RF Generation Message Board

I had my 3DS go bad back in February, the system wouldn't count steps anymore so I sent it in for warranty repair.  They come back and say they won't repair it under warranty because it appears to have been dropped.  I didn't drop the thing but figured I could have been mistaken so I paid the $76 to have it repaired.  I get it back and it works now except that the 3D slider switch is VERY hard to move to the point I think it will snap off if any attempts are made to move it.  Before the repair it moved smoothly.  So I go back to the web a week after receiving it to go through another warranty repair.  I try a week and a half and the website keeps kicking out errors so I call them up and initiate a warranty repair.  I get an email message yesterday saying they won't repair it under warranty because of a liquid spill and they want me to pay $86 to fix it!!!  I was so pissed.  The 3DS sat in the shipping box the whole time except for the initial time I opened it up to test it out to make sure it worked.  Now I get to call them tomorrow and go round and round with them and most likely not get my 3DS repaired that they screwed up!  I'm done with Nintendo.  :grrr:

What you do when you've been screwed is go and find the email addresses of the higher ups and bring the issue straight to them.

That's how you get shit done when you've been screwed, you can probably get refunded as well.

It sounds like what actually happened is this:

- You sent in/handed in your 3DS for repair
- They fake a fall to make you pay
- They transfered your data to another refurbished 3DS (that has the slider malfunctioning) and send you that
- You hand the new 3DS in for repair
- They fake a liquid spill to make you pay
- etc ....

Unfortunately warranty dodging is common practice among repair centers of electronics. Purposly damaging equipment in a way which isn't covered by warranty is a classic method. I've read many stories of people experiencing fraudulent repair services for computer components such as motherboards.

The only way to protect yourself against such practice is by:

- marking your unit before sending it off to repair so you'll know you're getting back the same device.
- Filming your unit before sending it off to have proof of exactly the state it was in before you hand it in for repair. This prevents warranty dodging.
- Include a CD with a copy of your video inside the box to show you have proof.

A terrible state of affairs, unfortunately most "innocent" customers only learn the hard way. :(

Good luck.

That sucks. I've had really good experiences with the Nintendo customer service myself, but that sounds horrible.

Make a big stink about it.  Don't give up on one email, either.  Tell them about your life-long devotion to Nintendo and all that jive and see what happens.

If they don't make it right, take your story to Twitter. If nothing else, others will be warned.

It is incredible.  It seems that the major players (nintendo, xbox, apple, etc) always have terrible customer service and repair centers, but I have had great luck with smaller profile product.

I bought my little girl a Fisher Price IXL:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/02/fischer-price-ixl-gal01.jpg

She slammed the thing on the ground like a year after we got it.  The screen broke, told them the complete truth, they replaced it, 6 month later she did it again, they replaced it again.  I was amazed and this happen with just about any consumer electronic other then popular items.

Good luck finding an email address for a higher up, though. :(

I've never had a problem finding one...

Than maybe I need to enlist your help. LOL.

That's odd that you had so many problems with them. I broke my Wii years ago (when the system is doing a firmware update, and it says don't disconnect the power, they mean it!) and they fixed it up quick and even replaced the door covering the GameCube controller ports that my son broke off. It was about $75 and was long out of warranty anyway.

I also had an issue with some Rock Band 3 DLC when I bought my Wii U. It just didn't show up as purchased. Like random songs too. After going back and forth between Nintendo, Harmonix and even EA without anyone figuring it out Nintendo just refunded my Wii Shop account the 3000 points or whatever it ended up being.

I know Nintendo will contract out their repairs sometimes and you might've just gotten a dishonest shop.

That is what I actually thought might have happened.  Are they doing it on purpose so they don't need to honor the warranty repair?  Pisses me off.

This is a place to start spamming your troubles:
http://www.nintendo.com/corp/contact.jsp

also, Presdent of Nintendo of America snail mail:

Reginald Fils-Aime
President and COO
Nintendo of America
4820 150th Ave. Northeast
Redmond, WA 98052

It's a start

Not a bad place to start. When I worked at one certain retail pet store my last day at my first store ended up with me, and the staff on duty at the time, meeting the CEO and the... CFO and somebody else? Not sure about the other two, they got pissed at the regional manager for making what they thought was a completely unfair report about the store.

Take your story straight to Reggie and you better bet that some heads will roll and somebody will get chewed out HARD!

Basically, yes.

I have done no research on Nintendo's repair history, (not one Google search) nor do I plan to. I'm just guessing...

But common sense tells me Nintendo contracts out their repair service. Which means the 3rd party repair service has to meet certain requirements depending on the contract. Maybe they're also made to handle certain repairs differently than others.

Some members here mention they've had good fortune with Nintendo in the past. I'm happy to believe them. However, good service in the past doesn't necessarily mean good service now or in the future. Nintendo will be well aware they have some lean years ahead of them. The Wii fad certainly is over and smartphones are eating away at their handheld sales. Why not save some money on after-sales services? Renegotionate your contract(s), SLA's, etc... with third party repair company and voila! Suddenly Nintendo's service isn't as good as it used to be and you're experiencing that first hand.

I could be completely wrong. But I probably won't be too far off. ;)

So I called Nintendo and spoke with them and great news!  I'm getting a brand new system but.... it appears only because of a technicallity, like Ryan Braun.  Apparently when the system is initially sent in they do an assessment to see if it is covered under warranty, i.e was it dropped.  If the repair is sent back and still not fixed, than it doesn't get assessed again when sent it.  It is supposed to just get repaired.  So yes, I'm getting a new one for free but I don't like the reason why as I'm not sure I would get this fixed under warranty if that wasn't the case.  I also told the rep I find it hard to believe that there was water damage as I only touched it twice, once was opening and verifying operation and once when packaging the item to be shipped.  She said she shouldn't be telling me this but a liquid spill doesn't have to be that the system was dumped in a bucket of water.  A liquid spill could be as simple as I washed my hands and didn't dry them enough and "some" water seeped in.  I wasn't going to argue with her seeing I was getting a brand new one but come on!  Seriously?  I was also going to point out how do I know that the tech didn't go to the bathroom, wash their hands, and not dry them thoroughly?  But alas, I did not but that was laughable.  Anyways, new 3DS at their cost.

I've been done with nintendo since all they've ever been able to produce is more god damned Mario.

Yes, its a shame how much they're whoring that Mario character out in that Fire Emblem thing.

Time to take those precious dollars elsewhere.

Well, at least it got sorted out.