Drone shipped with battery in it

The Editor · Mar 24, 2016

John Robinson said:
Good morning all and Happy Easter!

I decided to write directly to DJI after all. I was extremely unhappy and felt like I had wasted a bucket load of cash for nothing. I started my message in big letters asking for a manager / Director to respond and this morning I received this email:

Dear Sir,

after reading the complete E-mail, I am sorry to hear you had a lot of trouble,

I can talk about the bad repairs etc. but that is not helping to solve this issue.

normally we would repair it, but since this is a special case, and I want to take it seriously, this is what I personally can offer you.

1) we will bring your unit here by providing you an UPS return ticket, this way you don't have to pay for this shipment.
2) as soon as we receive your inspire PRO, we will swap it for a brand new one.
3) with your permission, we will update it, test fly it, en check every single screw.
4) I will include an extra battery, for an extra compensation for your faulty product.
5) and send it out on the same day.

I truly believe you are sick of it, but this can be arranged in a really quick time.

please contact me as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Best regards,
DJI support (Europe)
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I've gone from having a sick feeling in my stomach to a much happier feeling. Thank you everyone for all your advice and help. When its all panned out I will update you all.

Cheers.

John.

Great news and hopefully this will work out with a happy ending.

Just as an aside - the dealer saying that the damage to the dampers happened in transit is still HIS problem not yours. The goods are not under your care custody and control until you have received them and signed and are happy with the condition of them.
This would fall under goods damaged in transit which is the responsibility of the sender to sort out via insurance or from their with the courier or themselves.
Anyway - hopefully a moot point and you will be looked after.

John Robinson · Mar 24, 2016

The Editor said:
Great news and hopefully this will work out with a happy ending.

Just as an aside - the dealer saying that the damage to the dampers happened in transit is still HIS problem not yours. The goods are not under your care custody and control until you have received them and signed and are happy with the condition of them.
This would fall under goods damaged in transit which is the responsibility of the sender to sort out via insurance or from their with the courier or themselves.
Anyway - hopefully a moot point and you will be looked after.

Yes fingers crossed. Concerning the dampener I was more upset that he accused me of damaging them (how you could do that I do not know) and the fact it would have to go back for repair again. As you say hopefully a moot point.

Thanks again.

John.

Skynet1 · Mar 24, 2016

John Robinson said:
Yes fingers crossed. Concerning the dampener I was more upset that he accused me of damaging them (how you could do that I do not know) and the fact it would have to go back for repair again. As you say hopefully a moot point.

Thanks again.

John.

Great news by DJI. and hopefully your replacement will be all that you deserve. Writing directly to the DJI and taking the dealer out of the equation was definitely an appropriate step in the right direction, and I'am glad it has worked out for you. In any regard, best of luck with your replacement. : )

John Robinson · Mar 24, 2016

Thanks Skynet1. I do think it was the best step and I am hoping they deliver what they offered. I have just now received the return label (pre-paid) and a collection pickup time so looking good.

To be honest I have heard mostly bad things about DJI customer service however on this occasion they really stepped up and accepted my complaint. More importantly however is their solution to solving it is more than I could hope for which I am extremely happy about.

Skynet1 · Mar 24, 2016

DJI will more than likely check out the model completely upon receiving it back & see it wasn't crash related, a big plus for you, regarding this issue, and then go onto determine if the dealer may have been at fault in some way, or if possibly may have been shipped that way from the factory.
The dealer may now find they need to up there game if they want to ever become an authorized repair center are my thoughts, but in the end who knows what lurks in the minds of the folks at DJI. However, at least they did the right thing in this case. : )

John Robinson · Mar 24, 2016

Skynet1 said:
DJI will more than likely check out the model completely upon receiving it back & see it wasn't crash related, a big plus for you, regarding this issue, and then go onto determine if the dealer may have been at fault in some way, or if possibly may have been shipped that way from the factory.
The dealer may now find they need to up there game if they want to ever become an authorized repair center are my thoughts, but in the end who knows what lurks in the minds of the folks at DJI. However, at least they did the right thing in this case. : )

It's weird you say about the dealer. In my forth and last email to DJI I explained how badly the dealer had dealt with me and my case and the response back from dji was that it has nothing to do with him and just important that I am left happy. So either they are dealing with it behind closed doors (which would be obvious) or they really do not care. I hope it's the first one but just don't know.

