Shortly before Christmas I decided to sell of some older hardware and upgrade to an Enterprise unit. I had enough work in the pipeline for 2020 that I thought it was time to move to a more reliable platform. I purchase a new M200 series and new Flir XT 640 sensor. I chose a well-known dealer who gave me a great deal.
A couple weeks after receiving my new equipment, I had a new Client approach me who needed some work done immediately. I had already familiarized myself with the new equipment and had several test flights. Needles to say I ran into major hardware issues attempting to perform the work. The XT sensor would start jerking every 3 or 4 seconds after powering up. Data collection was not possible. Lost the job and the potential to pick up this new Client.
Fast forward 7 weeks. Yes, I said 7 weeks. I have spent hours on the phone with the Enterprise reseller trying to diagnose, and fix the issue. We have done the firmware update exercise on the drone, Sensor, and adapter ring many times. After overnighting the equipment back to the re-seller 3 times, they finally sent it to DJI. It has now been there for over two weeks with no update. Without boring all, I believe the final issue will be something to do with the drone connection and not the XT.
My biggest issue I have is with the reseller. They were very helpful in the beginning and always polite, but as time went on, they just pushed my case aside and stopped responding to me. No updates, no ownership of the issue, no apologies, no NOTHING. I have called them 24 times. They don’t call back. The only way to get any response is to now keep calling until the owner answers. I am currently out $2500 in out of pocket expenses and lost revenue. I told him this last night.
Why am I posting this information? Two reason. First, I would not name the dealer because I have too much respect for this forum. They are a well know supplier. I just want the owner to reflect on how horrible he has treated a customer who dropped $14,000 into his business. Would he be as patient as I have been if he purchased a new car and couldn’t use it for two months. Second, I wanted to share with folks who might be contemplating the same question I did. You are finally getting some Clients, revenue and trying to determine if you can satisfy your customers’ needs with used equipment, or move up to more reliable platform. It is hard to justify the cost of having a second sensor for backup, but maybe my next choice will be to go back to used equipment and a reliable backup system.
A couple weeks after receiving my new equipment, I had a new Client approach me who needed some work done immediately. I had already familiarized myself with the new equipment and had several test flights. Needles to say I ran into major hardware issues attempting to perform the work. The XT sensor would start jerking every 3 or 4 seconds after powering up. Data collection was not possible. Lost the job and the potential to pick up this new Client.
Fast forward 7 weeks. Yes, I said 7 weeks. I have spent hours on the phone with the Enterprise reseller trying to diagnose, and fix the issue. We have done the firmware update exercise on the drone, Sensor, and adapter ring many times. After overnighting the equipment back to the re-seller 3 times, they finally sent it to DJI. It has now been there for over two weeks with no update. Without boring all, I believe the final issue will be something to do with the drone connection and not the XT.
My biggest issue I have is with the reseller. They were very helpful in the beginning and always polite, but as time went on, they just pushed my case aside and stopped responding to me. No updates, no ownership of the issue, no apologies, no NOTHING. I have called them 24 times. They don’t call back. The only way to get any response is to now keep calling until the owner answers. I am currently out $2500 in out of pocket expenses and lost revenue. I told him this last night.
Why am I posting this information? Two reason. First, I would not name the dealer because I have too much respect for this forum. They are a well know supplier. I just want the owner to reflect on how horrible he has treated a customer who dropped $14,000 into his business. Would he be as patient as I have been if he purchased a new car and couldn’t use it for two months. Second, I wanted to share with folks who might be contemplating the same question I did. You are finally getting some Clients, revenue and trying to determine if you can satisfy your customers’ needs with used equipment, or move up to more reliable platform. It is hard to justify the cost of having a second sensor for backup, but maybe my next choice will be to go back to used equipment and a reliable backup system.