First MPP casualty

[Jedpinoy]

First time poster long time lurker. Basically I feel like im the first person to lose their mavic pro platinum. I brought with me to germany because i wanted to drone some of the castles they have there. I've had the previous mavic pro for over a year now so it wasn't my first time using the drone. I should have trusts my instincts that the MPP i had was buggy because the video feed disconnected a few times one me when i was flying the drone but I was able to always RTH and it would fly back. with no issues........

EXCEPT this time the RTH did not work. The video disconnected from the iphone and i was flying blind so i decided to hit RTH but this time the drone flew even farther and out of sight in which sucks cause i couldn't manually fly it back. The drone ended up running out of battery and crashing somewhere. I went to go find and search its last location with no avail. Sucks it happened in another country so i couldn't stay there and keep finding it. Anyways I opened up a case with DJI, sent them my flight records and videos and hopefully they will replace the MPP. Because I believe this was a malfunction on the drone and not user error.

If anyone can interpret my flight recordings and see if it was user error or not. That would help soften the blow. Thats the link to the flight recordings. You can even see one video where the camera gimbal goes haywire and thats when my video disconnected. I had that drone for only 4 days........ sucks big time.

Dropbox - DJI folder

 

[Bunny Too]

First time poster long time lurker. Basically I feel like im the first person to lose their mavic pro platinum. I brought with me to germany because i wanted to drone some of the castles they have there. I've had the previous mavic pro for over a year now so it wasn't my first time using the drone. I should have trusts my instincts that the MPP i had was buggy because the video feed disconnected a few times one me when i was flying the drone but I was able to always RTH and it would fly back. with no issues........

EXCEPT this time the RTH did not work. The video disconnected from the iphone and i was flying blind so i decided to hit RTH but this time the drone flew even farther and out of sight in which sucks cause i couldn't manually fly it back. The drone ended up running out of battery and crashing somewhere. I went to go find and search its last location with no avail. Sucks it happened in another country so i couldn't stay there and keep finding it. Anyways I opened up a case with DJI, sent them my flight records and videos and hopefully they will replace the MPP. Because I believe this was a malfunction on the drone and not user error.

If anyone can interpret my flight recordings and see if it was user error or not. That would help soften the blow. Thats the link to the flight recordings. You can even see one video where the camera gimbal goes haywire and thats when my video disconnected. I had that drone for only 4 days........ sucks big time.

Dropbox - DJI folder

Howdy from Wyoming Jedpinoy, welcome to the community, plenty of fine folk and excellent information here. I am sorry to hear of your loss, I am sure someone here will be able to help with your file.

 

[brad_rector]

Sorry to hear that. That's rough.

 

[f3honda4me]

Based on the flight log you provided, it looks like the drone simply disconnects from the RC entirely. It was actually coming back towards you at the time it disconnected. This is the type of thing you'd see in either instant catastrophic failure or a battery popping loose.

 

[f3honda4me]

I looked at the DAT you provided - I didn't know that the DAT was transmitted/recorded in the controller now? The logs show more of the same - no clues that point to anything other than instant loss of power, unless we don't have the full log file or something?

 

[Jedpinoy]

I really hope thats how its interpreted by DJI as well. I sent those data logs 2 weeks ago and I've yet to receive any response from them. I was extremely careful and always make sure everything checks out before I fly. Just frustrated this had to happen and i was not able to retrieve it

 

[f3honda4me]

I really hope thats how its interpreted by DJI as well. I sent those data logs 2 weeks ago and I've yet to receive any response from them. I was extremely careful and always make sure everything checks out before I fly. Just frustrated this had to happen and i was not able to retrieve it

If they interpreted the same way, you may be out of luck. Most likely cause here was battery coming loose, which they would put as user error.

 

[Jedpinoy]

DJI customer support has been absolutely abysmal (which i already knew) this has been an ongoing case for about two weeks now. I have followed every single direction they have given and I keep getting an email from their team that they have NOT received the droplink email so they cannot further investigate. Ive used two email accounts, and have sent them that link email about 20 times now. Ive called and also use their online chat support but of course all they can do is just notify that specific department (but has no number to call them) so frustrating...........

 

[Jedpinoy]

Well I got this ******** response........no explanation on why the video proof on the gimbal going haywire does not seem like a abnormatlity......thats the end of my droning days.....
.
Hi Gerard,

Thanks for your patience.

For your claimed case CAS-1151499-D5S6K4, we have already finished the analysis, and the result is as follows:
1.The drone was working in GPS mode and responded to the remote command well;
2.T=03:01, H=84m, D=359m, the flight record interrupted;
3.The pilot was pushing 100% pitch stick forward before interrupted; The home point:47.5552148 10.7508444; The last point:47.5582233 10.7526082

With the record ended without any sign of abnormality, we could not verify what happened afterwards. We truly appreciate your support for DJI, and especially applied for a 30% off coupon for Mavic Platinum aircraft without charger and remote: Buy Mavic Pro Aircraft (Excludes Remote Controller and Battery Charger)

If you would like to accept the offer, please reply to my email for example “I accept the offer”. Should you have more questions, please feel free to let me know.

