DJI care is no longer worth it.

[msinger]

I just went to Dji.com and looked up the 1 year care plan for the Mavic 3 Classic. It doesnt specify here that its only for the EU and UK.

EU/UK get a 2 year extension if DJI Care Refresh is not used (for a total warranty period of 3 years). Everyone else (including you assuming you're not in EU/UK) will get a 1 year extension (for a total warranty period of 2 years).

 

[Chrislaf]

Thank you @msinger for posting this and @3rdof5 for letting me know about this change.

This explains why DJI hasn't yet emailed me about renewing my Refresh plan on my Mavic 3 as I am weeks away from the original 1 year plan expiring on my M3. I have until September on my M3P so hopefully I won't have any incidents between now and then.

When I had Refresh on my Spark there was no 'Rewards for Safe Use', so it's great to see DJI adding this to their policy. It makes it so much more worth it.

This is also a great reason why this forum is so great to be on - learned something new I didn't know existed.
Chris

 

[3rdof5]

EU/UK get a 2 year extension if DJI Care Refresh is not used (for a total warranty period of 3 years). Everyone else (including you assuming you're not in EU/UK) will get a 1 year extension (for a total warranty period of 2 years).

Thanks @msinger this is good to know! And I'm in Canada just doesn't show in my profile yet. Too new in here.

 

[MoToad]

I purchased the 1 year care as part of the bundle with my M3C online at Dji just yesterday. I read both the 2 year and 1 year very carefully and both stated an additional year warranty if you do not use the Care. I have no idea if this a new change or not.

Ditto for me.

 

[coullit]

This is one of many emails between myself and DJI support concerning an Avata replacement with DJI Care refresh.


"I have tried that process many times as I have said many times. I have also said I do not want to apply for DJI care on this aircraft or any other DJI care program. It is simply not worth the difficulty and after the payments it is no longer financially advantages to the purchaser.
I will not purchase as many products as I have in the past and never will I pay for DJI Care. I will also advice friends, colleges and lists not to purchase DJI Care. It was once and excellent product with very few procedures or questions, products were replaced without question and in full with no charge.
Clearly profit has replaced service, I can not afford it and I don't want it.
However I do want to thank the support staff for their continued professional and polite attempts at helping consumers even though they are under increasing rules and regulations to slow down or stop a claim through DJI Care.
So Thank you, but I will not purchase DJI Care again."

John Gowland

Ive never crashed and flown for 5 years or more, my collision avoidance sensors work, but very occasionally have I needed them. Ive flown it to its limit and would say most crashes are avoided by staying high ie 100m
Ive got 2 airs incl air 2s, mavic pro zoom, phantom 4, mini, the small white one

 

[Ridgeback65]

DJI really know what they are doing. They have basically stripped away the extras that come in the kit, insure the drone itself, sans controller which is not covered, figured out what they would sell a replacement drone to you retail, charge money up front in hopes of us not having a repair needed. The problem is that the way that their drones are packaged at retail, Care/Refresh lets us fly with less concern about crashing or fly always. But the fact is that DJI has no risk involved. If we crash and they have to replace, they break even. If we don’t crash (within the coverage period, only up to two years) they win big. My Mavic 2 got a busted leg only weeks from C/R expiring and would have been a $200 repair outside of C/R. I had no choice but to super-glue the leg back in place. In my case DJI got a lot in premiums with no cost outlay whatsoever, leaving me in the cold, just weeks outside of the C/R period. Yeah… they are diabolically smart.

Sorry for your experience. Just got my RC Pro repaired for a faulty HDMI port about 2 months ago with professional communication throughout and quick turnaround. Hoping my good experience is not unique (or dwindling).

Edited to say that mine was still under normal 1 year warranty (not DJI Care).

 

[IronSky1]

I use this service on all my DJI drones. I have crashed my Inspire 1 and 2 several times and my Mavic Mini 1,2 and 3 about 5 times. The Inpire repairs were over 700 each (USD) . I also carrry it on MAvice Enterprise Thermal just in case.

Its like any insurance a necessary evil.

The other issue is as I get older it becomes more difficult to diassemble repair and reassemble these techincal devices .

 

[Dale D]

This is one of many emails between myself and DJI support concerning an Avata replacement with DJI Care refresh.


"I have tried that process many times as I have said many times. I have also said I do not want to apply for DJI care on this aircraft or any other DJI care program. It is simply not worth the difficulty and after the payments it is no longer financially advantages to the purchaser.
I will not purchase as many products as I have in the past and never will I pay for DJI Care. I will also advice friends, colleges and lists not to purchase DJI Care. It was once and excellent product with very few procedures or questions, products were replaced without question and in full with no charge.
Clearly profit has replaced service, I can not afford it and I don't want it.
However I do want to thank the support staff for their continued professional and polite attempts at helping consumers even though they are under increasing rules and regulations to slow down or stop a claim through DJI Care.
So Thank you, but I will not purchase DJI Care again."

