3DR Customer Service Review

Rate your Solo 3DR customer service experiences


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ERM

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In short, they are atrocious and you should never believe a word they say. I contacted them to make them aware of the fact that I needed to repair the unit (under warranty), this was done with 24 days left before I was to go to Guatemala, and ideally it would be shipped back to me before then. They were to send me an e-mail to start the process but failed to do so. As such I had to call them back that same day to get them going. They advised me they needed the serial number of the drone and controller. I gave them what I knew was the serial number of the drone and all 3 numbers listed on the outside of the controller as it wasn't clear which was the serial number. I was e-mailed back the following day and asked for the serial number of the controller with no explanation as to where I could find it. I then found it was behind the battery (INSIDE THE CONTROLLER). This wasted a day but whatever. Once I got the shipping label and sent it, it was stuck at the boarder for 5 days (sent from Canada) because FEDEX forgot to scan it properly, admittedly not 3DR's fault. Once 3DR got it they told me it would be shipped back within the week. When I called on Friday to find out if/when it had or would be sent they advised me that it was supposed to ship that Wednesday but had been delayed for no reason. Then they told me a supervisor would call me back later that day to see if it could be shipped out in the afternoon to avoid having to wait over the weekend. Of course there was no call, so I called back and asked to speak with a supervisor. Again I was told someone would call me back shortly. No call back of course, so I call the next day but now it's Saturday and we'll have to wait until Monday. However I'm assured it will go out Monday. I call back this morning (Today's the Monday in question) and am told it will go out today at 3:00pm. Check in at 3:30pm and am placed on hold while customer service rep calls their shipping department. Stay on hold for 30min until the line is cut off. Call back and ask to speak with supervisor and am told I'll wait 2min at the most, 10min later I'm told a supervisor will call me back. I refuse and demand to know if the item has been shipped and if not, why. After another 5min on hold a supervisor answers and tells me it will be shipped tomorrow. When I press and demand to know why it's not going today he claims that nothing shipped today and he can't tell me as it's an internal issue. I press harder but he outright refuses to explain a thing. Now I have a promise it will arrive 2 days before I depart, somehow I don't believe it.
 
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In the multicopter industry the reality is repairs have a turnaround time, I've seen competitors to 3DR take 6 weeks just to acknowledge they've received a repair before even starting it, so expecting a repair to be turned around in 24 days when 5 days of that is held at customs, plus transit back and fourth isn't necessarily realistic to begin with.

However, if 3DR set certain dates as expectations on phone calls those should be met or a reason given if not.
 
In the multicopter industry the reality is repairs have a turnaround time, I've seen competitors to 3DR take 6 weeks just to acknowledge they've received a repair before even starting it, so expecting a repair to be turned around in 24 days when 5 days of that is held at customs, plus transit back and fourth isn't necessarily realistic to begin with.

However, if 3DR set certain dates as expectations on phone calls those should be met or a reason given if not.

I don't think the problem is expectation. I think the problem is 3DR promising what they cannot deliver. Realistically we saw this with the release of the Solo and then the gimbal. Many, many people are unhappy with their customer service and support. That is way to much effort to go through for a warranty repair based on the advisings of 3DR. This is not a toy and should not be treated as such. We have a lot of money wrapped up here so I really think that 3DR needs to do something about this constant issue I see pop up on all the forums.

I know Vu has been on the forum and promised to clean up and revamp the service and support for 2016-2017, but there have been many promises that have not come to fruition. One that bothers me is the GoPro full control debate. That has taken forever and is still not fully implemented, yet the Solo, gimbal and hardware were sold as an all in one solution that did this.
 
What I don't like is how they just straight up ignore your emails after a while. Has this happened to anyone else?
 
One that bothers me is the GoPro full control debate.
That's nonsense really, the Solo clearly now has in the app (PAL users excluded) virtually all the controls the GoPro offers from their API...

Parameter Values
power sleep, on
record off, on
preview off, on
orientation up, down
mode video, still, burst, timelapse, timer, hdmi
volume 0, 70, 100
locate off, on
picres 5MP wide, 5MP med, 7MP med, 7MP wide, 8MP med, 11MP wide, 12MP wide
vidres WVGA, 720p, 960p, 1080p, 1440p, 2.7K, 2.7K 17:9 Cinema, 4K, 4K 17:9 Cinema, 1080p SuperView, 720p SuperView
fov 170, 127, 90
fps 12, 12.5, 15, 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60, 100, 120, 240
looping off, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 60 minutes, 120 minutes, max
protune off, on

The Android app went out today.

The control offered is fully what GoPro allow and will meet the needs of all users, albeit there are a few nice to haves. I've already passed on myself the wish to see greater exposure control, but the onus on that will be some movement from GoPro themselves to allow it.
 
