DJI Circle offers premium drone customer support — at a premium price

For professional customers with a pretty massive wallet, DJI this week announced its new DJI Circle program, a premium customer support program.

And the price tag to buy into the program? It starts at $4,699 for a 12-month period.

The DJI Circle program will offer members broad coverage over a twelve-month period for up to five DJI products, including the Inspire, M600, Mavic Pro and Phantom drone series, and the Ronin and Osmo series of handheld stabilizers.

That’s not to say the nearly $5,000 for 12-months fee is a bad deal. The program includes a personal DJI concierge who can help manage a battery rental service and repairs; coverage includes accidental damage to DJI products, up to $15,000 annually. The concierge will send along a temporary replacement device to use until the repair is complete. 

Other benefits include “Global SOS Service,” giving members access to emergency medical services in the event of illness or injury while traveling, invitations to exclusive DJI events and networking opportunities, and even airport lounge access to more than 850 airport lounges across the globe.

Is $5,000 a year a little out of your budget?  DJI in September 2016 announced DJI Care Refresh, a$99 protection plan for the Mavic Pro, which covers accidental damage to the Mavic Pro’s aircraft, gimbal or camera during normal use for up to 12 months. Once members pay the $99 fee, they’ll still have to pay an additional fee to get a new drone (which is new or equivalent to new). The first replacement will cost $79 and the second will cost $129.

Programs like DJI Circle and DJI Care Refresh could be a response to the current state of DJI’s customer service, which hasn’t exactly received glowing reviews. But, customers seem to think mostly positively about DJI Care Refresh. And for people using DJI’s drones at an extremely frequent rate, the $5,000 DJI Circle fee could very easily be worth it to have some piece of mind about replacing equipment.

The DJI Circle program will first be available starting in May by invitation only to customers in the United States and mainland China. To request an invitation for future opportunities to become a DJI Circle member, email djicircle@dji.com.