John Gowland

As I understand it , John, insurance of all kinds is based on the insurance companies "odds" which they have wisely figured out over many years of experience. It is a form of gambling, and unfortunately, the "house" mostly wins most of the time. If not, they could not remain in business.

In my personal experience over 3 drones (Mavic Air 1 (red), Mavic 2 Pro, and Mavic Mini), I have made successful claims, each which have results in a sort of break even exchange. In addition, my claims have been quickly resolved, usually with a new drone or a refurbished one that I could not tell from a new one.

Yesterday, I renewed for a 2nd year my Care Refresh on my Mavic 3. I have not had a claim in its first year, and I hope not to have a claim in future years, so the $200.00 premium is my cost of peace of mind in my own opinion.

Dale
Miami

 

[SladeSteele07]

This is one of many emails between myself and DJI support concerning an Avata replacement with DJI Care refresh.


"I have tried that process many times as I have said many times. I have also said I do not want to apply for DJI care on this aircraft or any other DJI care program. It is simply not worth the difficulty and after the payments it is no longer financially advantages to the purchaser.
I will not purchase as many products as I have in the past and never will I pay for DJI Care. I will also advice friends, colleges and lists not to purchase DJI Care. It was once and excellent product with very few procedures or questions, products were replaced without question and in full with no charge.
Clearly profit has replaced service, I can not afford it and I don't want it.
However I do want to thank the support staff for their continued professional and polite attempts at helping consumers even though they are under increasing rules and regulations to slow down or stop a claim through DJI Care.
So Thank you, but I will not purchase DJI Care again."

John Gowland

This is from the for what it's worth department. I bought an m30t which cost me around $14,000. Two months into owning it during a search and rescue operation, it ended up in the drink. Submerged in about 15 ft of brackish water. Two weeks later I had a diver go down and get it and it was completely destroyed. I sent it back to DJI and they replaced it for $900. And I still have one replacement left. So for me, it was definitely worth it because I couldn't have afforded to spend another $14,000. But I can see for some of the smaller drones it may not be.

 

[Ralph thompson]

I purchased the 1 year care as part of the bundle with my M3C online at Dji just yesterday. I read both the 2 year and 1 year very carefully and both stated an additional year warranty if you do not use the Care. I have no idea if this a new change or not.

Just my thoughts, but in some countries or provinces, like CANADA, a one year warranty is required under consumer law, at no cost to the buyer against defects in manufacturing. So I can imagine DJI maybe will have been reminded that they can’t negate a law by simply offering a paid-for accident insurance. Id be pretty sure the warranty doesn’t cover things like fly away and crash unless you can prove it’s due to a manufacturing defect.

 

[NorthEastJohn]

I have hardware replacement on all my equipment for my Drone Company. Mix of DJI Care and private Insurance policies. Price and deductibles are very close in cost.

 

[Dbez1]

For those of us that can get State Farm Insurance, it’s the best thing since sliced bread. It’s $45 per year for me (in PA), there’s no deductible, and I don’t have to produce the damaged drone. The negatives are: it can’t be used for commercial work and if used too much, I believe they’ll drop you (I haven’t tested that). The coverage will naturally be more expensive for the higher priced drones. I fly an Air2S.

 

[JimSteadman]

My experience with them was first class. Drone was damaged and I expected only a repair, but I got a new drone from them. I got the new drone immediately after sending the damaged one in - and before they actually received it. No complaints here.

 

[drjmax]

An interesting statistic from the term life insurance industry is that only 10% of policies sold ever pay a claim.

 

[John Gowland]

All I am saying is that after paying for DJI Care then, when your claim is successful, you make a further payment for the replacement there is not much difference than there would be if you just went and bought a new one. One of the new conditions for a replacement is that you have to complete the “Flyaway” form. I could not do this because I could not “bound remote controller” to open the flyaway form. Mine just went to “bound goggles” so I could not get to the flyaway form. I do not know why I could not get too “bound remote controller”.
So DJI would not replace the aircraft.
So, with all the hassle and the minimal cost difference it is no longer worth it for me. You may have a different experience.
It has become progressively difficult, to successfully make a claim and more expensive when you “pay” for the replacement. Whereas in the past there was no cost for the replacement and you needed less evidence such as an pic of a dead drone. For you it maybe worth it. For me it is not.

