I am a 77 year old pensioner who had to move back from Sweden to the UK, where thankfully I still had an empty and unsold house that I had moved out of to make the move to Sweden and had not yet sold.
I guess in a way I was lucky to still have the house and it could be thought of as a silver-lining amongst the chaos that was the Brexit that I experienced! I found it and still find it, very hard to see anything about those dark day’s having in the process of returning which I did not want to do but was forced by the result of the brexit vote! Which by the time I had returned lock stock barrel and dogs to the UK. I had lost, correction, brexit had cost me my life savings! of 50K!
I have been careful not to give you too much detail, as I guess it has political overtones, and I guess still a very sensitive subject for many on both sides of the argument. And as if you probably have not already guessed. My vote was to remain! I feel that it was important I give a little background, to the questions that I am going to ask to try and avoid possible negative reply’s such as : “It’s your own fault for not buying from UK outlets M8!”
Swiftly moving on, and as I’m not ready to kick the bucket just yet, or to simply give up on life I have decided to start a YouTube Channel… but of course I immediately hit a brick wall! I live in Wales, and although I consider myself lucky to still own my small semi detached house here, the houses are not of such high value, and so I would probably now categorise myself as, thanks to brexit! There I go again! sorry! sort of asset rich, but now very cash poor!!!
And cash poor or otherwise I need to decide on and buy a camera for my budding YouTube channel
Thankfully I have a good smartphone with a Hasselblad camera which bought second hand, but that has its limitations, so thinking very hard about my circumstances & financial situation, what should I do? What should I buy? A mirrorless vlog camera? Action camera maybe? Or a camera drone!!!???
Well, before retiring I had been a pro DJ based in Norway, and working all over what was then Western Europe, from the far Arctic north to the far sunnier south all through the 1970’s & 80’s, followed by a little acting on local TV, I have a sort of inner feeling for how my channel should look, feel and evolve! I can’t explain it, I just feel it!?
As I shall be flying by the seat of my pants, in so many ways. The obvious answer was, It’s got to be a drone! and if its got to be a drone it’s got to be a DJI drone! But how was I going to afford it!?
And so I started researching.
First port of call as always, was the second hand market, but I couldn’t find anything suitable! Amazon’s Mini 4K was/is an option, but as my eyes are of the older variety, It would probably be a good idea to have a drone with obstacle avoidance!? Also as I will probably be using my phone to film from another angle… to free up my phone then the controller should ideally be a DJI RC controller!? BTW, what’s the difference between a DCI RC controller and a DCI RC2 controller if anything? Finally and it’s very important my budget at it’s very best is, … at a stretch, £350 - £400!
One day whilst window-shopping on E-Bay I saw a listing for a DJI Mini 4 Pro, and not just a Mini 4 Pro but also included the Fly More Combo, DJI RC2 and 3 Plus Batteries sold by AliExpress for £355.19.
In my financial situation it was worth investigating further, so I ended up on the AliExpress site and found several of the same DJI Mini 4 bundles being sold on the platform for various prices… I sent a few emails asking various questions ie were they genuine DJI drones and so on, yes was always the answer, some of these companies asked me to talk/message them on WhatsApp to buy direct from them and get further discounts. But every one that I spoke to on WhatsApp had no options to pay by credit card ( Section 75 protection) or using PayPal!?
So I messaged AliExpress who told me to make sure to only buy on the AliExpress site, and not direct with the sellers on WhatsApp!
So following their guidance I chose a company Shenzhen Do-Merry Electronic Co Ltd Store) who were advertising the drone & full package for £355.19 on AliExpress, and also offered PayPal as a payment option! As my PayPal account used my credit card to pay with, I would be double protected!!!
N.B. Interesting point, apparenty “Shenzhen, China” is also DJI’s main production factory location !!!
On payment for the DJI drone package I received a further what I presume was a first time customer discount, and so ending up paying only £295.99!
Shortly afterwards I received an email confirming the sale!
I then went back on to WhatsApp to inform them that I had chosen to pay on the AliExpress website! I was then told that because I had chosen to place my order on the AliExpress website rather than directly with “the manager” on WhatsApp they could not ship the drone and I would have to pay a further £130.00 to cover VAT and some other cost… which they said I would not have been charged, if I had bought direct from The Shenzhen Do-Merry Electronic Co Ltd Store on WhatsApp??? Which I had refused to do, because of the advice that AliExpress had given me, and because there was no payment option available which gave me the same protection as paying using my credit card, or paying using my PayPal account would!
I have since e-mailed Ali Express, informed them again of my situation and asking them again for their advice…
BTW i have previously bought several small things on AliExpress at really good prices, mostly less than half of the price I would have paid in the UK, for example, I recently bought a genuine "100W Supervooc charger for my OnePlus12 smartphone which being second-hand didn’t come with a charger! It was delivered within 7days no problems no extra charges, and so until now, I’ve been a satisfied customer of AliExpress. There is of course the obvious language barrier, even though I personally speak to some degree or another, several languages unfortunately for me Mandarin is not one of them! China in her turn seems to be very reliant on “Google Translate” or some other form of language app/translator, and so emails, chats & texts are often unclear and often misunderstood…so some allowances must be made and one has to have patience all around!
As I said “I e-mailed Ali Express, informing them of the situation and asking their advice.” and this was the email answer I got from them:
“Dear customer,
Thank you for contacting AliExpress regarding order 3053070556170601.
After inspection, your order is in the stocking period, and the merchant’s stocking time is 7 days after payment. International logistics may take longer, if you want to cancel the order, please communicate with the seller. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation. We hope you have a wonderful shopping experience on AliExpress.
Best regards,
AliExpress Customer Service”
And so at the time of writing this I am not really any the wiser or better informed!?
The delivery date is May the 2nd… ??? Will I or won’t I be a one drone richer ???
Q: What’s a “stocking period”? Anyone?
Q’s: Has anyone bought a DJI camera drone advertised on AliExpress? If so are they genuine DJI drones ? If in the end I end up claiming a refund from PayPal or using Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, reading through my post, would you be kind enough to give me some positive advice on where and how I could proceed considering my circumstances and budget range with buying a suitable DJI camera drone ?.. All advice will be very welcome and gratefully received!!! 
My secret: I guess I’ll have to face up to it one day! 
On the positive side, I have just come across the For Sale & Wanted section on Grey Arrows Drone Club 
