An Open Letter to DJI
Dearest DJI “Support” Team,
As the un-elected spokesperson for every single pissed off person drowning in regret after sending their equipment to your team for repair, I write you out of love, hate, and a general plea for change.
I think it’s important to agree on two baselines before we go much further.
- DJI, in general, is crushing it. As a company you’ve clearly cornered the market and proven your products and technology are second to none. This is why I have a Phantom 4 and why you have such an active, yet angry, customer base on your forums. We’ve all bought into the quality and story that DJI has built. Well done. (Note, ‘love’ referenced in opening).
- DJI Support, in totality, is failing miserably. I know that sounds like a tough pill to swallow, but you can not deny after reading through your support forum (and may more out there), that there is a widespread disdain amongst your customer base regarding the level of support you are providing. (Note, ‘hate’ referenced in opening).
I would imagine many at DJI would try and refute point number two, but I implore you to look at what your customers are saying online, and remember, the first step is admitting you have a problem :-/. I would love to hear someone from DJI actually come out and say it, “We have a very shitty support process, and for that we are sorry.”
It all started for me about a month ago. My remote controller started only charging to about 10–15%. I did what every responsible drone owner would do and conducted as much troubleshooting at home as possible (online support chat with DJI, multiple power cords, etc…). Finally, after speaking to a DJI representative at my local DJI retail store in Denver, they recommended I send my controller into the fine folks at DJI support.
One month, multiple support email threads, THREE different estimated shipment dates (each later than the last), I am still being told that my RC will be shipped back to me within the 5–7 day window after my case was approved.
WHAT?! HUH!? Can you please explain to me how your website approved my case on the 9th, a support person said my case was approved on the 10th, and now a second support person is telling me that my RC will be shipped on the 25th and that is within the acceptable 5–7 day SLA!?
I sit here at a complete loss for words. I’ve spent time trying to comprehend how something so seemingly simple (setting proper expectations and remaining consistent in your communication), could be so utterly challenging for you. The one conclusion that I continue to come back to is that you genuinely don’t care about servicing your customers. It’s the only explanation to my experience and only explanation to why SO MANY OTHERS are having a similar experience.
I’ll close with this. For your sake, the sake of DJI as a company. PLEASE do not underestimate the value of customer satisfaction. You’ve got a stronghold on the consumer market, but customers WILL buy elsewhere if they are continuously betrayed by your horrendous support processes. One by one, as our drones start to wear down over time, we will remember the experience of sending our precious equipment to you for repair. We will remember the generic responses we received, we will remember the empty promises of shipment dates, we will remember the feelings of frustration, confusion, and desperation in trying to get our babies back home safely. In the end we will remember, and in the end we will look the other way when it comes time to replacing our equipment.
Give us a support experience that matches the price points we pay for your products and we will give you a loyal customer base that returns year over year.
Yours truly,
A guy who just wants to fly again
