SCAMMED BY DJI REPAIR TEAM/ADVICE NEEDED

[RRM]

Hey guys, I wanted to share my experience with you to see if anybody else has ever experienced anything similar or maybe could give me any advice because I don't know what else to do besides taking legal actions against DJI at this point.

I shipped my drone for repair at the end of June together with the note of all items I'm shipping in the package which is: Drone, Battery, Remote, and the case (bag) just so they know that I'm keeping a track of everything I'm shipping.

On the website, it states that "It takes approx. 5-7 business days to repair the product after arriving at the DJI Service Center", however, it took the company 30 days to repair my drone causing me a lot of stress cause I lost a client I was supposed to do some production work for but it's not the only reason I would like to take further actions against DJI.

When damage assessment was done I was sent an email that states what I need to pay for in order to get my drone fixed and shipped back. The detail I should pay for is called "Gimbal Axis Arm Module" ($63) for which I paid as well as for their services ($65). They sent me an email after, stating that my drone is fixed and is being shipped however I've noticed that among listed items they are shipping back in the package is the aircraft with a different serial number, not the one I sent them originally. Also, among those items, I didn't see my bag I shipped my drone in that cost about $70.

I reached out to the company asking for an explanation of why would they replace the entire aircraft that is brand new without any damages or scratches instead of replacing that one detail I paid for. I was told that even in the email it states that if the aircraft can't be repaired it will be replaced... It didn't make any sense because they did a damage assessment and told me that there's only one small detail that needs to be replaced and it's not the entire aircraft.

I did research and found hundreds of reviews of aircraft owners who shipped their drones to DJI for repair and received a completely different "refurbished" drone that was used by someone else before and in many cases it was malfunctioning. It made me worried cause my drone had a very small repair and was never damaged to the point it needs to be replaced entirely and it made me feel suspicious about the company replacing the entire aircraft in such a generous way and charging me only for a small detail especially after they confirmed that only one detail needs to be replaced.
Note: my drone never fell, never go damaged, never crushed and didn't have a single scratch, still had stickers on it in some parts where I could keep them on and I was planning to fix it and sell it so I could get myself a smaller drone so it's easier to travel with it.

I reached out to the company again and asked to speak to the supervisor because I refused to accept the replaced aircraft cause I wasn't notified and never gave them permission to replace a brand new body of the aircraft with another one. However, they said that the drone was already shipped and that in the last email they send me, there was a message that has a statement mentioned below (they pretty much give themselves permission to do whatever they want in this situation)

"Dear customer, We regret that the service is not covered by warranty based on the results of damage assessment, please find details as follow: Out of warranty We will either repair it or replace it with a product that’s new or equivalent to new in both performance and reliability after payment has been received. For more information, please visit (http://www.dji.com)

According to all forums that I looked into for more information for similar cases, it turns out to be a common behavior for the company to do things as such without warning each customer on what exactly will be done to your drone AFTER you place the payment for the parts that needs to be fixed. That message looks more like a general note they send in every email that has their Service Quotation just so they could refer to it if customers will complain about it later.
However, I still don't understand why would the company notify us about what details we have to pay for in order for the aircraft to be fixed and then do something like this.
This situation makes me question what does the company do with aircrafts they keep because in most situations it seems like they replace and keep a new drone to themselves and give customers refurbished ones.

The situation was very stressful because when I asked the DJI representative to put away my drone I sent them (that was in the excellent condition and needed a minor repair such as gimbal) because I would want it back instead of the one they sent me, I was told that it will be impossible cause it's against their policy.

I'm waiting for the package they sent me that has a replaced aircraft with what as I assume a refurbished one because hundreds of people mention the same thing. I'm very upset about using the repair services and sending such an expensive aircraft to the official company that I trusted cause they made me feel like I was scammed.

I would like to know if anybody has ever been in a situation like this with DJI and what do you guys think in general? I want to take some legal actions against them because the amount of stress that they caused me is hard to ignore at this point.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Sorry but I do not feel you were scammed and I do not feel you have any basis for a lawsuit. The process you outlined is very common, not only by DJI but also other manufacturers across all industries.

Specifically:

I shipped my drone for repair at the end of June together with the note of all items I'm shipping in the package which is: Drone, Battery, Remote, and the case (bag) just so they know that I'm keeping a track of everything I'm shipping.

