Experience dealing with Parrot Support?

Jet · Jun 7, 2019

Dirk_ANAFI said:
Maybe I have a lower need of security.
When I ordered my Anafi in July 2018 directly from Parrot, the abilities of the service or the exact warranty conditions for case x or y were completely unknown.
But the drone is much fun. One leg broken, spare part ordered from eBay, repaired and in the air again.
Of course I would be more careful buying a used car or a house.

Fair enough...can't argue with you on that. Lucky that your breakage was fixable one.

BTW the Anafi drone is my top choice based on the research that I've done. However, this "Support" issue may be the thing that pushes me in a different direction. There are other fish in the sea that offer many of the same capabilities of the Anafi but for significantly less money (e.g., $399 on sale)

Cheers

Jet · Jun 7, 2019

Agustine said:
Calling support is your best option. Don't even bother with emails. Once you have a rep on the line explain to him or her that you have asked questions before but they have failed to answer them to your satisfaction. At this time kindly ask them to have their supervisor give you a call back concerning a few quetions you still have. They will tell you that they cannot say when that superviser may call you back but from my experience it is usually on day 2 of waiting that you will get the call. It can be anytime of the day so be prepared to get that call back. When you make your call you will notice all the options and products that these reps need to deal with so their lack of knowledge is not suprising.

Sent from my LG-H873 using Tapatalk

Thanks....Great suggestion...I'm going to do EXACTLY that!

I'll post whatever answers I get.

< Posted my the answers in the update section of my initial post >

Jet · Jun 7, 2019

Agustine said:
Calling support is your best option. Don't even bother with emails. Once you have a rep on the line explain to him or her that you have asked questions before but they have failed to answer them to your satisfaction. At this time kindly ask them to have their supervisor give you a call back concerning a few questions you still have. They will tell you that they cannot say when that superviser may call you back but from my experience it is usually on day 2 of waiting that you will get the call. It can be anytime of the day so be prepared to get that call back. When you make your call you will notice all the options and products that these reps need to deal with so their lack of knowledge is not suprising.

Sent from my LG-H873 using Tapatalk

Agustine,

Again, Thanks for the tip..I just got off the phone with Oscar at Parrot Pre-sales support. I'm super happy to say that I got VERY different (but much more favorable) answers than what I got via Parrot support in email.

I think I will update my findings by editing my original post that started this thread...so that people don't have to follow the entire thread to get what I know understand to be the correct answers and conclusions re: Parrot's support.

I've got to run right now but I will update this thread with my finding by this evening.

Cheers!

Jet · Jun 8, 2019

FYI...Found a YouTube review of the Anafi where the reviewer describes that he had a problem with his initial Anafi (@11:00) but he describes how GREAT Parrot's support was in handling the situation.

Good to hear this type of story re: Parrot support!

As I said in one of my updates I had a MUCH better experience with Parrot support when I called them today. Correct answers and a "what can I do to help you" attitude.

Cheers

Scottfore · Jul 18, 2021

Jet said:
Anafi owners,

I am/was interested in purchasing an Anafi but I'm not so sure anymore based on my interaction with Parrot Support and the answers they've provided and haven't provided (just ignored some questions) to basic questions about Warranty/Support policy/processes.

I'd like to hear any experiences good or bad that you guys may have had wrt dealing with a warranty claim, support issues, etc.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

* UPDATE (June 7, 1019):

NOTE: These latest support updates supercede my prior comments that I made on this thread.

I was able to speak with Parrot Support (pre-sales) today and I now have a much more favorable opinion of Parrot's. Oscar (Parrot Rep) was able to thoroughly answer my questions and correct the misinformation that I had previously received via Email from Parrot support.

Here is my summary of the updated support information:

Updates:

1) During the warranty period if you should have an issue with your Anafi and that issue is Parrot's fault (and not a user error) Parrot will take full responsibility and assume all cost for ensuring the issue is resolved. This would include paying for shipment of you Anafi back to Parrot if that's deemed necessary (they will send you pre-paid shipping label) and sending you a new Anafi or a refurbished Anafi at no cost to the consumer.

