Jeff Sibelius has posted a new video you may wish to view.
Search: "Why I am pissed at Yuneec".
Search: "Why I am pissed at Yuneec".
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Youtube video re: customer service
- Thread starter Docdor
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I wondered where he had gone. Thats too bad to see he has had such a bad experience with his Plus. This is specifically why I went ahead and paid the extra money to purchase at Best Buy (the only other place that had them last July). You have 14 days for a 'no questions asked' exchange.
With the incident that happened last year with another local Plus owner where we finally (after three months) found that the repair centers had no parts, concluded that sending in for repair was not an avenue at that time here in the states and it seems it has gotten only marginally better.
With the incident that happened last year with another local Plus owner where we finally (after three months) found that the repair centers had no parts, concluded that sending in for repair was not an avenue at that time here in the states and it seems it has gotten only marginally better.
It's worrying to think they can't keep the supply chain going, my mind starts to think, "The end is nigh" unless something radically changes soon!
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When someone that has supported and educated so many people with his videos is treated like this it is a shame. He has been an asset to Yuneec and has probably improved their sales over the years. I realize he reviews several products but his videos are helpful and seem to be non-biased.
Unfortunately, Jeff's warranty experience mirrors my own with a warranty repair on the TH in 2017... the biggest difference was at that time, KAV was a brand new vendor... with the first repairs receiving very poor reviews.
Because of that I insisted that repairs be done in Ontario CA, when they still operated out of that location. Jeff is learning the same lesson I did... any warranty repair will progress at the speed it does. Unfortunately since the customer pays nothing for a warranty repair, they also lose any leverage in nudging that process along.
Because of that I insisted that repairs be done in Ontario CA, when they still operated out of that location. Jeff is learning the same lesson I did... any warranty repair will progress at the speed it does. Unfortunately since the customer pays nothing for a warranty repair, they also lose any leverage in nudging that process along.
That is sad to hear. Yuneec needs to learn that as with any product/business they are partly judged by the quality of their products, but mostly judged by their quality of how they handle the customer when problems arise. A simple email or phone call weekly would go a long way to make a customer feel he was still in the loop instead of abandoned.
Yes that's what it looks like. Customers do have leverage though.... their checkbooks.
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I experienced the same issue with them.
First I asked for a estimate.
I agreed and send the drone to Yuneec in Germany.
They kept it over 6 weeks and finally they sent it back as it was.
They told me the drone was Economic not worth to repair and did me an offer for a new one with a discount.
The offer they did was more expensive than just to buy at a reseller.
Who are they to tell me that my drone wasn’t worth for repairing.
We where talking about a simple fuse that was the problem of a not working camera.
I love my YTH but I dislike the way they think dat they can treat customers.
Jeff is one of the main reasons that I purchased my first TH Pro. His videos were really excellent. I am certain many Yuneec purchasers were positively influenced by Jeff. He was a true ambassador for Yuneec. It is so disappointing to see that Yuneec has no business sense when they have a relatively good product and should be doing well with the Phantom gone. You just can’t teach common business sense.
Bill Dunnuck
Bill Dunnuck
PatR
Premium Pilot
It comes down to money. If you don’t have any you lay off non critical management and reduce labor staffing. This becomes an important step if you had $10s of millions in outside investment capital taken back by the investor and see $13 million or so of your sales revenue get locked up by a foreign company’s bankruptcy. You can also fail to pay your supply chain if you think you can get away with it. If that doesn’t allow retention of enough revenue you reduce the size and cost of your physical office footprint and relocate to smaller, cheaper office space. From there you can outsource part of your operation to contract vendors to minimize your overhead costs. After that you can shutter what you feel are non essential departments. Dump the tech writers first then unload IT and advertising.
If you believe customer service to be a cost center instead of a profit center you reduce department staffing to minimum levels. You can also enter a bunch of “partnering agreements” with other companies in hopes of finding investment capital or getting bought out. I know that Yuneec was entertaining selling the company as far back as 2016.
