Last updated: February 25, 2024DJI has always tried to cultivate a reputation as a customer-centric brand. Their customer service has been excellent enough to be worthy of praise, but what exactly is the DJI care refresh, and is the DJI care refresh worth it?
Well, if these are questions that are on your mind as you consider buying yourself a DJI drone, you’re at the right place. Most especially, if you are in the roofing business where you need drones for roof inspections or any other line of business that requires drones to be flown regularly, you might like to consider the DJI drones with a DJI care refresh.
Having said all of that, let’s get down to understanding what the DJI care refresh plan is all about, what type of coverage it does and doesn’t provide and just how much money it would cost to purchase.
DJI offers drones of all specifications, from the lightweight exploratory drones for beginners to drones for wedding photography such as the DJI Air 2S, with its MasterShots features. Supporting some of their drones is the DJI care refresh, an insurance plan and warranty policy rolled into one. This means that the DJI refresh is a kind of damage controlling plan provided by DJI on certain drone models that allow for owners of drones to be provided with two replacement drones in the 12 months that the plan.
The replacement drones that a person owning a DJI care refresh would be entitled to are guaranteed to be new or, at least, equivalent to new in both reliability and performance. However, this DJI care refresh is not a compulsory plan, and buyers of the drones supported by the plan have the option of adding the plan with their purchase or within 48 hours of their purchase. It should be noted that this plan is only available if the DJI drone is purchased from an authorized seller.
It should be noted that beyond the terms of the DJI care refresh, some older models such as the “Light-as-a-phone” Mavic Mini Combo are eligible for refund or replacement if they are delivered damaged or defective.
As stated earlier, the DJI care refresh is only available for twelve months, after which your drone is no longer protected. You can consider the DJI refresh plus to be an upgrade or rather an extension of that period.
As such, if you haven’t received the two replacement units the DJI care refresh attributes to you as of the end of the twelve months, you are eligible to extend the period of coverage by another twelve months by purchasing the DJI care refresh plus. Note that the cost of replacements would remain the same as they were under the DJI care refresh.
Now, this is more of an insurance plan than a warranty policy. From the name, you should probably have deduced that this is a similar but different product. For starters, while the DJI care also insures against physical damage, like the DJI care refresh and DJI care refresh plus, it does so at a higher upfront cost.
Furthermore, you get an unlimited number of repairs though there are no deductibles for repair services. This pan also ensures your drone for the duration of the policy at the market price for the repair, and, in the event of extensive damage to the drone, you would be eligible to receive a replacement drone so long as there is still sufficient coverage left on the plan.
As with regular insurance policies, the amount of money that you’d be required to pay for coverage is directly proportional to the value of the item being insured. As such, the cost of your DJI care refresh plan would depend on how expensive the drone you’re buying is.
In summary, lower-end products would mean the cost of purchasing the DJI care refresh would be lower, and higher-end products would mean higher costs for the DJI care refresh.
The cost, however, doesn’t stop there. If you ever need a replacement drone in the period covered by the DJI care refresh, you would be required to put up a fee for the replacement. Now, in the same way, your risk assessment is less favorable after every incident; the payment for a possible second replacement would be higher than that for a first replacement for the very same reason.
To further explain this, here is a table containing the DJI drones that currently have coverage from a DJI care refresh plan:
| DJI drone model | Cost of the drone | The original cost of DJI care refresh | First replacement fee | Second replacement fee |
| Inspire 2 | $3,299 | $399 | $209 | $329 |
| Mavic 2 | $1,599 | $149 | $69 | $99 |
| Mavic Air | $699 | $69 | $69 | $99 |
| Mavic Air 2 | $799 | $79 | $69 | $99 |
| Mavic Mini | $399 | $39 | $40 | $49 |
| Mavic Pro | $829 | $99 | $79 | $129 |
| Mini 2 | $449 | $49 | $49 | $59 |
| Phantom 3 SE | $729 | $59 | $69 | $79 |
| Phantom 4 Advanced | $1,299 | $139 | $99 | $139 |
| Phantom 4 Pro Series | $1,599 | $159 | $99 | $149 |
Not all of these models are still being produced as the Phantom 3 SE, Mavic Pro, Spark, and Mavic Air have been discontinued by DJI. However, they are still being sold on some online retail services, and the DJI care refresh plan is still available on them. It might make more sense to get the DJI refresh on one of these discontinued models, as if a replacement is needed, you may end up with a better drone. However, if you intentionally damage your drone looking for such an opportunity, as with regular insurance policies, your claims would be rejected if you are found out.
Down to the specifics of how the DJI care refresh plan works. It s quite similar to an insurance policy here, as the first step to follow after your drone has sustained damage is to submit an online request for a repair or replacement, as the case may be.
