Caveat Emptor...

[Maxheadspace]

Buyer beware. Learned the hard way that the return/repair period at Best Buy if you have a defective Solo is 14 days, hard and fast. Bought another Solo from Best Buy, but since it's not my first I wasn't in a rush to open it and get it flying. Twenty days after buying it, I finally pulled it out and set it up. The transmitter would not link with the quadcopter and it was not sending out wifi to link my phone. Followed trouble shooting actions and doing complete default resets, but still no go. 3DR help says if the internal orange light is on permanently that there is likely a hardware defect...my orange LED was on without blinking. At Best Buy they were friendly, but when they researched they said they could not refund, they could not exchange, they could not even send it in for warranty repair. Geek Sqaud would not touch it. So, if you buy a Solo, you have 14 days to make peace with Best Buy before you are on your own.

Not complaining about Best Buy, this is a discontinued item so they probably don't have a lot of recourse. I'm just advising new purchasers to be aware of this hard and fast deadline when they buy their drone.

Now it's over to 3DR support. Hopefully this is a simple fix, but I'll probably have to wait several weeks for round-trip shipping.

 

[healthyfatboy]

It's also Best Buy's basic return policy or 15 days unless you are a Silver or Silver Elite member.

 

[Whirlygig]

That is a bummer. I hope 3DR fixes it for you. But thanks for posting the warning. It's a nice feeling, that a brand new solo still in the wrapper is tucked in corner of closet. But, I guess it's best to break wrapper and test asap for exact reason you gave. This leads me to ask: if you have 2 or 3+ solos w controllers and gimbals plus 3+ batteries in the fleet, should you go through one at a time or regularly rotate through them all to maximize useful life? What is the "shelf life" of a spare stored in dust free dry space? Is it better to rotate through batteries or just use one or two until their performance drops significantly then discard and take two freshies from storage?

 

[Maxheadspace]

It's also Best Buy's basic return policy or 15 days unless you are a Silver or Silver Elite member.

Yes, but at Best Buy after 14 days with the Solo there is no warranty repair intake, and in my case even the Geek Squad wouldn't touch it. Such is the fate of a discontinued item. The only option is 3DR Support.

 

[djsergeatl]

Yes, but at Best Buy after 14 days with the Solo there is no warranty repair intake, and in my case even the Geek Squad wouldn't touch it. Such is the fate of a discontinued item. The only option is 3DR Support.

That is how it works for anything. It would be the same even if you purchased a Mavic. You need to deal with the manufacturer after the return period.

Regards,

 

[Maxheadspace]

That is how it works for anything. It would be the same even if you purchased a Mavic. You need to deal with the manufacturer after the return period.

Regards,

Not true. Warranty repair, on site repair, Geek Squad, that's standard for products sold there. With the a Solo they were kind of surprised as well. As I mentioned above, it's a discontinued product.

 

[djsergeatl]

Not true. Warranty repair, on site repair, Geek Squad, that's standard for products sold there. With the a Solo they were kind of surprised as well. As I mentioned above, it's a discontinued product.

Not to be argumentative or anything but are you telling us that you would take your Sony TV to Geeksquad for repairs? Really?

I do not think so. Geek squad is a simple Level 1 kind of help desk that would program your remote control for your TV.

They should not be anywhere near your drone. They may be able to install the gimbal for your solo at the very most.

I may be wrong but I am curious to know if anyone had some repairs done on their solos (or any other drones) by the Best Buy Geek Squad.

 

[Maxheadspace]

Not to be argumentative or anything but are you telling us that you would take your Sony TV to Geeksquad for repairs? Really?

I do not think so. Geek squad is a simple Level 1 kind of help desk that would program your remote control for your TV.

They should not be anywhere near your drone. They may be able to install the gimbal for your solo at the very most.

I may be wrong but I am curious to know if anyone had some repairs done on their solos (or any other drones) by the Best Buy Geek Squad.

Yes, you are just being argumentative. The point being is that there is no service from Best Buy at all past the 14 day period.

 

[djsergeatl]

Yes, you are just being argumentative. The point being is that there is no service from Best Buy at all past the 14 day period.

Sorry about that. Maybe I misunderstood.

Regards.

 

[Maxheadspace]

Not an issue. The Best Buy crew was very helpful, they did try to take it in for warranty repair, but stopped short when they were entering data due to some guidance in the system. They walked over with me to Geek Squad to seek further assistance and repair, but Geek Squad was at a loss as well.

 

[msantimanzano]

Purchased a TV at Best Buy. 2 months later the screen died. I went to Best Buy to inquire about my options.

Told unequivocally that because the return period was over I had to contact the manufacturer for warranty service.

I was given the option to leave it with them, but all they would do is send it out for repair without warranty coverage.

I'd never give a real drone to geek squad for repair.

 

[CommandantWireman]

Buyer beware.

Damn... didn't think of that either. Guess I better dig mine out. Looked last night and $299 sale at BB with all the freebies is back on. Tempted to go for a third...

 

[Maxheadspace]

On a positive note, 3DR support was great and had me back on line in about an hour. Had to dismantle my controller, but they gave me clear instructions to walk me through it. Used the chat feature on the 3DR site.