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Its always good to hear when a company does its customers right. Congrats!
Its always good to hear when a company does its customers right. Congrats!
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Corporations should forget who they are more often.
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Kudos to you, Nintendo.
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way to go nintendo! that mario looks alot healthier than my avator
That's awesome.
Though I don't see how it was under warranty after 2 years, maybe Nintendo was just being nice about that too.
Well Nintendo can afford to do something like this when they can turn up their money-powered furnaces just to wipe their brows with money (that came from Gizmodo or here; I can't remember). But then again they're making up for the Gamecube...
@OmniZero: I have no problems at all with a company making piles of cash when they do their customers right like that.
@Con Seannery: agreed! just the fact that it only took a week for the turn around is grounds for commending them, but to take a 2+ year old Wii and send media from a completely separate company...WOW. Impressive. I almost want to buy a Wii just so I can know what it feels like to get amazing customer service if needed.
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Damn you sony! When my ps3 lens crapped out on me they made me pay $150 to get it repaired :( Still love my ps3 but still lol
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@Bizdady: That's because they sold a million Wii's in one week, and boxes and boxes of PS3's are collecting dust in stores and warehouses.
I'd be a happy company too if a fraction of a percentage is having problems with their Wii, so it can easily be replaced, whereas overheating and overpriced PS3's will be costly to both parties.
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I couldnt find an article about PS3 overheating that wasnt older than 2007, all of which citing the TGS incident, but they all seem to say the same thing, this being an excerpt from one:
\"It has been experienced by many gamers that after prolonged gaming, sometimes 48 hours straight (more or less), playing various games on the PlayStation 3, there was no trouble to report. The fans continued to run quietly, there was warm air coming out of the back, it got hot as all consoles do, but not too hot, and no overheating trouble was noticed. The only problems were bleary eyes, backs and thumbs, and delirium due to a complete lack of sleep and video game overdose.
Finally, if you don't believe the lack of PlayStation 3 overheating problems, check out the gaming forums, you won't hear anything about PS3 on these issues.\"
Please take your obviously bias comments somewhere else.
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@Jeremy82465: You're looking for biased, but the point he raises is solid - Nintendo has almost 0 problems with their console, and sell it far cheaper than their competitors, which have far more numerous problems.
This is the second story I have read towting Nintendo's awesome customer service (the other being a guy actually taking his to a nintendo headquarters broken and a half hour later leaving with it fixed at no charge). I think all companies, much less gaming, could learn a few lessons from this.
@Jeremy82465: I heard one on here not long ago about a man with a DS, I believe, that he bought in Japan, took to the US where it broke, called the US support people (Nintendo US and Japan might as well be different companies), and it was way out of warranty. They fixed it, no charge, expedited.
They did a similar thing for me too. Nothing as big but my wireless sensor was gone. They didnt ask me for a seriel number, date of purchase or anything. Just said \"whats your address and well send you a new one\"
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Nintendo only does one thing, videogames, so it must be good at that execution and work harder to keep their customers. Sony and Microsoft are big players in the videogame market but draw much more revenue from other sources, meaning they can be a little stingier with the games division. Part of why I'm a loyal nintendo customer is their game play, but customer service has always been a big part too.
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@Lars: correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't xbox one of very few profitable sectors for MS right now? I'm a machead, so maybe I'm just hearing what I want to hear.
I just wish Nintendo would get some more high quality games out soon. It definately feels like a dry time for those of us who've had a wii for a while.
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@Lars: Same here.
I might have spent too much money on Nintendo stuff.
But it was worth it, I think. :P
Green digital artifacts? Sounds like the video chip was starting to overheat/desolder itself.
@silver-bolt: I'm pretty sure it's all on one board and everything's soldered in place. Since you're not supposed to upgrade a Wii, it makes sense, saves room, and makes the Wii more durable. Durability was one of the big concerns when designing the Wii, which is why it doesn't have a hard drive.
@silver-bolt: It could also be; ram, memory controller, voltage regulators. Not a fun troubleshoot for an integrated set. Good call, Nintendo for just tearing the thing out.
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I would imagine it's an integrated graphics chip on the motherboard since it's not a very powerful machine.
