DJI Not Honouring Warranty - Claims it was user error

[firstbase]

This leaves a very bitter feeling in me, I really feel like I cannot trust this company which is a shame because I was looking to upgrade to some of their professional drones later in the future.... not if they try to disguise workmanship defects as an operator error.

Back to your original post and the off base comment above, it seems like you owe DJI something ... not the other way around. Waiting until you gain a little knowledge before dragging someone or some company through the mud is always the smarter move.

 

[JSM]

I found that being patient and courteous with DJI was the best strategy and yielded the best result !

 

[rscheff]

Hi All,

I am going to copy and paste what I put on the DJI official forum. I am coming here because it is likely a larger, more active community, and I would like to know if any of you have experienced anything like this? If so, what did you do and what was the end result?

"

I bought a DJI Mavic Mini at the beginning of March, and one month after owning it the drone had a sensor error that caused it to take off on it's own, resulting in a crash that broke the gimbal in the drone. The drone took off uncontrollably and it was not responding to the signals from my RC. This resulted in the drone crashing and breaking. I sent my drone to DJI, and after they inspected it, they said I have to pay because it is not covered under warranty. I will paste the email I received from the support rep, where they refer to two different instances to support their diagnosis; one in March 13th, and the other in April 10th. From reading the email, it seems like they are trying to suggest that the issue that happened on April 10th is correlated to the issue on March 13th. I don't see how the two instances are related, because since the March 13th incident I had several succesful flights without any issues at all. Even on April 10th I completed flights without issue. Furthermore, when I go to look at my case status, I have an invoice asking me to pay the DJI Care Refresh replacement fee, and the only supporting evidence that for their case analysis diagnosis is a screenshot of my preflight that clearly shows everything is "Normal". I will attach that picture here. Here is the email "Incident date: 2020-04-10 Incident time: 498 seconds FLY051 1. The aircraft worked under Tripod mode, and responded to the pilot’s command well with a strong satellite signal. 2. Flight Time T=498s, Relative Height H=3.8m, Distance to Home Point D=30.2m, the aircraft struck an object and fell. Pilot commanded yaw right, roll right, throttle down and pitch down prior to impact. 3. The incident coordinate: 49.286864 -123.11494996 (PREVIOUS INCIDENT) Incident date: 2020-03-13 Incident time: 718 seconds FLY040 1. The aircraft worked under Sport mode, and responded to the pilot’s command well. 2. Flight Time T=718s, Relative Height H=0.4m, Distance to Home Point D=27.4m, the aircraft struck an object and fell. Pilot commanded pitch back and roll right prior to impact. 3. The incident coordinate: 49.318927 -123.056883 4. The aircraft could not avoid obstacles, user did not allow enough time for the unit to brake before impact. According to the analysis, the incident was not caused by any product malfunction. We can still proceed with the repair, however, you will cover the repair charges." It seems like DJI is suggesting that the incident on April 10th was due to user error. How is it that you are failing to recognize the "sensor error" message that I received ? Why is this not included in your analysis/diagnosis? Of course I was moving the throttle when my drone took off uncontrollaby, I was trying to avoid it from crashing or hitting another human being... luckily it hit a wall before the damage was worse than a broken drone. This leaves a very bitter feeling in me, I really feel like I cannot trust this company which is a shame because I was looking to upgrade to some of their professional drones later in the future.... not if they try to disguise workmanship defects as an operator error. Has anyone else encountered this? What did you do? How can I escalate this issue and get it further revised? Using my DJI Care Refresh replacement only one month into the ownership, due to a sensor error, doesn't sit well with me." I will also attach the picture that "Supports their analysis" here.

