NEVER ordering from DJI again. Angry as hell

[akdrone]

My shipment has been held in Tennessee for the last week because they had to get me to fill out an import form and I had to provide my SS# which has never happened before. Last time it was turned around and then shipped by DHL taking a month longer than necessary. I assume everyone here does not have to fill out an lengthy import form. I will never order from DJI again except batteries are pretty much only available from them to ship to Alaska. SO ticked off.

 

[Droning on and on...]

For a decade I've ordered most of my stuff directly from the DJI store, and have never had to do this. Weird.

My sympathy. What a bureaucratic PITA.

 

[BobaFut]

lol



In any case, this doesn't sound like something DJI would have any control over?

 

[moldorf]

My shipment has been held in Tennessee for the last week because they had to get me to fill out an import form and I had to provide my SS# which has never happened before. Last time it was turned around and then shipped by DHL taking a month longer than necessary. I assume everyone here does not have to fill out an lengthy import form. I will never order from DJI again except batteries are pretty much only available from them to ship to Alaska. SO ticked off.

why an import form? Tennessee-->Alaska is the same nation. Is this shipment going on land thru Canada?

 

[SkywalkerFeng]

Is there any particular advantage ordering from DJI, when compared to other authorized detailers (e.g., Amazon, B&H Photo Video)?

If you order from Amazon, you get 30-day hassle free return, and 5% cash back with Amazon Prime card. If you live in one of the states with a sales tax, you can save on taxes by shopping on B&H with their PayBoo card. And I am pretty sure none of them ask you to fill out an import form or provide your SSN.

DJI offers none of these benefits. Last time I checked, they offer only 14-day return period, and 1% "shop reward".

 

[akdrone]

For a decade I've ordered most of my stuff directly from the DJI store, and have never had to do this. Weird.

My sympathy. What a bureaucratic PITA.

For some strange reason it has something to do with being in Alaska. I’ve never had to do this before either although Fedex has failed to ship them on to Alaska and returned them to Hong Kong and then had them shipped from DHL but from now on I will order from BH oh yeah or somebody.

 

[Mavikhan]

Is there any particular advantage ordering from DJI, when compared to other authorized detailers (e.g., Amazon, B&H Photo Video)?

If you order from Amazon, you get 30-day hassle free return, and 5% cash back with Amazon Prime card. If you live in one of the states with a sales tax, you can save on taxes by shopping on B&H with their PayBoo card. And I am pretty sure none of them ask you to fill out an import form or provide your SSN.

DJI offers none of these benefits. Last time I checked, they offer only 14-day return period, and 1% "shop reward".

Sometimes a drone sold on Amazon is actually being offered by a third party seller like Kookoo (or whatever) with a customer satisfaction rating of 77%. You may still have the Amazon return policy, but since it was sold by Kookoo and shipped from Kookoo, will Amazon step in and take care of the return (and refund) process?
I don't know. I always look to see who is selling an item and I never buy from third party sellers with a low customer rating. I suspect they earned it.

B&H has unrivaled excellent customer service, but I am a committed refurb buyer and DJI is the easiest place to find refurbs.

 

[Cafguy]

The ONLY reason I don't pack up my stuff and move to the beautiful state of Alaska is the Price of Everything. I don't know how you can afford just the basic groceries let alone afford a hobby. I order from D.J.I all the time and have never filled out a customs form I ordered an R.C. heli Part from china on Ebay and had to do it once but just the one time. Also if you order from D.J.I. in the U.S. I think they send it from the warehouse in L.A. I might be wrong about that but it seems likely. Maybe going thru Canada as Moldorf said.? either way I hope you get it sorted and post us some pics and video of your Beautiful country.

 

[SkywalkerFeng]

Sometimes a drone sold on Amazon is actually being offered by a third party seller like Kookoo (or whatever) with a customer satisfaction rating of 77%. You may still have the Amazon return policy, but since it was sold by Kookoo and shipped from Kookoo, will you have to deal with Kookoo to process the return? Or will Amazon step in and take care of the return (and refund) process?
I don't know. I always look to see who is selling an item and I never buy from third party sellers with a low customer rating. I suspect they earned it.

