$690 New Mavic? Is something wrong?

[Rbruz]

You guys, I am quite surprised at how much of an issue this seems to be for you, and am now curious to see some actual numbers or reports on how much extra cost occasional "worthless returns" are for a company as strong as DJI. These assumptions and insults display a rude and unwelcoming attitude towards an entering drone hobbyist who is trying to help the community grow by becoming a part of it. I recognize, though, how easy it is to hop on the forum and throw shade and complaints as if you know everything I've experienced and in my decision making. Ultimately, continued "shouldn't have done that" comments have beat the horse dead and won't change the past. Your differing opinion has been made clear, and I'll refrain from allowing your insults and rude comments to tarnish this community's reputation and culture.

(Ironically, and this actually made me laugh a bit, this course of action was actually suggested by members of this forum. Now I know you'd have the same complaints for them, but I just find that funny.)

I've been in retail from all sides since 1980' and that includes being a vendor that sold hundreds of thousands of items and had places like Sports Chalet and Sports Authority and even Norstrom charge back items that were not defective other then they had been opened and used then returned, so we take full hit on it then have to discount to sell again, we also got charged the freight for the stuff coming back. Legit defective returns are part of doing business, retail customers pulling the bs you claim were coached to do is lame. Again that extra cost has to be covered by someone and it isn't best buy that eats it. It has zero to do with how large dji is, it is wrong on many levels to buy a perfectly good product and use it for a week or two and return cause ya wanna now buy it online to save some bucks. I can't wait till ya buy elsewhere and get screwed

 

[charliesRig]

I don't have an issue with you the consumer exercise in you Right in the stores return policy
.... isn't the internet a wonderful thing

 

[Frosty314]

I've been in retail from all sides since 1980' and that includes being a vendor that sold hundreds of thousands of items and had places like Sports Chalet and Sports Authority and even Norstrom charge back items that were not defective other then they had been opened and used then returned, so we take full hit on it then have to discount to sell again, we also got charged the freight for the stuff coming back. Legit defective returns are part of doing business, retail customers pulling the bs you claim were coached to do is lame. Again that extra cost has to be covered by someone and it isn't best buy that eats it. It has zero to do with how large dji is, it is wrong on many levels to buy a perfectly good product and use it for a week or two and return cause ya wanna now buy it online to save some bucks. I can't wait till ya buy elsewhere and get screwed

Thank you for the insight from personal experience! That actually helps the conversation move forward. (I never claimed that DJI does not incur some extra cost, so I don't see why you people are so adamant to point that out here, as if that's not an obvious thing. Now if the cost is enough to have to charge every customer more for their products, which doesn't please customers so I don't see them easily "passing the buck", then I'm curious why DJI would accept to take back products that didn't have any defects. If they wanted, they could only accept to pay for the returns of damaged merchandise, and charge for non-defective returns, just like many many other companies already do.)

Now, had I mentioned that my mavic had the problem of constant automatic yaw, or that it wouldn't hover exactly in place and produce blurry pictures with a larger shutter time, (both of which were actually the case for me after continued calibration and internet research for solutions) I wonder if I would no longer be the apparent devil that I am to you people. I was still very pleased with the product alone, and could live with it, but it was an issue none-the-less and would be nice to not have, so go ahead and crucify a guy who wants a more stable camera.

And please explain how wishing someone else to get "screwed" or have a terrible experience with a future purchase does any good for any of us, especially if my return was just an honest "mistake" by someone who's never learned about the, according to claims and your experiences, significant increased costs that we all as consumers have to share from returned merchandise. I mean really, let's take a look at the temperament we're displaying here. People are immediately jumping to "you're just an impulsive idiot abusing the system, making my experience terrible, and for that I hope things for you suck because you deserve a lousy future in drones." Really? Are tempers really that short and shallow and fingers that quick to type? People aren't going to win the hearts and minds of refund-abusers with insults and ignorant assumptions about "our bs actions", that's for sure.

This reply is for everyone reading this, not just you. If I myself am displaying a lack of temper, ill feelings, or pride based responses, I apologize and will leave the thread alone. I just feel that someone has to stand up to flippantly negative treatment in these internet forums that are supposed to be a community for the betterment of a field of interest. Insults and vitriol are far different from educating, patience, and understanding, and I see it all too often in internet forums. It does no good and divides us from each other unnecessarily.

 

[westonmavicpilot]

I can't see what everyones issue is.. if BB have an open returns policy where products can be returned even if not defective then people will take advantage of that policy and use it - for whatever reason. It's not like Frosty lied to them, just used a procedure they had put into place and has been quite honest and open here about that, also despite several insults and ill wishes has remained polite and calm - not much of a welcome for a new member!

 

[Roaddogg]

Did members not see that his post included he had some blurry pictures due to drifting camera issues? People have a right to their opinions, but why the need to insult? You can have 2 weeks of fun flying AND have problems. Maybe Frosty314 would have kept his bird (or not) if there were no problems. I feel some pushed Frosty into a corner where he had to defend his actions and he did so without being rude or negative. In the end he was looking for help... which he got from some. If you have a problem with one of his statements, it could have been handled with constructive criticism, which might have opened a much more open discussion on this sub topic of his post.