I recently (week ago) experienced a strange situation with my mini. I use Dronelink to create and fly missions and also on the missions. One afternoon I flew one long mission, changed batteries and attempted to fly an orbit mission, something I have done many times, As I was setting the POI and the outside ring of the orbit I received a msg. that contact with the A/C had been lost. The A/C was only about 100 feet away and at a height of 70 feet. I then got a fast beeping (the sound you get when you have no battery left and the drone automatically lands) the drone stopped where it was and started descending, right near some people in outside dining. I was in an industrial park with all kinds of open space except that one restaurant. The battery was at 92% so that was not the cause. Any time I have lost connection with the drone it just hovered in place, not this time though. I had a small amount of control of the drone, enough to save it from crashing, but barely. It was zig zagging back and forth and I had to maintain a constant up stick just to keep it in the air long enough for it to make the measly 100 foot back to me. Even then it almost got run over by a car. I sent the flight record to DJI which clearly shows the program initiated an "Automatic Landing" with 92% battery. In my case they are not saying pilot error. They want me to send the drone in so they can look at it, they seem to think that loosing connection with the drone initiated the automatic landing but that should not happen. I don't know what to do, I don't want to use my Care refresh policy on something that rarely happens and I don't want to lose the drone for who knows how long.

 

[Meta4]

I sent the flight record to DJI which clearly shows the program initiated an "Automatic Landing" with 92% battery.

If you can post your flight data here, someone might be able to interpret it and give you some ideas about the incident.

 

[rscheff]

Attached is my DJI flight record but DJI has already seen it and can't explain what should not have happened. They want to take my drone and experiment with it. I don't really want to give it up. I was just explaining to Parrajara that strange things do happen.

 

[Meta4]

Attached is my DJI flight record but DJI has already seen it and can't explain what should not have happened. They want to take my drone and experiment with it. I don't really want to give it up. I was just explaining to Parrajara that strange things do happen.

That flight data doesn't match the incident you described.
It's for a flight where you brought the drone back at 44% battery and landed right at the home point without any complications.

 

[rscheff]

OOPS wrong one try this

 

[Tufargon]

I didn't read the whole thread but I just got an email from DJI to renew my Care Fresh and it states this.

Dear customer,
Your DJI Care Refresh will expire in 7 days.
But now with DJI Care Refresh + you can extend your Care Refresh and
receive one more opportunity to replace your damaged DJI product as well
as extending your product’s warranty by 12 months.
Replacement or repair services will be provided for product damage caused
by a user error, accident, water damage or manufacturing defect.

So even user error should be included If you have Care Fresh.

 

[rscheff]

Parrajara was the original person who smashed his drone flying it the city and DJI said they would not replace the drone because of user error. He claimed the drone started up by itself. I was just responding to him saying that the program may some bugs because my drone landed by itself. If you look at my flight record posted you can see the zig zagging caused by trying to keep an upward thrust and return back home. I have a 2 year old contract but I think they changed it, I actually called them and spoke to 2 people at 2 different times. One said they will cover everything even losing it in the water or a fly away, but the other said they would not cover user error or loss. They gave me a new one when I kept getting error msg., "Gimbal overheating, land immediately".

 

[Tufargon]

AWESOME!!

 

[Meta4]

Any time I have lost connection with the drone it just hovered in place, not this time though. I had a small amount of control of the drone, enough to save it from crashing, but barely. It was zig zagging back and forth and I had to maintain a constant up stick just to keep it in the air long enough for it to make the measly 100 foot back to me.

There was no disconnection and you have full data for every 1/10th of a second of the flight.
Your Failsafe Action was set to the default of RTH.
The data shows no warnings or messages at 1:50.2 when the autodescent commenced.
It appears that you accidentally pressed the autoland button
Then you fought against the autolanding, rather than cancelling and resuming control.
I can't see any evidence in the data of of a problem with the flight.

 

[rscheff]

The msg. that I lost contact with the drone (not 100% sure what the actual msg. was) did not occur, I believe, in that flight. I will look at previous flights. I might have returned it to home and shut the drone off and then on and then tried to perform an Orbit. I use the RTH button all the time, just today I used it on 3 flights, after a mission is complete my drone goes into RTH mode and I stop it every time so that it does not land in tall grass and I hand catch it. Besides if I did hit the RTH by accident, and I know I did not, home was set at 140 feet right next to me. So the drone should have gone up to 140 feet and came back to me. RTH would not be of any use if it just landed wherever you hit the button. I fly in a relatively dense area of cell phone towers, radio signals etc. I lose contact with the drone frequently just 800 feet away, not 50 feet away like I did that day, and RTH is eventually initiated and the drone goes to 140 feet, if lower than that, and flys back to me, it does not just land there. Even DJI wants to take a look at the drone and the controller.

