Amazon refunded my money. Who takes the loss?

[russianfront]

Got a 100% no questions asked refund for my busted up phantom returned to amazon.
It was sold by a shop called camera box through the amazon site. Who is going to eat this loss?
I'm hoping DJI is left holding the bag, not amazon or camera box.

Anyone know what these quads cost to manufacture?

 

[SteveMann]

Got a 100% no questions asked refund for my busted up phantom returned to amazon.
It was sold by a shop called camera box through the amazon site. Who is going to eat this loss?
I'm hoping DJI is left holding the bag, not amazon or camera box.

Anyone know what these quads cost to manufacture?

Amazon's reseller agreement says that if they take back an item, the seller gets it back and the money is taken out of their account. (I have an Amazon reseller account) It's up to the dealer what they do with it after that.

Why do you want DJI to eat the loss? Isn't that like buying a Chevrolet and hoping that General Motors goes bankrupt? If you don't like DJI products, then don't buy them.

 

[sergekouper]

What do you mean busted up? Did you crash it? If so the seller will appeal and you will be charged AGAIN, and have to pay for a new shipping ...
If it just didn't work then it's a normal case of refund, and the seller has to deal with DJI or whoever sold it to him, this is not your responsibility.

 

[mij119]

Why do you want DJI to eat the loss? Isn't that like buying a Chevrolet and hoping that General Motors goes bankrupt? If you don't like DJI products, then don't buy them.

Couldn't agree with that statement more. The constant flow of whining cry babies who have lost their Phantom, or can't get it fixed EXACTLY when they want, or who disagree with DJI's policies, or quality control is getting old. It's one of the reasons I frequent this forum rarely anymore. IF YOU DON'T LIKE DJI OR THEIR PRODUCTS, GO FLY A WALKERA OR A KITE!!!!!

 

[richiewrt]

I did the same thing. The phantom took a mind of its own and did a roll 90 degrees to the right and smashed its self into the ground. Nothing I did caused it, and nothing I could have done would have prevented it. I consider that a defect and sent it back to Amazon. I hope that DJI has to eat the cost as it isn't Amazon, nor the reseller's fault that the phantom had issues. I assume the OP is thinking the same thing. The issue is squarely in DJI's court, and they should be the ones responsible for the loss. Nothing against DJI as a company. I got over a dozen good flights out of the quad before it took a mind of its own. I had previously chalked most of the crashes / flyaways to pilot error, but after watching it happen to me I realized that there are issues with the phantoms. I hope they get them sorted out and hope to one day own another DJI quad, but until then...

 

[russianfront]

Got a 100% no questions asked refund for my busted up phantom returned to amazon.
It was sold by a shop called camera box through the amazon site. Who is going to eat this loss?
I'm hoping DJI is left holding the bag, not amazon or camera box.

Anyone know what these quads cost to manufacture?

Amazon's reseller agreement says that if they take back an item, the seller gets it back and the money is taken out of their account. (I have an Amazon reseller account) It's up to the dealer what they do with it after that.

Why do you want DJI to eat the loss? Isn't that like buying a Chevrolet and hoping that General Motors goes bankrupt? If you don't like DJI products, then don't buy them.

I want DJI to take the loss because they produced a faulty product which resulted in a crash. My Phantom dropped like a brick from the sky on Dec 19th even though it had 9 satellites and 63% battery power. It was a write off. Why should a retailer take a hit for poor design and quality control by a Chinese company who happens to be making the "it" product (for now)?

See my related post:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=31547

 

[russianfront]

I did the same thing. The phantom took a mind of its own and did a roll 90 degrees to the right and smashed its self into the ground. Nothing I did caused it, and nothing I could have done would have prevented it. I consider that a defect and sent it back to Amazon. I hope that DJI has to eat the cost as it isn't Amazon, nor the reseller's fault that the phantom had issues. I assume the OP is thinking the same thing. The issue is squarely in DJI's court, and they should be the ones responsible for the loss. Nothing against DJI as a company. I got over a dozen good flights out of the quad before it took a mind of its own. I had previously chalked most of the crashes / flyaways to pilot error, but after watching it happen to me I realized that there are issues with the phantoms. I hope they get them sorted out and hope to one day own another DJI quad, but until then...

Well put. I was flying in the safest way possible. Not high. Not far. I was over a massive soccer field. My quad was on its way back to me when it suddenly shut off and plummeted to the ground. I saw every second of it. 9 sattelites, did the compass dance, way out in an open field, took off with a full battery (crashed at 63% remaining). Why should some small retailer take a huge hit when DJI needs to be held accountable for their beta birds. And keep in mind that they probably only cost a 1/4 of the retail cost to produce.

The heat needs to be turned up on DJI. Probably they will just keep on doing what they are doing. I pray that within 1-2 years there will be real competition in this market. America - get going!

 

[rbhamilton]

Amazon's return policy takes precedence over DJI's policy. If you want to sell on Amazon you agree to their policy. Which is why DJI doesn't directly sell on Amazon.

Instead a number of small vendors buy DJI products and market them through Amazon.