Nintendo has always had amazing customer service, if you live near them in CA its even better you can take in your console and they will fix it for you then and there no shipping needed. Had a buddy with a broken gamecube years ago, nintendo fixed it out of warrenty and it only took 1 week as it was such a minor repair.
This is one of many amazing Nintendo stories I've heard... above and beyond seems to be routine for them. In terms of customer service, Microsoft and Sony could learn a lot from them.
However, in terms of making a current-gen console that attracts third-party publishers to make anything requiring more effort than a lazy port, Nintendo now has some catching up to do :)
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@punkrawka: Are you kidding? The Wii port of Dead Rising looks awex0me! Imagine facing down two, three zombies at a time!
@egosub2: Personally, I can't wait for Valve to port over Left 4 Dead, so I can manually enter 3 16 digit friend codes, making for a total of 48 digits to type in by a crappy on screen keyboard. Whee!
I shouldn't be so hard on the Wii, but I honestly enjoy the homebrew more than anything else on it these days.
You better have put those 2 copies on ebay right away.
They've been like this for years, too: A friend of mine had her GBA SP stolen (back when GBA SP's were current) - when she called them to get her serial number to file a police report, they simply offered her a replacement at no cost.
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Stories like this make me glad I purchased a Wii instead of another console.
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@dmuth: Yeah! I don't have a Wii but I've long been a Game Boy customer and just bought a Nintendo DS for myself for Christmas.
A year and a half ago I dropped my Nintendo DS into some water. It was dead. I contacted Nintendo to send it in, but was very vague about what was wrong with it (other than the top screen wasn't working) and water damage is specifically not covered under warranty.
A week later I got it back, repaired, with a letter saying that water damage isn't covered, but they fixed it anyway as a customer courtesy.
Glad to hear this as my launch Wii is showing some black vertical streaking sometimes, and I believe that damage is heat damage to the gfx chip, just waiting for it to die sorta >.>
@SDreamer:
If you're handy with stuff, and don't mind purchasing a tri-wing screwdriver, keep the DVD drive and associated electronics from it after your Wii kicks the bucket. If you search around the internet, you'll see why you're glad you did it. And if you can't do that, then just sell said parts on eBay and enjoy the $$$. If it's launch, your drive is a \"D2A\" and is somewhat valuable.
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Nintendo makes me feel warm and fuzzy. The only thing they've done in the past that makes me sad is transferring the writing of Nintendo Power to the Future US people. Blah. Still, I have all my old NPs to reminisce with!
someone I know bought a wii of ebay, and then accidentally broke it. She called nintendo customer service, and they repaired it for her free of charge. Nintendo has always been good to it's customers to my knowledge.
I dropped a gba the old big one and cracked the screen three days after owning it. I called nintendo to ask if they could replace the screen and the lady was like oh my did you get it as a gift and I was like umm yeah it was my birthday present. Got a brand new one sent to me and didn't even have to send the old one back.
So is Nintendo a video game company that has excelent customer service? or a customer service company that happens to make video games?
It appears they are the second one.
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When Nintendo was having their promotion giveway of the Legend of Zelda Gamecube discs. (The one with OoT, MM, Zelda 1+2 on it), Nintendo sent me one through the mail. 2 weeks went by, and I never received it.
I called them up, and they sent another one out no questions asked. Apparently the other one got held up in the mail, so I ended up with 2.
I was a bit astonished that they were so willing to replace it for me. I'll never forget. <3
@NeoNess:
Had the exact same thing happen to me. The replacement copy showed up 3 days later. A week after that the first one showed up finally.
Gave the other to a friend as an awesome birthday present.
I was annoyed, though, that I had to buy the system and 2 games to get it since the bundled promo systems sold out in stores in no time.
Nintendo is a fantastic company. My son's Nintendo DS was starting to glitch out on him after about a year & a half (and several falls & drops). They paid to have us ship them the DS, and within a week they had sent him back a new DS as a replacement, no questions asked. He had put some stickers on his old DS, and they even took the time to peel them off as carefully as they could & included them in the package. They really know how to treat their customers, that was WAY above & beyond what we expected from them.