That was mistake #1. This is an assembly line type procedure and they are typically not equipped to keep the "extra stuff" bundled together with your drone. Typically the ONLY thing you want to send is the one single damaged item. I don't know what your correspondence looked like prior to sending in your drone, however they will often specifically say to send in ONLY the drone. The online repair form even specifically states "4. Please don’t send your SD card, propellers or remote controller back to us if not asked."

On the website, it states that "It takes approx. 5-7 business days to repair the product after arriving at the DJI Service Center", however, it took the company 30 days to repair my drone causing me a lot of stress cause I lost a client I was supposed to do some production work for but it's not the only reason I would like to take further actions against DJI.

Yes 30 days may be excessive but we are in the midst of a pandemic and the 5-7 business days is only an estimate. It does say approximately. Also they are definitely not liable for lost wages/income due to you not having your drone. You should not be planning to do work on the basis of a repair item being returned in a timely fashion. Was 30 days total from you shipping it to getting it back? With cross country ground shipping, that really sin't too bad.

However, I still don't understand why would the company notify us about what details we have to pay for in order for the aircraft to be fixed and then do something like this.
This situation makes me question what does the company do with aircrafts they keep because in most situations it seems like they replace and keep a new drone to themselves and give customers refurbished ones.

This again is very typical and outlined in the terms of the repair. They specifically say that they can replace the item completely instead of repairing it. In fact this procedure normally allows a company to get you back a product QUICKER (not in this case apparently). If they do the evaluation and you agree to the quote, they can then ship back a previously repaired/reconditioned drone that is ready to go. They then repair your drone and put it on the shelf for someone else to receive in the same fashion.
Now you definitely would have a case to complain if the replacement they sent you was not of the same condition (or better) than the one they sent you. Typically the ones they send out look and work like a brand new unit.

I'm waiting for the package they sent me that has a replaced aircraft with what as I assume a refurbished one because hundreds of people mention the same thing. I'm very upset about using the repair services and sending such an expensive aircraft to the official company that I trusted cause they made me feel like I was scammed.

So until you get back a drone, you don't even know if you have any cause to complain. The one you receive could look and feel brand new. In some cases it could actually be brand new. There is no scam here. It is in the agreement.

I would like to know if anybody has ever been in a situation like this with DJI and what do you guys think in general? I want to take some legal actions against them because the amount of stress that they caused me is hard to ignore at this point.

Yes it happens all the time. If it is not what you wanted, then you needed to read the agreement thoroughly and do some more research before sending it in, If you absolutely must have your own drone repaired (and not replaced) then you could have used one of the third-party and reputable DJI authorized centers. They do much less repair volume than DJI and will typically be able to repair your drone and send it back to you.

I've only had one repair incident with DJI direct and that was because the part was not available anywhere for me to repair it myself. This was pre-pandemic and I received back the same drone, fully repaired, inside of 3 weeks total (shipping there and back took two of those weeks). However I was fully prepared to receive a different drone if that was what they sent.

Sorry this whole situation has caused you so much stress but nothing here seems like a scam, and it really is the normal procedure for DJI repairs.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Sorry for your dilemma RRM but I have no help to offer.
Looks to me as if it is the policy of DJI to send out refurbished replacements as standard practice & yours will no doubt be sent to some other unsuspecting person when they do actually fix it.

 

[RRM]

Sorry but I do not feel you were scammed and I do not feel you have any basis for a lawsuit. The process you outlined is very common, not only by DJI but also other manufacturers across all industries.

-
I didn't turn to any other manufacturer, I was working with DJI on this issue and if I'm told that the drone operates fine and only 1 thing needs to be replaced and I pay for it, I expect that only one thing to be replaced, not the entire aircraft without notifying me about it.
I don't think that hundreds of other people who had a similar situation lied while complaining about their new, well-functioning drones being replaced by refurbished ones that aren't functioning well upon arrival that makes them ship it back again while being charged as if it's the damage that was done by the user. -


Specifically:

That was mistake #1. This is an assembly line type procedure and they are typically not equipped to keep the "extra stuff" bundled together with your drone. Typically the ONLY thing you want to send is the one single damaged item. I don't know what your correspondence looked like prior to sending in your drone, however they will often specifically say to send in ONLY the drone. The online repair form even specifically states "4. Please don’t send your SD card, propellers or remote controller back to us if not asked."

