DJI Support response and a warning to anyone who wants a DJI product.

[STKNRUD]

Flying into a high voltage line might abruptly end the communication. Any other ideas on what could kill it completely, mid flight...I mean, besides the obvious...aliens...

It is true! I've been flying RC planes for years. Kept crashing. I finally figured it out...I was pissing off the aliens by flying in their airspace. So I went to drones; same thing! And here is the inside scoop I know it is true because I saw it on CNN....the FAA has been infiltrated by the aliens!

 

[Kmccb]

For those saying they always fly VLOS i laugh. Why would you buy a $1,000 drone if you ALWAYS fly VLOS. just silly..

For those that have lost communication.. shouldn't it RTH if that happens?

 

[MilesTHD]

At the expense of yours and other's loss there is an upside to all of these lost drones and poor DJI CS. DJI is leaving the door wide open for its competitors to build better systems with lower prices. We will benefit - but for now the losses will continue.

 

[LawFlyer]

For those that have lost communication.. shouldn't it RTH if that happens?

YES, but keep in mind -- there are different settings for what the Mavic will do when it loses signal from the controller. The options are: 1.) RTH; 2.) Hover; or 3.) Land immediately.

I learned this the hard way during a recent trip to London. I lost signal for no apparent reason, and I thought: "Gee, no worries -- I'll just sit here and wait for the Mavic to come home." Except it never came home.

See -- I forgot that before this flight, I was doing some flying from my boat and I was worried that if I had a signal drop over the water while filming from a moving boat, I didn't want the Mavic to RTH (since the takeoff location -- my boat -- wouldn't be in the same spot). So, I went into the settings and I changed the signal drop to "hover" (or at least I thought I did).

The good news is that I didn't have any issues filming from the boat, but I forgot to change the setting back when I was flying over London. So, when my signal dropped there, the Mavic didn't come home....because it wasn't set to RTH (I actually had it set to land -- which must have been accidental because that's not the setting I used at the lake).

Anyway, the good news is I got VERY lucky and was able to recover my Mavic from a friendly person's rooftop in London. But the lesson should be clear -- RTH is a good tool, but it won't work if you have it set incorrectly (including the dreaded RTH incorrect height issue).

 

[STKNRUD]

For those saying they always fly VLOS i laugh. Why would you buy a $1,000 drone if you ALWAYS fly VLOS. just silly..

There are only two of them despite what you read on this forum. You can't fly a Mavic more than 400' away without effectively losing it visually. Take you Mavic to 400' directly overhead. Only because it is a dark color against the sky can you see it.

 

[MavicProUser]

UPDATE, all logs, transcripts will be available from tomorrow, I've given them more than enough time to come to a compromise, I will just state facts and everyone can come their own opinion, thanks for your interest.

 

[Maddogcrusader]

What you think of the response that took over a week, I will never buy a DJI product again as they will never admit its their fault when the product fails. Full transcript and logs available for anyone and will be posted soon if required, but waiting for their response first after another few days
To be honest, I did not see it do a flyaway as some have, too busy with the reconnect on the remote and waiting for it to come back, searched all night till it went dark and 4hrs the following day, simply not within 150m radius of where Find my drone said it should have been.

"Thanks for your patience.
For your claimed case CAS-??????-W?????, we have already finished the analysis, and the result is as follows:

1. The aircraft worked at GPS mode and responded to RC command well;

2. t=2:28, h=102 m, d=106 m, the aircraft flew forward after the pilot pushed pitch stick forward. The record ended suddenly.

With the record ended without any sign of abnormality, we could not verify what happened afterwards.

We truly appreciate your support for DJI, and especially applied for a 30% off coupon for aircraft without charger and remote:"

Absolutely disgraceful support.
Comments please.

What you think of the response that took over a week, I will never buy a DJI product again as they will never admit its their fault when the product fails. Full transcript and logs available for anyone and will be posted soon if required, but waiting for their response first after another few days
To be honest, I did not see it do a flyaway as some have, too busy with the reconnect on the remote and waiting for it to come back, searched all night till it went dark and 4hrs the following day, simply not within 150m radius of where Find my drone said it should have been.

"Thanks for your patience.
For your claimed case CAS-??????-W?????, we have already finished the analysis, and the result is as follows:

1. The aircraft worked at GPS mode and responded to RC command well;

2. t=2:28, h=102 m, d=106 m, the aircraft flew forward after the pilot pushed pitch stick forward. The record ended suddenly.

