How many CEOs does it take to get customer service sorted?

[Fishhead3]

On the 18th May my Evo2P simply fell out of the sky and landed on rocks. I got in contact with Autel support and was told to send the flight log, which I did straight away.

On 21 May I was advised to send my drone for repair to New Zealand, and received the required paperwork from Autel on 28 May. I put the drone in the mail that day and it was received by the repair shop on 9 June, taking a while to get through customs. I received a call from the repair shop and we went through the situation I experienced. Good, proactive customer service.

After a week or so I was informed that the onboard telemetry had to be sent to the US for analysis which took forever and I was then informed that the IMU had failed and needed to be replaced. I said to the repair shop I needed to be assured that the drone was fit for flight before any work was done to repair physical damage.

Shortly after I was informed that the camera was damaged and would have to be replaced.

On 18 August (3 months to the day) I was informed by the Seattle office that my drone would have to be sent to the US and I would be sent a tracking number. Its now the 3rd of September and I haven’t heard a thing.

I am an amateur photographer. I bought the E2P because of its far more sophisticated camera than my old Mavic Air. Its cost me about AUD3000, which is a lot of money for me.

What Autel doesn’t realise is that their drones are noticeable and attract attention. So, people talk to me where I fly as it’s a popular spot for watching the surf, and I do surf photography. No longer do I extol the virtues of the E2P. Indeed, one guy has bought a DJI after a long talk about Autel. Another is still making up his mind but I am sending him a copy of this message.

I have been quiet and patient during this whole fiasco, but no longer. I note that Autel has given away 5 drones in exchange for market useful information. Yet, their support service is, to be honest, total sh1t. So, my current target is to keep talking people out of buying these products, as, to be perfectly honest, they are a risk for not only amateurs but professionals as well.

 

[uberamd]

This is a little frustrating to hear. Seems that all the YouTube folks go on and on about how amazing Autel support is, but I too haven’t exactly had the same “omg they’re so great” experience.

I have reached out to Autel twice:

My first contact with them was asking if it was possible to buy Autel Robotics Care for a few day old Evo 2 Pro V2 drone (under a week old) because Autel doesn’t advertise this “Care” product at all, so I had no idea it existed until I was randomly browsing the Autel site and saw it referenced. No notification in the app to sign up your new drone, no welcome email when binding a drone for the first time, nothing. But given I always buy DJI Refresh, it seemed smart to buy Autel Care as well.

Wrong. As it turns out, you can only buy Autel Care within 48-hours of activation on a new drone. Alright, that’s fair, DJI is the same way. But unlike DJI, there is no way to prove functionality of your Evo drone to add care later on.

With DJI, if you are outside that 48h new drone activation window, they just request a screen recording showing the gimbal moving and drone info panel in the Fly app to prove the drone and camera are functional. Autel? They require you to mail it to Washington so they can inspect it. So I emailed them back asking for more info a few days ago: crickets.

Second time I reached out was due to a GPS issue I’m having with my recently delivered Evo 1 Refurb bundle purchased direct from Autel. They answered me once, then crickets when I provided the flight info showing the drop to 2 satellites at 200 feet in the air. The initial replies come fast, but then they just don’t ever answer back.

It’s so odd that my support experience with DJI has been significantly better. Makes me want to cancel my smart controller order and just buy an Air 2S. Figured my experience was a fluke. But it seems not after your story.

 

[G_G]

Autel Robotics is grossly understaffed. The newly resigned CEO explained during his short tenure that Autel Robotics cannot compete with DJI on any level. DJI has 6,000 engineers. Autel Robotics has a handful. Autel Customer service has maybe 10 people that work in their Seattle office. Autel Robotics may pretend to be a very big American company, but they are actually a very small Chinese company (the pet project of the son of the owner of the larger Autel company) with an even smaller U.S. presence, and they use that as their excuse. Manage your expectations with the reality, not the image they portray.

 

[uberamd]

Autel Robotics is grossly understaffed. Manage your expectations with the reality, not the image they portray.

This is good advice.

I bought 2 Autel drones because YouTube personalities, and reviewers I respect gave seemingly fair product praise and criticism, but always talked up the customer service. My products do indeed have the issues they mentioned, and seemingly more because none of the reviews are really all that long-term or thorough. But my customer service experience also leaves a lot to be desired.

Most baffling is just the premium they charge. A Evo 2 Pro is significantly more than an Air 2s smart controller bundle. Old controller, sure, but they’re charging a huge premium and IMO just not justifying it.