Unpleasant surprise when making a claim for fly-away coverage with DJI care plus

[Tufargon]

State Farm is state to state. They won't cover drones in California.

 

[GFields]

That just plain out stinks.. so sorry for you loss

 

[Steve F]

Wondering what is DJI's definition of a flyaway. I assumed a flyaway is when contact is lost and your drone disappears into the wild blue yonder. Could they be viewing this incident as a crash and charging more because you are not returning the drone for repair? Did they look at the flight data to investigate the cause?

Yes, it might be splitting hairs but that is what companies do to save themselves money.

When filing the claim, they did require that my flight log data was uploaded and visible to DJI via their cloud infrastructure. They also requested I upload the captured video of this flight (which I happened to have captured on my phone). I didn't try to obscure or keep anything from them in filing the claim and the circumstances of what happened. From what I understand, it does not have to technically disappear, just lost beyond your ability to recover it. In my case they didn't seem to quibble that it was on the other side of the river in a steep forested canyon.

Yes, I agree that the high replacement fee for the fly-away case is probably because they don't want claimants to make such claims frivolously. This high fee is what motivated me to try harder to find it (albeit unsuccessfully) by making the 2 hour drive back out there better equipped and hiking a couple of miles in very sketchy terrain and potentially skirting some private lands to reach the last reported location.

 

[Steve F]

Put a tracking device on your drones. I have been using Trackimo for years on all mine and I have had one recovery 2 days later since tracking battery keeps going for couple days.

Thanks. I noticed that Trackimo uses a cell phone transmissions for communication of its location. In my particular situation, the drone was lost in a remote area (steep canyon) with no cell phone service (with AT&T). A friend that was with me on a different carrier also did not have any service (TMobile).

 

[sar104]

Wondering what is DJI's definition of a flyaway. I assumed a flyaway is when contact is lost and your drone disappears into the wild blue yonder. Could they be viewing this incident as a crash and charging more because you are not returning the drone for repair? Did they look at the flight data to investigate the cause?

Yes, it might be splitting hairs but that is what companies do to save themselves money.

In general, DJI Refresh requires a crashed/damaged drone to be returned to them to qualify. The exceptions I've seen are where the log data either unambiguously confirm the loss and they honor the refresh without a drone, or where the log data demonstrate aircraft failure, in which case they handle it as a warranty issue (if still within warranty, of course).

 

[AnzacJack]

no offence meant to the OP. but i find it intriguing that people fly with less caution and take more risks with their aircraft simply because they can afford to just replace it when things go wrong.

 

[MARK (LI)]

Has anyone checked out the insurance that you get if you join the AMA?...Is it available for drones, or just fixed wing?

 

[AnzacJack]

Isn’t that just for 3rd party

 

[MARK (LI)]

I don't know...I have heard about it...but I don't know what it covers..if that is the case it explains why it has not been mentioned in this discussion

 

[AnzacJack]

Our Australian equivalent is only cover for what damage you may cause. Doesn’t cover loss or damage to craft you are flying. We don’t really have any insurance that would cover personal use of drones. Certainly cover available for commercial o operations but even this is costly

 

[Chaosrider]

Unfortunately about a month back while flying my MA2 along a river in a heavily forested and mountainous area, I ended up losing my drone on the far side of the river. The best that I can gather is that it struck a power line coming out through the trees that I did not see. After a couple of hours of fruitless attempts to find it with the find-my-drone unsuccessfully, and on another visit spending a half day hiking through some steep forest to reach the other side, and cutting across some questionable property to reach the last reported location, I was still unsuccessful in finding it. It perhaps is stuck up in one of the large pine trees, fell into some deep brush, or who knows? What I do know is that when it first went missing it reported a gimbal error, one of the motors was unable to rotate, but it was still communicating with me. Unfortunately due to the loud noise of the river, I could not hear (or see) it when activating the flash-and-beep function with the find-my-drone capability.

So I filed a claim with DJI given the drone was covered by the DJI care+ package that I refreshed back in May. After waiting a week and not hearing from them, I sent an email and got back the following response:
...
And you mentioned $69 is DJI Care replacement fee. But your DJI Care expired, now DJI Care plus is valid. And you drone was lost, you can only use DJI Care plus to cover the flyaway to replace.

The normal replacement fee for DJI Care Plus is $59, the fee use DJI Care plus to cover the flyaway for replacement is $399.

DJI Care policy for Mavic air 2: Buy DJI Care Refresh (Mavic Air 2) - DJI Store
DJI Care Plus policy: https://terra-1-g.djicdn.com/851d20f7b9f64838a34cd02351370894/DJI Care Replacement Fee/Refresh Plus/210908/DJI Care Refresh Plus Replacement Fee.pdf

That is. Kindly pay it in time.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
...

Yikes! $399 to replace the drone!
When I read the original description for the DJI Care Refresh Plus program, it wasn't obvious that this fee would be so high. Especially since I had used this the previous year to repair damage to my MA2 on a previous incident and only paid $69. The production description as given here (DJI Care Refresh Plus - Information - Support - DJI)
does not make it obvious:

DJI CARE REFRESH +​

With You Every Flight

DJI Care Refresh + offers you the chance to renew your Care Refresh by extending its coverage for one more year, providing one more opportunity to replace your damaged DJI product for a small additional charge. Furthermore, the warranty* period of your product will be extended by at least 12 months.
...