With the record ended without any sign of abnormality, we could not verify what happened afterwards.

We truly appreciate your support for DJI, and especially applied for a 30% off coupon for aircraft without charger and remote:"

Absolutely disgraceful support.
Comments please.

Well isn't that interesting - mine happened on June 18 almost exactly as you reported - I have been piloting for over five years and this has never happened. Everything was fine then all of a sudden there were multiple errors on remote/app. I always had visual on aircraft but it was totally non responsive and flew away. After examining the data and the video they do not match up at all - I feel that this is a DJI problem and not a user problem - note - I still have not received a reply from DJI concerning my issue and I submitted everything on June 19.....,

 

[namja]

Well isn't that interesting - mine happened on June 18 almost exactly as you reported - I have been piloting for over five years and this has never happened. Everything was fine then all of a sudden there were multiple errors on remote/app. I always had visual on aircraft but it was totally non responsive and flew away. After examining the data and the video they do not match up at all - I feel that this is a DJI problem and not a user problem - note - I still have not received a reply from DJI concerning my issue and I submitted everything on June 19.....,

Too many people think that just because they did nothing wrong, DJI should pay for their damaged drones. But in reality, DJI will only pay for the drones if you can show that it was clearly their fault.

Let's say you drive your Toyota Camry and hit a tree, and you are positive you did nothing wrong, so you want Toyota to fix your car. They will probably want proof that it was their fault. Without physical evidence, Toyota will not pay for the damages, and the assumption will be that it was driver error. This is how it generally works.

Unless you have data to support that it was a defective product, don't expect manufacturer to pay for the goods.

 

[Maddogcrusader]

Too many people think that just because they did nothing wrong, DJI should pay for their damaged drones. But in reality, DJI will only pay for the drones if you can show that it was clearly their fault.

Let's say you drive your Toyota Camry and hit a tree, and you are positive you did nothing wrong, so you want Toyota to fix your car. They will probably want proof that it was their fault. Without physical evidence, Toyota will not pay for the damages, and the assumption will be that it was driver error. This is how it generally works.

Unless you have data to support that it was a defective product, don't expect manufacturer to pay for the goods.

Obviously you work for an insurance company because that is exactly what they would say. I do have the data to support it otherwise I wouldn't have complained. Explain then why this same problem is happening over and over again. Your comparison does not make any sense at all - it's a wonder why people don't post because of all the armchair experts that think they know everything.....

 

[Maddogcrusader]

Too many people think that just because they did nothing wrong, DJI should pay for their damaged drones. But in reality, DJI will only pay for the drones if you can show that it was clearly their fault.

Let's say you drive your Toyota Camry and hit a tree, and you are positive you did nothing wrong, so you want Toyota to fix your car. They will probably want proof that it was their fault. Without physical evidence, Toyota will not pay for the damages, and the assumption will be that it was driver error. This is how it generally works.

Unless you have data to support that it was a defective product, don't expect manufacturer to pay for the goods.

Well I wouldn't be comparing the track record of Toyota to that of anything else - also don't ASSUME because you know what that makes you

 

[Buzz In California]

I own a Phantom 4P. I was concerned about losing the drone, so I purchased a Mavic to use as a recovery drone so if I lose my Phantom in a tree, I can send out the Mavic to locate the Pahntom; I am now thinking about purchasing an Inspire, to send out to fine the Mavic if that gets lost attempting to find the Phantom.

 

[Maddogcrusader]

I own a Phantom 4P. I was concerned about losing the drone, so I purchased a Mavic to use as a recovery drone so if I lose my Phantom in a tree, I can send out the Mavic to locate the Pahntom; I am now thinking about purchasing an Inspire, to send out to fine the Mavic if that gets lost attempting to find the Phantom.

Very good Buzz - that's why I bought a Ford truck to remove the tree that I hit with my Toyota that Toyota never fixed until they were sued for millions and finally admitted they were at fault. Well at least I have firewood for the winter

 

[Penguinmaster]

30% off a new Mavic offered and you can provide no proof of culpability and you're slating DJI.

Bravo.

