I just inadvertently purchased an EVO Lite+ from Autelpilot.com. Should I be worried?

[Steverino]

I've read about some bad experiences others here have had with Autelpilot.com. I purchased this drone from an eBay seller named Autel_Shop with a 99.1% positive feedback rating withover 1700 transactions who claims to be an authorized Autel seller. With that feedback rating and the fact that they take returns within 30 days, I felt pretty confident they would come through for me. But when I googled the shipper's address and saw that it was the same address that is associated with Autelpilot.com, I got worried.

I placed the order Wednesday night and last night I sent them an email asking for the tracking number and they provided one. However, the UPS tracking number says that UPS has not yet received the shipment. I tend to suspect I will receive the drone but I worry about It being authentic and if it will be warrantied through the official Autel Robotics company. I intend to purchase Autel Care and I'm worried it will qualify for that. It is new and sealed in the box, so they say.

I would ask Autel Robotics support about them but I can't get them to answer my emails, which is why I purchased from a different seller. I'd love to hear what others here feel about this.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

I've read about some bad experiences others here have had with Autelpilot.com. I purchased this drone from an eBay seller named Autel_Shop with a 99.1% positive feedback rating withover 1700 transactions who claims to be an authorized Autel seller. With that feedback rating and the fact that they take returns within 30 days, I felt pretty confident they would come through for me. But when I googled the shipper's address and saw that it was the same address that is associated with Autelpilot.com, I got worried.

I placed the order Wednesday night and last night I sent them an email asking for the tracking number and they provided one. However, the UPS tracking number says that UPS has not yet received the shipment. I tend to suspect I will receive the drone but I worry about It being authentic and if it will be warrantied through the official Autel Robotics company. I intend to purchase Autel Care and I'm worried it will qualify for that. It is new and sealed in the box, so they say.

I would ask Autel Robotics support about them but I can't get them to answer my emails, which is why I purchased from a different seller. I'd love to hear what others here feel about this.

you're screwed. seriously? /s

 

[Dave Pitman]

I've read about some bad experiences others here have had with Autelpilot.com. I purchased this drone from an eBay seller named Autel_Shop with a 99.1% positive feedback rating withover 1700 transactions who claims to be an authorized Autel seller. With that feedback rating and the fact that they take returns within 30 days, I felt pretty confident they would come through for me. But when I googled the shipper's address and saw that it was the same address that is associated with Autelpilot.com, I got worried.

I placed the order Wednesday night and last night I sent them an email asking for the tracking number and they provided one. However, the UPS tracking number says that UPS has not yet received the shipment. I tend to suspect I will receive the drone but I worry about It being authentic and if it will be warrantied through the official Autel Robotics company. I intend to purchase Autel Care and I'm worried it will qualify for that. It is new and sealed in the box, so they say.

I would ask Autel Robotics support about them but I can't get them to answer my emails, which is why I purchased from a different seller. I'd love to hear what others here feel about this.

You use this forum and still purchase from AutelPilot...hmmm.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

I've read about some bad experiences others here have had with Autelpilot.com. I purchased this drone from an eBay seller named Autel_Shop with a 99.1% positive feedback rating withover 1700 transactions who claims to be an authorized Autel seller. With that feedback rating and the fact that they take returns within 30 days, I felt pretty confident they would come through for me. But when I googled the shipper's address and saw that it was the same address that is associated with Autelpilot.com, I got worried.

I placed the order Wednesday night and last night I sent them an email asking for the tracking number and they provided one. However, the UPS tracking number says that UPS has not yet received the shipment. I tend to suspect I will receive the drone but I worry about It being authentic and if it will be warrantied through the official Autel Robotics company. I intend to purchase Autel Care and I'm worried it will qualify for that. It is new and sealed in the box, so they say.