Best Regards,
Poppy
DJI Tech Support
http://www.dji.com/Reminder：
Should you have any question about the data analysis result, please reply this email directly in 15 calendar days. Or the case will be closed due to a lack of response.

 

[f3honda4me]

I expected that answer though, and honestly agree with it. Nothing in your DAT or LOG file shows any abnormal behavior or anything that was amiss.

 

[Jedpinoy]

Im still fighting it. My dispute is still that i have video evidence of gimbal failure that I sent to them. Gimbal failure led to video transmission disconnection and when i hit the RTH it was unable to perform its job. They are claiming the GPS signal and the drone showed no abnormality. But how can they possibly 100% exclude that the gimbal/video malfunction could not lead the drone to fly away. Ive been emailing them back and forth now....

 

[sar104]

Im still fighting it. My dispute is still that i have video evidence of gimbal failure that I sent to them. Gimbal failure led to video transmission disconnection and when i hit the RTH it was unable to perform its job. They are claiming the GPS signal and the drone showed no abnormality. But how can they possibly 100% exclude that the gimbal/video malfunction could not lead the drone to fly away. Ive been emailing them back and forth now....

The problem is that there is no clear connection between gimbal/video issues and the observed failure. They are correct that the log shows no abnormalities prior to this event. It looks most likely to be a battery ejection, which is probably the basis for their refusal to replace. The 30% offer seems to be their default courtesy response in such cases.

 

[Jedpinoy]

The problem is that there is no clear connection between gimbal/video issues and the observed failure. They are correct that the log shows no abnormalities prior to this event. It looks most likely to be a battery ejection, which is probably the basis for their refusal to replace. The 30% offer seems to be their default courtesy response in such cases.

I guess hindsight is 50/50. I guess im just trying to take EVERYTHING into consideration with what happened with the drone. Like ruling everything is fine because the log shows no abnormalities so that means the gimbal failure does not count therefore user error. I believe one failure led one thing to another. But DJI does not see that. I think any sort of failure has to be taken into consideration to the case regardless of outcome.

 

[sar104]

I guess hindsight is 50/50. I guess im just trying to take EVERYTHING into consideration with what happened with the drone. Like ruling everything is fine because the log shows no abnormalities so that means the gimbal failure does not count therefore user error. I believe one failure led one thing to another. But DJI does not see that. I think any sort of failure has to be taken into consideration to the case regardless of outcome.

That's fair enough, but the logical extension of that argument is that if an undocumented and unexplained event occurs then, since equipment failure cannot be ruled out, DJI should always replace without question. I doubt that they are willing to run that generous of a business model, which is unfortunate for those who do experience undocumented equipment failure, but is probably the right answer in the majority of cases.

 

[Brojon]

If they interpreted the same way, you may be out of luck. Most likely cause here was battery coming loose, which they would put as user error.

Actually it may be the battery itself. I'm getting some stuff together to send to DJI and I'll post it here when I'm done.

 

[fozza]

Sorry to hear about your Drone loss. It's everyones worst nightmare. Keep us informed as to how you get on.

 

[StrayaMavic]

If they interpreted the same way, you may be out of luck. Most likely cause here was battery coming loose, which they would put as user error.

Reading stories about batteries popping out makes me want to zip tie them in every flight...

 

[ChillyD]

Hi. Sorry to hear your drone loss, worst nightmare. Might be obvious and sorry if it is but noted you said 'took with me to Germany'. If you were on holiday do you have travel insurance and if so would they cover the 'loss' of your drone. Just a thought, might ease the costs a bit, assuming a lot I know.....

 

[Jedpinoy]

Hi. Sorry to hear your drone loss, worst nightmare. Might be obvious and sorry if it is but noted you said 'took with me to Germany'. If you were on holiday do you have travel insurance and if so would they cover the 'loss' of your drone. Just a thought, might ease the costs a bit, assuming a lot I know.....

yeah I actually looked for travel insurance before I flew out. But mainly it was for health reasons type of insurance. The biggest one i researched for lost property insurance was around $200 in claims of lost property. I live in california too so state farm is not applicable.

Update on case- so far i've written them up on Better Business Bureau with poor customer service and delayed response. I've also disputed this case to my credit card for faulty product. Im still waiting for the final response from them. Ive sent them actual video evidence of the gimbal going haywire mid flight and their only response is they could not find any errors on their data log. It's like they are just playing dumb at this point and doing everything possible to not admit fault

 

[ChillyD]

yeah I actually looked for travel insurance before I flew out. But mainly it was for health reasons type of insurance. The biggest one i researched for lost property insurance was around $200 in claims of lost property. I live in california too so state farm is not applicable.

Update on case- so far i've written them up on Better Business Bureau with poor customer service and delayed response. I've also disputed this case to my credit card for faulty product. Im still waiting for the final response from them. Ive sent them actual video evidence of the gimbal going haywire mid flight and their only response is they could not find any errors on their data log. It's like they are just playing dumb at this point and doing everything possible to not admit fault

Rough, got to keep fighting to see if any offer is given. Keep us updated.