- When I called I was told to ship the drone with a remote so they could double-check if the issue is coming from the aircraft itself or if it's a remote that has a glitch. That is the reason I sent both so it wasn't a mistake. Everything was shipped in my DJI small bag because (obviously) I wouldn't want my drone to be damaged on its way there especially while being delivered by UPS..


Yes 30 days may be excessive but we are in the midst of a pandemic and the 5-7 business days is only an estimate. It does say approximately. Also, they are definitely not liable for lost wages/income due to you not having your drone. You should not be planning to do work on the basis of a repair item being returned in a timely fashion. Was 30 days total from you shipping it to getting it back? With cross country ground shipping, that really isn't too bad.

- Now, I wouldn't freak out about 30 days and use Pandemic as an excuse if hundreds of people on different forums and Youtube from 2017 and up to 2020 wouldn't complain about 30 -90 days repair delay. Don't remember having COVID in 2016- till the end of 2019 so as sweet as it is that DJI has someone who defends them so much on the internet it's not the best service, period. If I have to call the company 8 times in order for them to update the status of my drone repair just like hundreds of other people then probably it's a serious issue that has nothing to do at this point with Pandemic. Losing a client during this "waiting month" was actually painful cause we're talking about thousands of dollars, not $100. If the website states "It takes approx. 5-7 business days to repair the product after arriving at the DJI Service Center" I can give it at least 2 weeks DUE TO PANDEMIC but 30 days is actually a lot especially when I have to call them and remind about it up to 2 times a week every single week.-


This again is very typical and outlined in the terms of the repair. They specifically say that they can replace the item completely instead of repairing it. In fact this procedure normally allows a company to get you back a product QUICKER (not in this case apparently). If they do the evaluation and you agree to the quote, they can then ship back a previously repaired/reconditioned drone that is ready to go. They then repair your drone and put it on the shelf for someone else to receive in the same fashion.
Now you definitely would have a case to complain if the replacement they sent you was not of the same condition (or better) than the one they sent you. Typically the ones they send out look and work like a brand new unit.

- In their terms of repair, it states that the aircraft can be replaced completely IF IT CAN'T BE REPAIRED. I was never told it can't be repaired, they indicated the issue which is the gimbal (I knew that as well before I shipped it) and that was the only thing that should've been replaced. Now when I know that hundreds of people are getting some ****** refurbished drones back that malfunction during the first flight what makes me mad even more is that my drone was working totally fine, looked like brand new out of the box with stickers and not a single scratch that would allow me to sell it in future and I did not like the idea that they kept my new aircraft and shipping me a replaced one without letting me know that that's what they were doing. Didn't I pay for their services and the GIMBAL to set up a new one on my drone? Not quite sure what I paid for then if there were no services provided or if you call that a service then it's def a ****** one. They do let people know about the damage and with what detail will be fixed but once the payment submitted they do something I wasn't warned about at all? That's very misleading I might say. If I'd be the only one who's feeling this way I probably wouldn't share my experience with others and accept the situation the way it is -

So until you get back a drone, you don't even know if you have any cause to complain. The one you receive could look and feel brand new. In some cases, it could actually be brand new. There is no scam here. It is in the agreement.

- I already said what exactly it says in the agreement. I don't like paying for the services and not know what to expect. I'd be happy to update what kinda drone I received back and really truly hope it'll look and feel knew without any issues as many others say. Hundreds of stories I've read were about people trying to track the original owner of the drone just for their own safety. Sure, if that's normal for you, it doesn't mean it's normal for everybody else. -

Yes it happens all the time. If it is not what you wanted, then you needed to read the agreement thoroughly and do some more research before sending it in, If you absolutely must have your own drone repaired (and not replaced) then you could have used one of the third-party and reputable DJI authorized centers. They do much less repair volume than DJI and will typically be able to repair your drone and send it back to you.

