DJI Drone Warrantee Repair a Disappointing situation

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Los Angeles, CA--I had my somewhat pricy DJI Inspire 1 camera drone for five months.  

I love the product and it never gave a bad moment.  Well not quite.  

DJI has an update policy from Hell.  They suddenly announce a firmware update.  You can't fly until you get to good internet service with a computer, download and install the update.  

That is a disaster when you drive to a location for a shoot and everything stops.  

Okay that sucks but while attempting my last update for the cold weather battery fix things went to Hell.

The camera stopped retaining the little SD memory card spitting it out! 

There suddenly was a second problem with the coupling of the camera and gimbal to the drone.  Contact was somehow lost.  

Technical support was sympathetic and told me to take it to Fedex and provided several explicate pages of instructions on shipping it back.

The repair facility is in nearby Carson but they demand it be shipped by Fedex even if you are located across the street!  Same with the return!  Two full days are added to the repair time and DJI eats the unnecessary cost! 

They fiddled with my drone and returned in in just over two weeks.  I put in the memory card without a hitch. However when I fired up the drone to move the landing gear for camera attachment it failed.

The ink was not dry yet on the FedEx receipt and I had a new problem!  After a 45 minute wait for technical support another sympathetic support agent quickly advised me it had to go back once again.  

Thankfully I had another copy of my original sales receipt to put in the shipment or I be paying for the repairs!

Just to make thing interesting they give you a 25 digit number to write in several places that begins with RMA.  I'm sure only God can help you if you screw that up!  

I know that everyone that crashes their DJI products blame the products for their own failures.  DJI must have a repair staff of people dealing with customers from Hell.  

Both legitimate and bogus claims must be difficult to deal with.

My repair return is complicated further by travel issues. I must now have it shipped to an address somewhere else!

Yep, I got the DJI double repair whammy.  What's going to be my next DJI misadventure? 

When it works I love it! When I'm in warranty jail I hate it.   

There's got to be a better way! 

Update:

I shipped the drone to DJI after the tech support guy said it needed to go back when the landing gear was apparently stuck in shipping position. 

They returned the drone to me in Las Vegas and upon upon trying once again the landing gear wouldn't budge. I called tech support and was told to send it back again. 

Suddenly it struck me that perhaps my radio controller was no longer coupled with the drone.  The lights went on in the tech support Guy's mind and he talked me through re-coupling and that was the issue. Now I can fly once more! 

The tech support guy was not as sharp as he should have been.  

  

Public Relations for Drone Pilots has Challenges

Los Angeles, CA—The explosion of civilian multi-rotor camera drones is just beginning.  People are reacting to seeing them for the first time. 

My experiences with the public seeing my drones in action has been mixed.  Thankfully the vast majority of people are amazed and they enjoy seeing them fly.

A minority of “drone detractors” react with exhibitions of hostility, hatred and ignorance.  In the last two years I’ve had just a scant few unsettling encounters while flying my drone.

For reasons I don’t understand I’ve been only been confronted by women.  They advise me I’m breaking the law, and then they call or threaten to call the cops.  They obviously don’t know the law. 

I usually ignore them, shoot my video and leave the area when my flight is over.  If the cops respond to their call I don’t know because I’ve always moved on prior to their arrival. 

Three women on separate occasions were downright nasty and even emotionally disturbed.

I’ve never been negatively confronted by police and have sent my drone into the air in front of them.  The cops seem to be curious and enjoy learning about them.

I have no clue what drove these women’s nastiness and anger.  Taking a friendly approach never helps and responding with similar hostility is pointless and counter-productive.

Moving to another location in one case was little help as one woman jumped in her car and actually followed me! 

It’s obvious these women are clueless of why we send our drones up or that they are safe and not invading their privacy.   I’m really proud of the videos I uploaded to YouTube and simply want the world to see just how much fun I have while capturing the stunning images.

The civilian camera drones are here to stay.  Our First Amendment right to use them to capture images, trumps those hastily passed laws along with attempted future legislation outlawing them.  

The safety record of the civilian multi-rotor drones is unblemished despite the two million already in the hands of civilians.  

I have a habit of sending my drone up in the early morning hours avoiding potential busybodies that might take exception to my drone.  I also position my controller and drone behind my car to shield my activities from strangers. 

We must remain polite, friendly and civil even when people become nasty.  I’d rather make friends than enemies out of anyone.  I will continue to take the high road with anyone hostile to my drones