Recently I was gifted a DJI Phantom 3 4K. The good news was it had only been flown once. The bad news was it hit a wall on the first flight. My friend was very discouraged and even though he bought new props (He broke one and scuffed another) he never attempted to fly it again. It sat in a box for 2 or 3 years and once he heard I was flying drones (I’m a Newbie) he sent it to me in a box. He said he didn’t want to see it again. I looked it over, installed the new props and flew it a couple of flights. I did discover a few minor Squawks the worst of which was the remote Controller would not charge beyond 34% and the Drone would lose contact with the RC at about 200 away.
- I decided to send it in for service. Because I’m in California and because another Forum member had good luck with DJI in Cerritos, CA, I sent it there for repair. Here is the story of how the whole experience went.
- I called the number I had for DJI and the phone was finally answered after a 20 minute hold. A person in a land far, far away said I would be contacted about repairs and I left my phone number.
- The next day I got a call from Shenzhen, China. After a brief conversation I was told to go to a Web page, fill out a form and print a UPS Prepaid label to Cerritos, which I did.
- On the 21st of May, I took the prepaid shipment to the local UPS Store.
- On May 26th at 11:00 in the morning (After the Memorial Day weekend) the package was delivered to DJI. At 4:00 in the morning on May 28th, it was officially logged in at DJI.
- On the same afternoon, May 28th, the damage was assessed. The same day I was notified of the damage and was told it would cost $350.00 to repair, including all taxes and no charge for shipping in either direction.
- I paid the Bill at 10:20 pm that same evening, May 28th.
- On May 29th & June 1st I watched the “Progress” of the repair online as the site went from Repaired to Conducting Flight Test and finally waiting for Quality Assurance. See my attached photo.
- I’m writing this on Tuesday June 2nd. I have my UPS Tracking Number and all of the Serial Numbers of the components that are being sent to me. If the guys in the Dirty Brown Truck do their job, I will have my Drone on Thursday, June 4th. According to the Serial Numbers, It is NOT the same Drone I sent in so I’m sure it is a Refurbished unit. The Serial Numbers are of January 2020 manufacture date.
