The end of the saga!

[abwRN]

As quite a few of you know, I lost my Drone flying a Litchi waypoint mission months back. After many months of searching and tons of help from this community and my neighbors, the story has finally come full circle.

Today, I received my 99.00 dollar replacement drone from DJI. It was an uphill battle with DJI from the get go and I encountered everything bad customer service to a total lack of empathy on DJI's part.

I have multiple products from DJI and from the very beginning, they pretty much treated me like I was a lair. One rep even went so far as to tell me to stop emailing them because they would never replace my lost drone. Just incredible!!

I never mentioned any of my correspondence with DJI during on here during the 4 months I was hunting for my drone. I felt the need to share this experience now because everyone has a right to know how bad their customer service can be.(and I have my replacement) The reason for my silence stemed from the way I was treated by their customer service and my fear of retaliation by DJI if I ever found my drone. I was sure that if I blasted them online, they would find a way to deny my Refresh claim if I was lucky enough to find it.

Well, I did find it and the replacement process was smooth and I now have it in my hands. Therefore, I wanted to share what happened behind the scenes during this process. Let me just tell you, if you lose your drone and think things like DJI care or Refresh will help, you are dead wrong. No matter how much I begged, pleaded, and explained what happened, they were never going to replace my drone. Just an FYI..

Anyway, to Refresh your memory, the original thread is below. I have also included pics of the replacement drone that I received today. I don't know if it's brand new or refurbished but it looks really good and doesn't have a scratch on it. All sensors and even the Gimbal bracket have sticky protectors on them for protection.

Anyway, you guys were great and thanks for all the help locating my bird. It's final flight is in the thread below.(it's long)

I also want to clear up a common misconception in regards to third party software(Litchi in my case) and DJI's policy on its use when requesting a Refresh replacement. DJI WILL HONOR YOUR REFRESH POLICY IF YOU CRASH YOUR BIRD WHILE USING THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE. I have seen people arguing about this issue all over the web and I understand it's confusing. Heck, DJI' terms and conditions under Refresh say as much in black and white. However, that's NOT the case as evidenced by the new P4P sitting on my counter right now. I lost my bird flying a Litchi waypoint mission and DJI pulled that information right off the birds volatile memory chip when it was being "assessed". They sent the Litchi report of what happened on the doomed flight and called it User Error. The next thing I knew, I had a request from PayPal asking for my 99 dollar deductible. The rest is history. I hope this helps someone in the future if they are worried about this much debated issue.

Peace!!


I Lost my P4P

 

[tevek]

I had to reread your original thread to remind myself of the saga at hand. Good to read a 'happy ending' of sorts and reading some of the very helpful posts from some of the crew makes forums like this all the more worthwhile.
You made some very informative points regarding Litchi and any warranty or claim issues that many of us are probably going to confront one day.
Happy dayz to you!

 

[Alan Russel]

Well done to you, there is nothing like the look and feel of a new phantom. Fly safe

 

[macoman]

This is why I will never buy litchi... Some people here are very happy with it. Well that's until one day your beloved bird don't come back. I will stay with DJI go app and view of sight of my bird in the air. I don't need to go farther than 500 meters.

 

[Les Davidson]

This is why I will never buy litchi... Some people here are very happy with it. Well that's until one day your beloved bird don't come back. I will stay with DJI go app and view of sight of my bird in the air. I don't need to go farther than 500 meters.

I agree, however I use Litchi for missions WITHIN SIGHT and that is great. It's a lot of money to lose if it flies away.

 

[stones]

This is why I will never buy litchi... Some people here are very happy with it. Well that's until one day your beloved bird don't come back. I will stay with DJI go app and view of sight of my bird in the air. I don't need to go farther than 500 meters.

You did read the original post of this incident, correct? I believe within the first couple of pages it was determined to be user error and not Litchi. More of a misunderstanding on how the app operates.

 

[With The Birds]

I wonder if you might clarify what, In your view, was bad about DJi’s handling of this matter. The refresh terms make it very clear that the policy can not operate in the absence of you providing DJI with the damaged AC. It is pleasing to learn they came to the party when you were able to comply with the conditions.

 

[matti]

Forgive me if I didn't get this right (I didn't read the original LONG thread). So despite it was user error you got the bird replaced for just $99? No 3rd party error?

 

[abwRN]

I wonder if you might clarify what, In your view, was bad about DJi’s handling of this matter. The refresh terms make it very clear that the policy can not operate in the absence of you providing DJI with the damaged AC. It is pleasing to learn they came to the party when you were able to comply with the conditions.

I understand that some might think that DJI finally stepped up to the plate. They did, in the end..My major issues with DJI's support is that they were utterly heartless when I approached them about the possibility of a "Refresh" replacement. It's not that I didn't understand their reasoning, it was because some of their agents were flat out rude as all get out. It was ridiculous how unskilled they were in approaching a customer who just lost a 1500.00 dollar drone and paid for insurance on top of that. They were slow to respond, never knew what the last email was about, and some were like children saying things that no company would dare say to a customer. It was nuts..

Trust me, I get it..They did nothing I didn't expect with regards to replacing the drone. I never really thought they would, but it couldn't hurt asking. They could have at least told me that my Refresh was transferrable to the Mavic I bought or offered me a coupon or anything. Instead, they basically were treating me like a piece of crap, not a customer who has dropped THOUSANDS of dollars with them. It was just bad.. There is a reason you hear of horror stories with DJI's customer service, it's just terrible, instead of comforting. They don't have to give away FREE drones to people who really don't deserve a replacement. But, they could try and mitigate the loss with a little more compassion..

 

[abwRN]

Forgive me if I didn't get this right (I didn't read the original LONG thread). So despite it was user error you got the bird replaced for just $99? No 3rd party error?