 

[moldorf]

All I am saying is that after paying for DJI Care then, when your claim is successful, you make a further payment for the replacement there is not much difference than there would be if you just went and bought a new one. One of the new conditions for a replacement is that you have to complete the “Flyaway” form. I could not do this because I could not “bound remote controller” to open the flyaway form. Mine just went to “bound goggles” so I could not get to the flyaway form. I do not know why I could not get too “bound remote controller”.
So DJI would not replace the aircraft.
So, with all the hassle and the minimal cost difference it is no longer worth it for me. You may have a different experience.
It has become progressively difficult, to successfully make a claim and more expensive when you “pay” for the replacement. Whereas in the past there was no cost for the replacement and you needed less evidence such as an pic of a dead drone. For you it maybe worth it. For me it is not.

sounds like your drone wasn't bound to your RC....? Or more likely I'm not understanding your situation...sorry

I understand why DJI puts up hoops you have to jump thru, and yeah, they are probably irritating. And yes, the up-front investment is essentially speculating on a bad event

a couple of months ago I purchased a refrurbished Mavic 3 FMC. I added the $239 one year care refresh. I simply look at that as earnest money. If I crash my drone and can recover it, that $239 + $159 (replacement) saves me $1450 (Mavic 3 + battery). If the M3 flies away, the $239 + $739 saves me $870. And, IIRC, if I make no claim for the year, the 2nd year is added

yeah, the $239 is non-reundable. But the 'insured property' flies and there is a substantial inherent risk in that. By essentially adding about 10.5% to my up-front cost, I'm potentially saving as much as 78% on my back-end replacement cost. I see the value in that

 

[Eagle928]

This is one of many emails between myself and DJI support concerning an Avata replacement with DJI Care refresh.


"I have tried that process many times as I have said many times. I have also said I do not want to apply for DJI care on this aircraft or any other DJI care program. It is simply not worth the difficulty and after the payments it is no longer financially advantages to the purchaser.
I will not purchase as many products as I have in the past and never will I pay for DJI Care. I will also advice friends, colleges and lists not to purchase DJI Care. It was once and excellent product with very few procedures or questions, products were replaced without question and in full with no charge.
Clearly profit has replaced service, I can not afford it and I don't want it.
However I do want to thank the support staff for their continued professional and polite attempts at helping consumers even though they are under increasing rules and regulations to slow down or stop a claim through DJI Care.
So Thank you, but I will not purchase DJI Care again."

John Gowland

It's worth it for new pilots and expensive equipment. In this case the Air 2s and above. I'm waiting on a new Mini 3p right now and I don't think I'll insure it. I might regret that later but I've made most the rookie mistakes that I'm going to (I hope).

Other than that it's a personal choice everyone needs to make for themselves. I don't insure everything. If I did I would end up paying more for them than they're worth in the long run. Some people like to insure the heck out of everything they can and that's fine too. No wrong answers.

 

[archangel001]

One one hand I see what your are saying. On the other I don’t. I haave always had/used DJI refresh. I have had some crashes over the years and have used it with out problems. I crash my drone and replace. My experience may have been a little different because I usually had my local DJI Authorized dealer handle for me. We have known each other a long time. Being a dealer he gets express shipping service so I think the thing the longest I have waited for a replacement turnaround was about a week. He also gets pricing on repair if he can’t do it himself at a shop. Don’t know if you have an authorized dealer nearby but it might be worth looking into. There have been times where I’ll bring a crashed drone in and he will look at and tell me he can fix (or get it fixed) for cheaper than the DJI replacement cost saving me a replacement.

 

[julius13]

I’ve always purchased DJI care when buying a new drone. I’ve had 2 claims in 8 years. One was my fault and the other was crashed due to a propulsion issue on one of the motors when flying 372 agl. The 1st one needed repair so DJI just sent me another drone when I explained it was pilot error. The 2nd one had to be analyzed to determine the issue. When I filed my claim it seemed that maybe they were dragging their feet. We had issues downloading my flight records, however when that was corrected and they determined that it indeed fell out of the sky I had a new drone the next day. And on top of that, DJI states that you have to return a damaged drone for repair or replacement before they will send out a new (refurbished) drone. But since my Mavic 2 was stuck 125 feet agl in a tree, they sent me a replacement anyway. As I said, after my claim was authorized I had the replacement the next day. A lot of people have horror stories about DJI care and I may be the exception since both times using it they delivered. I recently purchased a Mavic 3 Pro Cine. I was not about to drop that kind of money and hope for the best.

 

[Torque]

I have C/R on all my DJI drones for at least the first 2 years. I've used it on one of the Phantoms years ago, on the Mini 2 and most recently on the Mini 3 Pro when two prop screws broke and I wasn't able to remove the broken screws. In that most recent incident I was offered a repair which could take several weeks at no charge (or minimal charge?), or a replacement drone for $65 and 3 day shipping. I opted for the latter. It was easy and the new drone arrived in 3 - 4 days.
I just ordered the Mavic 3 yesterday, and I did gulp at the cost for 2 years of Care Refresh, but it is worth it IMO.