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i've had similar experiences with nintendo in the past, including a wii that needed serviced. the big N is indeed a consumer-centric corporation. it is glad to see that they still exist... they will continue to get my hard-earned dollars so that i continue to chase some pink princess skirt in extreme futility. :P
I had a good experience with them too, My DS Lite just started doing random weird stuff (like shutting off during sleep mode). I sent it in and they sent me a replacement no questions asked because they couldn't duplicate the problem, the process was simple and easy.
About ten years ago I worked at Nintendo as a seasonal customer service rep for the holidays, and yeah, they are pretty much of the mantra \"Customer First.\" So none of this surprises me.
My fondest memories are of handling the game play counseling calls. Those were always fun.
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I must have been the only person to have had negative customer experiences with Nintendo then. My Wii started scratching disks starting with the then-new Metroid Prime disk. It took forever to get it fixed, and my pampered Wii came back scuffed and splattered with coffee and it still makes noise. It also took them a couple of attempts to figure out that they were supposed to take my returned MP disk and REPLACE it insead of send the fucker right back to me after waiting a week.
I have had similar customer service experiences with both Nintendo and Apple.
Your story is a pleasant read, but not surprising.
@mariospants: I had a very disappointing experience with Nintendo's customer service when my Wii started showing screen artifacts. The person I spoke with was unprofessional (kept calling me dude) and told me I'd need to pay $75 for repairs without explaining what was wrong with the console until I prodded him for an answer. I knew my Wii was out of warranty though, so I went ahead with the repair. I received me system back in about a week and everything worked fine.
Fast forward about half a year: my repaired Wii began exhibiting the same symptom as before and when I called customer service, they wanted another $75 for repairs. The woman seemed friendly at first and explained the probable causes of my problem, and generally seemed sympathetic. So I told her I was unhappy paying a total of half the console's cost in repairs to fix a problem that, for all I know, could crop up again. After asking if there was any warranty extension or guarantee I could get following the repair, she rudely cut in, \"do you want it repaired or not?\"
My Wii has been collecting dust on my entertainment center ever since. I got a bunch of new games for Christmas, but I keep putting off sending the console back because I'm bothered by paying another $75. My girlfriend is dying to play de Blob and Dokapon, so I'll no doubt be ponying up eventually, but it pains me to read \"above and beyond\" when I'm experiencing the exact opposite. Probably just my luck, but that doesn't make it suck any less. :(
I'll ditto this thread. We've had a Wii for a year and a bit now. I have 3 kids between the ages of 8 and 4. They all play, and they chronically leave discs out to get scratched. When the Wii started giving us \"unknown error\" messages and the book said it was hardware, I brought it into the Vancouver depot. They gave it back a week later, and said they replaced the motherboard. Prompt, efficient.
Then the errors started happening again. I had the discs \"cleaned\" at Blockbuster, thinking if it was the discs, then that would fix it. Nope, same issue. I figured it had to be they didn't do a good job on the repair, so I brought it in again. They did more to fix it, replacing the hard drive, and transferring all the saved game information for us. Still no fix.
A third time, I brought it back to them, this time past the 1 yr warranty period, saying that it was still not fixed, and I thought it might be the disc reader. They accepted the repair, did it no charge. They changed that out (and unbeknownst to me my kids had left Mariokart in the drive), and gave us a brand new Mariokart game, without even telling me. I found out when I got home they had included the game. Turns out the disc was the problem - the new disc ran without a hitch.
So my kudos go to Nintendo as well. I'll never buy another brand of console, they've treated us so well.
Maybe it's just the japanese style of management but I too have had great experiences with Nintendo Support.
When I got my DS it had a dead pixel, one call and they emailed an express shipping label to send it in for screen replacement. The lady on the phone said they have a no dead pixel policy. Within a week I had a DS with no dead pixels. My friend got a PSP with 4 dead pixels and it was like pulling teeth for him to get the screen replaced, apparently sony had a 6+ dead pixel policy unless they were all in the middle of the screen.