Going on ebay and craigslist, it would appear that paying $399 to replace my MA2 is just below the break-even point vs. just going out and buying a used one, or just using this as an opportunity to move on and upgrade to a different drone?

What you describe is my understanding of how it works. If you can recover the drone and send it in, you get to pay the small fee. If the drone is lost, you pay the larger fee. I fly Mini-2s, and in my case the re-fresh fee is $49, and the replace fee is $225, precisely half the cost of a new drone purchase. For that, you get either a factory new or factory authorized re-furb drone.

I think that's a decent deal. I've never lost one, but I dinged a couple up in my early training.

I had a different surprise, though. When I sent the first one in, I got back the repair estimate. My understanding was that I could either pay the $49 for the re-furb, or pay the repair cost and get the same drone back, fixed.

Not so!

In my fist Care event (I've had 3), the repair cost was only $100 or so, and I wanted the same drone back, so I opted for that. It wasn't until I needed to send that same drone back a second time, that I discovered it wasn't the same drone! Completely different serial number.

For months, I couldn't figure out why anyone would chose to repair under those conditions. Finally, it dawned on me that it was an option to "save" one of the $49 replacements, in case my next event was more catastrophic.

Again, a decent deal, but that mechanism was completely opaque in the description of the Care program, and my conversations with DJI weren't at all enlightening on that particular issue. To be clear, DJI was entirely responsive and pleasant to deal with. What was not clear, was the nature of the Care program.

I get attached to specific machines sometimes. I have a 1969 Mercury Marquis, which I've had for over 40 years. The last time it ran was when I moved to this house 2 years ago. If I wanted to, I'm sure I could take my portable battery pack to it, and get it running today. But at this point, Behemoth is more like a family pet, than a car.

Of the three Mini-2s that I have, only one is the same drone that I originally bought new, Phoenix, the one that's registered, which I intend to seriously strobe-up. If Phoenix gets dinged up, I may want to find a place that will repair him, and send him back to me.

TCS

 

[Chaosrider]

I pay $65 a yr through State Farm. Way less hassle.

In my case, I've used Care three times, and the only problem was my misunderstanding of the coverage.

The entire process itself with DJI was hassle-free.

TCS

 

[Chaosrider]

Wondering what is DJI's definition of a flyaway. I assumed a flyaway is when contact is lost and your drone disappears into the wild blue yonder. Could they be viewing this incident as a crash and charging more because you are not returning the drone for repair? Did they look at the flight data to investigate the cause?

Yes, it might be splitting hairs but that is what companies do to save themselves money.

I've never made a fly-away claim, but my (now expanded) understanding of the program is that if you can't get it to send it back, that counts as a flyaway.

Reasonable and simple...if that's actually the way it works!

TCS

 

[Steve F]

no offence meant to the OP. but i find it intriguing that people fly with less caution and take more risks with their aircraft simply because they can afford to just replace it when things go wrong.

Being a bit judgey aren't we?
But in response to your post, would you drive your car any different if you didn't have insurance?

 

[Steve F]

I've never made a fly-away claim, but my (now expanded) understanding of the program is that if you can't get it to send it back, that counts as a flyaway.

Reasonable and simple...if that's actually the way it works!

TCS

Yes, I believe that is the case under the presumption retrieval is not practically possible. The fairly high replacement fee helps incentive the claimant to not be frivolous.

 

[AnzacJack]

Being a bit judgey aren't we?
But in response to your post, would you drive your car any different if you didn't have insurance?

Not meaning to be judgey and not neccesarily aimed at you.
And no, i DONT drive my car with any less care because i have insurance. Thats a ridiculous scenario and if this is your mindset, then you really shouldnt be involved in aviation operations. YES, Now im being judgey.

 

[WWMav]

I don't know...I have heard about it...but I don't know what it covers..if that is the case it explains why it has not been mentioned in this discussion

The AMA insurance is liability insurance only.

 

[chris4gl]

I keep seeing people mention State Farm drone insurance but when I call the local State Farm agent they tell me State Farm does not sell drone insurance.

Mike

It is actually just a personal articles policy. But some agents don’t know exactly how to underwrite these, so you may need to search around. I have a local agent here that is well known for writing these, found him on a list of State Farm agents handling drones.

Mike Yates​

More about Mike Yates
166 Allendale Road
King of Prussia, PA 19406
(610) 354-0945

I’ll have to tell you, it is well worth it and much better than having to deal with DJI. I had a drone get stuck in a 100’ tall tree, called State Farm and had the full replacement cost of the drone in my back account within a few days.

 

[RangerEd]

I keep seeing people mention State Farm drone insurance but when I call the local State Farm agent they tell me State Farm does not sell drone insurance.

Mike

Same here. Where you live must be the difference. I live in California.

 

[erkme73]

It is actually just a personal articles policy. But some agents don’t know exactly how to underwrite these, so you may need to search around. I have a local agent here that is well known for writing these, found him on a list of State Farm agents handling drones.

Mike Yates​

More about Mike Yates
166 Allendale Road
King of Prussia, PA 19406
(610) 354-0945

I’ll have to tell you, it is well worth it and much better than having to deal with DJI. I had a drone get stuck in a 100’ tall tree, called State Farm and had the full replacement cost of the drone in my back account within a few days.

Just keep in mind that if you file a claim for a PAP loss, it will count against your risk profile for homeowners policy renewals. You may find that you no qualify for lowest rates after the claim. Just something to consider. There's no such thing as a free lunch ...