 

[slup]

...the drone stopped where it was and started descending... I sent the flight record to DJI which clearly shows the program initiated an "Automatic Landing" with 92% battery. In my case they are not saying pilot error.

...The data shows no warnings or messages...
It appears that you accidentally pressed the autoland button

Well ... the data at least clearly state the reason for the autolanding starting 110sec into the flight ... circled in red in below chart.

(Click on the chart & picture below to make them larger)
And here the DJI Fly Safe material that are in your Mini ... the red cross marks where you were.

 

[rscheff]

Oh and I just reviewed the flight record again, "A" says home distance was 0 feet implying I was at home, the drone was not. I took of to the right where it shows a battery at 97%. Where I actually landed it was at letter "D" and it says home distance was 66 feet, it was not, it was more like a car length and a half. The notifications section refers to a position "C" but it does not show that on the map. I fly in an airport zone everyday, and every time I land and take off I have to check off on all the agreements. That airport is over 4 miles away, I am not landing in the airport. I think I might even be closer to the flight paths when I fly at my house. I don't see how that has anything to do with drone just dropping out of the sky for no reason.

 

[umanbean]

I don't see how that has anything to do with drone just dropping out of the sky for no reason.

The reason, per the log (which doesn't lie - and slup doesn't either):

Well ... the data at least clearly state the reason for the autolanding starting 110sec into the flight ... circled in red in below chart.

(Click on the chart & picture below to make them larger)

Seems to me you have two choices - you can accept the log, and the expert analysis of it, or keep on with your own interpretation

 

[slup]

Oh and I just reviewed the flight record again, "A" says home distance was 0 feet implying I was at home...

The Airdata interpretation of the log is wrong ... the log clearly show the recorded HP where you say it was.

The green star in the sat pic is where the HP was ...



... it was recorded 5,5sec into the flight with 16 satellites locked & with an GPS level of 5.

I fly in an airport zone everyday, and every time I land and take off I have to check off on all the agreements. That airport is over 4 miles away, I am not landing in the airport. I think I might even be closer to the flight paths when I fly at my house. I don't see how that has anything to do with drone just dropping out of the sky for no reason.

The log clearly state the reason for the autolanding ... right or wrong, it was due to:

And the only thing that can physically forceland your drone besides you is the DJI Fy Safe material uploaded in your drone ... and that tells us that you were in an authorization zone type Airport ... the only question mark here is why it let you fly for 110sec before it took your Mini down (most probably due to that you didn't unlock it as explained below)

 

[Meta4]

The msg. that I lost contact with the drone (not 100% sure what the actual msg. was) did not occur

That's correct ...

Besides if I did hit the RTH by accident, and I know I did not, home was set at 140 feet right next to me. So the drone should have gone up to 140 feet and came back to me.

No-one made any mention of accidentally initiating RTH, because RTH was never initiated during the flight.
Slup has dug deeper and found what initiated autolanding in post #36 above.

I lose contact with the drone frequently just 800 feet away, not 50 feet away like I did that day

You never lost contact at all during the flight.
And you never tried to cancel the autolanding and resume control.
Instead you left the drone autolanding and fought against it.

Even DJI wants to take a look at the drone and the controller.

Whoever you talked to at DJI doesn't have the facts.
There's nothing at all wrong with your drone or the controller.
Go and do a simple test flight somewhere else and that will comfirm this.

 

[rscheff]

I flew this mission same day 10 minutes or so before the near fatal landing. The link is in the beginning of this post, it was the one that I wrongly sent.

 

[rscheff]

I am not disputing the AC went into auto land I am saying I did not cause it. To say it happened because of being in an airport area I dispute because of the flight before and I have flown 100s if not 1000s in the same area.

 

[Meta4]

I am not disputing the AC went into auto land I am saying I did not cause it. To say it happened because of being in an airport area I dispute because of the flight before and I have flown 100s if not 1000s in the same area.

If it wasn't due to an airport issue, then go back to my suggestion that you accidentally initiated Autolanding.
Either way, the outcome doesn't change.
You could have cancelled the autolanding, but didn't