-Again I read everything and what they did makes 0 sense, I explained everything above. Don't tell me you gonna do one thing and then do something completely different. MY DRONE WAS NOT DAMAGED TO THE POINT IT COULDN'T BE REPAIRED according to DJI REPAIR. So this is where you lost me completely.
And yes, I trusted the company cause it's an official company I'm sending my drone to so def didn't expect any crap like that. Of course, next time I will have to do the research or repair it myself but I never had situations like this before with any other tech company. Just shows how much **** they give about what their customers think, they pretty much do whatever they want and go against their own terms -


I've only had one repair incident with DJI direct and that was because the part was not available anywhere for me to repair it myself. This was pre-pandemic and I received back the same drone, fully repaired, inside of 3 weeks total (shipping there and back took two of those weeks). However I was fully prepared to receive a different drone if that was what they sent.

Sorry this whole situation has caused you so much stress but nothing here seems like a scam, and it really is the normal procedure for DJI repairs.

- I'm glad you're very supportive of them and see nothing wrong at all in this situation. I wish I've had a great experience with them as you did so I wouldn't feel as frustrated as hundreds of others who went through the same crap -

 

[BadWolf1]

It's always sad when someone's first post is this long and ends with I want to sue.

The OP sent back things which should be sent back, and lost business due to breaking a piece of equipment, not having a backup and repair taking longer than expected, partly because of the back-and-forth with the repairer with the plaintiff delaying the return. Hard to see that a court would be sympathetic.

The policy seems to be replace the drone with a reconditioned one in nearly-new condition and charge for bringing the broken one back to that condition to give to the next customer, to speed up the turn-round. If you're attached to a specific drone, or yours is even nearer to new, this will be an irritation, but you have the option to spend your money with a 3rd party repairer. If your drone is in average condition the replacement will be better. To characterize that as a policy of setting out to deceive and defraud customers, as a swindle, racket etc. is overstating it, there's no gain for DJI it.

 

[RRM]

It's always sad when someone's first post is this long and ends with I want to sue.

The OP sent back things which should be sent back, and lost business due to breaking a piece of equipment, not having a backup and repair taking longer than expected, partly because of the back-and-forth with the repairer with the plaintiff delaying the return. Hard to see that a court would be sympathetic.

The policy seems to be replace the drone with a reconditioned one in nearly-new condition and charge for bringing the broken one back to that condition to give to the next customer, to speed up the turn-round. If you're attached to a specific drone, or yours is even nearer to new, this will be an irritation, but you have the option to spend your money with a 3rd party repairer. If your drone is in average condition the replacement will be better. To characterize that as a policy of setting out to deceive and defraud customers, as a swindle, racket etc. is overstating it, there's no gain for DJI it.

- Losing a customer and thousands of dollars is not the only thing that bothered me. AGAIN, if the website states that it takes 5-7 business days for repair since the day the drone is received then I can give it 2 weeks cause of Pandemic but 30 days is a little too much don't you think so? The information on the website is a bit too misleading don't you think so neither? Nobody wants to sue them because I lost the customer, you missed my point completely, there's much more to my story and the experience with DJI Repair then just losing a customer and not having a backup.

I didn't see them rushing and speeding up the process of repair at all so what they did wasn't them trying to be professional and efficient. Every time I'd call them to find out the status of the repair process that they would forget to update on the website, they would say "Oh, yeah that drone, yeah we have it and we'll make an update on the website right now". So them replacing my drone with another one when the issue is as THEY THEMSELVES STATED was just the gimbal is kinda will never be OK.

Please don't tell me I could go to a third party to fix my drone if I would only knew or had such a ****** experience before with any other tech company I probably would be smarter and do research but I never thought that the official DJI company could do something like that. Of course, I would go to the 3rd party company but I wanted to do it the right way and send it to the official company that is misleading its customers by saying one thing and doing something completely opposite.

 

[old man mavic]

i came very close to editing the word scammed from your title ,its unfortunate that things turned out the way they did ,but to be really honest, if your drone is a means of income then its better to have a backup in place ,so as not to let a client down and give your operation a bad name ,these things happen sometimes and its all part of life's rich tapestry

 

[BadWolf1]

- Losing a customer and thousands of dollars is not the only thing that bothered me. AGAIN, if the website states that it takes 5-7 business days for repair since the day the drone is received then I can give it 2 weeks cause of Pandemic but 30 days is a little too much don't you think so? The information on the website is a bit too misleading don't you think so neither? Nobody wants to sue them because I lost the customer, you missed my point completely, there's much more to my story and the experience with DJI Repair then just losing a customer and not having a backup.

