Wife bought me a Mavic Pro several years ago. Flew it a few times and then found myself in about a seven year stretch of constant deployments with one relocation in-between. Bottom line, it sat unused for several years until I finally unpacked it about a month ago and took it for a spin. Around flight #2 I had a catastrophic case of User igorance. Launched the MVP in front of my home, immediately got a magnetic interference message while the MVP rapidly ascended and started drifting towards a tree in our front yard. I initiated an immediate action drill, aka over correction, and when it was all said and done the MVP had smacked into the side of the second story of our house, bounced off the roof and landed in a bush. Props were scratched but intact and still connected, but the camera was hanging by a cable and seemingly DOA.
The situation looked muy grim, to say the least. I immediately fired it up to see if it would still fly (in a different location!) and confirmed that it would but with no camera feed whatsoever. A few hours of YouTube research had me thinking the entire camera assembly/gimbal needed to be replaced. I ordered a complete assembly on Amazon for about $280 and then immediately had doubts about whether I could do the replacement myself. I looked into DJI’s Service and decided to launch a repair request through them. That same night, I ordered an Air 3…just in case. Comms were excellent after submitting the necessary form and pics.
15 July: Received email acknowledging receipt of drone with list of items received.
16 July: Receive diagnosis and quote for repair. Diagnosis is below; quote included shipping = $100. $65 of that appeared to be labor or what they refer to as the “Repair Service Fee.” I was stunned as I figured I’m looking at $200-300 easily. I pay the $100 immediately.
Item List
Gimbal Vibration Damping Module
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 2.00
Total Price: 2.00
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 3.00
Total Price: 3.00
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 6.00
Total Price: 6.00
Quantity: 2
Net Price : 6.00
Total Price: 12.00
Quantity: 2
Net Price : 6.00
Total Price: 12.00
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 65.00
Total Price: 65.00
$100.00
17 July: Receive email advising the MVP has been repaired and shipped along with UPS tracking number and contents of package.
19 July: My MVP is back in my hands.
Props have been replaced (not with the gold striped ones that came with the MVP; these had white stripes instead (forgot to snap pic)). Had an initial issue with the app no longer talking to the drone and then inexplicably the Google Phone I had been using with the thing seemed to drop the app completely after an OS update and I couldn’t find it at all in the Google App Store. Have since learned that as of that update DJI apparently no longer supports Android phones? In any event, after fishing out an old iPhone and re-linking the remote/app/drone, launched it on a test flight and all is well with the camera functioning like brand new. Received several follow-up calls and emails from DJI on the repairs, but unfortunately another deployment popped up, so no chance to chat with them. The only recommendation I would have made would have been to include a blurb that you might need to re-link the remote with the drone. But overall, great service, and significantly cheaper than my initial plan to replace the entire camera assembly, which was apparently not required. I had thought about returning the Air 3, but this deployment got in the way and it will be well past the return timeline by the time I get home so I’ll be holding on to that. I am debating selling the MVP and getting something like a Mini 3 as a backup for travel, but that’s a story for another post.
The situation looked muy grim, to say the least. I immediately fired it up to see if it would still fly (in a different location!) and confirmed that it would but with no camera feed whatsoever. A few hours of YouTube research had me thinking the entire camera assembly/gimbal needed to be replaced. I ordered a complete assembly on Amazon for about $280 and then immediately had doubts about whether I could do the replacement myself. I looked into DJI’s Service and decided to launch a repair request through them. That same night, I ordered an Air 3…just in case. Comms were excellent after submitting the necessary form and pics.
15 July: Received email acknowledging receipt of drone with list of items received.
16 July: Receive diagnosis and quote for repair. Diagnosis is below; quote included shipping = $100. $65 of that appeared to be labor or what they refer to as the “Repair Service Fee.” I was stunned as I figured I’m looking at $200-300 easily. I pay the $100 immediately.
Item List
Gimbal Vibration Damping Module
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 2.00
Total Price: 2.00
|
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 3.00
Total Price: 3.00
|
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 6.00
Total Price: 6.00
|
Quantity: 2
Net Price : 6.00
Total Price: 12.00
|
Quantity: 2
Net Price : 6.00
Total Price: 12.00
|
Quantity: 1
Net Price : 65.00
Total Price: 65.00
|
17 July: Receive email advising the MVP has been repaired and shipped along with UPS tracking number and contents of package.
19 July: My MVP is back in my hands.
Props have been replaced (not with the gold striped ones that came with the MVP; these had white stripes instead (forgot to snap pic)). Had an initial issue with the app no longer talking to the drone and then inexplicably the Google Phone I had been using with the thing seemed to drop the app completely after an OS update and I couldn’t find it at all in the Google App Store. Have since learned that as of that update DJI apparently no longer supports Android phones? In any event, after fishing out an old iPhone and re-linking the remote/app/drone, launched it on a test flight and all is well with the camera functioning like brand new. Received several follow-up calls and emails from DJI on the repairs, but unfortunately another deployment popped up, so no chance to chat with them. The only recommendation I would have made would have been to include a blurb that you might need to re-link the remote with the drone. But overall, great service, and significantly cheaper than my initial plan to replace the entire camera assembly, which was apparently not required. I had thought about returning the Air 3, but this deployment got in the way and it will be well past the return timeline by the time I get home so I’ll be holding on to that. I am debating selling the MVP and getting something like a Mini 3 as a backup for travel, but that’s a story for another post.
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