When I stood in line for 14 hours to get my wii, it was DOA. The thing spit a gear out at me right when I turned it on. Called Nintendo, they overnight crossshipped me a new Wii with a label to ship the old one back. This is why I support this company with cold hard cash. Good games and great service.
I like my Xbox but damn if I didn't have some issues with that thing and Microsoft used to 2 day you a coffin before the 3 year red ring warranties now they just email you a ground label and make you find your own box.
When my xbox died after a year and a half, first it wasn't red ringing it was simply stuttering in all games. Getting the damn support guy to understand I didn't have a red ring problem was a test of my patience. When I got the it back from repair it would not play any games but feeding frenzy, all other games would lock up on load. Again a test in futility to get the guy to understand what the issue was. Overall it took me 3 and half weeks there to get a working xbox back.
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Wow. I've been procrastinating calling them about my Wii sensor not working anymore, but maybe I shouldn't worry so much?
well of course its \"above and beyond the 'call of duty'\", the wii has 'call of duty:world at war' now.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-669366-100x100.png\")
I actually had exactly the same issue on my Wii, cropped up playing RE4 too (think it's a hard game on the video card). Called Nintendo, they took care of it in 4 days total, no charge, all with a smile. Fantastic service!
We had a Wii that was 2 months out of warranty. I called Nintendo and they said for $75.00 I could send it back and they would fix it for me. Turn around time was about 3 weeks. I asked about the fact that I was in Washington State (as is Nintendo) and he told me I could go drop it off, and wait for it to be fixed. I went to Nintendo the next day and dropped it off. They did fix it within an hour, and then only charged me $50.00 because it was so close to the end of tegh warranty. It was incredible. I have a new Wii and a new warranty.
Now....I have an XBox 360 that is acting up, we shall if Microsoft helps me in the same way.
My eleven year old son stepped on his beloved DS a week after Thanksgiving. This was his second one - the last one my husband and I agreed to buy after he lost the first one on vacation. I suggested he call Nintendo. The agent on the phone was great with him. She emailed the return label, took his payment info, and we packed up his shattered DS. She said it might take a few weeks for the repair and return. He was heartbroken thinking he would be without it for Christmas. We were all shocked when it arrived, fully repaired, in less than ten days.
They are awesome with all their customers, young and old, and they have made my son into a raving fan for life.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-462451-100x100.png\")
Glad to see Ninty still has great customer service, they replaced a fried motherboard on my N64, which was a Japanese model (I was living in the US when I sent it in for repair). No charge.
Nintendo respect += 5;
Mazel Tov
Nintendo has, and always will have fantastic customer service. I remember when I had a project in high school where I had to write to a corporation with a complaint. I wrote to Nintendo because at the the time I was still collecting NES games. Even though there wasn't much they could do about it now, my letter addressed how I was disappointed with my old NES refusing to work. I got a call from Nintendo about two weeks later saying that they had got my letter and decided to send me a 44-pin connector for free to install myself in the machine. I got it a few days later and it worked like a champ. Thanks, Nintendo.
This is what happens when you have a customers first policy. It doesn't hurt to not need repairs to turn a profit either - if you're not turning a loss selling your console, you don't need to make up for it in other areas.
mickiecake
Last year we bought 2 Nintendo DS systems for our twin boys (age 8). About 3 weeks later, one of my sons was lying on his bed, holding the DS over his head while he played. Being the clumsy sort, he dropped it, and it proceeded to bounce off his forehead, into the wall, then finally behind his bed. The fall resulted in a nice forehead bruise as well as a cracked top screen on the DS that would no longer display images when turned on.
I went to Nintendo's website, and filed a request for repair, fully expecting to fork out at least $50 plus shipping to have the unit fixed. Not only did Nintendo provide me with a printable pre-paid shipping label, they also fixed the DS at no cost! I'd like to note that I explained what happened in my repair request, and asked for a prompt estimate/repair bill so I could pay it and have my son's DS repaired and returned as quickly as possible.
To my surprise, less than 2 weeks later, I received the repaired DS with a letter stating that, although the system had been broken by my son and suffered no manufacturer's defects, it had been fixed free of charge since we had bought the unit less than a month before.
Nintendo ROCKS.