I would ask Autel Robotics support about them but I can't get them to answer my emails, which is why I purchased from a different seller. I'd love to hear what others here feel about this.

all i can say at this point is if you cannot cancel your order, wait until you get the drone and try to register it for autel care. otherwise, it might be an ordeal but feel free to make use of the ebay protection process or refunds process along with credit card/paypal, ive heard it's doable. and ..... chalk it up to lessons learned.

 

[Steverino]

you're screwed. seriously? /s

You use this forum and still purchase from AutelPilot...hmmm.

I would not have purchased from autelpilot.com if I had any idea that they were autelpilot.com. I only discovered to that after the purchase when they sent me the UPS tracking number which showed the shippers address which I then Googled.

 

[Dave Pitman]

I would not have purchased from autelpilot.com if I had any idea that they were autelpilot.com. I only discovered to that after the purchase when they sent me the UPS tracking number which showed the shippers address which I then Googled.

If you get your gear, it should be authentic. I don't think they actually honor the 30 day return commitment though.

Any reason you did not simply go with a vetted seller like Advexture?

 

[Steverino]

What are the potential problems I might have with a drone purchased from Autelpilot.com?

Do they not ship a drone that has been ordered and paid for? Do they sell counterfeit drones? Does the official Autel Robotics site not warranty or repair or activate AutelCare on the drones they sell?

 

[Steverino]

If you get your gear, it should be authentic. I don't think they actually honor the 30 day return commitment though.

Any reason you did not simply go with a vetted seller like Advexture?

They said they were an authorized Autel reseller and they had a good feedback rating so I assumed they were just as good as Adventure or any of the other authorized resellers. They also were selling me the Evo Lite+ for only $1,300 which is $250 cheaper. Perhaps that was a red flag but their feedback rating was excellent so I thought they were okay. Of course, I had no idea they were the same as autelpilot.com which I had read about here.

 

[Sjs]

If you get your gear, it should be authentic. I don't think they actually honor the 30 day return commitment though.

Any reason you did not simply go with a vetted seller like Advexture?

I agree 100% with adventure never had a problem.

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

you may never have any issues with your drone in which case none of this matters as long as you are happy with what you received. however, the problem always comes when you run into issues. the question is what are you willing to risk? this is more accurately reflected by the price.

 

[Steverino]

you may never have any issues with your drone in which case none of this matters as long as you are happy with what you received. however, the problem always comes when you run into issues. the question is what are you willing to risk? this is more accurately reflected by the price.

If the official Autel Robotics company honors the warranty and will do repairs, what real risks do I have, assuming I get a good working drone? Even if they send me a defective drone, want the warranty still apply?

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

If the official Autel Robotics company honors the warranty and will do repairs, what real risks do I have, assuming I get a good working drone? Even if they send me a defective drone, want the warranty still apply?

to be honest, i don't know for sure. traditionally, grey market items don't usually come with a usa warranty and for electronics, manufacturers seem to be really strict about proof of purchase, etc. however, from what i can tell autel does not seem to be that way and they'll probably honor a legit warranty repair regardless. at this point, i don't have any information that suggests you will receive a defective drone without a warranty but when it comes to flying drones, i'm pretty risk adverse. it's what i don't know. let's say you flying over a school and you have a unknown failure and your drone goes down a vent on the school roof. two weeks later the police show up at your door asking questions with your chinese drone with no fcc, flight logs being sent back to china not in english....perhaps for you, that might be easy answer: i bought it for cheap off ebay from a chinese street vendor.

 

[Cicero24]

This quite comical. You’ll be fine bro’. I’ve received my E2P from them and my Lite+ from them too. Same drones as anywhere else coming from them same place with the same Autel Robotics problems they all have outta the box and need several FW updates to fix. No fake Autel drones. You guys are funny. Don’t worry. It will come, and Autel Washington only sees it as an Autel drone if it needs service. Autel Robotics is THE Chinese vendor.