I got the Drone replaced under DJI's Refresh program for 99 dollars even though I was using Litchi. Because they determined it was user error(which it was) the Refresh program replaced it as that's what it covers. A lot of people are surprised by that because it says in their literature, they will not be responsible for 3rd party software.

Now, if the loss was determined to have been caused by using Litchi, like perhaps the app causing a disconnected controller or something else, it would not be covered.

To be honest, I don't know what would constitute an "application error" vs "user error"..I am just glad that they said it was user error. They did mention in their analysis that the controller was connected to the RC. Well, from where I was standing, no it wasn't..

 

[With The Birds]

Forgive me if I didn't get this right (I didn't read the original LONG thread). So despite it was user error you got the bird replaced for just $99? No 3rd party error?

You might be thinking about the terms of the standard warranty? The OP had DJI refresh- you.pay what is effectively an excess within the term if the coverage and they (DJI) replace the AC, even if it is user error. You do need to supply them with the crashed AC though.

 

[With The Birds]

I got the Drone replaced under DJI's Refresh program for 99 dollars even though I was using Litchi. Because they determined it was user error(which it was) the Refresh program replaced it as that's what it covers. A lot of people are surprised by that because it says in their literature, they will not be responsible for 3rd party software.

Now, if the loss was determined to have been caused by using Litchi, like perhaps the app causing a disconnected controller or something else, it would not be covered.

To be honest, I don't know what would constitute an "application error" vs "user error"..I am just glad that they said it was user error. They did mention in their analysis that the controller was connected to the RC. Well, from where I was standing, no it wasn't..

If the AC log revealed DJI hardware or software error they would have made good under the standard warranty- DJI refresh would not have operated. This is true even with using third party apps. Third party app usage does not automatically void warranty. You would have had the same issue however in the absence of refresh coverage as DJI won’t accept the third part app log for analysis, they require the .dat log from the AC.

 

[lmmavrick]

seems insurance through statefarm at $60 a yr is way better then anything DJI offers . if my drone crashes , flys off ends up at the bottom of a lake i get full reimbursement and just buy another , plus i get to keep anything i salvage

 

[sar104]

I understand that some might think that DJI finally stepped up to the plate. They did, in the end..My major issues with DJI's support is that they were utterly heartless when I approached them about the possibility of a "Refresh" replacement. It's not that I didn't understand their reasoning, it was because some of their agents were flat out rude as all get out. It was ridiculous how unskilled they were in approaching a customer who just lost a 1500.00 dollar drone and paid for insurance on top of that. They were slow to respond, never knew what the last email was about, and some were like children saying things that no company would dare say to a customer. It was nuts..

Trust me, I get it..They did nothing I didn't expect with regards to replacing the drone. I never really thought they would, but it couldn't hurt asking. They could have at least told me that my Refresh was transferrable to the Mavic I bought or offered me a coupon or anything. Instead, they basically were treating me like a piece of crap, not a customer who has dropped THOUSANDS of dollars with them. It was just bad.. There is a reason you hear of horror stories with DJI's customer service, it's just terrible, instead of comforting. They don't have to give away FREE drones to people who really don't deserve a replacement. But, they could try and mitigate the loss with a little more compassion..

If they were rude then that is unfortunate, but if they were "heartless", in the sense that they would honor the terms of the refresh contract but not go further than that, then I would not criticize them. A contract is a contract, and they were under no obligation to rewrite it just because you felt that you were a customer in need of comforting. You are just another customer of their lower-end, consumer-level equipment.

 

[abwRN]

If they were rude then that is unfortunate, but if they were "heartless", in the sense that they would honor the terms of the refresh contract but not go further than that, then I would not criticize them. A contract is a contract, and they were under no obligation to rewrite it just because you felt that you were a customer in need of comforting. You are just another customer of their lower-end, consumer-level equipment.

Just another customer is a good way to describe it..Oh well, I got my bird back, I'm happy..

 

[embayweather]

I could be wrong in this but is Litchi software based on, and uses, the Go sdk ? If so in reality you are using DJI software anyway?
It would be good to have a view from DJI on the apps that use the Go sdk. Does this invalidate warranties even though the software is theirs?

 

[Deleted member 62848]

I could be wrong in this but is Litchi software based on, and uses, the Go sdk ? If so in reality you are using DJI software anyway?
It would be good to have a view from DJI on the apps that use the Go sdk. Does this invalidate warranties even though the software is theirs?

Depends on if can prove litchi not at fault ,should be covered,lots of posts about this in the past,bit stupid really i find litchi more stable than dji,

 

[abwRN]

seems insurance through statefarm at $60 a yr is way better then anything DJI offers . if my drone crashes , flys off ends up at the bottom of a lake i get full reimbursement and just buy another , plus i get to keep anything i salvage

Is this a policy anyone can buy? I don't use State Farm for my general insurance but I would like this policy..

 

[lmmavrick]

Is this a policy anyone can buy? I don't use State Farm for my general insurance but I would like this policy..

I don't know if you need other ins from statefarm . i use them for auto and home along with my rv . so far state farm is the only ins carrier that i know of that offers drone ins . it was so new when i got it they had to do a search at my home office to see if they offered it , they do and for $ 60 a yr can't be beat . no deductible

 

[Kcgunesq]

Is this a policy anyone can buy? I don't use State Farm for my general insurance but I would like this policy..

It is likely nothing more than a personal articles policy. And that is fine. The same coverage you can buy for art, guns, cameras, etc. Typical premium runs between 1.5 and 2% a year.

With "all hazards" coverage, the policy should cover loss, theft, fire, crashing into buildings, falling into lakes, etc.