I didn't see them rushing and speeding up the process of repair at all so what they did wasn't them trying to be professional and efficient. Every time I'd call them to find out the status of the repair process that they would forget to update on the website, they would say "Oh, yeah that drone, yeah we have it and we'll make an update on the website right now". So them replacing my drone with another one when the issue is as THEY THEMSELVES STATED was just the gimbal is kinda will never be OK.

Please don't tell me I could go to a third party to fix my drone if I would only knew or had such a ****** experience before with any other tech company I probably would be smarter and do research but I never thought that the official DJI company could do something like that. Of course, I would go to the 3rd party company but I wanted to do it the right way and send it to the official company that is misleading its customers by saying one thing and doing something completely opposite.

5-7 days is a target or an average, not a guarantee for every case. I only know one technology company which alwayss does well on turn round and that's Suunto who make scuba diving equipment. Whether it's the car that occasionally has to stay in the workshop, the plumber who can't fix the heating first time, the lens sent off for repair and takes nine weeks (9!) , the laptop with on-site service which needed 3 visits... most categories of stuff I own have had some story of needing forever to get put right.

As I understand it drones come, in get reconditioned, and go out again. They probably don't have a gimbal to put on your drone, and when they get one it will go out to someone else. It sounds like they didn't have a replacement drone ready to go to you. I read "Every time you called them up" as sadly as the rest. Only very rarely do frequent checks get the job done faster. The person who calls up hourly, demands things you can't do and demands to speak to the manager and/or threatens to sue just makes everyone's life a misery, including their own. And "The official DJI company" really doesn't mean much; when the HQ is on another continent, and you're in a little satellite office, life is frustrating. There are also some customers you'd rather not keep and you do look like you're trying to be one of those.

 

[DoctorNick]

This is unfortunate, but entirely your own fault tbh. DJI have specified that they only need the item which is damaged, just like every other RMA process. They tell you to pay for the damage of the drone/hardware and ship you a new or refurbished unit, to save time. Then they repair your unit and sent it to someone else.
30 days isn't even bad and with the current covid-19 situation in US and around the world, it's pretty good actually.
Comparing this to eg. the RMA process for a GPU or laptop which usually takes between 14 days to 3 months usually. Asus EU is the latter example.
But thank you for sharing and may this teach people to follow the process.

 

[Jet skier]

Hey guys, I wanted to share my experience with you to see if anybody else has ever experienced anything similar or maybe could give me any advice because I don't know what else to do besides taking legal actions against DJI at this point.

I shipped my drone for repair at the end of June together with the note of all items I'm shipping in the package which is: Drone, Battery, Remote, and the case (bag) just so they know that I'm keeping a track of everything I'm shipping.

On the website, it states that "It takes approx. 5-7 business days to repair the product after arriving at the DJI Service Center", however, it took the company 30 days to repair my drone causing me a lot of stress cause I lost a client I was supposed to do some production work for but it's not the only reason I would like to take further actions against DJI.

When damage assessment was done I was sent an email that states what I need to pay for in order to get my drone fixed and shipped back. The detail I should pay for is called "Gimbal Axis Arm Module" ($63) for which I paid as well as for their services ($65). They sent me an email after, stating that my drone is fixed and is being shipped however I've noticed that among listed items they are shipping back in the package is the aircraft with a different serial number, not the one I sent them originally. Also, among those items, I didn't see my bag I shipped my drone in that cost about $70.

I reached out to the company asking for an explanation of why would they replace the entire aircraft that is brand new without any damages or scratches instead of replacing that one detail I paid for. I was told that even in the email it states that if the aircraft can't be repaired it will be replaced... It didn't make any sense because they did a damage assessment and told me that there's only one small detail that needs to be replaced and it's not the entire aircraft.

I did research and found hundreds of reviews of aircraft owners who shipped their drones to DJI for repair and received a completely different "refurbished" drone that was used by someone else before and in many cases it was malfunctioning. It made me worried cause my drone had a very small repair and was never damaged to the point it needs to be replaced entirely and it made me feel suspicious about the company replacing the entire aircraft in such a generous way and charging me only for a small detail especially after they confirmed that only one detail needs to be replaced.
Note: my drone never fell, never go damaged, never crushed and didn't have a single scratch, still had stickers on it in some parts where I could keep them on and I was planning to fix it and sell it so I could get myself a smaller drone so it's easier to travel with it.