 

[Steverino]

This quite comical. You’ll be fine bro’. I’ve received my E2P from them and my Lite+ from them too. Same drones as anywhere else coming from them same place with the same Autel Robotics problems they all have outta the box and need several FW updates to fix. No fake Autel drones. You guys are funny. Don’t worry. It will come, and Autel Washington only sees it as an Autel drone if it needs service. Autel Robotics is THE Chinese vendor.

That make me feel better. I'll report back here with how everything turns out.

 

[Cicero24]

I’m glad. I’m positive things will be fine. The only downfall with autelpilot was shipping times, but now they are drop shipping the drones from Kentucky most of the time as of late. Hold tight. It will show up and you’ll be flying in no time with the same EVO Lite+ as everyone else. Other than the very few kinks the Lite+ has at the moment, it is a great drone and will surely be awesome once they drop a few FW updates in the future. The E2P had many more kinks than the Lite+ does in the early days of the E2P and its release. This drone has been such a better drone and experience than my E2P was. Hope that helps.

 

[dotster77]

You'll likely get it.. and it will be an authetic autel product.. and you'll be protected if you do not, though it could take time to win a dispute..

But know this, a lot of people ordered the new autel+ nano or lite+ drone from that company in the past few months and got promised certain delivery dates.. and a lot of those people got lied to repeatedly.. as well as ignored for weeks when asking what is going on via email.. many even had to file a dispute to get their money back..

I know as I am one of them and I have a couple of personal friends who had the same experience.. I for one will never even consider them for a drone purchase in the future. They're just not the kind of company I want to deal with. Do not ignore your customers when they contact you. Eric is the person who sends emails and who eventually will stop responding to you BTW

 

[kenautelevo2pro]

You'll likely get it.. and it will be an authetic autel product.. and you'll be protected if you do not, though it could take time to win a dispute..

But know this, a lot of people ordered the new autel+ nano or lite+ drone from that company in the past few months and got promised certain delivery dates.. and a lot of those people got lied to repeatedly.. as well as ignored for weeks when asking what is going on via email.. many even had to file a dispute to get their money back..

I know as I am one of them and I have a couple of personal friends who had the same experience.. I for one will never even consider them for a drone purchase in the future. They're just not the kind of company I want to deal with. Do not ignore your customers when they contact you. Eric is the person who sends emails and who eventually will stop responding to you BTW

agreed, at this early stage, i don't believe there are any inauthentic autel nano/lite drone widely available on the market. there's no reason to counterfeit a nano drone yet. however, i can see a bunch of sub 250 drone in different bright spring colors for half-price showing up pretending to be the last non-dji mini on the market. throw in a cheap remote and a 10-minute battery and a big A logo on the nose to go with the 1080p camera and those could sell quite easily since the vast majority of buyers don't pay attention to the details.

 

[Droneflyer]

I've read about some bad experiences others here have had with Autelpilot.com. I purchased this drone from an eBay seller named Autel_Shop with a 99.1% positive feedback rating withover 1700 transactions who claims to be an authorized Autel seller. With that feedback rating and the fact that they take returns within 30 days, I felt pretty confident they would come through for me. But when I googled the shipper's address and saw that it was the same address that is associated with Autelpilot.com, I got worried.

I placed the order Wednesday night and last night I sent them an email asking for the tracking number and they provided one. However, the UPS tracking number says that UPS has not yet received the shipment. I tend to suspect I will receive the drone but I worry about It being authentic and if it will be warrantied through the official Autel Robotics company. I intend to purchase Autel Care and I'm worried it will qualify for that. It is new and sealed in the box, so they say.

I would ask Autel Robotics support about them but I can't get them to answer my emails, which is why I purchased from a different seller. I'd love to hear what others here feel about this.

I purchased from them and I waited a month and a half and never got the drone so I asked them for my money back and they properly return my money

 

[Steverino]

II just want to report that I received my new EVO Lite+ drone today. It was perfect and The box was sealed. I had no problem upgrading the firmware and activating AutelCare. I tested it for a short flight and so far so good. I'm very happy with it.

 

[Steverino]

Here are some pictures.