Drone Nerds — Local services in Hallandale Beach

The only reason I am giving this vendor three stars is because at least the repair was successful.

After my Mavic 2 lost its connection and dropped like a stone from the sky, I needed to have the entire gimbal unit replaced. I contacted Drone Nerds in Miami (just 100 miles east of where I live in Naples) on May 11, 2020 after seeing their ad promise a repair and return within two weeks of receipt of the unit at their shop. On May 15th I got confirmation that they had received the unit. When I had waited for a week, I wrote and called them repeatedly and they did not respond. On May 23rd I finally got an email saying they hadn't forgotten about me and expected to start work by June 1.

I started calling and writing to them again between June 1 and 12th. I heard nothing and finally heard back from them on June 12, 2020 with a diagnosis of the problems and an estimate--a full 30 days after my first contact. They told me they were 'out of gimbals' because of a delivery hiatus from China. By June 22 when I hadn't heard anything from them, I repeatedly tried to reach out to them without success. Finally 11 days later on July 2, they wrote me to say they had received the parts and would work starting immediately and have the unit repaired on Monday after the July 4th weekend. I didn't hear from them again until July 23rd when they informed me that as soon as I paid they would Fedex the drone to me.

So from initial contact on May 11th until the unit arrived back to me on July 24th, I had to wait 73 days for Drone Nerds to repair and return my drone. I lost business because of their delays, and perhaps the most infuriating part of all this is that there was no real attempt to update me as a patient customer and keep me 'in the loop' with regard to their progress.

My recommendation for those of you seeking repair service on your drones is to find another company who will respond to their customer's requests timely. Drone Nerds clearly was not concerned about any difficulties I might be having running my business, and had no regard for upholding their guarantee of service and return within a two-week window from the time they received the unit.

Just for the record, I called DJI after I got the diagnosis from Drone Nerds on June 12 to see if their service would be faster. I considered pulling the unit from Drone Nerds and sending to California for repair. DJI assured me they had the parts and could execute the repair within a week. However, the cost would have been prohibitive, when added to the already spent shipping and diagnosis costs that Drone Nerds insisted I would have to pay if I stopped the service from them.

Stay away from Drone Nerds and find someone else. Try Dronefly.com in LA or Fix 'n Fly...

!!!CROOKS!!! They actually damaged my drone instead of repairing. My Phantom 3 Professional had crashed and as a result the gimbal broke. The rest of the drone was fine, and if I detached the gimbal it flew. I did the online repair request and received an RMA to ship it to the Miami repair center. My drone arrived at the facility on January 28th with a 2 week turn-around. The same day I received an email with photos showing what I had sent in. On February 8th I received an email stating that they hadn't forgotten about me, and that they were going to try to get to my drone within the next 7 days. 10 days later on the 17th, I get an email from a Joshua E. stating that I would need a new center board ($287), a new motor ($87), and possibly a new Gimbal ($418). I asked what troubleshooting he did, considering that they were throwing parts at a problem in the hopes that it fixes something, kind of like a shady mechanic might do. I then received an Email from someone named Rob (No last name) that the drone had damage to the main board and that one of the wires to the motor was crimped not cut or broken, but just bent. Several emails later, and realizing that I wasn't going to get anywhere, I sent a return shipping label to get my drone back. Now here is where it gets interesting. I open the case for my drone and first thing I noticed is that they had pulled the molex pins out of one of the flat cables. I then inspected the center board, and found that one of the "chip resistors" had been removed, it didn't fall off or break off, it was forcefully removed judging by the broken pads that the resistor sat on which went with the resistor, exposing the bare circuit board underneath. I continued to inspect the rest of the boards and found the exact same problem on the OFDM board. Another resistor plucked off of the board. Needless to say the drone doesn't function at all now. So essentially I paid for shipping to and from Miami, paid for them to misdiagnose the problem, paid for them to damage the boards (which of course they deny wholeheartedly), and now have a drone that doesn't do anything. Keep in mind the drone went to them with 1 problem (the gimbal), and flew fine. I am by no means saying that every person at that facility is shady, but Joshua, Chad, Antony, and Rob seem to back each other up no matter the situation. BAD BUSINESS, BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE, BAD TROUBLESHOOTING, BAD EVERYTHING!!! I am currently looking into legal action against...

I have a phantom 4 Pro Plus. I've had firmware issues ever since I bought the Drone new in 2016. The most recent issue was not being able to update the RC. I was getting a message on my monitor saying there was no signal. So no video feed. The Drone has never been wrecked or even had a hard landing. Very few hours on it. When the camera worked, it worked perfectly. So I bring it in to drone nerds and leave it with Chris. I told him I was 99% sure it was a firmware issue. I specifically instructed Chris not to go into my drone, or do anything mechanical. 5 or so days later, I get an email saying that my camera is bad. $800 for a new one. I asked him how he came to that conclusion. He said he took my camera off of my drone and put another one on my drone and it worked( disregarding the fact that I asked him not to wrench on it because I was almost positive it was a firmware issue. If drone nerds could not get it going with a firmware upgrade, my plan was to ship it to DJI. I have to say, he did waive the diagnostic fee after he saw my frustration. But that does not excuse the rest of the story. I took my drone home and powered it up. Lo and behold the camera was working. I called Chris and he gave me no explanation as to how his diagnosis was 100% wrong. Or how my camera suddenly started working. Remember, a new camera is $800. Nothing to sneeze at. Also, now my gimbal was not operating correctly. It works perfectly before they wrenched on my drone, now the camera is drifting all over the place. Coincidence? I have my doubts. They were about to let me spend $800 for a camera that I did not need. Not to mention their diagnosis was absolutely wrong. They are not as knowledgeable as they profess to be. I drove 30 miles to go to that place. I am a loyal customer. They blew it....