Ah well at least I don't have deal with the dealer. Until the next fault of course.

John Robinson · Apr 1, 2016

Good morning all!

UPDATE: Drone was shipped to DJI Netherlands and arrived at 18:00 yesterday evening. Received this at 10.45 today.

Dear sir,

Your inspire is ready to be picked up by UPS.

UPS tracking number:

We have added an extra battery as we said,

Checked everything,

- Fly test

- Firmware update

Next to the extra battery, we have added some other extra accessories, like extra props and an extra charger.

Thank you.

Best regards,

DJI support NL (Europe)

So far so good. Very impressed by their communication as well. They did not have time last night to send it out so wrote to inform me of that fact. I obviously responded to the above email saying thank you (about 50 times) and especially for him doing everything he promised and more. Just received this back.

Dear John,

You are very welcome! Absolutely no problem, for anybody who has a story like this, needs to be helped in the correct way. I wish you the same thing, and fly safe with your new inspire 1!

Thank you.

Best regards,

So as I said before, I have heard nightmare stories of bad DJI customer service all over the internet. To the point that I nearly did not buy an Inspire 1 to start with. And I am not saying it is always perfect as I can only comment on my own experience. However they have gone above and beyond what I expected after contacting them. So my sincere thanks to DJI Europe. I will keep you informed when I receive it.

On the other side of the spectrum we have the shop I purchased it from. They do not think they have done anything wrong. The have basically given up on this case to the point of ignoring my last 2 emails. Needless to say I will not be purchasing from them in the future. They even damaged my hard case and are not willing on doing anything to fix that problem either. The inside foam was torn apart so could not of been caused by the shipping. Ah well Elefun.no. Good luck in the future as if your customer service is this bad then you will lose customers anyway.

Have a great day all.

John

John Robinson · Apr 8, 2016

Evening all.

Here is the final update. Received the drone back from DJI Netherlands in super quick time. Opened it up to find all ok and extra battery, charger, props, cables and new instructions. "Leaking" oil on one of the feet still there. Maybe its just left over from manufacture? It is a 100% replacement. When I changed over from 1345T installation kit back to the original there was a little scratch hidden underneath. When I changed them back to the 1345T today the scratch was not there so very happy with that confirmation. Managed to test the landing gear. Managed to connect it all like it should. And after a few minutes I got the green GPS go message so very happy. Just have to get the aircraft in the air now!

On a personal note, thank you very much to you all who advised and helped along the way. Much appreciated. Thanks to DJI Netherlands for doing all they said they would (and more). And a surprise thanks to the original shop who initially gave the terrible customer service. After another 18 emails between us they offered me a fast charger, a TB48 battery and 2 packs of 1345T props as "compensation" for my troubles. Very nice however I would of preferred not to of had to use days and days arguing with them in the first place, however this at least shows that they admit a little wrong doing. But thank you to them for the customer service in the end.

So fingers crossed it flies well. Couldn't believe it required a firmware update. Checked the email and DJI said they would update it so was wondering what happened. Couldn't believe another update so quickly but at least it shows they are continuing to work on the I1.

Have a great day all.
Kind regards, John.

Bruce Cuz · May 27, 2016

An 'exemplary' forum thread in my opinion: i.e. A member has a problem and forum members rally round to provide sound practical advice. And, just as important in my opinion, the original poster ensures the forum is kept up-to-date with the developing situation - and informs the forum of the final outcome (not always done!).

OK I'm a newbie here. However, it's obvious the Editor not only has a comprehensive understanding of the technical aspects of drones - but also a comprehensive understanding of consumers' rights. Inspirepilots is very fortunate to have such a person onboard. I don't wish to embarrass anyone, however when time and support are so freely given...well I think it's time to take a bow Ed!!

(OK Ed I will accept a bo**iking from you for going off thread