As a reply to your request, instructions would be passed along to help you get your drone to the DJI repair center in your region. Note that the shipping costs of getting your drone to the repair center and receiving the replacement drone would be covered by DJI.
Once at the DJI repair center, your drone would be assessed to determine if the DJI care refresh covers the damage to it or not. If it is covered, you will receive a new drone or a like-new drone. If the damage is, however, not covered by the terms of the DJI care refresh, you would be giving the option of whether you’d like to have repair work done on the damaged drone or to get the drone back as it is.
The process explained above outlines the importance of the damage done to your drone being covered by the DJI care refresh, and this should be a key area for you when purchasing the DJI care refresh in the first place. For instance, not all cases of your drone not being able to fly would mean coverage. For some of those, you might need to learn how to fix drones that won’t fly on your own. What I’m saying is, read the fine print to know what is covered before making a claim.
The following are the least of events or damages that are covered by the DJI care refresh.
The flyaways covered are not for all the models that have a DJI care refresh plan attached to them. Instead, they apply only to the Mavic Air 2 and the Mini 2. However, even for these two models to be covered by the DJI care refresh, certain conditions would have to be in place as of the time that the drone sustains damage.
Firstly, the drone would need to have been purchased with a DJI care refresh plan, and secondly, the drone would need to have been connected with the controller. The former confirms that the drone is truly covered, and the latter is needed to supply a flyaway report that verifies your claim.
As also earlier implied, some situations and damages would not be covered by the DJI care refresh. This is more important than those covered, as many of the issues not covered can be avoided with care or more attention. Some of these issues are:
Most people have a problem because flyaways are not covered for models besides the Mavic Air 2 and the Mini 2, and though I have no idea why these two models are singled out, it is sure to have something to do with their design and operation. On the whole, though, I see no reason why flyaways should be covered as the only reason why the DJI care refresh makes sense from the side of the manufacturers is that they at least get damaged drones in return for the replacements they offer.
The same goes for drones lost in water or lost in general. Such situations would mean that DJI would receive nothing. Giving replacements for less than 20% of the price of a new drone would make little sense then. It would make even less sense considering that these particular situations would be the easiest to recreate by people looking to take advantage of the company.
On whether the DJI care refresh is worth it, I’d have to say yes. Looking at it objectively, you would realize that the offer is a pretty good one. Basically, at the most extreme, you would spend less than half the initial purchase price of your drone to get two replacements and the option for repairs.
The real bummer is that the coverage only lasts for a year, but on the bright side, even if you were to purchase the DJI care refresh plus and extend it for another year, you still would be spending less than 60% of your initial purchase cost to guarantee yourself two free replacements in the case of a mishap.
The real disadvantage of the plan comes in the form of the time that could be spent waiting for the drone to be returned by the DJI repair center. This has been reported as taking as long as six months in some cases. Some customers have reported the repair or replacement taking only a few weeks, but even that is too much for most people.
Also, the real determinant of whether or not the DJI care refresh coverage is worth it is the frequency or nature of your flying. If you fly your drone regularly or are a professional drone pilot, you should probably look into how best to ensure your drone Trusted Source A Guide to Drone Insurance for Drone Companies - Embroker Unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) or more commonly, drones, are a quickly-emerging technology that has enormous potential to spark a revolution, or at the very least increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness, across a number of industries. www.embroker.com rather than just settling for physical damage coverage alone, as is offered by this plan.
Pros
Cons
If you fail to purchase your DJI care refresh within the stipulated 48-hour period, you could still purchase the plan but at the cost of more stress. Firstly, you would have to submit a video that assesses the parts of your drone according to a checklist provided by DJI.
After the video is submitted and approved by DJI, though, you would be allowed to purchase the DJI care refresh within 72 hours of the approval.
The DJI care refresh cannot be canceled. The only way you get back the money paid for the DJI care refresh plan is to return the drone purchased with it. If you return the drone for a refund, you would be paid back the money spent on the DJI care refresh plan. Independently though, the money spent on the DJI care refresh cannot be gotten back.
When you receive a replacement drone under the DJI care refresh package, the new drone is automatically linked to the DJI care refresh plan. As such, no additional plan is required for the new drone.
Two main disadvantages owning a DJI care refresh plan can have; the long time you might need to wait for the drone to be repaired or replaced and returned and the fact that flyaways and lost drones are not covered for all eligible models.
The second might be because the only models supported are lightweight drones or that the models may not have as wide a control range, but the first is a manufacturer problem.
Beyond these two disadvantages, and even despite them, the DJI care refresh plan is worth it, and if you’re going to be getting a DJI drone soon, I recommend that you get one that is eligible for the plan.
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