Guarantee won´t cover it

[palito]

I bought a MIni4 Pro in Nov. It developed stress cracks in housing.
No accidents in flight, no dropping on ground. DJI won´’ fix it under guarantee.
I just found cracks while preparing for a flight the next day.
They say since it was in my possession when damage occurred so they can´t determine the cause. And thus the guarantee won´t cover it.
What kind of guarantee is that?

 

[Cafguy]

I would think that your damage would be easy to determine. There is NO WAY a drone would receive that kind of damage in a crash and its camera and gimble still be operable.

 

[palito]

I find it hard to believe they won't honor the guarantee. It certainly will make me think twice about any upgrade in equipment with them.

 

[mavic3usa]

I think for DJI Care Refresh, this is where buy once cry once comes in. When DJI insists no warranty coverage, your service plan will kick in and you get another drone.

In your case, sometimes you just have to ask DJI twice.

 

[AeroJ]

I find it highly doubtful that this sort of major cracking can happen through normal wear and tear and exposure to air and light. I would guess that UAV has, at some point or other, perhaps been rammed into a bag too hard, or been put in a situation where the front of the machine was otherwise under tremendous pressure.

 

[FLDave]

when exactly did the damager occur? Did you purchase it new? Who was the seller? Did you examine all of the flight logs to prove that you had no in-flight accidents? Do you have pictures of other angles to show damage? Exactly where and how have you stored it? Did you take it travelling anywhere?
You need to have all of the evidence if you want to establish a case for yourself.
If you want this to be a warranty claim, then you need to present why you believe this is caused by a manufacturing defect for warranty cover.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Just ask for escalation of the case for a warranty replacement to the "relevant team." Unless they can prove pilot error or negligence, the benefit of the doubt usually goes to the pilot. However, this one is not clear cut. The gimbal area of the front is not a stress area, unlike a motor arm. It is also unlikely to cause any issues with flight. Put some epoxy on it and call it good, if the escalation won't cover it under warranty.

Alternatively, submit it for repair, get an estimate (should just be replacing the shell), pay the nominal shell replacement cost ($100?), and get a new brand new drone for the repair cost. Your choice.

 

[Kilrah]

Yeah this has to be damage caused by crushing the bag while stored or such.
Stress cracks would be a fine line but it wouldn't separate that far, there had to be some force applied.

 

[palito]

I find it highly doubtful that this sort of major cracking can happen through normal wear and tear and exposure to air and light. I would guess that UAV has, at some point or other, perhaps been rammed into a bag too hard, or been put in a situation where the front of the machine was otherwise under tremendous pressure.

I think you're right. The bag DJI sells the mini4 in is very tight. I assumed if they sold it to store it and carry it in the UAV could handle it.

 

[palito]

Yeah this has to be damage caused by crushing the bag while stored or such.
Stress cracks would be a fine line but it wouldn't separate that far, there had to be some force applied.

I think you're right. The bag DJI sells the mini4 in is very tight. I assumed if they sold it to store it and carry it in the UAV could handle it.

 

[palito]

Just ask for escalation of the case for a warranty replacement to the "relevant team." Unless they can prove pilot error or negligence, the benefit of the doubt usually goes to the pilot. However, this one is not clear cut. The gimbal area of the front is not a stress area, unlike a motor arm. It is also unlikely to cause any issues with flight. Put some epoxy on it and call it good, if the escalation won't cover it under warranty.

Alternatively, submit it for repair, get an estimate (should just be replacing the shell), pay the nominal shell replacement cost ($100?), and get a new brand new drone for the repair cost. Your choice.

It has been escalated via the DJI forum. I'm thinking now the bag itself is the cause. Since DJI sold it to store and carry the drone, I assumed it could handle it. I had no idea the body was so fragile.

 

[palito]

It has been escalated via the DJI forum. I'm thinking now the bag itself is the cause. Since DJI sold it to store and carry the drone, I assumed it could handle it. I had no idea the body was so fragile.I did put epoxy(crazy glue type stuff actually) on it, after seeing this in a lot of posts, so as not to lose trhe flight that was planned for the next day. Flight was fine. Will a fix like that last?

 

[AeroJ]

I think you're right. The bag DJI sells the mini4 in is very tight. I assumed if they sold it to store it and carry it in the UAV could handle it.

Yes, the bag it comes with is a tight fit, but I would have thought that this alone is not enough to induce those cracks. You are correct to presume the bag should be capable of carrying the drone without damaging it. I frequently overpack my Mini case (all 3 batteries, RC2 + big long lanyard for it, an Osmo Action 3 AND its battery case, and 3 pairs of reading glasses, as well as all the drone stuff), and it is VERY tight in there but mine never suffers any transport damage.

But I remain fairly confident that if the bag is then inadvertently knocked hard, compressed or squashed, perhaps during delivery, or whilst stacked in a huge palette of them that's when this sort of damage can appear, and of course is not necessarily noticeable from outside the bag, perhaps explaining why you only noticed it when you got it all out. However, were this to be the case I would expect to see some creasing and deformation in the corners of the outer box.

If you are convinced that the gimbal and all related functions still work (and be particularly vigilant for for jello / shakes in your footage - those cracks are right over the rubber grommets that isolate the cam from vibration) then I would be tempted to fix those cracks with superglue (or plastic model glue) if DJI won't repair or replace it themselves.

Or you could 3D print yourself some slip-over guards (TPU ideally) for the gimbal wings and further / better protect that whole area and the gimbal against any crashes or crushing in future flights. The front end of these machines is easily the part most vulnerable to crash damage, so really wouldn't hurt to up the robustness there. Only complication there is to make sure our print doesn't obstruct the gimbal cover when that's in place.

 

[PyroProdigy]

That part shouldn't be very expensive for you to get and not too difficult to repair yourself if DJI won't help you.

Mini 4 Pro Side Housing (Brazil - Mercado Livre)



Amazon has these parts as well but I think in Brazil, Mercado Livre is more popular there still today.

 

[palito]

Final update. DJI finally fixed it, but they left me with a great feeling of unconfidence. The communication was bad, some really lame excuses were made, but worst of all is that they sent an extremely high estimate for repair of parts that weren´t broken. No reason given, just after I insisted they agreed those repairs weren't necessary and went ahead and fixed it. But they had been insisting that I pay that repair. I´m in Brasil and it seems this is the only authorized repair shop. Bad setup.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Final update. DJI finally fixed it, but they left me with a great feeling of unconfidence. The communication was bad, some really lame excuses were made, but worst of all is that they sent an extremely high estimate for repair of parts that weren´t broken. No reason given, just after I insisted they agreed those repairs weren't necessary and went ahead and fixed it. But they had been insisting that I pay that repair. I´m in Brasil and it seems this is the only authorized repair shop. Bad setup.

Sounds like Post #7 recommending escalation worked. No is not a final answer. It is the beginning of a negotiation.