NEVER ordering from DJI again. Angry as hell

[tuxon64]

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".

No sales tax. Don't want to open another card just to get a rebate on the sales tax. I avoid Amazon as much as I can.

 

[MaxE1955!]

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.

Why are you holding DJI’s feet to the fire when it is obviously due to governmental regulations? I’d be harping about the over regulation of government, not DJI! You even admitted in your follow-up that it had to do with Alaska! Things and Regulations change in an instant with our city, state and federal regulators! Gripe to your state rep….. DJI had nothing to do with it!!!

 

[JOAT]

They have always shipped batteries of any kind by ground only.

Not true. Up until just 2 years ago I had lithium batteries shipped by air with FedEx. The USPS banned them several years ago, because mail often goes on passenger aircraft. But FedEx flies cargo aircraft, so they allowed lithium by air. Until they banned it about 2 years ago.

 

[Walleye Hunter]

You would think that you can ship Li batteries almost anywhere but if you lived in Alaska and tried to order Li batteries you would find that virtually no place will send them. Not Amazon, not B&H, nobody will send them. DJI WILL send batteries. Any company -could- send them but it apparently requires actual training certification and the application of stickers and such which is why FedEx failed in their attempt to send me a Combo kit when I ordered my original Mavic 3. It was refused at some point and sent back to DJI who then shipped it by DHL. I recently tried to order a few more batteries for my GoPro and could not find ANYBODY that would ship to Alaska. I had to have them sent to my daughter in Seattle who reboxed them and sent them up to me. Of course boats come here but it's not a reasonable option for a battery. A crate of batteries perhaps... I would bet Hawaii may suffer similarly but I don't know.

Yous do pay dearly to live in such a beautiful place

 

[Blairsville]

Not true. Up until just 2 years ago I had lithium batteries shipped by air with FedEx. The USPS banned them several years ago, because mail often goes on passenger aircraft. But FedEx flies cargo aircraft, so they allowed lithium by air. Until they banned it about 2 years ago.

Since 2015, depending on what class lithium battery is being shipped FedEx and UPS are required by law to ship certain types of batteries by ground. My guy at the UPS store says they are required to ask and since there is so many types of batteries now, they simply put this label on it and it goes ground only.

 

[LoudThunder]

You would think that you can ship Li batteries almost anywhere

My son is a roving Electrician In the vernacular, he's an "intenerate" worker. He has his master's rating in almost 30-differet sates and he is highly employable for construction projects (Amazon Fulfillment Centers, Call Centers, Factories, Solar Farms, etc…), With his Master Certificate, the construction projects can employ a lot more journeymen electrician and my son is their overseer and he is responsible to sign off on their work… When he tried to just settle down, there are few places that needed a Master Electrician on staff.

So now he RVs from job to job, works the initial construction and he' gone… But what thai is all about is that all his mail is routed through a Mail Service. The mail Service offers him an actual address, not a Post Office Box, so there are no restictions on him receiving shipments.

The one issue is that when he orders something, he has to pay shipping and anyinsurance twice. One to the Mail Service location and then the Mail Service repackages the items and mails them onto him, usually General Delivery near him…

If you do not mind the cost of renting a mailbox at one of these services, perhaps in Vancouver, OR, you might be able to receive anything and everything when they forward your special order mail

My son is a roving Electrician In the vernacular, he's an "intenerate" worker. He has his master's rating in almost 30-differet sates and he is highly employable for construction projects (Amazon Fulfillment Centers, Call Centers, Factories, Solar Farms, etc…), With his Master Certificate, the construction projects can employ a lot more journeymen electrician and my son is their overseer and he is responsible to sign off on their work… When he tried to just settle down, there are few places that needed a Master Electrician on staff.

So now he RVs from job to job, works the initial construction and he' gone… But what thai is all about is that all his mail is routed through a Mail Service. The mail Service offers him an actual address, not a Post Office Box, so there are no restictions on him receiving shipments.

The one issue is that when he orders something, he has to pay shipping and anyinsurance twice. One to the Mail Service location and then the Mail Service repackages the items and mails them onto him, usually General Delivery near him…

If you do not mind the cost of renting a mailbox at one of these services, perhaps in Vancouver, OR, you might be able to receive anything and everything when they forward your special order mail

 

[akdrone]

My son is a roving Electrician In the vernacular, he's an "intenerate" worker. He has his master's rating in almost 30-differet sates and he is highly employable for construction projects (Amazon Fulfillment Centers, Call Centers, Factories, Solar Farms, etc…), With his Master Certificate, the construction projects can employ a lot more journeymen electrician and my son is their overseer and he is responsible to sign off on their work… When he tried to just settle down, there are few places that needed a Master Electrician on staff.

So now he RVs from job to job, works the initial construction and he' gone… But what thai is all about is that all his mail is routed through a Mail Service. The mail Service offers him an actual address, not a Post Office Box, so there are no restictions on him receiving shipments.

The one issue is that when he orders something, he has to pay shipping and anyinsurance twice. One to the Mail Service location and then the Mail Service repackages the items and mails them onto him, usually General Delivery near him…

If you do not mind the cost of renting a mailbox at one of these services, perhaps in Vancouver, OR, you might be able to receive anything and everything when they forward your special order mail

My son is a roving Electrician In the vernacular, he's an "intenerate" worker. He has his master's rating in almost 30-differet sates and he is highly employable for construction projects (Amazon Fulfillment Centers, Call Centers, Factories, Solar Farms, etc…), With his Master Certificate, the construction projects can employ a lot more journeymen electrician and my son is their overseer and he is responsible to sign off on their work… When he tried to just settle down, there are few places that needed a Master Electrician on staff.