B&H has unrivaled excellent customer service, but I am a committed refurb buyer and DJI is the easiest place to find refurbs.

DJI has its own official store on Amazon website. Both shipping and returns are handled by Amazon, and backed by Amazon's 30 day return policy. And DJI sell both new and used drones there. As long as you buy from them, you shouldn't have to worry about 3rd party seller issues.

 

[Mavikhan]

DJI has its own official store on Amazon website. Both shipping and returns are handled by Amazon, and backed by Amazon's 30 day return policy. And DJI sell both new and used drones there. As long as you buy from them, you shouldn't have to worry about 3rd party seller issues.

View attachment 163832

Thank you for this information.

 

[akdrone]

The ONLY reason I don't pack up my stuff and move to the beautiful state of Alaska is the Price of Everything. I don't know how you can afford just the basic groceries let alone afford a hobby. I order from D.J.I all the time and have never filled out a customs form I ordered an R.C. heli Part from china on Ebay and had to do it once but just the one time. Also if you order from D.J.I. in the U.S. I think they send it from the warehouse in L.A. I might be wrong about that but it seems likely. Maybe going thru Canada as Moldorf said.? either way I hope you get it sorted and post us some pics and video of your Beautiful country.

Anything ordered from DJI in Alaska seems to come from Hong Kong or thereabouts.

 

[akdrone]

Thank you for this information.

That’s great to know. That’s where I’ll order from in the future. I’m guessing it will be almost another month before I see the M3 Pro.. we’ll see.

 

[akdrone]

The ONLY reason I don't pack up my stuff and move to the beautiful state of Alaska is the Price of Everything. I don't know how you can afford just the basic groceries let alone afford a hobby. I order from D.J.I all the time and have never filled out a customs form I ordered an R.C. heli Part from china on Ebay and had to do it once but just the one time. Also if you order from D.J.I. in the U.S. I think they send it from the warehouse in L.A. I might be wrong about that but it seems likely. Maybe going thru Canada as Moldorf said.? either way I hope you get it sorted and post us some pics and video of your Beautiful country.

I’ve posted quite a bit here but you can find pretty much all my stuff (including some non-drone videos) at my little youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@digibud/videos

 

[philztoy]

I've had a couple DJI direct first release drone kits get delayed in customs for awhile. Coincidentally they got delayed in customs in Alaska. Maybe it is worse now, but it is probably luck of the draw as to customs requirements at the port of entry.

 

[Mavikhan]

DJI has its own official store on Amazon website. Both shipping and returns are handled by Amazon, and backed by Amazon's 30 day return policy. And DJI sell both new and used drones there. As long as you buy from them, you shouldn't have to worry about 3rd party seller issues.

The only 'renewed' or 'refurbished' or used items that I could find in the DJI Store on Amazon.com were from third party sellers. Sadly. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

 

[JOAT]

Is there any particular advantage ordering from DJI, when compared to other authorized detailers (e.g., Amazon, B&H Photo Video)?

Both FedEx and UPS changed their shipping policies and will not carry lithium batteries to Alaska anymore. Because of that B&H ceased shipping anything with batteries to Alaska and Hawaii about 2 years ago. Amazon did as well.

The last time I needed batteries, I found someone who was traveling down to America to visit family, had batteries shipped to them c/o where they were staying, and they brought them back up in their carry-on luggage. It’s the only way we can get lithium anymore.

 

[Droning on and on...]

The only 'renewed' or 'refurbished' or used items that I could find in the DJI Store on Amazon.com were from third party sellers. Sadly. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

Try store.dji.com.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Both FedEx and UPS changed their shipping policies and will not carry lithium batteries to Alaska anymore. Because of that B&H ceased shipping anything with batteries to Alaska and Hawaii about 2 years ago. Amazon did as well.

Why?

 

[JOAT]

Why?

Fire hazard on aircraft. There have been several cases of batteries catching fire in shipping. Both of those companies decided that lithium is now a ground-only hazmat item.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Fire hazard on aircraft. There have been several cases of batteries catching fire in shipping. Both of those companies decided that lithium is now a ground-only hazmat item.

Ahhhh... it's the ground-only transportation that eliminates AK.