3DR support

[hal1968]

I'm not going to rant like crazy about this ....
I accept all responsibility for my own decisions ...
I thought I had read enough to convince myself that this what the right decision (as far as what product to purchase)

!st comment that may help others in the future ... Don't buy directly from the 3DR website ... shipping takes to long and your Money Back Guarantee time-frame will be consumed... it is for 30 days ... not a moment longer. So buy your product from some retailer ... they aren't very helpful ... but be realistic ... if you've had any interest in this type of thing then you are probably more knowledgeable about the product than the people in "Big Box Stores" anyway.

2nd ... if you still believe the Solo is the right option for you (such as I thought... and still do to some degree). Then if you have any reason to send the product back due to some manufacturing flaw of something out of your control (then just ask for your money back)... there is nothing preventing you from buying another item at another retailer with the same 30 day money back guarantee, At least this will give you an option to bail out if you deem necessary.

3rd ... don't get me wrong ... I liked the co-operation of 3DR support ... but with everything I've received to date (this is the second unit) nothing has worked out.

a quick run down of the situation.
1) I bought directly from their site.
2) I live in Canada
3) the first unit was a complete failure ... it never flew. ( i received it with a gimbal )
4) they offered to take it back and replace it with another unit... I accepted the offer and shipped it away on their dime.
5) Received the unit back ... by this time the money back guarantee time frame expired. The unit flew well ... but the gimbal provided in the first order (which was never sent back at their request) provided no control over the camera... I mean none ... the option to even record video didn't work , much less anything else.
6) I raised this issue with tech support on-line ... they instructed a factory reset ... which was done ... the reset ended up with the controller and solo not being able to pair with each other (this was done with 3dr support online ... no mistakes were made)
7) now they have offered to replace the unit and gimbal again ... I asked to make sure the money back guarantee was still in place considering I have had no luck at all with this product and may have to resort to this option.
8) I was informed its no longer an option (time frame expired with all the shipping... first from San Diego to British Columbia after the purchase (about 10 days) then from British Columbia to SanDiego to have them do what they do to fix it (about 2 weeks) then back here to Brithish Columbia again. That pretty much kills the 30 day money back guarantee. I'm not always home,so my first opportunity to use the Solo was about a week after it had arrived. ( My fault I guess... life gets in the way.)

Try to imagine yourself in all kinds of situations before purchasing anything ... A company that will stand up behind their product is extremely important. As much so as a company that allows it's employees to make judgment calls, based on a situation which is out of the normal
Myself ... it isn't the end of the world ... but statements of this nature can tend to be a little damaging to the bottom line of a company... especially when it comes to inheriting a reputation. I believe their customer support did what they could within the company's guide lines.. but policies , guidelines , regulations , laws ,.... whatever you wish to call them... they are all temporary and for the most part written by those who wish to hide behind them.
I hope the 3rd unit that arrives works well ... I also hope people from 3dr read this ... I really don't think this is the type of situation they want (or at least.... I hope not ).
I still think this will eventually be the best option for what I want ... If I can can a unit that functions correctly ... sites like this ... in the end ... have a lot of value as long as the members contribute to the difficulties.
Take care
Hal

 

[SteveReno]

Sorry to hear about your difficulties with your Solo.

Yes, we have helped many people with Solo Problems for over a year now, too bad you just now seeked us out.
3DRPilots is a GREAT place to get help & learn about you Solo, Shame though first timers "Like yourself" Just come here to Blow off steam, & tell us about their difficulties with 3DR.

If you plan to keep your Solo, then we welcome you to ask & learn about the tips, tricks & mods we already learned.
I can speak for my self only, but your experience with 3DR isn't the "Norm" for 3DR .
They are/were the best i ever had to deal with,
Including & not limited to:

Over satisfying most customers with warranty issues.
Used to be 24 hour Tech. Phone support.
Webinars: 3DR representatives showing the best way to use the Solo & all it's features.
Updates to new features almost monthly basis. Smart Shot's, GoPro control, better handling. Make Solo better over all.

All above has been the "Norm" until about 2 months ago...
They "3DR" say there a transiting in other areas, but still having Solo as there flag ship offering.
Officially, 3DR has said that they are still in the business Of selling the BEST drones on the market.

As i said above, if you keep your Solo & having problems, give us a chance to help or just say hello.
enough said.

Hope you can get what you paid for.

 

[hal1968]

Well ... I can take a statement of that nature pretty easily ... I didn't come here to "Blow off Steam"
I would suggest you ask a question or 2 ... or even make a suggestion. I certainly wouldn't make any assumptions... we all now where that leads.
the intent of the post was to advise anyone who wants to purchase this item to go to a retailer and acquire it immediately, rather than loosing the time frame given on the money back guarantee due to shipping time etc...
Secondly ... if problems are found (such as my personal situation) then get your money back.
3rd - if you still consider the product is the one you want ... then with you refund go get another one ... this still allows you 30 days.
I never bashed anyone , or the product , not even their support people (who, by the way, did what they could within the company's rules).

I had always considered places of this nature a good resource of information ... taken with a "grain of salt" of course.
I still hope to get a properly functioning solo ... after all ... that is what I was after ... and they are attempting to straighten it out again ... maybe with the 3rd unit I will have a little luck and I can come here with some more positive suggestions and be of some help to others ... but at this point ... this is all I have to offer for obvious reasons. I wish the situation was different.