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In short, they are atrocious and you should never believe a word they say. I contacted them to make them aware of the fact that I needed to repair the unit (under warranty), this was done with 24 days left before I was to go to Guatemala, and ideally it would be shipped back to me before then. They were to send me an e-mail to start the process but failed to do so. As such I had to call them back that same day to get them going. They advised me they needed the serial number of the drone and controller. I gave them what I knew was the serial number of the drone and all 3 numbers listed on the outside of the controller as it wasn't clear which was the serial number. I was e-mailed back the following day and asked for the serial number of the controller with no explanation as to where I could find it. I then found it was behind the battery (INSIDE THE CONTROLLER). This wasted a day but whatever. Once I got the shipping label and sent it, it was stuck at the boarder for 5 days (sent from Canada) because FEDEX forgot to scan it properly, admittedly not 3DR's fault. Once 3DR got it they told me it would be shipped back within the week. When I called on Friday to find out if/when it had or would be sent they advised me that it was supposed to ship that Wednesday but had been delayed for no reason. Then they told me a supervisor would call me back later that day to see if it could be shipped out in the afternoon to avoid having to wait over the weekend. Of course there was no call, so I called back and asked to speak with a supervisor. Again I was told someone would call me back shortly. No call back of course, so I call the next day but now it's Saturday and we'll have to wait until Monday. However I'm assured it will go out Monday. I call back this morning (Today's the Monday in question) and am told it will go out today at 3:00pm. Check in at 3:30pm and am placed on hold while customer service rep calls their shipping department. Stay on hold for 30min until the line is cut off. Call back and ask to speak with supervisor and am told I'll wait 2min at the most, 10min later I'm told a supervisor will call me back. I refuse and demand to know if the item has been shipped and if not, why. After another 5min on hold a supervisor answers and tells me it will be shipped tomorrow. When I press and demand to know why it's not going today he claims that nothing shipped today and he can't tell me as it's an internal issue. I press harder but he outright refuses to explain a thing. Now I have a promise it will arrive 2 days before I depart, somehow I don't believe it.
Hi, I'm very sorry you're going through this. Can you send me your RMA# or email address and I will track this down for you and make sure it gets out today. [email protected]
 
What I don't like is how they just straight up ignore your emails after a while. Has this happened to anyone else?
Hi Fenderbender, there was a short time in July when we couldn't get through all the emails in an acceptable timeframe, but that shouldn't be happening anymore. I've tripled my staff since, but I guess we're still letting things fall through the cracks. Can you send me your email or ticket number? I'd like to resolve your issue and find out what happened to your ticket.
 
I don't think the problem is expectation. I think the problem is 3DR promising what they cannot deliver. Realistically we saw this with the release of the Solo and then the gimbal. Many, many people are unhappy with their customer service and support. That is way to much effort to go through for a warranty repair based on the advisings of 3DR. This is not a toy and should not be treated as such. We have a lot of money wrapped up here so I really think that 3DR needs to do something about this constant issue I see pop up on all the forums.

I know Vu has been on the forum and promised to clean up and revamp the service and support for 2016-2017, but there have been many promises that have not come to fruition. One that bothers me is the GoPro full control debate. That has taken forever and is still not fully implemented, yet the Solo, gimbal and hardware were sold as an all in one solution that did this.
Hi Quality Control, I absolutely agree with you. Solo isn't a toy, drones aren't toys, and we don't treat them as such. I also agree that these are the issues that are popping up now and I do need to fix them fast. There's really no excuse for us not providing proper communication and setting the right expectations.
 
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I started a conversation with you with the email in it. I was talking to a 3DR guy and I asked him a question and didn't receive a response so I asked if his lack of a response was a "no" and I didn't hear anything back. This was over the course of a couple days I believe. I also sent him an improvement suggestion that would have prevented my crash and I didn't hear anything so I sent it in a few different ways and someone else picked it up and said they would look send it to the engineers.
 
I started a conversation with you with the email in it. I was talking to a 3DR guy and I asked him a question and didn't receive a response so I asked if his lack of a response was a "no" and I didn't hear anything back. This was over the course of a couple days I believe. I also sent him an improvement suggestion that would have prevented my crash and I didn't hear anything so I sent it in a few different ways and someone else picked it up and said they would look send it to the engineers.
Hi, I'm sorry about that. I looked at al the tickets opened up under the email you gave me and it seems the problem was that Tech Support Engineer assigned to your case works M-F and didn't respond over the weekend? Normally, when it gets to Technical Support, one engineer owns the case and doesn't hand off to the on duty engineers. I'll look into changing this.
 
That's nonsense really, the Solo clearly now has in the app (PAL users excluded) virtually all the controls the GoPro offers from their API...

Parameter Values
power sleep, on
record off, on
preview off, on
orientation up, down
mode video, still, burst, timelapse, timer, hdmi
volume 0, 70, 100
locate off, on
picres 5MP wide, 5MP med, 7MP med, 7MP wide, 8MP med, 11MP wide, 12MP wide
vidres WVGA, 720p, 960p, 1080p, 1440p, 2.7K, 2.7K 17:9 Cinema, 4K, 4K 17:9 Cinema, 1080p SuperView, 720p SuperView
fov 170, 127, 90
fps 12, 12.5, 15, 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60, 100, 120, 240
looping off, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 60 minutes, 120 minutes, max
protune off, on

The Android app went out today.

