American Drones — Local services in Moore

My experience with American Drone is the worst experience in retail I’ve ever seen. Would give it a 0 if that was an option.

Here are the facts:

I use my drone to record our football practices and we crashed my DJI mini 3 ($419 value) during a practice session. I called him and asked him about repairing it and he said bring it in to the drone doctor. Very personal over the phone, so I initially felt like we were in good hands.

Because of his hours, I couldn’t get away from school and practice, so my father dropped the drone off at his business. He notified my dad that he was going to send it off to DJI and get a full replacement and that it would be $275 which I was fine with. He called me on November 1 and informed me that the replacement was ready to pick up. Mind you this is at the end of football season so we’re finishing up our last couple games and then we’re doing inventory, exit interviews etc. and I completely forgot about going to pick up our drone.

We start the new year, we go to record some drills and I don’t have my drone and remember that my drone is at his place of business. So I immediately apologetically call to ask if I can come pick it up or pay for it over the phone and he says tough luck I don’t have your drone. He says I sold your drone to pay for your bill. He said that the fine print at the bottom of the receipt which my father picked up and I had misplaced explains his policy, if it’s not picked up in 14 days, then he has the right to sell my drone.

I take full responsibility for the delay in payment and pickup. I offered to pay late fees etc. I explain to him that I was not aware of his policy. But nevertheless I was apologetic and offered to pay whatever was needed in order to fix my error.

He stated that he called several times, which is a lie. He never called past 11/1 and I have phone records to prove this. There was never a warning or a late payment request or anything along those lines. Had he informed me of that? I would’ve paid over the phone without hesitation. I posted a picture of our phone records for evidence.

I asked him what it would take for this situation to be made whole so that he could get his funds and I could go home with a drone and he said there is no making you whole. You are out of drone and I made money. I was trying to support small business and I didn’t feel like this this was right, and he said he did not care how I felt that people leave their drones there all the time and it’s the only way for him to stay in business is to sell their products, so obviously he’s done this on multiple occasions.

DJI mini 3 - $419 DJI RC controller - $259 Three DJI batteries - $200 Landing pad - $50 Misc tools etc - $

Almost $1000 worth of equipment he stole from a teacher and a football coach. I’m an honest person and try to instill accountability and honesty in my student-athletes. Again I take responsibility for my error and length of time in picking up my equipment. His business model and behavior is wrong. Proceed with caution as you cannot trust a thief.

I asked him what further steps we could take and he said there are no further steps to take, except for to take him to court. I was not being confrontational. I was trying to be solution based and his statement to me is that he would rather go to court. He steals from his customers. It’s obvious from his statements that what he does is take broken parts pays a minimal price to get them repaired and then takes advantage of the waiting period and sells used or replacement products at significant a markup. His profits are based on others losses. He sold my $1000 worth of equipment at a complete loss to me, with minimal investment from his side. That’s the way he runs his business and it’s not right. To end our conversation he said I’m done with you, I’ll see you in court and hung up.

I’ll update this review with further...

Do not use an American Drones… they have a 4.6 rating because they are literally the only Drone store in the state or surrounding states…. Darren, the owner is worse than a car salesman and if you leave your drone at his shop, he will steal parts off of it to fix other peoples….. he says he repairs DJI drones, but in all actuality, he knows nothing about them he charges $140 to fix your drone but all he does is send it off to DJI and they charge and 80…. You’re better off using drone nerds, or contacting a drone supplier directly… I could’ve ordered the same Drone I got from him for half of the price directly from the supplier using all of their parts. Instead, Darren charged me double and used $2 BEC’s and servos parts and cheap fixes…. His customer service is terrible and he’s threaten to call the police on me twice just for calling him out on his lies…. So if you want a drone that actually works and you don’t have problems with I would go directly to the source don’t use Darren or American Drones ever.!! The only Drone mechanic he had that knew how to work on them is no longer there.. find an...

I cannot recommend American Drones or give it a decent rating. Here's why:

6/04/2022: I went to American Drones to ask a few final questions and purchase a DJI Mavic 3 Cine (Premium Bundle). No joke.

I walked in the door and the first person I saw appeared as if he was about to leave. Instead, he turns around and takes a seat at the desk on the right side of the shop and never utters a word. The guy sitting at the desk on the left side leaves the building without saying a word.

I wanted to “keep it local” with this purchase. I wanted to avoid the box stores. I wanted to avoid purchasing online. Can you guess where I’m going to purchase my DJI Mavic 3 Cine (Premium Bundle)?

American Drones "employees" didn’t say a single word to me when I walked in the door. They didn’t bother to ask me if I had any questions or needed anything, until I said something. After allowing me to roam free in the shop, unassisted, you wanted me to come back in? You really screwed up a high dollar sale and a lost a future loyal...