3DR Customer Service Sucks

[STMPNGRND]

Dunno, maybe it's frustration that builds when you don't hear from them, and it's a similar situation, maybe it's a vent, maybe someone won't feel they're all alone with a similar situation. Or maybe I just am too first-timer-posting-user who wants to piss YOU off...

Even more rude to dissappear completely after the VP of service personally sorts out the issue

 

[Maddog]

I don't get the delay. I bought the entire kit directly from 3DR during the first few days of the sale. It was shipped the same day. Now, depending where you live, get ready for a shocker. It took Fedex Ground, their only courier 6 business days to deliver to upstate, NY.

OMG! How did you deal with the stress of waiting!?

 

[Maddog]

I don'tm know what the issues are, but it would seem to be my experience is pretty much the same. I had a crash back in March or Feburary, been so long I forget, anyway, the thing is I started a chat with the tech support and after exchanging some photos of the gimble they determined there was no real damage to it. Okay, so he said I could power it up, which I did and it seemed to power up just fine, so after replacing the broken blade, I powered it up again, this time it didn't power up correctly, the lights never changed to the white and red configuration, so I powered it down and back up again, the same thing happened, well I wasn't about to try flying it yet until I got some advice from 3DR. I put in a ticket describing the crash and what it did, and they asked for the receipt, the photos of the Solo, and the logs. I sent everything they asked for. About a week later I get an email from them requesting the same thing but with photos of the damage. I sent them everything yet again, and explained to them what was broken and the condition of the Solo, and that the damage seemed to me minor and could not really be seen in the photos, they replied that that's okay they won't need any photos. I get another email in a week asking for the receipt for the unit. I explained they alredady had it, but sent it yet again. Each time I'm dealing with a different tech, and it's annoying and frustrating. Do. They not talk to each other? Is there not a file attached to the ticket which has this stuff I keep sending? I did finally get an answer about the crash, they determined that the Solo experienced a low battery alert and did what it was supposed to do, climb to the return to home altitude and return to the landing site. All well and good, but. Never saw any alert, I expected an alarm of some kind to go off if this happened. This is if I read the manual correctly. I have been trying to play back my logs, and have met with very little success, if I read the map correctly, my Solo was flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean near Africa...Now I've downloaded all the logs, telemetry and dataflash and see some of this but not all...I am still waiting to hear what exactly they are going to do as the tickets are not closed except for the gimble issue...I'll be honest, it seems like a typical customer service center to me, one hand has no idea what the other is doing...Oh one other thing, I'm missing one of those rubber tips on the bottom of the legs, why do I have to buy a set of legs to replace that tip? Seems kinda silly to spend $15 for a set of legs just to get a rubber tip...Time to look at that 3D pen to freedraw a new tip...lol

Hi @Stroke - welcome to the forum, sorry about your troubles.
Normally, I've had the same tech stay with the same ticket until it's finished, so your experience is unusual. I have had them ask for the same "stuff" more than once so apparently it doesn't get saved anywhere.

I have spare rubber "tips" I will send you for free if you like. Send me a message with your address and I can get them in the mail right away.

 

[bheiland]

Remember the weekend with the buy one get one free offer for the battery? I ordered two batteries. Both arrived about 10 days after I made the purchase. One would not charge, the other was fine. I got an RMA and sent the battery back. Got confirmation that the battery was received from 3DR. Weeks have passed , and the battery still has not been replaced. Guess 3DR has no batteries left after the sale that they had. Every attempt that I have made asking for a status of the replacement has not been able to tell me when I might get a replacement.

 

[Maddog]

Remember the weekend with the buy one get one free offer for the battery? I ordered two batteries. Both arrived about 10 days after I made the purchase. One would not charge, the other was fine. I got an RMA and sent the battery back. Got confirmation that the battery was received from 3DR. Weeks have passed , and the battery still has not been replaced. Guess 3DR has no batteries left after the sale that they had. Every attempt that I have made asking for a status of the replacement has not been able to tell me when I might get a replacement.

That's not good- I really don't know what's going on with 3DR but I suspect they are moving away from consumer drone use in favor of commercial/industrial.

