DJI: False Advertisement or Failure to Read Fine Print?

In a recent and popular advertisement, DJI uses Chris Burkard to showcase the new Mavic Air. But when advertisements don't line up with reality and end up costing customers a few hundred, maybe a thousand bucks, what is there to do? 

At two minutes and thirty seconds of DJI's advertisement of their new Mavic Air, Chris Burkard whips out his new drone to capture footage of kayakers running over a waterfall. The video shows Burkard piloting the drone just above a waterfall while capturing the athletes as they shoot down the falls. The drone appears to be much closer than 10 meters/30 feet to objects such as trees, water, and the waterfall. "[This drone] is so user-friendly," says Burkard. "I can put it in the air and not worry about being an amazing pilot..." 

After watching this video advertisement by DJI again and again, I couldn't help but become furious. Recently, my brand new DJI Mavic Air crashed into the water while flying above a massive waterfall in western New York. I'm working on creating a drone video featuring New York's landscapes, and the day my drone crashed was perfect: little wind, blue skies, and not-too-cold air temps. Below is a video which shows the waterfall from a distance that my drone crashed over.

I flew the drone around all day with no issues. Upon arriving at the waterfall where my drone went down, the weather conditions were still solid. I proceeded to unfold the wings on my Mavic Air to prepare for takeoff. After opening the app on my iPhone and connecting the drone, I received a message that read something along the lines of: "Fly with caution. Low GPS signal." Because I usually flew my drone in forest areas with low GPS signal, I only briefly second-guessed my decision to fly before beginning my flight.

At 0:44 seconds into the flight, the home point was recorded and the GPS signal strengthened. Around 0:50 seconds, while flying the drone over the river and eventually the waterfall, I received a message on the app saying something along the lines of: "Low transmission signal. Fly with caution." While moving the camera upward and trying to turn the drone around at a height of 27.4 meters, two seconds later the screen went black and my DJI Mavic Air plummeted toward the bottom of the falls. I was devastated. There was no way I could retrieve the drone as the waterfall was raging and the river was about at least 50 feet below. Even if I could get to the bottom of the falls, I'm certain I wouldn't have been able to retrieve the drone as I stuck around for about half an hour after it went down and never saw it pop out of the water. 

Below is the video that was recording at the time of the crash. 

I sent an email to DJI as soon as possible. Having spent $89 for DJI's insurance in addition to the $999 drone bundle, I figured my case would be covered. I knew that I had the disadvantage of not being able to retrieve the drone to send it into DJI, but I was lucky to be recording video at the time the drone went down. Further, I knew that DJI's Care Refresh covered signal interference. After sending in all past and up-to-date flight records and video cache as requested by the timely and personable customer service, I received a message saying DJI could not and would not send me a replacement drone. Because I was unable to retrieve the Mavic Air and because I was flying "too close to the water," the accident would not be covered. They instead nicely sent me a 15% discount on my next drone purchase, but I kind of took it as a joke considering I already receive 15% off through a student discount. 

A few disclaimers: I completely understand the need for DJI to contain in their Care Refresh the clause regarding the need for the pilot to send in a broken drone in order to get a new one. Anyone could potentially create a false story about how his/her drone was unable to be retrieved so him/her could get a new one. I also am aware that I definitely should have read and digested more thoroughly DJI's User Manual and Disclaimer/Safety Guidelines before flying my drone. Additionally, I realize that flying close to objects and/or water could cause interference to the aircraft's vision system, but why advertise this in promo videos differently? 

A while back my friend was cliff jumping with a GoPro. Upon hitting the water, the GoPro's protective case unbuckled and his camera received water damage. This accident happened twice, and after, my friend explained his case to the company and they sent him two new refurbished GoPros after verifying his receipt. I'm aware that GoPro's insurance policy probably differs slightly from DJI's, but the way the companies handled the situations are comparable. 

I do recognize that I should not have flown the drone until verifying a stronger GPS signal through a Home Point being marked before takeoff, and that I should've better studied-up on DJI's provided literature. But I do also think that if DJI - a multi-billion dollar company - wants long-lasting and loyal customers, they should rid of misleading advertisements and handle each customer appeal on a case-by-case basis. My warning to future DJI product purchasers: think before you fly and read the fine print carefully. Your case might not be covered by DJI and you'll walk away frustrated and empty-handed with no money left in your pockets to buy another drone. 

Lead image photo by Kaleb Kendall on Unsplash under Creative Commons license.