Customer support after autolanding

[BRC]

Indeed, but it' only thanks to this forum that I found out where to find the logfiles. Customer support never explained this to me.
I also send them this post in a mail, hoping that they will re-open the case.

And regarding pilot errors: yes they happen. Also to me. This crashed bird is my second Anafi. The first one was drowned when I hit a tree when flying over a river, only 3 weeks after I bought it. Never ever even thought to claim that one, just bought a new one, because it was my own fault.

But this one... clearly no pilot error.

I also understand Parrot, because they want to avoid unjustified claims. But in that case they should inform people that there are logfiles on the smartphone that can be used if the flight was not completed / not logged in the FreeFlight6 app ..

You are absolutely justified in chasing them down for warranty coverage and should continue to do so
In the past Parrot has honored warranty coverage in limited cases where customers were not able to provide flight logs, although they do make it difficult
I was one that was fortunate to receive a replacement for a lost bird - no screen recording, flight logs, or any real proof of what happened
They kept telling me no not without logs, and I pushed back every time telling them to escalate
This went back and forth for a couple on months - I always made a follow up call every time it was denied
Eventually they took me at my word and honored it, about a year ago
In addition I have seen a few others on forum that were granted replacement where an anafi was in an uncoverable place, like a bay
Likely the customer service folks you are speaking to are just in a call center with no technical knowledge
Keep at it you have nothing to lose
Good Luck, hope it works out

 

[Phantogram]

What phone number did you use to contact them? The UK number in their mail is never answered..

 

[BRC]

I had called North America support
Not sure what numbers are still active for different locations

North America Parrot support 1 (877) 972-7768
UK : +44 (0) 20 3481 5677
France Parrot support : +33 1 48 03 60 69

 

[AnafiPilot1]

As I suspected caused by Battery voltage sagging below ~6700-6800mV, which is the trigger for the battery autolanding.

What concerns me is that you seem to have started the flight with a battery voltage of under 7 Volts?

what was the battery level shown when you started the flight?

If the battery level was high but the voltage was down below 7V, then you have a very sick battery!!

 

[Phantogram]

Starting battery level was between 65 and 70 % on both flights that day. I checked the other log as well, to see if there were higher levels on the first flight. That flight lasted 6 minutes 58 seconds, without any issue. Indicated attery level started at 65-70% and was used till 25% on that flight. Have to open the log to see what that means in voltage.

 

[Deleted member 3201]

Indeed, but it' only thanks to this forum that I found out where to find the logfiles. Customer support never explained this to me.
I also send them this post in a mail, hoping that they will re-open the case.

And regarding pilot errors: yes they happen. Also to me. This crashed bird is my second Anafi. The first one was drowned when I hit a tree when flying over a river, only 3 weeks after I bought it. Never ever even thought to claim that one, just bought a new one, because it was my own fault.

But this one... clearly no pilot error.

I also understand Parrot, because they want to avoid unjustified claims. But in that case they should inform people that there are logfiles on the smartphone that can be used if the flight was not completed / not logged in the FreeFlight6 app ..

Agreed! I guess they were understaffed and went with that or something. Which is a shame

 

[AnafiPilot1]

Starting battery level was between 65 and 70 % on both flights that day. I checked the other log as well, to see if there were higher levels on the first flight. That flight lasted 6 minutes 58 seconds, without any issue. Indicated attery level started at 65-70% and was used till 25% on that flight. Have to open the log to see what that means in voltage.

Battery level is also in telemetry data - product_battery the error value is the battery % level.

From your posted telemetry you do have a very sick battery pack - looks like the cells have a very high IR (Internal resistance).

The point where Autoland was triggered looks like Battery Voltage browned out to 6623mV, while battery level was 60%.

Then as soon as it started to descend and load on the battery reduced voltage climbed back up over 7000mV, while battery level was showing 59%.

 

[Phantogram]

Can this also be caused by a combination of temperature (5°C) and full power forward + up?
Why didn't it cancel autolanding when voltage went up again?

 

[AnafiPilot1]

Can this also be caused by a combination of temperature (5°C) and full power forward + up?
Why didn't it cancel autolanding when voltage went up again?

No just a bad battery.

So far all the evidence I have seen - the Critical Battery Error which is what triggers the autolanding, is a one-way process once triggered no way to cancel it.

 

[Phantogram]

Almost 4 months later, I've send 28 mails to Parrot, got 18 replies back.

In short: Parrot support is not looking at the case, refusing to analyse the smartphone logfile, stating that the last FreeFlight6 logfile is showing a good landing so the drone must be fine. They even stated that they could not find the river near my landing spot ("Kindly note that according to your last flight shared we did not find any river ..."). See picture below..

However, I also contacted Fnac (where I bought the drone) and they were very supportive. At first by trying to contact Parrot themselves, but when that was not working, they asked me to send them all the evidence I had. They analysed the case based on that, and decided within the day to grant me full refund. Happy end after all, thanks to Fnac !

(Keeps open the question why Parrot is not able / is refusing to analyse his own logfiles if they don't come from FreeFlight6 but from their own directory on the smartphone..)

 

[Deleted member 3201]

Almost 4 months later, I've send 28 mails to Parrot, got 18 replies back.

In short: Parrot support is not looking at the case, refusing to analyse the smartphone logfile, stating that the last FreeFlight6 logfile is showing a good landing so the drone must be fine. They even stated that they could not find the river near my landing spot ("Kindly note that according to your last flight shared we did not find any river ..."). See picture below..

However, I also contacted Fnac (where I bought the drone) and they were very supportive. At first by trying to contact Parrot themselves, but when that was not working, they asked me to send them all the evidence I had. They analysed the case based on that, and decided within the day to grant me full refund. Happy end after all, thanks to Fnac !

(Keeps open the question why Parrot is not able / is refusing to analyse his own logfiles if they don't come from FreeFlight6 but from their own directory on the smartphone..)
View attachment 5579

Happy to hear that the point of purchase was able to provide a solution!