3D Robotics No Longer Taking Calls

[Orin]

I was going to buy a Solo but there were several questions that I had and I called their number that I found on the internet and got a recording that they are no longer taking calls.

What's up with 3DR?

There are a number of post that I found suggesting that they are in financial trouble and may be on the way towards shutting down. Any truth to these rumors?

 

[Acroduster]

All indications at this time point to them keeping their doors open. They have been releasing updates to software, commercial applications, and other energy-intensive projects that require a good amount of staff.

The phone support issue, it is believed, was done to more efficiently use the available resources.

 

[Solo Keith]

I was going to buy a Solo but there were several questions that I had and I called their number that I found on the internet and got a recording that they are no longer taking calls.

What's up with 3DR?

There are a number of post that I found suggesting that they are in financial trouble and may be on the way towards shutting down. Any truth to these rumors?

@3DROBOTICS/SOLO/CHAT
I've had great communication through their chat line. Customer service & technical support available

 

[Dash Hewes]

same here, always good to hear a voice, but the chat has worked the times I needed help.
A huge paradigm shift from days gone by.

 

[franknitty69]

I was going to buy a Solo but there were several questions that I had and I called their number that I found on the internet and got a recording that they are no longer taking calls.

What's up with 3DR?

There are a number of post that I found suggesting that they are in financial trouble and may be on the way towards shutting down. Any truth to these rumors?

3dr is not in financial trouble and is not shutting down. what you have read is pure bullshit posted by the uninformed or the anti-3dr crowd. 3dr closed a facility in one city and shored up resources in another. nothing special about that. and 3dr switched their support from 8-5 phone to 24/7 chat.

what questions do you have? there are tons of knowledgeable guys on here that could answer any question you might have.

 

[Solo Keith]

@franknitty69
Sweet

 

[Maddog]

3dr is not in financial trouble and is not shutting down. what you have read is pure bullshit posted by the uninformed or the anti-3dr crowd. 3dr closed a facility in one city and shored up resources in another. nothing special about that. and 3dr switched their support from 8-5 phone to 24/7 chat.

what questions do you have? there are tons of knowledgeable guys on here that could answer any question you might have.

I checked today and chat is only open 8-5, closed on weekends.

 

[pyrate]

this seems to be an anti 3DR talking point lately
its making the rounds on face book too, even though its old news

I would still pit their chat support against DJIs any day

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

From a business perspective, going to a chat/email/ticket only support model is the right thing to do. It's remarkably more cost effective, and their support call volume has undoubtedly decreased as product reliability increased.

From a current/existing customer perspective, making this change with no notice looks and feels bad. You know that commercial where the bank tellers closes the window in front of the customer's face? That's what it comes off as. But, we're already customers, and we're all still here. None of us are saying "crap, I better sell this on Craigslist and buy a Phantom!" So in the reality of business, the effect was negligible.

Publicly announcing to the world "We're not taking your calls anymore and we're laying off most of of support staff" would be an awful decision. That would scare away new customers. It would be the topic of memes all over the forums and social media. It would be used by competitors. It would be a terrible marketing decision. And considering my point above about existing customers, it would be pointless. New customers are none the wiser, and continue to purchase the products.

So, while it may be a little annoying, I understand why they did it.

 

[Drone Pirate]

I had a tech question on Saturday, and emailed 3DR customer support. Monday morning they replied with an answer. I responded to their answer and received my reply in about 20 minutes. That's pretty decent service in my book.

Best of all, the person who responded was knowledgeable, courteous and helpful. I never got any of those three things from DJI or Walkera.

It's a tech company in an age of technology. Migrating away from phone support towards tech based solutions makes perfect sense to me.

 

[franknitty69]

I checked today and chat is only open 8-5, closed on weekends.

noted. thanks.

 

[Adimuzio513]

All this above as well as near weekly add ons or updates lately let me put all my worries in the rear view on my way to fly. Seems that chat is doing great and if it's freeing up resources for this constant content I'm fine with that. 24/7 support for our flying camera was a big ask even for this long, still have unheard of fly away warranty and that's plenty for me. New Dji pilots have to pay 3 hundred a year to even get service from the looks of it and that's only for new ones. I'd rather have this than another monthly bill on something I already paid for personally. Fly safe, can't wait to try the update at sun up.