Ahhh...I love Nintendo. They replaced my son's DS with no questions asked and have been lovely to deal with on multiple occassions.
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I've had nothing but good experiences with Nintendo whenever I've needed something. I had to send my Wii in about a year ago. The gentleman I spoke to spoke proper, clear English, and seemed eager to help me. He answered all of my questions, sometimes calling in a supervisor to answer ones he was not sure of.
I had my Wii back in 10 days, and it was all fixed. Now THAT is great customer service!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-88596-100x100.png\")
Nintendo of Canada did a similar thing for me a while ago when my first Wii went kaput. It seems it overheated due to having WiiConnect24 on all the time, so they sent me a new one, and even renewed the warranty for it so it'll last even longer. All in all it took like 3 days to get the new one, but that might be because I could get to NoC within 4 - 5 hours of straight driving.
Actually I had the same thing happen to my wii, They replaced my wii with a new one.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-189920-100x100.png\")
I haven't had to call Nintendo's service (knock on wood) but I can tell you that the NES that my mom bought my dad for Christmas in 1988 still plays every single game purchased, and after putting some alcohol swabs to wipe the pins clean, it works just like it did back then. In addition to their fantastic customer service, they make great long lasting products as well.
now if they could just fix the quality of the Wii software......
I had a good experiance, though somewhat different. Last year, I decided to play Pokemon Crystal, had game died, so it would no longer hold a save.
I had asked if there was anyway to send it in to get the battery replaced.
I was informed that they did not service GameBoy Color games anymore. However, if I was willing to open it up and mess with the insides myself, they directed me to a site with a tutorial on replacing the batteries on Gameboy color games.
John = john mayer = just like the apple complaint
I got my Wii launch day, and a month or so later I starting seeing coloured dots all over screen after it had been on for awhile. I was very impressed with Nintendo's customer service, they sent me a new Wii, in the midst of mass console shortages, and included a box to send the broken one back. Impressive.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-351903-100x100.png\")
Nintendo is awesome. I had my Wii sent back for the same problem and was repaired at no charge and it had a rather fast turn around.
Microsoft and Sony could learn something from them
Nintendo FTW!
When will people actually realize that Nintendo just plain rules?! They've been giving good customer service for ages!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-131723-100x100.png\")
Stories like this are why I love Nintendo.
My Wii had the buzzing disc problem about a year after I got it, so I called them up and they immediately E-mailed me a shipping label to Fedex it to their repair place in NY. I got it back within a week with a new drive and haven't had a problem since.
Besides that, I love the quality of their products, I have a 20 year old NES that still works, and it started working better when I took it apart and vacuumed out all the dust.
I had a similar experience with a griffin ipod transmitter. The cap at the end came off and the parts fell out. When I put it back together the device was not functioning properly. I asked Griffin for a parts list so I could see if I was missing any, and instead they sent me a brand new transmitter.
I've bought their products exclusively ever since.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-99271-100x100.png\")
Impressive customer service, and not surprising for Nintendo. I wonder if I asked them really nicely if they would fix the glitch with my Wii: that there are only a handful of games that I want to play on it!
Dangit. I had the same problem and opted not send it in because we thought it was my 3rd party composite cables. :( May need to call them.
I have had 2 experiences with Nintendo Customer Service, both excellent!
1. My original Wii was one of the ones with the bad wireless firmware in it. They shipped me a new one first, and told me to send the old one back in that box. I called it in the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, and got my replacement on Friday!
2. My 10 month old DS lite locking mechanism wasn't holding in games. Again, they sent me out a new model, and told me to ship the defective one back to them.
Hands down the best customer service ever!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-106627-100x100.png\")
This is what has kept me going back to nintendo for all of these years.
They don't really get a actual date on when the product was sold so they have to guess. That's why my first DSlite has been under warranty since I got it.
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Gee. Great customer service. It still exists.
Amazing!
@Urgleglurk: I've had a similar experience with Nintendo... hands down the best company I've ever worked with. Kudos N!
@Urgleglurk: thats above \"great\" customer service. Once they start providing free copies of third party publishers software on top of fixing the actual device it begins to transcend into some type of otherworldly transaction.