So now he RVs from job to job, works the initial construction and he' gone… But what thai is all about is that all his mail is routed through a Mail Service. The mail Service offers him an actual address, not a Post Office Box, so there are no restictions on him receiving shipments.

The one issue is that when he orders something, he has to pay shipping and anyinsurance twice. One to the Mail Service location and then the Mail Service repackages the items and mails them onto him, usually General Delivery near him…

If you do not mind the cost of renting a mailbox at one of these services, perhaps in Vancouver, OR, you might be able to receive anything and everything when they forward your special order mail

Interesting idea. thanks for the tip

 

[akdrone]

Yous do pay dearly to live in such a beautiful place

Totally worth it but yeah...this glitch is a pain in the rear...as if -75F at our house wasn't....

 

[LoudThunder]

Interesting idea. thanks for the tip

Oh, as a follow on to my suggestion to use a mailing service, about a decade ago, I was very active on eBay and I was burned by three different buyers, one from Japan and the other two from Canada. My postings specifically said in several different places, "Buyer is Responsible for all Import Tariffs and Custom Fees."

The buyer from Japan was buying a 1950's era "Made in Japan" battery toy (Missile Launcher), and he wrote that he was not concerned with the those fees as the toy was "returning" to Japan… Boy, was he wrong, the Japanese feel that once an item is exported, it's "gone" and for it to return, it must be imported. Well, he refused to pay the fees and customs refused to release the toy and it took me about 6-months to get the toy returned and I had to pay the return shipping…

The first buyer from Canada did the same thing, refused to pay the fees and I had to pay return shipping.

The second buyer from Canada wrote that he would use a shipping service so it would all be on him, so I agreed, and when the auction was over, I waited over 2-months for him to pay, then he claimed that he never received the item and I went around and around with ebay about this…

Well, the issue with the Shipping Service is that they hold your mail until you tell them to send it… He forgot that he had it sent to the shipping service and never requested the Shipping Service to forward the package, so he thought I never sent the item.

Well, it was finally resolved by ebay but they would not pull the complaint, So after that, I changed my auctions to only allow US registered buyers and I changed the postings to say…

This Auction is offered only to the U.S., US Protectorates, and APO/FPO addresses.
US Protectorates include: American Samoa, Guam, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
I do not ship International.

So, as a final thought, if you decide to give the Shipping Service a try, please make sure you understand how they work. My son said that his mail goes there and they do not notify him if any mail is there or how much. He has to call, email, or write to get his mail forwarded. If he asks, they will tell him if he has any mail and how much. And when the mail is forwarded, he pays that postage…

 

[PunaPhantom]

We have ordered 11 drones over the years from DJI... we don't buy when first released and when we order from DJI we are assured of the latest iteration of the model... we have also had more than a dozen "repair" tickets... all of which were handled with the utmost professionalism / speed, and the price was incredibly affordable (in most cases cheaper than the cost of "refresh" or "care" or whatever they call it - once an Obsidian hitting a palm tree [thanks VO] and diving straight into the driveway 1,000 pieces... $185 to "repair" {which is actually a refurbished unit - good as new})

But to get back to the OP... when we ordered the Avata we had to go through the exact same issue... customs release, SS# et al... silly, just got the M3P last week 7 days after ordering - from China... no customs, no SS#... don't know what triggers this... and yes in Hawaii we have the same issue with darn batteries.

 

[Robert Prior]

I called FedEx and was assured it was NOT sent with a signature requirement. I then got on a chat with DJI and can you guess? They said it WAS sent with a signature required.

I don't know if I'd trust DJI, but I know I wouldn't trust FedEx.

I've had them make too many mistakes, like sending me to a city 1.5 hours away to pick up a parcel that I wasn't home for, to discover that that facility has no record of it but it's at a different facility 1.5 hours the other way, but it's not there either but was left with a neighbour who I don't know and who went back home to the Philippines for a month… (Fortunately for me, a friend knew the neighbour's roommate and so I got the parcel sooner. And although it was sent signature-required and tracked by my father no one signed for it and according to what he was told it was still 'in transit' when I had it in my hand.)

So yeah, I don't trust FedEx. Or UPS.

 

[coullit]

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

The gov there doesn't want DJI drones there...

 

[akdrone]

The gov there doesn't want DJI drones there...

It's not the Tenn to Ak part it's the China to US thing. For whatever reason it appears that if you are in the lower 48 and order from DJI it comes from CA but if you are from AK it comes from Hong Kong.

 

[tls3601]

Why can’t we make a serious drone here in the USA? SO tired of funding 3rd world countries

 

[Droning on and on...]

Why can’t we make a serious drone here in the USA? SO tired of funding 3rd world countries

Because you won't?

Just sayin'

 

[PAW]

Why can’t we make a serious drone here in the USA? SO tired of funding 3rd world countries

You are fortunate then as your DJI drone is not made in a third-world country.

 

[Dangerly]

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".

I tried to order my Avata with Motion Controller 2 and Integra Goggles from Amazon or anyone else, but the only place it was available at the time I ordered it (when it was just released) was from the DJI Store. I even made this unboxing video because at the time not too many people had this combination.

 

[Dangerly]

Why can’t we make a serious drone here in the USA? SO tired of funding 3rd world countries

You mean like Skydio? Skydio designs, assembles, and supports its products in the U.S. from its headquarters in San Mateo, CA, and manufacturing facilities in Hayward, CA.

 

[Deleted member 170519]

You mean like Skydio? Skydio designs, assembles, and supports its products in the U.S. from its headquarters in San Mateo, CA, and manufacturing facilities in Hayward, CA.

They have been out of stock for a while.. You can only order the enterprise version at the moment.

 

[Dangerly]

They have been out of stock for a while.. You can only order the enterprise version at the moment.

I just confirmed that they will no longer be in the consumer market. Such a shame.