In the Netherlands we don't have a suing culture such as in the USA, we have rigid consumer protection laws instead. 20 product groups require CE approval before they may be sold in Europe by European importers/distributors. Amongst other things, CE Approval is to ensure that those products are save when being used as may be expected of a normal consumer. In the Netherlands, RC vehicles and consumer drones are sold in toy stores. All toys that are sold in those stores require CE certification. Purchases of the finished products are governed by
DIRECTIVE 2009/48/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL. Other EU directives may also apply for consumer drones, such as Directive 2011/65/EU which regulates restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.
Even when no CE certification is needed, the consumer products and its European importers/distributors shall adhere to the European rules and standards. Consumer law is described in a lot directives/legislations produced by the European Parliament. Member countries may produce additional rules, and they did...
Companies that sell via Internet, and that are not based in EU, are not governed under European laws.
I have thoroughly read the Terms of Use of DJI.com website and concluded that the site (incl. purchases via its web-shop) are governed under Chinese Law. Albeit, this may legally be disputed since DJI is represented by its importer/office in the EU and since the products do have a CE certification, it is highly unlikely that DJI will gladly adhere to European consumer obligations. Me successfully taking a Chinese company to court under Chinese law is even more unlikely
I bought the inspire-1 plus its batteries via a Website in the Netherlands and these purchases are governed under Dutch/EU law. The default EU consumer warranty period of 24 months applies. Of course the Dutch DJI Dealer may try to hide behind DJI's 3 month policy on LiPo's, but 3 months product warranty on a consumer product is not legal in Europe, especially if that warranty period is not mentioned on the website..
My case would be based on the assumption that is not abnormal for a consumer to leave a chargeable unit connected to its charger for more than a week. If the judge agrees with this, the dutch company would have to replace or repair the batteries at no charge and pay for all legal fees incurred. If the judge would rule that "As a consumer, I reasonably should have known better than leaving the batteries connected to the charger", then I would have to pay for all legal fees and replace the batteries at my own cost. Given that I maintain a quite extensive website about (the use of) hobby drones and regularly warn people of the use of LiPo's, it is likely a judge will say "although regular consumers reasonably should not have to know better, you should have known better!!". In all fairness, (s)he may have a point there, albeit I then would then argue that according to Dutch law, i'm still a consumer and should be protected by EU/Dutch law.
To cut a long story short: Under EU/Dutch law I MAY be able get my 6 months old batteries (that I bought from a Dutch Company) replaced free of charge, but to do so I may have to take my local dealer to court who has always been kind/helpful to me. The outcome of such legal preceding would be unsure and my relationship with the dutch dealer will probably not improve. Hence, I decided to let go.
Lessons learned:
- Do not leave SMART DJI batteries in the DJI Charging Hub.The mechanism is not that SMART yet.
- Even though they are sold as such, do not treat DJI products as normal Consumer goods.
- Read the DJI Manuals, the wiki and the release notes, but don't believe all that is promised in it.
- As consumer, do nut buy DJI products directly via DJI.com website, since these purchases and its product warranties are governed under Chinese Law and European Consumer Protection Laws do not apply then.