should have purchased DJI Care with the Phantom.

cr6 · Jan 18, 2017

For new drone owners I suggest, ALWAYS buy DJI CARE (or Care Refresh for P4P, Mavic or Inspire owners) It's worth its weight in gold. Remember, it's not a matter of IF you will crash, but when...and purchasing DJI Care is always cheaper when you purchase your drone, as opposed to after you've already had it. These Drones (especially the newer ones) can cost quite a bit to repair otherwise.
Good luck!

S7 Edge tap'n

Xanthe_2871 · Jan 18, 2017

djcWI said:
I really don't think they will care if you buy from them again. I am also sure they will check the internal flight log. You should have purchased DJI Care with the Phantom.

It wasn't an option offered at Best Buy. I didn't even know about the service until a few days ago.

Xanthe_2871 · Jan 18, 2017

cr6 said:
For new drone owners I suggest, ALWAYS buy DJI CARE (or Care Refresh for P4P, Mavic or Inspire owners) It's worth its weight in gold. Remember, it's not a matter of IF you will crash, but when...and purchasing DJI Care is always cheaper when you purchase your drone, as opposed to after you've already had it. These Drones (especially the newer ones) can cost quite a bit to repair otherwise.
Good luck!

S7 Edge tap'n

Thank you. I would have started out cheap with a Phantom 3 or something, but the 4 Pro has a ton of anti-crash tech so I thought it would be best. It's too bad that it doesn't work at night. It's also unfortunate that the reading in the app for how high you're flying is so inaccurate, it said I was at 70' when I hit that tree! It's only 30' tall...

Of course none of this would be an issue if I could prove what the app was reading out at the time of the crash and show the height of the tree, but I wasn't recording the phone screen and the drone wasn't recording when it hit the tree (SD card was full) so I have no proof.

Xanthe_2871 · Jan 18, 2017

With The Birds said:
i can't grasp your position here. Let's forget DJI for a moment. If I understand your position correctly it's cool to claim on an insurance policy for a loss or damage that occurred prior to the date of effect of the policy? And manufacturers should make good on damage caused to a product by the end user that most would expect not to fall within warranty coverage just so we remain loyal to them. I must say that is an interesting take on the perception of entitlement.

I would caution you re the DJI care route. Even if you convince them the AC was in perfect working order on the date of sign up they will, I expect, deny the claim given the log file will not support any story that the crash occurred after the date of effect of coverage. They may even find the log file of the actual crash (date stamped) is still present. You could of course, assuming it flys well enough, deliberately damage it to the point that the internal memory card can't be accessed. I will leave that with you.

You asked earlier what a refurbished AC might cost. I doubt P4P's are available yet (being so new) however as a guide i think the P4 was around $800USD (including controller).

Actually, forget all that math from before, this sums it up much more eloquently:
"The customer is always right"

Even with it being my mistake, they should still help me out. It will pay for itself.

djcWI · Jan 18, 2017

Xanthe_2871 said:
Actually, forget all that math from before, this sums it up much more eloquently:
"The customer is always right".

lol....that's not law. If you were trying to do this with car insurance, you'd get charged with fraud.

Guess what? To buy it after the fact, you need to send in video which in your case will show the damage. DJI_Care Customer Upload Information

Tom K · Jan 18, 2017

Not sure why a new user would fly at night and around tree branches. Obstacle avoidance sensors are basically cameras - they cannot see in the dark.

djcWI · Jan 18, 2017

Tom K said:
Not sure why a new user would fly at night and around tree branches. Obstacle avoidance sensors are basically cameras - they cannot see in the dark.

I think he's just working on his story. My bet is he flew it a few times and then put it into sports mode and ran smack dab into a tree.

Techcop50 · Jan 18, 2017

Any time you fly, it's basically a gamble. Don't gamble if you can't afford to lose.

ElGuapo · Jan 18, 2017

Xanthe_2871 said:
I already spent $1500 on this drone, how much less is a refurbished one?

A refurbished P4P is $1200, I'm seriously thinking about buying a refurb unit. There is one with a few scratches for about $1100.

During the activation process doesn't the DJI Go App offers DJI Care Refresh?. I think the user has 48 hrs to purchase the coverage.

royster · Jan 18, 2017

Gives me a great idea, I;m not going to bother buying insurance for my 3 vehicles, I;m gonna wait until I have an accident & then I will get coverage, great idea, thanks for this!

ElGuapo · Jan 18, 2017

royster said:
Gives me a great idea, I;m not going to bother buying insurance for my 3 vehicles, I;m gonna wait until I have an accident & then I will get coverage, great idea, thanks for this!

Not long ago, I had to file a claim with Asurion for a broken (screen) iPhone. In the affidavit that I had to sign it clearly states that making false insurance claim is considered fraud and could be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This is for filing a claim for an iPhone, full retail price is less than a P4P. Sounds like people are trying to do the same with smartphones and insurance companies (Asurion) will take the necessary steps to prosecute if they find out the claim is false.