For all. When you sign on to the go app originally you agree to free Dji from all liability or you can't use it. Second. Get your *** insurance on your thousands of dollars worth of equipment or don't ***** like a little girl who lost her dolly

 

[namja]

Well I wouldn't be comparing the track record of Toyota to that of anything else - also don't ASSUME because you know what that makes you

I didn't assume anything. I didn't say that you didn't have any data or that your claim is false. I only made a general statement, that manufacturers (whether they make cars or drones or watches or phones) will not pay for accidents unless there is proof that they are at fault. At least from anecdotal evidence, DJI has been replacing drones when they see from logs that the drones malfunctioned. And since you do have have the data to support your claim, then I am agreeing with you and you're essentially agreeing with my post.

Let's take your own advice and not ASSUME, shall we?

 

[Boblelezard]

Keep the MP in line of sight and you won't have this problem. I hear a lot of stories about people losing their Mavic and it's over 2 miles away. There is no way that is flying within the rules of line of sight. I have been flying for several months and have lost connection several times but I was always able to see my Mavic until I gained control. Just because the MP can fly 4 miles away doesn't mean you should do it.

Yeah but then WHY buy an MP if you can't use it as advertized?? In that case, just buy a cheap wifi drone toy! Ridiculous ...

 

[Boblelezard]

This is the most reasonable comment I've seen. This goes for flying your Mavic several miles from the controller to riding your sportbike motorcycle at 175mph to driving your Nissan Skyline GTR at 150mph.

You are mostly correct ... but LOS in my case is about 150/200 meters ... I did not buy a Mavic Pro to fly within 150m!! Nor does one buy a Nissan GTR to drive 55mph. Don't get me wrong, I've never flown my MP over 1/2 mile and probably never will, but LOS is a bit exagerated for a +$1000 drone (in my opinion)

 

[Dyso_70]

Sorry to hear your not happy with the customer service you received. I'm going into bat for DJI here. My MP dropped out of the sky with no apparent reason. They looked at my data and sent me a new machine within a week. Couldn't be happier with their service.

 

[geigy]

I own a Phantom 4P. I was concerned about losing the drone, so I purchased a Mavic to use as a recovery drone so if I lose my Phantom in a tree, I can send out the Mavic to locate the Pahntom; I am now thinking about purchasing an Inspire, to send out to fine the Mavic if that gets lost attempting to find the Phantom.

I would send the inspire out first. It's bigger and easier to find.

 

[Flawless]

I didn't assume anything. I didn't say that you didn't have any data or that your claim is false. I only made a general statement, that manufacturers (whether they make cars or drones or watches or phones) will not pay for accidents unless there is proof that they are at fault. At least from anecdotal evidence, DJI has been replacing drones when they see from logs that the drones malfunctioned. And since you do have have the data to support your claim, then I am agreeing with you and you're essentially agreeing with my post.

Let's take your own advice and not ASSUME, shall we?

As namja has pointed out, companies like DJI will take responsibility where it is clear they or their products are at fault. There are even cases where there's no proof, and DJI has still offered compensation to the customer.

The law isn't just there to protect consumers - it's there to protect companies too. If DJI can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the aircraft, controller or app wasn't at fault, they are under no obligation to offer you anything - no matter what evidence you think supports your story.

Often, people who have made stupid mistakes adopt a particular stance when discussing their case, or chiming in on others' cases as if that lends some sort of credence to their own (like Maddogcrusader). Angry people with a broken drone often throw around phrases like "the customer is always right" and "I'm innocent until proven guilty".

Well; no. Only a fool believes "the customer is always right" is applicable in this context (it's not, at all), and DJI is innocent until proven guilty in situations like this.

 

[grizzard]

I wouldn't say that at all. Rather why come for more abuse?
On there one hand we have people bringing up legitimate issues with their birds doing something weird right in front of their eyes. No pilot error, seems likely to be a glitch in software. Nobody gives them grief in spite of logs showing no issues. But let a guy let it out of his sight and all the DJI fanboiz come out of there woodwork screaming it's heresy to think DJI could be at fault. These same people will bemoan DJI changes that land your drone if it thinks it's in a NFZ.
I personally think it's likely a loss of communication but then why not RTH? There are legitimate questions why any drone gets lost with all the fail-safes. While operator error is assuredly one of the possible causes it isn't necessarily the first people should invoke.

Yes ... I agree and stand corrected! I was just hoping for more info to have some sort of conclusion. Patience is definitely my shortcoming ... at 80 I don't have a lot of time left.