OK DJI - You Owe Us!!!

[PropPilot]

+1 Did a report on differences in business cultures in school. Different world over there.

My MBA Thesis topic was same. I said it before. In the end, DJI is a toy company that has a great product/demand streak going on and what good would regular updates be as there is nothing to report. They are building them one by one and shipping them out one by one. Yep, I would sure like to get ONE of the three I have on order yet I have to remind myself it is a toy and then I go fly my real airplane and I am okay for a while.

 

[Mako79]

I think DJI tried to achieve all 3.

 

[Deckyon]

 

[cdronefly]

DJI - if you want to do business in this neck of the woods, you had better learn the rules of Sales and Marketing in the USA!!!!

For Example;

Over....................

-
Wow - my assumption is that you must own a company much more successful, profitable and innovative than DJI...

After all, otherwise how could you tell them how to do business in the USA?

BTW, most all of their top communication (and marketing and other) brass are either American or Canadian. They have done tours of American universities and hired the top grads.

Maybe they should hire you to teach all these people how to do business?

 

[cdronefly]

If this was a U.S. company they would have raised the price hundreds of dollars after seeing the demand. You have to give them some credit for not following the rules of Sales & Marketing in the US.

This is very often overlooked. I have noted since the beginning that DJI could price all their drone higher - sometimes MUCH higher. But they don't.

Of course, higher prices would mean they could do more cuddling up and hand holding for Americans who like people to yell at.

I feel somewhat fortunate that I am from the "old days" when we didn't expect companies to grovel to our every desire and listen to our reaming them out when something was imperfect.

 

[The Editor]

Guess you can't take the heat Editor - had to move the discussion - true colors coming to light!!!

See Ya!

What? I didn't do anything!

 

[Auspete]

Good point. I'd much rather have a company like DJI focusing their manpower and resources on developing and cranking out innovative, high quality, and reliable products rather than wasting it on improving customer service.

Yes, having god customer service would be nice too... but I suspect as DJI becomes even bigger after producing wildly popular products like Mavic, then perhaps they will hire more people, expand their CS departments and maybe that will improve too.

For now, making quality stuff that doesn't suck should be priority #1 and they seem to be doing that more or less.

Excluding their obvious problem with meeting the demand for the Mavic, I personally think their customer service is very good (bordering on excellent). On every occasion I've dealt with support, I've been more than satisfied with their response and also how quick and polite they've been. Given the cultural differences I think they are doing very well and are trying to improve their service. They would leave for dead the service levels of some local businesses that I've dealt with.

 

[trog100]

"Excluding their obvious problem with meeting the demand for the Mavic"

not being able to meet "unexpected" demand for product is one thing..

deliberately launching a product knowing full well that you are not going to be able to supply that product is another thing..

one could be called poor planning the other fraud..

the definition of fraud (still a crime in my book) is the obtaining of money or goods by deception..

i doubt the legal definition of fraud has changed much over the years but what a few years ago would have been considered criminal behavior now seems the norm.. tis a funny old world we live in..he he..

trog

ps.. again a long wait is one thing.. but i canceled my mavic order because i came to the conclusion that the chances of me actually receiving the thing i had paid for were very slim indeed.. as yet i have been promised a refund but have not received it..

 

[PropPilot]

You would receive it, you just can't wait for it


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

 

[trog100]

You would receive it, you just can't wait for it


Sent from my iPhone using MavicPilots

convince me.. i was first promised October 20 to 25.. that rapidly came and went.. then i was promised November.. that not so rapidly came and went.. then it became maybe december but we cannot guarantee that.. i see a pattern developing..

they say one definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.. now its way possible that the desire for a mavic has caused a period of insanity for a lot of folks..

now dont get me wrong some folks are actually getting mavics.. the vast majority are not.. in the UK we are to up to around October the 3rd order time..

as of yet the situation shows no sign of improving.. 8 week to cover the first 6 days of orders.. during that 8 weeks countless more mavic orders will have been placed.. a huge backlog will have formed..

short of a miracle i see no way on this planet that all these orders will get satisfied.. i see mass cancellations and mass demands for refunds when the majority reach the same conclusion that i have.. i see a strong possibility that the mavic mark one will get pulled from the market until a mavic mark 2 can be properly launched..

as i said convince me.. he he

trog

ps.. i did order with a china dealer.. i think DJI are quite simply not delivering anything to some dealers.. the one i ordered with being one of them..