 

[Eric Sheehan]

Ahh, the free battery chapter, brings back such blessed memories.

Oh wait sorry, that is SO 2015

 

[Eric Sheehan]

If memory serves, that was post Solo launch, and pre Gimbal apocalypse.

 

[echef]

So from my experience, they have great service. My SOLO crashed due to a bad motor pod, and wrecked both my gimbal and GP4Blk. They worked with me for a couple days getting all the info, then offered to fix replace the whole lot. I sent it in. About two weeks later, I sent a note to them asking how it was going. Next day I get a shipping note from them saying a replaced/fixed SOLO, Gimbal, and GP4Blk are on their way to me. It arrives early next week.

I may have taken a few weeks all told (about 3 1/2), but what other drone company completely replaces the drone, gimbal, and camera at no cost to the user at all?

They could certainly improve their communication, but I'll mark it up as a win... Plus SOLO is pretty freaking awesome!

 

[DattaGroover]

You may want to call them. I have found that their phone wait queue is pretty quick, and you get much faster results than by email.

 

[Peter Spero]

I've experienced nothing but incredible customer experience from 3DR. Instant chat, quick email response. When I was in the field and having tech difficulty I had a live person on the line in under 3 min. who was able to resolve the problem. 3DR is soooooo far ahead of DJI in the customer service line and that's a HUGE plus when you're deciding what company to invest in.

 

[Maddog]

If memory serves, that was post Solo launch, and pre Gimbal apocalypse.

Yes- I'd rather have a hemorrhoid attack than go through that again.

 

[John Kerr]

I've experienced nothing but incredible customer experience from 3DR. Instant chat, quick email response. When I was in the field and having tech difficulty I had a live person on the line in under 3 min. who was able to resolve the problem. 3DR is soooooo far ahead of DJI in the customer service line and that's a HUGE plus when you're deciding what company to invest in.

I had a DJI phantom 3 which I loved until it went wrong. It was returned by the store to the dealer. DJI agreed it was a warranty issue, but the repair took forever. I eventually got a refund when it had not been returned after 10 weeks. Stick with 3DR

 

[Flying Squirrel]

Here's what I've learned from dealing 3DR CS ... Their requests are very specific. If your response is non-specific then response is delayed and will contain a request for additional information and/or reiteration of the original request.

All the delays I experienced were the result of my failure to provide the requested information, i.e. Specific flight logs

That said, I've crashed a few times and 3DR has made me whole. I trust their techs and will add that 3DR took the time to troubleshoot a "stupid user error" via chat - they solved the problem and still followed up on the trouble ticket I submitted from the field.

3DR has downsized so response may be slower than my experience but I beleive you will be made whole

Good luck

 

[STMPNGRND]

It's pretty obvious that the originator of this thread has bailed as there has not been a peep from him since 3dr came on here and very publicly solved the issue. I think the mods should close this thread down.

 

[Craig L. Johnson - USMC]

I also experience excellent customer service from 3dr. I brought the first solo that Fry's Electronics had on the shelf, last year. Most of the issues that I have seem in all of these forums are usually related to the customer. they do not so enough research, before buying a drone, they usually looking for a simple toy to play with, and always try to buy the most expensive one, thinking that is the right one for them.

mmmmm!!!

 

[seansolo]

I have had nothing but problems with solo just bought phantom 4 don't need customer service

 

[rick ritter]

Wow - I guess I was wrong about 3dr. They are a great company and I am sure that they will be around for years. I have not checked this board for a long time. I did buy another one for scrap value.

 

[pyrate]

this group should really be called the X3dr pilots
3dr left the building a long time ago

 

[twitchyzero]

3DR's customer support is a far cry from what it used to be
if you need to be back up in the air in a reasonable amount of time, I would not count on it. Esp as they seem to run into shortages often since 2016 (gimbal was out of stock for like 2 months last year IIRC)
but Vu goes above and beyond to make sure you're sorted out...so you just gotta have patience. Lots of it.

 

[Craig L. Johnson - USMC]

I order my spare parts from the internet.