 

[SPP]

Chat or email is easily documented for future references. Call recording is hard to sort out and it take more bandwith to record audio.
Banks still do use phone recording.
As long as 3DR replied within 24-48 hours, that is cool and acceptable.

 

[UCLABruins]

I get it. 3DR has the best customer service but it can only goes so far after a while. Seriously even the less known competitors are already catching up. Right now DJI and Yuneec are leading the industry. At some point 3DR must compete or else they will become irrelevant . I hope they will.

 

[Steve K]

I'll take written word any day of the week. When you get bad advice would you rather it be hearsay or written text?

I've only gotten one piece of bad advice from an initial contact phone tech at 3DR. That bad advice cost me $200. I, on their advice, blamed the live feed performance issues on a newly purchased Nexus 7 when the problem was with the internal HDMI cable after all. In the end I am glad to have the functionality of the Shield but nevertheless.....

Yep, write it down I say....word of mouth has huge implications in business deals, contracts, prenupts and tech support as well.

 

[River]

i have received both same day and next day response through the support link on the 3dr app

 

[pf49er]

I'm a total newb, so I have zero experience with any of the drone builders. I have however owned 3 businesses, and have worked for a fortune 100 company in sales. Not taking phone calls, no matter your excuse, is a downgrade. Chat being available only 8-5 when you are in a business that is driven by hobbyists is sending a message that they simply don't want to deal with their own customers. While it is good to hear that there are several of you on the forum that have had excellent experience with chat and email support, not accepting phone calls is a sign of financial trouble, and not being available after 5pm is just bad business in the hobby space. If their competitors are as bad, or worse, that doesn't excuse a small enthusiast oriented business to be less available to help. Add to that closing a factory (which is actually kind of a big deal) and it is wise to question their viability.

And how about all of the buyers that never join a forum, never make a post, but simply are frustrated because when they finally get out on the weekend to fly for the first time, run into problems, the company that sold them a $800 to $3000 piece of gear is simply not available? In this 24/7 world and where same day delivery is becoming the norm, their communication strategy is more like the 1970's not 2016.

 

[franknitty69]

I'm a total newb, so I have zero experience with any of the drone builders. I have however owned 3 businesses, and have worked for a fortune 100 company in sales. Not taking phone calls, no matter your excuse, is a downgrade. Chat being available only 8-5 when you are in a business that is driven by hobbyists is sending a message that they simply don't want to deal with their own customers. While it is good to hear that there are several of you on the forum that have had excellent experience with chat and email support, not accepting phone calls is a sign of financial trouble, and not being available after 5pm is just bad business in the hobby space. If their competitors are as bad, or worse, that doesn't excuse a small enthusiast oriented business to be less available to help. Add to that closing a factory (which is actually kind of a big deal) and it is wise to question their viability.

And how about all of the buyers that never join a forum, never make a post, but simply are frustrated because when they finally get out on the weekend to fly for the first time, run into problems, the company that sold them a $800 to $3000 piece of gear is simply not available? In this 24/7 world and where same day delivery is becoming the norm, their communication strategy is more like the 1970's not 2016.

great first post!

 

[Orin]

I'm a total newb, so I have zero experience with any of the drone builders. I have however owned 3 businesses, and have worked for a fortune 100 company in sales. Not taking phone calls, no matter your excuse, is a downgrade. Chat being available only 8-5 when you are in a business that is driven by hobbyists is sending a message that they simply don't want to deal with their own customers. While it is good to hear that there are several of you on the forum that have had excellent experience with chat and email support, not accepting phone calls is a sign of financial trouble, and not being available after 5pm is just bad business in the hobby space. If their competitors are as bad, or worse, that doesn't excuse a small enthusiast oriented business to be less available to help. Add to that closing a factory (which is actually kind of a big deal) and it is wise to question their viability.

And how about all of the buyers that never join a forum, never make a post, but simply are frustrated because when they finally get out on the weekend to fly for the first time, run into problems, the company that sold them a $800 to $3000 piece of gear is simply not available? In this 24/7 world and where same day delivery is becoming the norm, their communication strategy is more like the 1970's not 2016.

Yes, it is a great post and a very good insight from someone with experience with this issue.

 

[Maddog]

I understand cutting back on 24/7 tech support, but not stopping phone calls completely.

Is there a sales/ marketing department? If so how do you reach them?

I've never heard of a company that can't be reached by phone for ANYTHING.

It smells bad- not like progress.