I reached out to the company again and asked to speak to the supervisor because I refused to accept the replaced aircraft cause I wasn't notified and never gave them permission to replace a brand new body of the aircraft with another one. However, they said that the drone was already shipped and that in the last email they send me, there was a message that has a statement mentioned below (they pretty much give themselves permission to do whatever they want in this situation)

"Dear customer, We regret that the service is not covered by warranty based on the results of damage assessment, please find details as follow: Out of warranty We will either repair it or replace it with a product that’s new or equivalent to new in both performance and reliability after payment has been received. For more information, please visit (http://www.dji.com)

According to all forums that I looked into for more information for similar cases, it turns out to be a common behavior for the company to do things as such without warning each customer on what exactly will be done to your drone AFTER you place the payment for the parts that needs to be fixed. That message looks more like a general note they send in every email that has their Service Quotation just so they could refer to it if customers will complain about it later.
However, I still don't understand why would the company notify us about what details we have to pay for in order for the aircraft to be fixed and then do something like this.
This situation makes me question what does the company do with aircrafts they keep because in most situations it seems like they replace and keep a new drone to themselves and give customers refurbished ones.

The situation was very stressful because when I asked the DJI representative to put away my drone I sent them (that was in the excellent condition and needed a minor repair such as gimbal) because I would want it back instead of the one they sent me, I was told that it will be impossible cause it's against their policy.

I'm waiting for the package they sent me that has a replaced aircraft with what as I assume a refurbished one because hundreds of people mention the same thing. I'm very upset about using the repair services and sending such an expensive aircraft to the official company that I trusted cause they made me feel like I was scammed.

I would like to know if anybody has ever been in a situation like this with DJI and what do you guys think in general? I want to take some legal actions against them because the amount of stress that they caused me is hard to ignore at this point.

It says right on the work request that you only send the articles that need fixing and that they are not responsible for other things but I agree somethings going on there because we’ve been fixing my smart controller for 3 1/2 months now and I’m still waiting

 

[Starz]

Silly.

 

[Capt KO]

Not much sympathy here. Thanks for the reminder of what Not to do under warranty. Your ‘bag’ probably doesn’t fit in the standard return box. Doubt they will ship it separately.
Good luck, enjoy your new drone.

 

[JoeBoy]

@PhantomFandom answered your post extremely well in post #2 above.

You really do need to understand how businesses operate at the volume we are talking about. It is far far cheaper for DJI to operate a replace policy over a repair policy. This saving is passed on to you as a consumer so that for a $2k investment you have a piece off equipment that can earn you tens of thousands in income. Any professional in this environment would have a backup unit for just this eventuality. The fact that you don't is not the fault of DJI.

I don't think and I guess not many here think that DJI have given you bad service especially in the face-off a major pandemic and certainly nobody believes you have been 'scammed' in any way.

The fact that you are complaining to this extent before the drone has even arrived back with you says a lot. For all you know you are getting a brand new drone in the post tomorrow. How the hell is that bad service? The poor sods at DJI can't win. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

 

[Dale D]

Hey guys, I wanted to share my experience with you to see if anybody else has ever experienced anything similar or maybe could give me any advice because I don't know what else to do besides taking legal actions against DJI at this point.

I shipped my drone for repair at the end of June together with the note of all items I'm shipping in the package which is: Drone, Battery, Remote, and the case (bag) just so they know that I'm keeping a track of everything I'm shipping.

On the website, it states that "It takes approx. 5-7 business days to repair the product after arriving at the DJI Service Center", however, it took the company 30 days to repair my drone causing me a lot of stress cause I lost a client I was supposed to do some production work for but it's not the only reason I would like to take further actions against DJI.

When damage assessment was done I was sent an email that states what I need to pay for in order to get my drone fixed and shipped back. The detail I should pay for is called "Gimbal Axis Arm Module" ($63) for which I paid as well as for their services ($65). They sent me an email after, stating that my drone is fixed and is being shipped however I've noticed that among listed items they are shipping back in the package is the aircraft with a different serial number, not the one I sent them originally. Also, among those items, I didn't see my bag I shipped my drone in that cost about $70.

