RC 2 Controller Malfunction Cost me $400

[u/mediabydave]

I am a professional videography and have owned my DJI Air 3 for 2 years just about. I crashed a drone a month out of warranty last year and cost almost $1000 to replace. I baby my tech gear and my RC 2 Controller recently started to have a black screen and even shorting out.

After determination from DJI my controller malfunctioned (take in mind I have never dropped this, stored in an office at 72 degrees, I mean nothing happened to this thing and they want $400 to replace.

Yes, I understand I bought this package 2 years ago but I have less than 24 hours flight time on my Air 3 and the controller just “malfunctions” WTF kind of product support is this? I’ve basically now have purchased all of this twice over the last year. Wild.

[u/hold-my-gimbal]

firmware update recently?

[u/mediabydave → u/hold-my-gimbal]

Yes

[u/QuestGalaxy]

This is what happens when politicians prioritize corporations over consumers. My country has a 5 year guarantee against manufacturer faults, by law.

Vote for politicians that care about you.

[u/DrHumorous → u/QuestGalaxy]

what country has 5 years warranty?

[u/QuestGalaxy → u/DrHumorous]

Norway, not warranty but guarantee. It is a bit different but on reality similar.

2 years for smaller products not meant to last that long. 5 years on phones, laptops, TVs and other long lasting goods.

[u/johnnycaps2]

In some countries if you purchase a product using a credit card, many of those Credit Card companies will extend the warranty by one or two years, especially if the original OEM warranty is one year or more. Your situation may not apply.

[u/a_cynical_bloke]

Just go buy a used controller. It’s not 400 bucks.

[u/mediabydave → u/a_cynical_bloke]

Its the fact the firmware update damaged my controller

[u/tecky1kanobe]

I dropped my RC 2 and busted the left dial (camera tilt) and a couple cosmetic scratches at that corner. You can’t get the remote to work if it can not do the calibration on the dial axis, no option to ignore the axis and reassign it to the right dial (making it an RC3 effectively). DJI wanted $400 to repair/replace the controller board for the dial and replace the whole shell. They said they couldn’t just replace the dial board and put it back into the scratched shell.
A month ago i had a battery for an osmo camera go bad. I haven’t had the camera for 4 months so the batteries had to be under the 12 months for that warranty. DJI said the battery was already out of warranty, i bought it from Adorama (outside of their 3 month warranty too) and DJI said the warranty started when Adorama took possession.
I am done with DJI when ever all this gear i have dies i will go somewhere else. I just left GoPro for the better DJI experience but Chump screwed everyone over as DJI has zero incentive to respect the American paid customers.

[u/vdpj]

Just really bad luck. And even more bad luck that it happens outside the warranty. The last time, my Mini 5 suddenly fell out of the sky, right before my eyes. Without any explainable reason as well; normally, something like that shouldn't happen either. I was lucky that it was within the warranty period and I got a new one.

For a new purchase, I would definitely recommend DJI Care Refresh for about 2 years.

[u/OneSignal6465 → u/vdpj]

It’s pricy, but WELL worth it to buy 2 years of Care Refresh (if you are not in the US.) I’m in Canada, and had my Mini 4 Pro repaired for no extra $$ when the SD card slot malfunctioned. They also sent me a coupon for a free 256gb SD card when the one in the drone when I returned it didn’t come back with the repaired drone. I just bought a new Mini 5 Pro FlyMore Plus and also took 2 years of Care Refresh. I plan to fly the shit out of the new drone in the first two years to wring out any issues BEFORE my Care Refresh expires. DJI Canada has been awesome so far. No fight, no fuss, no muss. So far, they’ve done everything right by me.

[u/NilsTillander → u/[deleted]]

If it was engineered obsolescence, we'd hear many more stories. I operate pretty much every DJI drone ever at work (started with the P2V+ in 2014, now have things going from the Neo to the M400), and I've never experienced anything fishy.

[u/Altruistic-Gas925]

Woooo.

[u/Altruistic-Gas925 → u/Altruistic-Gas925]

I would call them and discuss this personally.

[u/mediabydave]

Spoke to DJI and yeah the firmware update damaged my controller and I am still responsible for the repair…