 

[Frosty314]

Did members not see that his post included he had some blurry pictures due to drifting camera issues? People have a right to their opinions, but why the need to insult? You can have 2 weeks of fun flying AND have problems. Maybe Frosty314 would have kept his bird (or not) if there were no problems. I feel some pushed Frosty into a corner where he had to defend his actions and he did so without being rude or negative. In the end he was looking for help... which he got from some. If you have a problem with one of his statements, it could have been handled with constructive criticism, which might have opened a much more open discussion on this sub topic of his post.

To be fair to them, I edited the original post with more information after later discussion revealed the need for it. I can understand how the original post would've come across as just someone flippantly buying a product only to play around a bit and intending to return it while at the checkout desk in the first place and not be a legitimate or interested customer. It was a "tip of the iceburg" thing to introduce a quick question, (that yielded helpful answers, thanks to everyone!) I kinda feel bad for allowing a "quick question" kind of thread to become some sort of minor hub-bub by not just ignoring some comments. I guarantee all of us, and especially the more experienced mavic owners, have much value and worthwhile knowledge and help that gets shared on these forums, and it's a wonderful thing that I never want to get in the way of.

 

[Rogue.Aircraft]

Nice job bro! Way to stick it to the Man!

 

[Islandguy27]

So Frosty, if you had a special event coming up and needed a new sport coat for it that you knew you would only be wearing once in the foreseeable future would you return that as well after your event?

 

[Frosty314]

So Frosty, if you had a special event coming up and needed a new sport coat for it that you knew you would only be wearing once in the foreseeable future would you return that as well after your event?

Nope.

 

[vashon100]

I don't think you're getting full benefit from BB, why not have your wife (or relative) buy another while returning that one and get another 14 days playing for free....

 

[Frosty314]

Funny, and I bet you feel pretty clever, but there are several extremely obvious reasons why I would not at all engage in that scenario, and couldn't even consider it in good conscience. I won't even waste our time pointing them out. If you honestly think I would, you've completely misunderstood what's actually happened here, and not worth having any conversation with on the matter.

 

[butterflyslicer]

Your money is better spent on an authorized dealer. Odds are the Mavic in the link you posted is either not new, or of questionable origin. It just sounds like the start of so many problems in your life

Yep, like Apple.

 

[esquire]

That site looks so shady lol

 

[LivinLarge]

$690 New Mavic? Is something wrong?
Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo

 

[The MAV]

Looks shady. Note the site is in New Zealand too.

Lol in NZ so it must be shady

 

[Dabrain]

Sorry, the price I see is $1,143 must have been a typo.

 

[Bendsum]

How did you get around the 15% restocking fee at best buy?
They wouldn't do anything untill I signed saying I understood.

 

[Samson 811970]

I didn't realize 3 weeks of research, in person discussions with an authorized dealer at an air show, and joining a forum and asking some questions, all before a purchase would have been classified as an impulse buy.

To each his own, but I don't think many really have an issue with your purchase, which some have called an "impulse buy"...i think the issue would be with your "impulse return". I know BB probably didn't ask, but would you have been comfortable telling them the whole story about your return?

You certainly didn't rob a bank, but I too dislike how some people (not necessarily you) "work the system" . I have a good friend at work who does it all the time and it's quite unbecoming...

 

[rcflyingaddict]

How did you get around the 15% restocking fee at best buy?
They wouldn't do anything untill I signed saying I understood.

So do they have a 15% restock on MP's ?

 

[Ursus Horribilis]

BULLCRAP. You knew you were going to return it the minute you bought it because you knew the cost when you bought it. You can't use THAT excuse since you already knew the price.

I wouldn't want you as a friend, that's for sure. What you did was wrong, deceitful and despicable. It people like you that ruin it for the rest of us. Go by a kite. No, wait, don't. You'll probably like it but take it back after three weeks of playing with it because the wind has dies down.

Bud

A retail store (best buy) offers a return policy to a customer if they are not comfortable with their purchase. I ended up liking the product in the end, but not the cost, and so I wasn't comfortable with the purchase and acted accordingly. You're free to complain to Best Buy about their policy. I took dang good care of the mavic in case a return happened, fully knowing that someone else would eventually own it after being put back in the line of quality control. (I could one day be a second owner, too, if plans work out to purchase one and keep, which I hope they do.) The mavic bundles online are a better deal. It's not pocket change being saved, but easily $200 or more when buying the bundle. I'd be surprised if you would happily spend more than 20% than you needed to, but hey, you might, so more power to you! I have the right to participate in individual commerce according to services offered by these companies, and I highly doubt that expenses of returns vs initial production and sales costs is anything significant. If they are, then I too am absorbing some of that. I look at it as excellent service provided for a customer that gains customers and builds up the drone community (like it brought me in) and a larger drone community brings more money, demand, and popularity for continued accelerated advancements in the drone consumer community. Now I could be wrong about cost, because I'm a mechanical engineer and not a business major, but I'm not some uneducated teenager flippantly skrewing around without any forethought of other customers or the industry.

I appreciate your opinion/view on the subject, and will certainly consider them in any future potential involvements with any form of product returns, whatever kind of product and retailer it might be.

I'll do my best to resist the urge to comment any further on the matter and avoid getting involved in any petty arguments, unless the majority of users do in fact just want to see users sling around insults like the person who's maturely calling me an "idiot" because my actions seemingly caused them grief or pain. I don't mean to start anything, or initiate ill feelings on this forum, but I feel I have the right (like all of us) to offer up a "hold your horses there...", so to speak, when being misunderstood and having things incorrectly assumed about me, and others that might be in the same boat.

With that, happy flying to everyone, and I'm still excited to be a part of the forum, despite any insults.