I reached out to the company asking for an explanation of why would they replace the entire aircraft that is brand new without any damages or scratches instead of replacing that one detail I paid for. I was told that even in the email it states that if the aircraft can't be repaired it will be replaced... It didn't make any sense because they did a damage assessment and told me that there's only one small detail that needs to be replaced and it's not the entire aircraft.

I did research and found hundreds of reviews of aircraft owners who shipped their drones to DJI for repair and received a completely different "refurbished" drone that was used by someone else before and in many cases it was malfunctioning. It made me worried cause my drone had a very small repair and was never damaged to the point it needs to be replaced entirely and it made me feel suspicious about the company replacing the entire aircraft in such a generous way and charging me only for a small detail especially after they confirmed that only one detail needs to be replaced.
Note: my drone never fell, never go damaged, never crushed and didn't have a single scratch, still had stickers on it in some parts where I could keep them on and I was planning to fix it and sell it so I could get myself a smaller drone so it's easier to travel with it.

I reached out to the company again and asked to speak to the supervisor because I refused to accept the replaced aircraft cause I wasn't notified and never gave them permission to replace a brand new body of the aircraft with another one. However, they said that the drone was already shipped and that in the last email they send me, there was a message that has a statement mentioned below (they pretty much give themselves permission to do whatever they want in this situation)

"Dear customer, We regret that the service is not covered by warranty based on the results of damage assessment, please find details as follow: Out of warranty We will either repair it or replace it with a product that’s new or equivalent to new in both performance and reliability after payment has been received. For more information, please visit (http://www.dji.com)

According to all forums that I looked into for more information for similar cases, it turns out to be a common behavior for the company to do things as such without warning each customer on what exactly will be done to your drone AFTER you place the payment for the parts that needs to be fixed. That message looks more like a general note they send in every email that has their Service Quotation just so they could refer to it if customers will complain about it later.
However, I still don't understand why would the company notify us about what details we have to pay for in order for the aircraft to be fixed and then do something like this.
This situation makes me question what does the company do with aircrafts they keep because in most situations it seems like they replace and keep a new drone to themselves and give customers refurbished ones.

The situation was very stressful because when I asked the DJI representative to put away my drone I sent them (that was in the excellent condition and needed a minor repair such as gimbal) because I would want it back instead of the one they sent me, I was told that it will be impossible cause it's against their policy.

I'm waiting for the package they sent me that has a replaced aircraft with what as I assume a refurbished one because hundreds of people mention the same thing. I'm very upset about using the repair services and sending such an expensive aircraft to the official company that I trusted cause they made me feel like I was scammed.

I would like to know if anybody has ever been in a situation like this with DJI and what do you guys think in general? I want to take some legal actions against them because the amount of stress that they caused me is hard to ignore at this point.

I have tried to read through this entire thread. Let me add my two experiences. My little red Mavic Air 1 crashed but recovered and I sent it to the DJI Texas repair facility near Dallas (Grapevine?), and received acknowledgement immediately and a new refurbished drone in about a week. The refurb drone worked perfectly but of course, had a different serial number. I sold the "New" refurb on e-bay to a local buyer for $700.00.

I purchased a Mavic 2 Pro in the Black Friday sale last year from an advertiser on this forum (Happy experience) (November) and had some difficulty with a "wobble" when trying to do a timelapse hyper lapse. I sent it to DJI Texas again and received a refurbished one which is like a brand new drone to me. Igt has been working fine. In both cases, thirds was PRE Covid and I got the refurbished back in about 7-10 days. I have no complaints.

 

[Ukung]

Hey guys, I wanted to share my experience with you to see if anybody else has ever experienced anything similar or maybe could give me any advice because I don't know what else to do besides taking legal actions against DJI at this point.

I shipped my drone for repair at the end of June together with the note of all items I'm shipping in the package which is: Drone, Battery, Remote, and the case (bag) just so they know that I'm keeping a track of everything I'm shipping.

On the website, it states that "It takes approx. 5-7 business days to repair the product after arriving at the DJI Service Center", however, it took the company 30 days to repair my drone causing me a lot of stress cause I lost a client I was supposed to do some production work for but it's not the only reason I would like to take further actions against DJI.

