Patience with DJI Repair pays off!!

[Jr. Stafford]

Crashed my Mavic back on Dec. 30, due to Litchi locking me out and basically climbing to 1640 feet and hovering until the battery ran out, then tried to descend at critical battery and fell from 325 feet and crashed. Detailed in a 4 page thread here: Litchi locked me out, crashed!

The quote came back quickly when I sent it in, $361.......most of which was a new Camera and Gimbal and Labor. Hated to file my first State Farm claim so quickly, so I requested a review of the flight logs. After 2 weeks of dancing back and forth and some extreme frustration on my behalf, got a new email today with the same $361 bill, but at the top it said 'Qualifies for repair under Warranty'. And the total to me at the bottom was $0!!

Lesson is, be patient if you feel that you deserve a break for a malfunction and ask for a review of the flight records.

Now, 3-5 days for repair and a few for shipping......what's a few more days?

 

[ATXdrone]

good news! Congrats on turning a bad situation into just a long wait for a repaired bird.

 

[wes]

Same happen to me however I did not ask for anything as I felt responsible as I am a newbie. Should have it back in a few days. Ya hop.

Sent from my ST1009 using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[triumphrider]

Glad to hear you got DJI to cover it under warranty. If you have insurance though, don't be afraid to use it...or else you're paying State Farm just to make yourself feel better.

 

[/\ll/\round]

Why would State Farm cover your Mavic? They have drone coverage?

Sent from my LG-H901 using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[Lees23]

Wish they could fix my brand new mavic that I have flown 2x.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

Glad to hear you got DJI to cover it under warranty. If you have insurance though, don't be afraid to use it...or else you're paying State Farm just to make yourself feel better.

My feeling on that is don't use the insurance until 'completely necessary'. I think for the $60 a year that they charge, after a claim or two, that ride will probably be over. They'll cancel it or slap a nice deductable on the policy.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

Why would State Farm cover your Mavic? They have drone coverage?

Sent from my LG-H901 using MavicPilots mobile app

$60 a year, no deductable. Covers loss and theft and crash. A couple of 'heated' threads discussing it here.

 

[KiterTodd]

Same happen to me however I did not ask for anything as I felt responsible as I am a newbie. Should have it back in a few days. Ya hop.

What happened to yours?

Would like to learn from this thing I didn't know was a risk....

 

[Fly_Me_To_The_Moon]

From the initial repair, i'm surprised they couldn't just send you a new Mavic - minus the remote controller and battery. Since a new one is $999, taking out the battery and remote is probably in that same $361 ballpark.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

What happened to yours?

Would like to learn from this thing I didn't know was a risk....

I linked the original thread up above, it tells what happened. One of the members here looked at the logs and it appears that it was confusing the sun as an obstacle. So it rose higher and higher trying to get above the obstacle. It couldn't, so it hovered at 1640 feet until critical battery, then tried an emergency landing, which it didn't have enough juice for. Fell from 325 feet.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

From the initial repair, i'm surprised they couldn't just send you a new Mavic - minus the remote controller and battery. Since a new one is $999, taking out the battery and remote is probably in that same $361 ballpark.

We'll see, they will repair it in the next few days.......would be nice if they just did that instead.

 

[KiterTodd]

I linked the original thread up above, it tells what happened. One of the members here looked at the logs and it appears that it was confusing the sun as an obstacle. So it rose higher and higher trying to get above the obstacle. It couldn't, so it hovered at 1640 feet until critical battery, then tried an emergency landing, which it didn't have enough juice for. Fell from 325 feet.

I saw your post. Thanks for the link!
I was responding to "Wes" who said the same thing happened to him. ?

Interesting, though, to hear about the sun again as a factor. I wonder if they'll figure out a software fix to differentiate between real obstacles and sun false positives.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

I saw your post. Thanks for the link!
I was responding to "Wes" who said the same thing happened to him. ?

Interesting, though, to hear about the sun again as a factor. I wonder if they'll figure out a software fix to differentiate between real obstacles and sun false positives.

I wondered the same thing.

 

[Wacker2611]

Congrats, I'm pleased you got them to see sense. But I do think it's disingenuous of you to still insist that Litchi 'locked you out'. You are doing the developers of that program a great disservice as that problem you had would have happened regardless of what app you were using.


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

 

[Jr. Stafford]

Congrats, I'm pleased you got them to see sense. But I do think it's disingenuous of you to still insist that Litchi 'locked you out'. You are doing the developers of that program a great disservice as that problem you had would have happened regardless of what app you were using.


Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Completely understood.......that title was created the day it happened when I had NO IDEA what had caused the crash. Now we have better info, and realize that Litchi most likely had nothing to do with it.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

Got it back yesterday finally.......and lo and behold.....it has a new Serial Number!! Assuming they finally just sent me a new one! DJI repair done me AWESOME on this one!

 

[erkme73]

To those encouraging filing a claim with SF... Here's is what their agent told me:

"A personal articles policy (PAP) policy is considered a “fire” policy. Under the fire category is home, PAP, and inland marine policies. If there is a claim on any of these policies, it is recorded in Lexus Nexus and does affect your future rating if you intend to get any of those policies started as new business....

Any claim on any property policy could be considered during underwriting for rating purposes by any carrier, so it’s no different than having an auto claim and then shopping your auto policy after."
​

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it bears repeating. If you file a claim, it will count as a strike in your risk/rate profile. Whether your existing auto/home insurer (whether SF or anyone else) uses that strike to raise your rates is debatable - but it is seen just as an automobile claim.

 

[Jr. Stafford]

To those encouraging filing a claim with SF... Here's is what their agent told me:

"A personal articles policy (PAP) policy is considered a “fire” policy. Under the fire category is home, PAP, and inland marine policies. If there is a claim on any of these policies, it is recorded in Lexus Nexus and does affect your future rating if you intend to get any of those policies started as new business....

Any claim on any property policy could be considered during underwriting for rating purposes by any carrier, so it’s no different than having an auto claim and then shopping your auto policy after."
​

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it bears repeating. If you file a claim, it will count as a strike in your risk/rate profile. Whether your existing auto/home insurer (whether SF or anyone else) uses that strike to raise your rates is debatable - but it is seen just as an automobile claim.

Any yet my State Farm agent called the main office, and was told a 'personal articles' policy would affect NOTHING else in the event of a claim. But she also added the disclaimer that 'this is only in Colorado'....other states may be different. But again, according to State Farm, in Colorado State Farm DOES NOT report it to affect your future rating. 49 other states, who knows? Anyone with a State Farm policy has to weigh that for themselves.

 

[erkme73]

Any yet my State Farm agent called the main office, and was told a 'personal articles' policy would affect NOTHING else in the event of a claim. But she also added the disclaimer that 'this is only in Colorado'....other states may be different. But again, according to State Farm, in Colorado State Farm DOES NOT report it to affect your future rating. 49 other states, who knows? Anyone with a State Farm policy has to weigh that for themselves.

Correct, and that's my only intention in bringing it up. Research. The agent said that any property claim will be entered in the LexisNexis database - which is like a credit reporting bureau for insurers. She said that if I had SF as home and auto, and I filed a claim, it would NOT raise my rates since I would already be an 'established' or trusted customer. She said that such claims really only affect people who shop for new policies after filing the claim, since a new home/auto insurance policy with a new provider will treat the applicant as an unknown risk.

Clearly there are a number of factors that play into the rate/risk paradigm - but as is the case with most things in life, there is no free lunch. Go in with eyes wide open, and remember that the trust level with lawyers and insurance companies rates right up there with politicians.

Sorry to OP for going off on a tangent.