 

[cdronefly]

as i said convince me.. he he

trog

ps.. i did order with a china dealer.. i think DJI are quite simply not delivering anything to some dealers.. the one i ordered with being one of them..

Did you ever consider that a dealer may not have paid DJI or is otherwise considered a risk by them?

Convince me you did....
he he.....

I think DJI learned a couple lessons here. I have watched them closely for years and one thing you can say is they do learn from mistakes. That's the definition of intelligence.

That said, they also suffer from the hubris of their leadership as well as micromanagement and creating a difficult work environment for some. Very competitive and no one is considered irreplaceable.

However, that is what you gave you even the possibility of the Mavic.

If DJI was IBM or even Apple there would be no Mavic Pro.

So you have to take what you get.

There have been massive cancellations. At the same time you probably noticed that the lead time hasn't improved. IMHO, that shows....something.

If you are going to make "value and moral" judgements, what do you think about the guys who order multiple units from multiple vendors and then intend to keep one and cancel the rest? Aren't they messing up the entire system and costing the maker a lot of money and trouble?

When it comes to consumerism and gadget desire I tend to try to stay out of the "life ending" types of moral certainty. Simply speaking, folks like you should not pre-order. That's really easy.

 

[Christopher G. Hughes]

Given the massive delay between order and ship I do think it would be appropriate for DJI to compensate buyers with, say, a year of insurance on the Mavic for free. Do I think that will happen? Hell no.

 

[cdronefly]

Well - I think their obligation is:
1. Offer a quick and easy refund.
2. Offer to put the money toward another machine (P4P, etc.) maybe with a small credit.
3. Communicate an accurate ship week (not day!)....

This does not go for vendors.....just for DJI direct.

But, hey, I'm not them. And they are a lot more successful than I am.

 

[trog100]

Did you ever consider that a dealer may not have paid DJI or is otherwise considered a risk by them?

Convince me you did....
he he.....

I think DJI learned a couple lessons here. I have watched them closely for years and one thing you can say is they do learn from mistakes. That's the definition of intelligence.

That said, they also suffer from the hubris of their leadership as well as micromanagement and creating a difficult work environment for some. Very competitive and no one is considered irreplaceable.

However, that is what you gave you even the possibility of the Mavic.

If DJI was IBM or even Apple there would be no Mavic Pro.

So you have to take what you get.

There have been massive cancellations. At the same time you probably noticed that the lead time hasn't improved. IMHO, that shows....something.

If you are going to make "value and moral" judgements, what do you think about the guys who order multiple units from multiple vendors and then intend to keep one and cancel the rest? Aren't they messing up the entire system and costing the maker a lot of money and trouble?

When it comes to consumerism and gadget desire I tend to try to stay out of the "life ending" types of moral certainty. Simply speaking, folks like you should not pre-order. That's really easy.

folks like me have to learn.. sometimes the hard way.. i have no reason to think the pretty well known FPV dealer i ordered from may not have paid DJI and nether have you.. unless you know something i dont.. he he

as for the concept of the pre-order.. i cant say as i am in favour of it.. it seems to be open to a little too much abuse..

i have run a business selling stuff online.. no way would i sell something i did not have to sell.. but that is not the current way it seems.. one thing i have learned from this fiasco is never pay up front for a pre-order promise.. or at least not unless you can afford to lose some money..

i ditched my mavic order for the reason i have stated.. i have taken out a new pre-order for a P4P plus.. but i have not paid up front and its from a well known UK supplier who i think has to be reasonably trustworthy.. UK law and consumer protection does not reach as far as china.. my current pre-order deal is covered by UK law.. my last one wasnt and i can cancel the no money up front UK deal whenever i like..

i think even DJI have stopped taking direct sales payment up front.. in some ways this is good but in other ways its not a good sign at all.. with no money up front they have no obligation at all to honour promises.. he he..

when i get my money back via a paypal claim i can forget entirely about my mavic experience..

as for making moral judgments.. i try not to and i am pretty forgiving regarding what others do..