2) Parrot confirmed that they DO NOT currently have repair centers in the USA however they did state that they plan to add one or more repair centers in the USA in the future (no timeline was provided).
So without a repair center in the USA if you were to crash your Anafi (and it was deemed to be caused by user error) then you could NOT send your Anafi to Parrot directly for repair unless you could send it from a postal address in Europe where they have a Parrot office (e.g, you have a European friend that could forward it on to Parrot on your behalf).

Note: Several people have said that Parrot doesn't have repair centers in Europe...but according to my Parrot Support contact he stated they do indeed have repair centers in Europe and they do repair Anafi's in those centers.

3) When asked about the lack of availability of Anafi parts in the USA the Parrot Support acknowledged that this as an issue and indicated that Parrot will be addressing this issue as well seemingly implying that this will be addressed in concurrence with the addition of USA repair centers. (No dates or specifics were given). In the mean time they will do everything they can to provide references to third parties that have parts.

4) Parrot Support confirmed that the Anafi warranty is linked to the product and NOT the owner.
(NOTE: This is in direct conflict with was I was told just days ago by Parrot support via email)
This means that if you were to purchase a USED Anafi and it was still within the warranty period (12mos) you as the new owner of the used Anafi would be able make a warranty claims as long as the warranty was in effect for the product IF you have a copy of the original purchase agreement.

Conclusion:

So overall I feel MUCH better about Parrot's Support and their genuine interest in actually supporting their customers. I'm also pleased to hear that Parrot does cover all cost (including shipping) associated with replacing your Anafi under warranty should the problem be deemed to be their fault (e.g., product defect).
However, with that said I still think that Parrot will not be able to fully USA customers until they can add one or more repair facilities in the USA and provide access to all key parts of the Anafi.

I am very happy to hear that they have plans to address these shortcomings in the future. Let's hope these plans are real and that it happens sooner rather than later. Until then I think you are taking a risk purchasing an Anafi if you live in the USA.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

From what I can gather it appears that Parrot CANNOT fully support their customers in the USA:

* No Parrot repair facilities in the USA

* No post warranty support fixes are available unless you have a postal address in Europe (e.g., you crash your Anafi and you want/need to send it back to Parrot for repair...you are out of luck unless you have a friend in Europe that can act as your intermediary.)

* It seems like from threads I've seen on this Forum that part availability (or high cost) may be a concern as well in the USA. So even if you have the inclination and skills to try and repair yourself it may be expensive and/or impossible to fix it because you can't get the part. I know I've seen some websites referenced that sell Anafi parts but maybe they only sell a small subset of the parts that you might need to repair your own drone? I'm not sure.

Are the bullets I noted above consistent with your understanding?

Any stories to share? Good or bad?

As much as I'd like to think that I'll never crash and never require the warranty or support...I know that this may not be reality. So I want to know what I'm potentially getting myself into before I purchase a drone from any manufacturer.

Look forward to your thoughts.

Cheers

Its a joke....I'm 30 days into a warranty claim and all I've had so far is useless rhetoric... lots of "we're on this" emails with zero follow-up. So far, Drone Nerds has told me that it's a "priority"....I sent in all the required info and forms and after two weeks my Google Drive forms finally asked for permission to view....so, NO, I am not a "priority"... emails I send are always answered timely, with no worthy information in replies... just stock replies. I have two Parrot's. One was purchased from Drone Nerds and the other from UVT.... UVT basically said to contact Drone Nerds... loved flying the drones and I bought them primarily because they work with Pix4D software...but having serious buyers remorse at this point. Although not confirmed, they BOTH began acting strangely after the latest firmware update. One started bouncing like a basketball on a hard surface and the other had a violent shaking of the camera when the gimbal was actuated. I also have a several DJI's and have had zero problems flying them under the same conditions...so, I have no idea what is causing this, but if I had to do it all over again I'd have purchased other drones.