With that behind us ... maybe you could point me towards some posts that have some valuable information for when , hopefully , the first working unit arrives. I'm sure there are plenty of useful remarks for people who get their product up and running the first time.

Hopefully you understand where I'm coming from.
Regards

 

[pyrate]

wow snarky
Dang you Steve be more helpful (sarcasm flag on)

 

[SteveReno]

Well ... I can take a statement of that nature pretty easily ... I didn't come here to "Blow off Steam"
I would suggest you ask a question or 2 ... or even make a suggestion. I certainly wouldn't make any assumptions... we all now where that leads.
the intent of the post was to advise anyone who wants to purchase this item to go to a retailer and acquire it immediately, rather than loosing the time frame given on the money back guarantee due to shipping time etc...
Secondly ... if problems are found (such as my personal situation) then get your money back.
3rd - if you still consider the product is the one you want ... then with you refund go get another one ... this still allows you 30 days.
I never bashed anyone , or the product , not even their support people (who, by the way, did what they could within the company's rules).

I had always considered places of this nature a good resource of information ... taken with a "grain of salt" of course.
I still hope to get a properly functioning solo ... after all ... that is what I was after ... and they are attempting to straighten it out again ... maybe with the 3rd unit I will have a little luck and I can come here with some more positive suggestions and be of some help to others ... but at this point ... this is all I have to offer for obvious reasons. I wish the situation was different.

With that behind us ... maybe you could point me towards some posts that have some valuable information for when , hopefully , the first working unit arrives. I'm sure there are plenty of useful remarks for people who get their product up and running the first time.

Hopefully you understand where I'm coming from.
Regards

I'm sure not only our Canadian Cousins will benefit from telling us your experience, but all can learn a few things from this.

Sorry if i sounded anything less then genuine in my thoughts or suggestions in my reply to you earlier.
Again, my offer stands, i will be glad to help you with any questions you have about Solo.
Personally, I'm hoping you get a Solo that's ready to fly out of the box! Of course you may need to charge batteries first LOL.

Here's something to read while waiting. This was given to me today.
Never to old to learn User Manual | 3DR - Drone & UAV Technology

Hope this helps
Welcome to 3DRpilots

 

[Adimuzio513]

Yea any issue I'd have is surely best brought here and exhausted before moving on to 3dr service, that said they just honored my warranty and sent me a new bird after some convincing.

I'm pretty confident those with genuine non user caused issues will be taken care of if they are persistent. 3dr and every other company has all these a-hole, scammers and cheats to deal with so if at first you get an answer your not happy with try again. I kept hearing how my logs looked fine from service until they finally looked closer on my third attempt and eventually made everything right. Just like some companies are a scam or shoddy like dj umm, never mind so are some consumers so we both have to protect ourselves in different ways.

Sorry to hear you've had a less than ideal experience so far, but keep on them and eventually you'll have an amazing bird with a company that actually will honor and stand behind their product warranties. Good luck and hope you get in the air soon.

Fly safe

 

[hal1968]

ok... so I thought an update was appropriate ,, even if it is just to explain how it worked out in the end and maybe answer any questions about 3DR's commitment to their product. Don't come to conclusions ... read to the end or don't bother.

So if you have read this entire thread ... it will make more sense,

I did receive another complete replacement , meaning the gimbal was replaced as well. After receiving that unit (which was the third unit I've gotten from them) it came with the controller and Solo not being able to communicate .... if you are familiar with the little orange light on the underside of the Solo .... that was the indicator that another faulty unit was shipped. The light itself just stayed dark... no flashing ... nothing.

So I contacted 3DR support again. They informed me they needed this 3rd unit shipped back and would replace it ... again.We went through another "Factory reset procedure .... unfortunately it didn't work out.... much like the previous 2 units.
I explained my position pretty clearly on the whole situation. I also explained to their support department (unfortunately none of this is their fault) that i would be expecting a full refund if the next unit they insisted on shipping to me arrived "non operable" .... my patience was wearing a little thin at this point, I would hope this is understood and not seen as some kind of rant after all of this. I also requested measures if I was expected to agree to their request. I asked for them to test fly the unit , I also asked for them to then reset the unit and do a factory reset to ensure the controller and Solo were actually able to re-pair (considering this was the biggest obstacle in every previous unit) . the support department forwarded my e-mail to someone.... who in fact did exactly just that from what I can see .... quite simply the following arrived functioning correctly .... the app , controller , and solo all communicate as you would expect . The only thing I found that might suggest my requests weren't followed exactly is the unit arrived with the latest software pre-installed.... which would suggest that a factory reset wasn't performed. Understand one thing here .... after having 3 other separate units shipped here , not one was able to re-pair after doing a factory reset., And in all cases , It was requested by their support department to do that exact thing to hopefully resolve non operable units that came that way out of the box.
I absolutely understand that almost everything I do and have achieved,, has absolutely nothing to do with luck. Hence I don't visit Las Vegas. So would you guys do a factory reset at this point to make sure it does everything it is suppose to ? Or just keep your fingers crossed that there will be no need to go there ?

Anyway, I now have something that does what it is suppose to and I am very great-full for the effort of their support team and whoever the individual is, that actually took the time to ensure that the last unit they shipped me works correctly. For somebody who doesn't hold a lot of faith in luck.... maybe #4 is my new lucky number ...lol