What happens to all of the returned units?

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Just had a thought - which usually is a dangerous thing.

I keep on reading on here about flyers who buy a new phantom, fly it for a while and then decide to return it to the purchaser to get an upgraded model, or because it isn't what they ordered, or because it hasn't the 'proper' ESCs in it, or because there's an 'R' in the month or whatever.

I'm curious to find out what you all think happens to the returned units.

Personally, I think the retailers tidy them up, (maybe even test them) and resell them to the next purchaser. I would almost be prepared to bet that they don't get returned to DJI.

Even if they are returned to DJI, what do you think DJI do with them? Scrap them?

I think not.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
They probably get sent back to dji and dji refurbishes them without our knowledge.

It's already been proven dji just has a grabbag of old and new parts and use whatever.
 
I've wondered that myself... Maybe they part out the units for warranty repairs. Or they discount them deeply to the dealer to do as they see fit, sell/use as is or repair to like new. Whatever it is, the dealers are agreeable to most returns if that's whats required. The RC industry is a very different business model from what I have known.

Have you ever considered what is the actual DJI cost for a unit? They have a lot of room to make happy in my opinion.
 
I bet cha 75% are trashed. In HVAC/REFH all we do is pull the model number/serial number off the product and trash the unit. The chance of DJI pulling off the parts and reusing them, is unheard of. Plus what company wants to pay a employee to remove the electronics, test them and still take a chance of it coming back.Yeah they sell recondition ones but those are from small dealers that just send them back to get full credit. The thing that some say in here that the employees get a grab bag of parts, thats a joke.As a tech for 39 years I have seen my company exchange something just to shut the customer up. After 4 or 5 techs go out there and can't find anything wrong, that should tell ya something. We can resell ones like that. But the ones that come back with contaminated freon system, we trash the whole thing. The mark up on parts is so unreal it would blow your mind...matter of fact you would think you are getting ripped off. Here is a good example: most members in here have a refrigerator. The compressor cost the customer between 275 to 350. It was made for a little under 35.00. When a company has to go buy a part from a wholesale dealer, it is marked up anywhere from three to five times. Here is another prime example. The company gets a Heat Pump for 1200.00 which is just about normal cost. Turns around and it is sold to you anywhere from 2500 to 3000. Then the company states they will install it for 100.00.Then ya say chet, they are only charging me a 100 bucks...I am getting a good deal. Takes around 3 hours for two techs to install and look what they made for 3 or 4 hours of work.Their is no doubt in my mind that DJI makes these from anywhere from 50.00 to 75.00. The rest is pure mark up.
 
I fall into this category as someone who returns their unit because of all these so-called ESC issues.I'm not sure if I made a mistake and should have just kept the unit I had but I felt that if there is a potential issue with the speed controller causing a malfunction it could be dangerous and potentially either hurt someone or cause property damage. So I've decided to return it and take my chances with the new one that they send me. If it isn't updated I will likely just keep it and fly it and not worry about it.
 
I would wonder if returned Units are used for repair parts by local shops or sold to a secondary market for some of the off brand cheaper quads on the market. A Few years back I bought a new in the box sealed computer hard drive from Best Buy to replace a burned out unit in my home computer. When I cut off the cellophane outer cover, opened the box, and took the unit out I found a filled out warranty card inside! I immediately took the unit back to complain. The counter sales guy told me matter of factly that any electronic units returned to them shortly after purchase were tested, repackaged and sealed with a machine they had in the repair room. If I had not found the filled out warranty card in the box I would have never known the difference.
 
There is a salvage house in Texas who is authorized & buys all returned DJI equipment and sells on Ebay. They also buy luggage, cameras etc and resell on Ebay.
 
eyecon82 said:
They probably get sent back to dji and dji refurbishes them without our knowledge.

It's already been proven dji just has a grabbag of old and new parts and use whatever.

houstonpilot has a serial # database started that may end up telling us something if enough folks help out.

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=32903
 
robsquad said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DJI-Phantom-2-Vision-Plus-v3-0-Quadcopter-Drone-Great-Shape-FREE-SHIPPING-/231448369268?pt=Radio_Control_Vehicles&hash=item35e365d874

he has lots of damaged or returned dji for sale
Almost all of the auctions include "Sold as-is, with no guarantee or warranty". Sounds like a big gamble unless you know how to repair Phantoms.
 
I bought a new v3 in November, it shed a prop on the first test flight resulting in a total loss.
It was a ESC issue, I got a warranty exchange. But the replacement had a shaky gimbal, that made me suspicious, and I found out that the camera had 700 exposures on it (see the file names )
I called my dealer, he offered an exchange, the second replacement flies great, the gimbal is solid, and I have number 1060 on the camera. ..
So my guess is that some parts are being recycled.
 
the company i work for run a warehouse that strips & recycles TV set top box units, it more than pays to employ people to strip returns & grade the different parts
 
I have heard under warranty exchange that DJI sometimes does replacements with refurbished units. That would explain where some of them go. But when do they have time to refurb units. My repair took over 9 weeks. They put on a new camera or was it a pull from wine of those returns.... Hmmmm I wonder.
 

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