New Air 3s Crashed- badly damaged. Advice please.

[Dark_Star]

I have had my Air 3s for about two weeks. Today it crashed into a tree, (obstacle avoidance on) while following my car with active track. It was flying at about 10ft, fell onto concrete. Gimble is dislodged completely from the body. Hanging on by a wire. The drone will start up but wont connect to the RC unit to broadcast video. It also makes an unusually loud sound when running, sounds kind of like fans. I am trying to determine the best course of action to get it repaired. It was purchased just two weeks ago from Amazon. I tried to get DJI care refresh but its not offered in USA currently. I have found a couple local shops that offer drone repair. Wondering if I should bring it to them or send back to DJI. Also would like peoples thoughts on how much i should expect to pay for repairs, or if DJI offers some kind of replacement at a discounted rate. Thanks for reading!

 

[PINEBARON]

Best bet is to send it to DJI; they will charge you whatever and send you a new replacement, 'DO THIS IMMEDIATELY'

 

[PINEBARON]

Another thing. get to know your the limitations of your drone and equipment. As much as they have obstacle avoidance, it has its limitations; it can never emulate a pet bird following you through a forest or trees whatever.

 

[Dark_Star]

Thanks for the reply. Definitely leaned a hard lesson today. I submitted the repair request into DJIs portal snd it now has me in “transit” and “received by DJI” status, which is odd because I haven’t even received a shipping label yet. Also wondering if I should wait for the shipping label or just send the drone. Lastly, was told to ship the drone stripped everything removed propellers battery by repair shop. DJI instructions seem like they want the kit sent. It seems kind of crazy to send a charging dock three batteries carrying case on so forth thank you again for your input and guidance.

 

[PINEBARON]

Follow DJI instuctions to the letter; wait for the label, follow precise instructions from DJI. You'll send the whole kit back and they will send you a brand new or refurbished complete drone kit back.

 

[KB9Radio]

Thanks for the reply. Definitely leaned a hard lesson today. I submitted the repair request into DJIs portal snd it now has me in “transit” and “received by DJI” status, which is odd because I haven’t even received a shipping label yet. Also wondering if I should wait for the shipping label or just send the drone. Lastly, was told to ship the drone stripped everything removed propellers battery by repair shop. DJI instructions seem like they want the kit sent. It seems kind of crazy to send a charging dock three batteries carrying case on so forth thank you again for your input and guidance.View attachment 187014

Just send the drone stripped because that's what they're going to send back.

 

[GFields]

I dropped my Air 3 in the garage and damaged the front sensors. DJI repaired it for $450

 

[PINEBARON]

I dropped my Air 3 in the garage and damaged the front sensors. DJI repaired it for $450

Be more careful! Were you testing its tensile strength?

 

[GFields]

Be more careful! Were you testing its tensile strength?

No, I was transferring the drone from one case (rolling case) to a standard hard case, and just let it slip out of my hand. Needless to say, I can't blame anyone but myself. But things happen and DJI is still repairing drones in the USA

 

[PINEBARON]

No, I was transferring the drone from one case (rolling case) to a standard hard case, and just let it slip out of my hand. Needless to say, I can't blame anyone but myself. But things happen and DJI is still repairing drones in the USA

I do that a lot with my drones. Although I very rarely ever break anything (except hearts or my wife's patience) I need to make sure I swap cases while sitting or squatting on the floor.

 

[Dark_Star]

After taking to a local repair guy, who quoted me $230 and. Amazon who said they would issue a refund ( im not sure how that would pan out in the end) but can’t provide a replacement I decided to send it to DJI.

 

[Dark_Star]

quote came back from DJI. Almost $500, replacement. I can return for full refund to Amazon. Think I’ll see what happens next week and how supply will be affected. The Amazon refund is the obvious solution however it’s going take 30 days to process. I won’t have the cash on hand to replace the drone until I get the refund. Hopefully we won’t see availability/ demands spike prices to the stratosphere. That’s the only case it would make sense to have DJI replace.

 

[PINEBARON]

quote came back from DJI. Almost $500, replacement. I can return for full refund to Amazon. Think I’ll see what happens next week and how supply will be affected. The Amazon refund is the obvious solution however it’s going take 30 days to process. I won’t have the cash on hand to replace the drone until I get the refund. Hopefully we won’t see availability/ demands spike prices to the stratosphere. That’s the only case it would make sense to have DJI replace.

A full refund for a broken drone? How will that work?

 

[Dark_Star]

A full refund for a broken drone? How will that work?

I am just as surprised as you are. Spoke to Amazon a few times to confirm. They have assured me that I can get a full refund and that replacement is not available. I think the fact that the drone is warranted to mainland China, and I old had it for two weeks helped my case.