The path Yuneec has been following for the past couple years is very similar to the path Sears took before and after bankruptcy. Some call it “reorganization” but others see it as acts of desperation. What adds insult to injury is seeing your suppliers stop providing goods out of fear they won’t get paid for them. As Yuneec does not discuss their operations we can look at various social media forums to determine if they are growing or contracting to estimate sales volume. We can also walk through big box electronics dealers to see what’s on their shelves and check their catalogs on line. It becomes apparent Yuneec sales have declined by at least 50% since 2017.
Let’s face it, Yuneec has not had a design break through since 2014 when they released the 920 hex with a 360* gimbal. The H-480 was only a shrunken, reduced feature version of the 920. Beyond that they have done nothing new at all. The 530 and H Plus are essentially the same aircraft where the features of a commercially available flight controller were divided to create the illusion of a special but limited commercial platform and a marginally upgraded version of the original H-480 with a better camera. Had they not divided up the FC feature set and made just one new aircraft containing all the features they would have almost caught up with the competition.
Considering Yuneec’s failure to launch their racing and fixed wing drones we might surmise they are broke and having problems finding vendors that will extend credit to them, and likely lack the staffing needed to effectively execute the design and production of new products.
These issues originated with and have been sustained by bad management at the highest levels. Someone has failed to understand you sometimes need to go to the customers when they stop coming to you. What you did yesterday has very limited mileage. It’s what you do today and tomorrow that will keep you employed. If what you do today and tomorrow is less than yesterday you get replaced.
If you believe customer service to be a cost center instead of a profit center you reduce department staffing to minimum levels. You can also enter a bunch of “partnering agreements” with other companies in hopes of finding investment capital or getting bought out. I know that Yuneec was entertaining selling the company as far back as 2016.
The path Yuneec has been following for the past couple years is very similar to the path Sears took before and after bankruptcy. Some call it “reorganization” but others see it as acts of desperation. What adds insult to injury is seeing your suppliers stop providing goods out of fear they won’t get paid for them. As Yuneec does not discuss their operations we can look at various social media forums to determine if they are growing or contracting to estimate sales volume. We can also walk through big box electronics dealers to see what’s on their shelves and check their catalogs on line. It becomes apparent Yuneec sales have declined by at least 50% since 2017.
Let’s face it, Yuneec has not had a design break through since 2014 when they released the 920 hex with a 360* gimbal. The H-480 was only a shrunken, reduced feature version of the 920. Beyond that they have done nothing new at all. The 530 and H Plus are essentially the same aircraft where the features of a commercially available flight controller were divided to create the illusion of a special but limited commercial platform and a marginally upgraded version of the original H-480 with a better camera. Had they not divided up the FC feature set and made just one new aircraft containing all the features they would have almost caught up with the competition.
Considering Yuneec’s failure to launch their racing and fixed wing drones we might surmise they are broke and having problems finding vendors that will extend credit to them, and likely lack the staffing needed to effectively execute the design and production of new products.
These issues originated with and have been sustained by bad management at the highest levels. Someone has failed to understand you sometimes need to go to the customers when they stop coming to you. What you did yesterday has very limited mileage. It’s what you do today and tomorrow that will keep you employed. If what you do today and tomorrow is less than yesterday you get replaced.
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The UK bit is making the best of a bad thing, they seem to still be positive, but not helped by updating website, showing "out of stock", when in stock. And themselves keep telling people it's on backorder.
Phaedrus
Premium Pilot
Agreed. The DJI forums are filled with unhappy repair experiences. FutabaUSA, the US importer of Futaba radio control equipment, is having issues getting parts. Futaba is the largest hobby RC company in the world. Shipping from China is a nightmare right now.
Not excusing Yuneec, just saying there is not much unique about this either. (pun totally intended).
But it sucks when it happens to you.