one thing i will say.. i have lost five grand or so in the past to a chinese company that was trustworthy.. until one day they did a runner with my five grand order undelivered.. there was absolutely nothing i could do about it.. except stand the loss and and not grieve too much about it..

i post my thoughts more to warn the unwary than any other reason..

currently i am out £999 for one undelivered mavic.. plus £300 quid for one undelivered smart phone from gearbest to use with the mavic.. i recon the phone got nicked as soon as it hit the UK yodel hatfield depot.. he he

i hope to get my missing dosh back via paypal claims but that isnt a definite..

but i do try and learn as i go along.. he he

trog

ps.. the problems DJI are going to get will be from a whole bunch of dealers who i assume will have paid up front and will soon be demanding their money back..

ps.. 2.. just a thought and a bit off topic but when i first starting buying directly from china the exchange rate was two dollars to the pound.. the financial gain was worth the risk and the occasional loss.. now with the poor dollar pound exchange rate we have buying directly from china is not worth the risk.. its best to let someone else do that..

 

[cdronefly]

My MBA Thesis topic was same. I said it before. In the end, DJI is a toy company that has a great product/demand streak going on and what good would regular updates be as there is nothing to report. They are building them one by one and shipping them out one by one. Yep, I would sure like to get ONE of the three I have on order yet I have to remind myself it is a toy and then I go fly my real airplane and I am okay for a while.

Has anyone you know ever done an MBA thesis on the effect that multiple (unwanted) orders have on a company and their partners (retailers, etc.)?

I'm not saying you don't want your three. But I have seen dozens of people who claim they ordered 3-5+ units from different vendors. I also know a couple businesses (retailers and manufacturers) in my industry who were put out of business by the this exact consumer tendency.

The retailers because they ended up with years worth of inventory based on both manufacturer prodding and their misreading of consumers and the market...or, more accurately, by the time the product was delivered (due to high demand) the boom was over.

The manufacturers because they believed the retailers and built up inventory and capacity for the alleged sales.

Do you think those who ordered 3-5 units are a tiny percentage? Or more?

 

[Chase R]

Has anyone you know ever done an MBA thesis on the effect that multiple (unwanted) orders have on a company and their partners (retailers, etc.)?

I'm not saying you don't want your three. But I have seen dozens of people who claim they ordered 3-5+ units from different vendors. I also know a couple businesses (retailers and manufacturers) in my industry who were put out of business by the this exact consumer tendency.

The retailers because they ended up with years worth of inventory based on both manufacturer prodding and their misreading of consumers and the market...or, more accurately, by the time the product was delivered (due to high demand) the boom was over.

The manufacturers because they believed the retailers and built up inventory and capacity for the alleged sales.

Do you think those who ordered 3-5 units are a tiny percentage? Or more?

I know I've seen a number of people on DJI's forum talking about ordering from numerous retailers (mainly DJI, Apple and Best Buy). There will definitely be a surplus of these things in the near future.

 

[trog100]

I know I've seen a number of people on DJI's forum talking about ordering from numerous retailers (mainly DJI, Apple and Best Buy). There will definitely be a surplus of these things in the near future.

personally i think the number of multiple orders will be huge.. made even more huge by the no money upfront offers and the ebay flip for profit factors..

but i still dont see a surplus simple because i think the real problem is that dji is unable to meet what could be called the real demand let alone the false multiple order demand..

it will be interesting to see how it all pans out.. he he

trog

 

[Chase R]

personally i think the number of multiple orders will be huge.. made even more huge by the no money upfront offers and the ebay flip for profit factors..

but i still dont see a surplus simple because i think the real problem is that dji is unable to meet what could be called the real demand let alone the false multiple order demand..

it will be interesting to see how it all pans out.. he he

trog

Agreed in short term. Not saying these businesses won't sell all of them eventually but when the switch flips, I think all businesses selling Mavics will go from out of stock to available in a short period of time.

 

[Christopher G. Hughes]

Agreed in short term. Not saying these businesses won't sell all of them eventually but when the switch flips, I think all businesses selling Mavics will go from out of stock to available in a short period of time.

Agree. I doubt DJI will have trouble filling up their supply chain... eventually.

 

[PropPilot]

Has anyone you know ever done an MBA thesis on the effect that multiple (unwanted) orders have on a company and their partners (retailers, etc.)?