Disaster.. Please Help

DillyDrones · May 30, 2020

Ugh. Joined the Forum this morning and the weather cleared up decided to go for a flight. Long story short my drone was struck out of the air by a larger bird and somehow it fell 30ft into the lake. Unrecoverable.. I have DJI Replacement but i have heard that you need to have the actual product. Any suggestions or comments or help or anything would be greatly appreciated.

InvisibleName · May 30, 2020

DillyDrones said:
Ugh. Joined the Forum this morning and the weather cleared up decided to go for a flight. Long story short my drone was struck out of the air by a larger bird and somehow it fell 30ft into the lake. Unrecoverable.. I have DJI Replacement but i have heard that you need to have the actual product. Any suggestions or comments or help or anything would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, but without a drone to send in DJI refresh doesn’t work... bummer!

Scoop · May 30, 2020

DillyDrones said:
Ugh. Joined the Forum this morning and the weather cleared up decided to go for a flight. Long story short my drone was struck out of the air by a larger bird and somehow it fell 30ft into the lake. Unrecoverable.. I have DJI Replacement but i have heard that you need to have the actual product. Any suggestions or comments or help or anything would be greatly appreciated.

Without the unit, I don't believe DJI will be sending a replacement.

Next time, get a State Farm Personal Articles Policy. ~$60/yr ($2.75 per $100 insured, $60 minimum for me in MI). No requirement to have damaged drone (duh!).

DillyDrones · May 30, 2020

InvisibleName said:
Sorry, but without a drone to send in DJI refresh doesn’t work... bummer!

is there anywhere where i would be able to purchase the drone only?

Nonprophet · May 30, 2020

That really sucks, sorry that this happened. As others have said, get the State Farm policy, it not only pays out in the event of a non-recovery (doesn't have to be water--could get lost deep in the woods) but it will pay out if you loose it due to theft, fire, flood, etc. You might also want to consider drone recovery devices like Getterback and Drone-retriever which can help you recover a drone lost in the water.

Starz · May 30, 2020

Probably the place to hunt may be eBay.

Gealousy · May 30, 2020

Sorry that really sucks!!

aokusman · May 30, 2020

DillyDrones said:
is there anywhere where i would be able to purchase the drone only?

Not at this moment.

bp328i · May 30, 2020

DillyDrones said:
Ugh. Joined the Forum this morning and the weather cleared up decided to go for a flight. Long story short my drone was struck out of the air by a larger bird and somehow it fell 30ft into the lake. Unrecoverable.. I have DJI Replacement but i have heard that you need to have the actual product. Any suggestions or comments or help or anything would be greatly appreciated.

Find someone who dives.

VenomXts · May 30, 2020

Scoop said:
Without the unit, I don't believe DJI will be sending a replacement.

Next time, get a State Farm Personal Articles Policy. ~$60/yr ($2.75 per $100 insured, $60 minimum for me in MI). No requirement to have damaged drone (duh!).

Hmmm, i recently got a air 2 and while I had waived DJI care for my previous mini i picked it up for the air2... I am wondering if should also get some reg insurance for this same situation..

gottahavit · May 30, 2020

That's too bad! I got State Farm just because I do a lot of flying around and on water.

aokusman · May 30, 2020

gottahavit said:
That's too bad! I got State Farm just because I do a lot of flying around and on water.

Hi, do you have to get State Farm as soon as you buy the drone or can you get it later?

sar104 · May 30, 2020

DillyDrones said:
Ugh. Joined the Forum this morning and the weather cleared up decided to go for a flight. Long story short my drone was struck out of the air by a larger bird and somehow it fell 30ft into the lake. Unrecoverable.. I have DJI Replacement but i have heard that you need to have the actual product. Any suggestions or comments or help or anything would be greatly appreciated.

If it maintained telemetry transmission after the impact then you may be able to persuade DJI to honor the refresh terms. Have you retrieved the flight log from your mobile device?

InvisibleName · May 31, 2020

sar104 said:
If it maintained telemetry transmission after the impact then you may be able to persuade DJI to honor the refresh terms. Have you retrieved the flight log from your mobile device?

@sar104 , whilst I would hope this may work, have we seen any other cases where DJI have provided a Care Refresh replacement without the original drone being recovered?

GadgetGuy · May 31, 2020

bp328i said:
Find someone who dives.

Or even snorkels!

itsneedtokno · May 31, 2020

aokusman said:
Hi, do you have to get State Farm as soon as you buy the drone or can you get it later?

I also have this question

sar104 · May 31, 2020

InvisibleName said:
@sar104 , whilst I would hope this may work, have we seen any other cases where DJI have provided a Care Refresh replacement without the original drone being recovered?

I'm not sure about refresh, but they have replaced equipment under warranty when the telemetry showed clearly what happened. In this case, if the telemetry clearly shows a midair collision followed by a crash into water then they may be willing to take that as proof of loss.

gottahavit · May 31, 2020

itsneedtokno said:
I also have this question

I don't think it matters, kind of like putting insurance on a car. That said I have made sure both my drones were covered prior to any realy flight beyond testing the drone worked. I put that insurance on the MA1 about 2 days after I bought it and the MA2 the day it arrived. I suspect that worst case if you try to do it after they just want a photo of the drone with serial no. showing no damage. Of course you also need to send them the receipt.

gottahavit · May 31, 2020

sar104 said:
I'm not sure about refresh, but they have replaced equipment under warranty when the telemetry showed clearly what happened. In this case, if the telemetry clearly shows a midair collision followed by a crash into water then they may be willing to take that as proof of loss.

I don't have refresh, but I would definitely pursue this line first. I suspect refresh is as cheap as it is because they expect to have original drone for parts or refurb to recover cost, but worth a shot. Maybe they'll at least offer a replacement at discuout.