Hi all,
I am sorry that my first post is a saga about a bad experience attempting to get a drone repaired. It’s not even over yet, but has gotten to the point of me posting here. I own a company that uses drones for aerial mapping; primarily automobile crash scenes for insurance or potential litigation. The results have been fantastic. We use Pix4D and have 3 (2 flying) Phantom 4s. 2 of us are licensed. We don’t fly over the roads. Anyway, I managed to fly one into a tree limb on January 26th. The motors shut off and it fell inverted onto an old section of roadway. Obvious damage was 2 jammed motors, the gimbal was frozen and the body was cracked. Not knowing better and before I joined this forum, I did some searches for drone repair and got a few hits. I found Expert Drones, watched some of their videos and decided to contact them the same day as the crash. I described the event and damage. It was a webform email. They responded also the same day saying that they could “definitely fix [it] fast.” I shipped it and all the accessories to them. It looks like they have franchised. I sent mine to Virginia. On February 1st, they sent an email with a repair estimate. To replace the camera, shell, diagnose and ship back was $583. There was no mention of motors, so I emailed asking about the motors. No response. On February 3rd, I sent another email. No response. So, I called them and spoke to a technician about the motors. He said they would check them and replace if needed at no additional cost. I authorized the $583. Of course, they charged me twice but did refund the second one. Then 2 and a half weeks of crickets, so I called and left a voicemail on February 20th; it was not returned. I called them on the 21st and they said they were waiting for parts. Apparently, there was a delay due to the Chinese New Year. I called again today (March 7th), told them I did not need the drone any more. I had bought a refurb from DJI and it is doing fine. I asked for them to return the drone and refund the parts portion of the $583. The person I spoke to said he would have a manager contact me today, so I penned this while waiting. Please consider this when searching for a place to have your drone repaired. Next time I will try a forum sponsor or solicit recommendations.
Thank you.
I am sorry that my first post is a saga about a bad experience attempting to get a drone repaired. It’s not even over yet, but has gotten to the point of me posting here. I own a company that uses drones for aerial mapping; primarily automobile crash scenes for insurance or potential litigation. The results have been fantastic. We use Pix4D and have 3 (2 flying) Phantom 4s. 2 of us are licensed. We don’t fly over the roads. Anyway, I managed to fly one into a tree limb on January 26th. The motors shut off and it fell inverted onto an old section of roadway. Obvious damage was 2 jammed motors, the gimbal was frozen and the body was cracked. Not knowing better and before I joined this forum, I did some searches for drone repair and got a few hits. I found Expert Drones, watched some of their videos and decided to contact them the same day as the crash. I described the event and damage. It was a webform email. They responded also the same day saying that they could “definitely fix [it] fast.” I shipped it and all the accessories to them. It looks like they have franchised. I sent mine to Virginia. On February 1st, they sent an email with a repair estimate. To replace the camera, shell, diagnose and ship back was $583. There was no mention of motors, so I emailed asking about the motors. No response. On February 3rd, I sent another email. No response. So, I called them and spoke to a technician about the motors. He said they would check them and replace if needed at no additional cost. I authorized the $583. Of course, they charged me twice but did refund the second one. Then 2 and a half weeks of crickets, so I called and left a voicemail on February 20th; it was not returned. I called them on the 21st and they said they were waiting for parts. Apparently, there was a delay due to the Chinese New Year. I called again today (March 7th), told them I did not need the drone any more. I had bought a refurb from DJI and it is doing fine. I asked for them to return the drone and refund the parts portion of the $583. The person I spoke to said he would have a manager contact me today, so I penned this while waiting. Please consider this when searching for a place to have your drone repaired. Next time I will try a forum sponsor or solicit recommendations.
Thank you.
