Hi folks, I had a bad experience with DJI Tech Service and I would like to hear from you some constructive comments. Here's the short story:
Technically: The gimbal can be replaced, of course. But do you think the flying problem can be fixed?
Legally: I sent to DJI a perfectly flying drone with a faulty gimbal, and I got back a NON flying drone. Now it's a total loss, not before!
Thanks for reading this sad story until here.
- August 3rd, I fly my two-years-old Mavic Pro in a stone quarry in Tuscany, Italy, where some sculptors are making a lot of rock dust with their grinders, during a sculptor's symposium. I find a cool thing to do some footage through the dust, for a very dramatic cinematic effect, right? Of course the abrasive dust gets into the gimbal, and blocks it almost immediately. OK, my fault, no discussions.
If you are interested, this is resulting video - I land the bird, go home quickly, spray some drops of WD40 in the motor controlling the up-down movement of the gimbal and get a partial unblocking effect.
- I fly the drone in the following days to see how the gimbal behaves, and it's not 100% OK: almost fixed, but not totally, it shakes wildly sometimes.
During these test runs I beat two personal records: fastest fly (69.6 km/h, or 43.5 miles/h) and longest distance covered (8,745 m or 5.46 miles). This bird flies perfectly. - I consult a couple of local drone shops and they recommend to send the drone to DJI Tech Service in Holland. I do it, paying my UPS bill without a problem: It's out of warranty, I'm more than ready to pay for repair and delivery. I add a detailed report, asking for either cleaning the gimbal or for its replacement with a new one.
- I get after a week this diagnosis from DJI Tech Service : "No crash damage. Liquid damage. Aircraft damaged. There is oil everywhere in the craft, customer self serviced it and it's impossible to clean oil from the entire craft. According to the assessment made by our Engineering staff it has been discovered that this unit is a total loss. For safety and the proper functionality of the unit we advise a complete replacement. [...] Please be kindly noted that, the original unit will not be sent back according to after-sales policy."
- After a short exchange of emails - where I tell them that the drone is mine and I want it back with the gimbal as faulty as it is, whatever their internal rules say - they send me back the drone, unrepaired as agreed.
- When I get the drone back, I try to fly it and... no way. No GPS signal, IMU problems, the bird cannot take off. It switches on regularly, makes all its routine checks, the gimbal goes up and down, the propellers move few mm as usual, but the motors will never start.
- I make a complaint with DJI in China, they do all their routine checks with The Netherlands, they even kindly call me from Shenzen, China, to understand what happened (I had to re-explain the whole story, my written and detailed report was probably not clear enough...) and they send me two pictures where some wet parts are visible in the gimbal's seat and in the electronic card inside the drone. (The few drops of WD40 which I sprayed only in the gimbal's motor probably were pushed inside the drone - through the front grill - by the air during the test flights, and is really present in a very, very limited quantity: I have now dismounted the drone, and the wet it's barely visible). DJI refused to clean the oil (they call this "a liquid damage" that can damage electronics) and even refused to replace the whole gimbal (because the drone was "a total loss").
Technically: The gimbal can be replaced, of course. But do you think the flying problem can be fixed?
Legally: I sent to DJI a perfectly flying drone with a faulty gimbal, and I got back a NON flying drone. Now it's a total loss, not before!
Thanks for reading this sad story until here.