The control offered is fully what GoPro allow and will meet the needs of all users, albeit there are a few nice to haves. I've already passed on myself the wish to see greater exposure control, but the onus on that will be some movement from GoPro themselves to allow it.

Well we were waiting until today when they advertised it from the get go? If they would have marketed it as features to come, that would have been different. Everyone was led to believe it would be ready out of the box with the release of the gimbal and it definitely was not. How long was speculation about gimbals going on too? Quite a few pictures, posts and promises made about the gimbal if my memory serves me correct. They were late on all accounts so thats really the first thing people will remember until they change things.
 
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Yes there have been some frustrations before and since release, but the final product and all 3dr is trying to do is great. Very impressed to see Vu here answering individual issues as well, you won't see that with to many competitors or businesses at all for that matter. This just confirms I made the right choice in going with Solo this time and likely will be a long term customer.

Since things have slowed back down 3dr has made good on all the promises and issues we had and continues to show the competition how it's done in my experience thus far. Yes some things took time, but every complaint has been addressed and fixed fairly quickly, not just ignored or denied.

Just saw 3dr is finally officially here so I wanted to say thanks for a great copter and welcome to the forum. Overall I've learned more here on 3drpilots than I ever thought possible, joining here is the best move myself or any pilot could make to fly safe and keep your bird in the air new to the hobby or not.

Fly safe
 
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And how long did that take when they advertised it from the get go? If they would have marketed it as features to come that would have been different. Everyone was led to believe it would be ready out of the box and it definitely was not.
It's been known for a very long time the functionality was going to be delayed, however, it was delivered, frankly there was more important stuff to deliver first. Priority developments like the gimbal code, improving GPS and the radio range.

Even now 3DR are doing plenty of work that's often not even heard about, like a complete overhaul of the EKF (called surprise, surprise EKF2), the developers are certainly keeping busy. The next version of the application is already out being tested not only by 3DR but some volunteers too. Month by month the Solo will keep improving.

Moaning about the past is pointless, it's like moaning about all the problems that dogged DJI's Inspire at launch, what's the point as it's now doing what it needs to do.
 
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Hi Quality Control, I absolutely agree with you. Solo isn't a toy, drones aren't toys, and we don't treat them as such. I also agree that these are the issues that are popping up now and I do need to fix them fast. There's really no excuse for us not providing proper communication and setting the right expectations.

Hey Vu, I really appreciate your presence here and I really like you trying to do your best. I don't know both sides of the story but from what the op describes, your team failed to communicate and that can be very frustrating.

I understand your team is very busy, and probably has many many customers to deal with. I can only imagine what your service ticket counts are with the number of units I know to be sold. That being said, communication and honesty goes much further than trying to say or do what the customer wants. I think we all understand that sometimes S&%T happens and thats OK. False promises really hurt the reputation and we all want to trust that the person on the other line generally has some interest in our issue and wants to resolve it. It sounds like certain people in this situation were not that interested.

Just my .02 cents on the situation and the situations I have encountered. I am sure many have had very good experience with 3DR support and that is awesome.
 
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What I don't like is how they just straight up ignore your emails after a while. Has this happened to anyone else?
Yes. I've been having the "limp gimbal" problem. Isaac at 3DR and I swapped a few emails in rapid succession, and then 8 days ago he asked me to email him some video evidence of the problem. I sent him two good examples captured on my iPad Mini 4 (gimbal flops around between 45º and -45º). I haven't heard anything back from him since then. How long should I wait before pestering him again?
 
Yes. I've been having the "limp gimbal" problem. Isaac at 3DR and I swapped a few emails in rapid succession, and then 8 days ago he asked me to email him some video evidence of the problem. I sent him two good examples captured on my iPad Mini 4 (gimbal flops around between 45º and -45º). I haven't heard anything back from him since then. How long should I wait before pestering him again?
What speed are you flying at on the Solo, full (i.e. towards the rabbit), or half way or less? Have you just done a standard gimbal install?
 
What speed are you flying at on the Solo, full (i.e. towards the rabbit), or half way or less? Have you just done a standard gimbal install?
Although I have flown it at all speed settings (to learn how to use it), I've been keeping it at "Slow" (25%) lately because I use it for photography, not sport flying, but the "limp gimbal" problem happens randomly, regardless of that setting. I did the "standard gimbal install" the day after buying the Solo, almost a month ago now. Worked perfectly until the gimbal started going limp about two weeks ago.
 
Although I have flown it at all speed settings (to learn how to use it), I've been keeping it at "Slow" (25%) lately because I use it for photography, not sport flying, but the "limp gimbal" problem happens randomly, regardless of that setting. I did the "standard gimbal install" the day after buying the Solo, almost a month ago now. Worked perfectly until the gimbal started going limp about two weeks ago.
If it's happening at 25% speed and the windspeed is sub 20MPH then I'm guessing you've got a problem. I'd personally remove the battery bay to make sure the install really is correct (i.e. the pan motor can't touch the main board). I'd also chase up support.
 

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