If your drone came from an Amazon fulfillment center then it goes back there. Amazon sorts it out and sends it to the seller. Or you may directly send it to the seller if it wasn't fulfilled by Amazon. We have one of those mega fulfillment centers not far from where I live. Staffed by a fleet of robots (seriously!) and of course lots of humans too. The robots are very cool. They are a bit like mobile pallet jacks and can lift up to 700lbs.

Either way, once the broken drone gets back to the vendor, Amazon will scoop the cash right out of his seller account. At that point Amazon is done with the process and wash their hands of the entire transaction.

Now it's down to the seller to recover from DJI. I had a chat with a vendor in Calgary a while back. DJI is VERY difficult to deal with. They will want the vendor to prove it's a defect that's covered by the DJI warranty and since DJI covers virtually nothing they will almost certainly screw over the vendor and leave him holding the bag.

Hope that helps.

 

[richiewrt]

That sucks for the reseller, and makes me feel a little bad. Not bad enough to eat $1300 worth of a flying turd, but bad. Mine was purchased through kellards and I hope that they are able to get their money from DJI. On another note, other than the props being broke, mine was still in working condition.

 

[rbhamilton]

The drone is actually worth a fair bit as parts. If the camera is in good shape that's $700 right there. V3 Rx's sell well. The motors, case, ESC's, circuit boards... it all adds up. Because the seller gets the drone at wholesale, he might be able to scrap a drone and sell off the parts to at least break even.

In the end, if you don't want to deal with people smashing up your stuff and sending it back, don't sell quad's - especially on Amazon. I can't see making any money selling them.

Any sellers want to chime in and let us know how you are doing?

 

[russianfront]

Thanks for the replies. Very informative.
I'm about to buy a replacement on Amazon but I am going to make sure that I buy via a "fulfilled" order (vs. directly from the seller) in case this happens again. And reading about all of the non user error crashes here lately makes me think it could well happen again.

I never see drones sold and shipped by Amazon. I wonder if they believe its too risky given the high number of crashes & returns???

I wonder if I was to buy from a big retailer like B&H if they would refund my money as quickly as Amazon? I doubt it but please let me know if I am wrong. I like B&H for camera gear but for a quadcopter - need to be very careful who I buy from.

 

[russianfront]

Amazon's return policy takes precedence over DJI's policy. If you want to sell on Amazon you agree to their policy. Which is why DJI doesn't directly sell on Amazon.

Instead a number of small vendors buy DJI products and market them through Amazon.

If your drone came from an Amazon fulfillment center then it goes back there. Amazon sorts it out and sends it to the seller. Or you may directly send it to the seller if it wasn't fulfilled by Amazon. We have one of those mega fulfillment centers not far from where I live. Staffed by a fleet of robots (seriously!) and of course lots of humans too. The robots are very cool. They are a bit like mobile pallet jacks and can lift up to 700lbs.

Either way, once the broken drone gets back to the vendor, Amazon will scoop the cash right out of his seller account. At that point Amazon is done with the process and wash their hands of the entire transaction.

Now it's down to the seller to recover from DJI. I had a chat with a vendor in Calgary a while back. DJI is VERY difficult to deal with. They will want the vendor to prove it's a defect that's covered by the DJI warranty and since DJI covers virtually nothing they will almost certainly screw over the vendor and leave him holding the bag.

Hope that helps.

I feel bad for the mom and pop shop selling these junk piles then. I bet some of them will stop selling them once they get a return or two and take a bit hit to their bottom line.

 

[LordEvil]

Maybe CNN and some of the other news sources should write about how they randomly do their own thing deeming them dangerous and take the focus off of flying near airports and flying over crowds.

 

[russianfront]

Maybe CNN and some of the other news sources should write about how they randomly do their own thing deeming them dangerous and take the focus off of flying near airports and flying over crowds.

If the government catches wind about how dangerous these things are they will surely crack down. All they would have to do is to look at a few Youtube videos.

Can't legislate a brain and can't fix stupid.

 

[eyecon82]

Why do you want DJI to eat the loss? Isn't that like buying a Chevrolet and hoping that General Motors goes bankrupt? If you don't like DJI products, then don't buy them.

Couldn't agree with that statement more. The constant flow of whining cry babies who have lost their Phantom, or can't get it fixed EXACTLY when they want, or who disagree with DJI's policies, or quality control is getting old. It's one of the reasons I frequent this forum rarely anymore. IF YOU DON'T LIKE DJI OR THEIR PRODUCTS, GO FLY A WALKERA OR A KITE!!!!!

Dude. You need to remove yourself from these forums if it irritates you so much.

 

[russianfront]

Just bought another one - this time the V3 version. $1300 via Amazon prime. Sold by a 3rd party but fulfilled by Amazon.
Fingers crossed that this one lasts longer than the 1st!

 

[PandaOnWelfare]

Got a 100% no questions asked refund for my busted up phantom returned to amazon.
It was sold by a shop called camera box through the amazon site. Who is going to eat this loss?
I'm hoping DJI is left holding the bag, not amazon or camera box.

Anyone know what these quads cost to manufacture?

I know this thread is super old but how long between delivery and return was it?