Strange behavor and crashed

Miguel Costa · Jan 11, 2019

I am extremely careful every time I launch my Anafi and I usually do a hand launch to prevent dust in the grown to get into the drone. I have more than 150 flights and never had any issues piloting the drone or even near misses.
Yesterday evening, I wanted to film the sunset in my hometown, and after initializing the FreeFlight app, the controller and the Anafi, checked and double checked everything, I tried to hand launch (as usual) but as soon as I let go of the Anafi, it immediately rolled over to the right and crashed violently on the ground a few meters away. It broke its rear left leg, lost the memory card cover, the battery is also damaged (I'm yet to see if the camera gimbal or anything else was damaged). I am sure I did everything right before launching it in the air.
In conclusion, I believe my Anafi is dead.
I've had a very bad experience with Parrot products and with their custom support in the recent past.
My question is, do you thing I should bother and try to get a replacement drone from Parrot? I know it had to be some technical failure with the Anafi, but I'm so frustrated by the past issues I had with Parrot, right now I'm feeling like I will pass all the process of trying to get a new drone and loose all the money I invested in it, including 2 extra batteries and a few more items.
Thanks for your comments and support.

CraigCam · Jan 11, 2019

I get your dilemma. My approach has always been just buy another if you want to get back in the air. It’s less frustrating and you can still work while you fight or not for a warranty repair. You end up with spare parts and repairing the old one when your ready if possible gives you a back up. My recent crash has turned my original into a very funny looking GoPro style camera with tilt and zoom and lots of styles of video. The Anafi stationary does great hyper lapse shots and can run for hours when not flying. It can be your second color matched ground camera for two camera shoots as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Miguel Costa · Jan 11, 2019

CraigCam said:
I get your dilemma. My approach has always been just buy another if you want to get back in the air. It’s less frustrating and you can still work while you fight or not for a warranty repair. You end up with spare parts and repairing the old one when your ready if possible gives you a back up. My recent crash has turned my original into a very funny looking GoPro style camera with tilt and zoom and lots of styles of video. The Anafi stationary does great hyper lapse shots and can run for hours when not flying. It can be your second color matched ground camera for two camera shoots as well.

Hi Craig, thanks for your kind support. Good news for me, Parrot has already acknowledge my problem. All I need to do right now is to return my damaged Anafi and they will send me a new one. I hope it will work out my way. Thanks again,

ufosaboveus · Jan 11, 2019

That is good news Miguel! I am fairly new to the Anafi but so far, I am loving mine. Be sure to post up when you get the final verdict from Parrot. I think the best thing we can do is post up our customer service responses honestly from them. If they are doing a good job of responding quickly and being fair... we should let people know. That way we see more and more sales. On the flip side, if they are acting more like DJI with crappy customer service... we should know that too. So far, what I am hearing is very positive with Parrot. Now I just want them to either lower the price of their spare batteries or find a 3rd party that will make us some batteries so we can all fly more without going broke buying batteries!

AaronB · Jan 11, 2019

ufosaboveus said:
Now I just want them to either lower the price of their spare batteries or find a 3rd party that will make us some batteries so we can all fly more without going broke buying batteries!

Providing quality customer support costs money. Maybe we should not be too hard on Parrot for it's pricing - think of it as insurance for mishaps like this. This is complex technology that can catastrophically fail at a moments notice, often due to user error - a very challenging customer support environment.

Seitenwerk · Jan 12, 2019

I agree. Also Imagine beeing on the companies side. It’s pretty hard to know if it really was a device failure and i guess that many will just try getting a free new device even if they know it was their fault. Having worked with many companies I would say it’s always a thin line between trusting the customer and also a marketing decision in in that sometimes you just hand out a new device and write it off as at least leaving a good impression out there

Dronemumma · Jan 13, 2019

I had the exact same thing happen to me!!!
I had flown my drone over 70 times, never once crashed it and it is very well looked after.
The battery was well charged, flight conditions were perfect and there was absolutely no reason for this to happen.
I actually have the 7 second video of this happening as I have the auto record at take off setting on.
Im currently chasing this up with Parrot as I feel this should 100% be covered under warranty.

I did post about this a few months ago but didnt get much of a response. *See below*

Hi, has anyone had issues with losing pilot control of their anafi directly after hand launch? Previously i have never had any issues doing the hand launch and it hovers from the hand launch action. Until my last flight

I did the usual hand launch as directed, pressed the take off button and did the hand launch action. Instead of hovering it did some unusual jerky movements and then took off at a very fast speed and i had no control of the piloting at all.

I have never ever crashed the drone before, both the controller and the drone are up to date and i still had signal and connection. Seems to be a malfunction? Could this be a warranty claim?

AaronB · Jan 13, 2019

Dronemumma said:
I did the usual hand launch as directed, pressed the take off button and did the hand launch action. Instead of hovering it did some unusual jerky movements and then took off at a very fast speed and i had no control of the piloting at all.

I have never ever crashed the drone before, both the controller and the drone are up to date and i still had signal and connection. Seems to be a malfunction? Could this be a warranty claim?

If the Anafi moved in a way that did not match user input, then the logs should clearly show this. From your description I think you have a valid claim.

Dronemumma · Jan 14, 2019

This is the video footage...
Sat, 10 Nov 2018 13:51:11 +1030

Vassilag · Jan 15, 2019

Dronemumma said:
This is the video footage...
Sat, 10 Nov 2018 13:51:11 +1030

The very first moments of the video seem that the trees are upside down. It's like a problematic hand launch where little Anafi never managed to regain control.

Seitenwerk · Jan 15, 2019

Yeah really seems like a failed hand launch and for a moment it looks like the drone was upside down then drifted away as it couldn’t manage to go into hover state

Miguel Costa · Jan 17, 2019

UPDATE

After my drone was destroyed last week, I decided to file a report to the customer support.
But before I even had the time to send it in, somehow I was contacted by a local representative from Parrot and I was directed in the best way to return my damage Anafi for a possible replacement.

Today, 7 days after the incident that destroyed my Anafi, I just got my brand new replacement unit from Parrot.

The company is definitely working hard to improve their customer support and I believe they are doing an excellent job. Despite some previous issues with the the tech support, I can say I genuinely changed my mind regarding the their CS team.

Right now I am a very happy and proud owner of a beautiful piece of technology and I will enjoy my Anafi more and more, both for work and fun.

Good work, Parrot!!!

Seitenwerk · Jan 17, 2019

Definitely another reason for me to feel I made the right decision to switch from DJI to a parrot drone.

But I wonder how they contacted you, did you somehow talked to them before?

Miguel Costa · Jan 17, 2019

Seitenwerk said:
Definitely another reason for me to feel I made the right decision to switch from DJI to a parrot drone.

But I wonder how they contacted you, did you somehow talked to them before?

I shared the incident on other groups in Facebook, including a Portuguese one. I know now they have people following these groups, too. Later I was also contacted by a french Parrot employee working in the custom support trying to help me with my case, but as I was already following up the local representative, I told thanked him and told that I was already in good hands.
It's very good to know that they really listen and care for their customers, it's a great company.
Cheers!