When damage assessment was done I was sent an email that states what I need to pay for in order to get my drone fixed and shipped back. The detail I should pay for is called "Gimbal Axis Arm Module" ($63) for which I paid as well as for their services ($65). They sent me an email after, stating that my drone is fixed and is being shipped however I've noticed that among listed items they are shipping back in the package is the aircraft with a different serial number, not the one I sent them originally. Also, among those items, I didn't see my bag I shipped my drone in that cost about $70.

I reached out to the company asking for an explanation of why would they replace the entire aircraft that is brand new without any damages or scratches instead of replacing that one detail I paid for. I was told that even in the email it states that if the aircraft can't be repaired it will be replaced... It didn't make any sense because they did a damage assessment and told me that there's only one small detail that needs to be replaced and it's not the entire aircraft.

I did research and found hundreds of reviews of aircraft owners who shipped their drones to DJI for repair and received a completely different "refurbished" drone that was used by someone else before and in many cases it was malfunctioning. It made me worried cause my drone had a very small repair and was never damaged to the point it needs to be replaced entirely and it made me feel suspicious about the company replacing the entire aircraft in such a generous way and charging me only for a small detail especially after they confirmed that only one detail needs to be replaced.
Note: my drone never fell, never go damaged, never crushed and didn't have a single scratch, still had stickers on it in some parts where I could keep them on and I was planning to fix it and sell it so I could get myself a smaller drone so it's easier to travel with it.

I reached out to the company again and asked to speak to the supervisor because I refused to accept the replaced aircraft cause I wasn't notified and never gave them permission to replace a brand new body of the aircraft with another one. However, they said that the drone was already shipped and that in the last email they send me, there was a message that has a statement mentioned below (they pretty much give themselves permission to do whatever they want in this situation)

"Dear customer, We regret that the service is not covered by warranty based on the results of damage assessment, please find details as follow: Out of warranty We will either repair it or replace it with a product that’s new or equivalent to new in both performance and reliability after payment has been received. For more information, please visit (http://www.dji.com)

According to all forums that I looked into for more information for similar cases, it turns out to be a common behavior for the company to do things as such without warning each customer on what exactly will be done to your drone AFTER you place the payment for the parts that needs to be fixed. That message looks more like a general note they send in every email that has their Service Quotation just so they could refer to it if customers will complain about it later.
However, I still don't understand why would the company notify us about what details we have to pay for in order for the aircraft to be fixed and then do something like this.
This situation makes me question what does the company do with aircrafts they keep because in most situations it seems like they replace and keep a new drone to themselves and give customers refurbished ones.

The situation was very stressful because when I asked the DJI representative to put away my drone I sent them (that was in the excellent condition and needed a minor repair such as gimbal) because I would want it back instead of the one they sent me, I was told that it will be impossible cause it's against their policy.

I'm waiting for the package they sent me that has a replaced aircraft with what as I assume a refurbished one because hundreds of people mention the same thing. I'm very upset about using the repair services and sending such an expensive aircraft to the official company that I trusted cause they made me feel like I was scammed.

I would like to know if anybody has ever been in a situation like this with DJI and what do you guys think in general? I want to take some legal actions against them because the amount of stress that they caused me is hard to ignore at this point.

If you lost a customer and thousands of dollars I would like to question your business method. By making that much money in such a short time, at least one standby drone is a must. Not having one is a huge mistake on your part.
Further more, to send all that parts with it, is at best very very amateur like. What do you think how many drones their get every da ?? They would be absolutely right to throw everything unnecessary away, you can't even prove that you sent all that unnecessary stuff.

 

[Dale D]

If you lost a customer and thousands of dollars I would like to question your business method. By making that much money in such a short time, at least one standby drone is a must. Not having one is a huge mistake on your part.
Further more, to send all that parts with it, is at best very very amateur like. What do you think how many drones their get every da ?? They would be absolutely right to throw everything unnecessary away, you can't even prove that you sent all that unnecessary stuff.

I'd like to add this- after shipping my drone to DJI for repair I discovered I had left my 128GB SD card in the drone! I wrote and called them and they included it in my return package!!!

 

[Starz]

I just discovered that my postal carrier left out a critical piece of junk mail from my mailbox.
Calling my attorney now.

 

[old man mavic]

ok guys we have all said something similar ,me included ,i dont think there is any need to say any more on the subject i think the OP has got the message by now