“While moving to our new house last week a friend who was helping us accidentally spilt beer on my son’s DS lite and it stopped working. I knew that his DS was still under warranty, but I also knew that I would not cover physical damage caused by neglect. After checking Nintendo’s website, and confirming that spilling liquid on it would not be covered and that I would have to pay for the repair.”
Well if you have a child (mine is 4) you know having a portable gaming system can make things like Doctor visits and trips to the DMV a lot less fidgety, so I called up Nintendo with Visa in hand ready to shell out at least 80 or 90 dollars. After being on hold for all of 20 seconds a very nice gentleman answered, and asked why I was calling. I explained that my son’s DS would not power on and before I could go any further he asked me to provide me with the serial number and after looking up my information (I register all my Nintendo products online) he told me that they would be sending me a replacement DS and all I had to do was ship the old one back to them, they even provided a shipping label. Already happy beyond belief I was even more surprised when they sent it 2 day UPS air!!!! GO NINTENDO! I have had returned my Xbox 360 7 times for repair and never received treatment anywhere near that nice.
Nintendo went out of its way to keep reader Mike happy. Sure, Nintendo could have claimed that the sloshed Nintendo was abused and neglected – but rather than prate about rules and warranties, Nintendo treated their customer with compassion and empathy. That is how you earn loyalty.
(Photo: mightynine)
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I have always been treated with nothing but respect from Nintendo. They are the only company that I enjoy getting email, snail mail, and other communication from. They are the only company that I do not dread calling.
Every time I’ve had an issue with a product, from broken DS’s to just needing a new wrist strap for my Wii, Nintendo is really amazing in getting the issue fixed very quickly. I get surveys sent to my house every time I call or even for the random game I buy and register, and I fill them out every single time. Lately they’ve been sending me free swag for giving my opinion…
@woodenturkey: Well said about dumbass kids. Couldn’t agree more.
Well over 15 years ago I had a similar and very positive experience with Nintendo. My friend accidentally smashed the screen on his Gameboy. I knew that Nintendo would fix the screen for a certain cost after warranty (my first Gameboy broke in-warranty; I later sold this one). Since my friend had no interest in paying for the screen to get fixed, he gave it to me.
I called up Nintendo to start the repair process. I gave them the serial number. To my surprise, and I guess their’s too, he said, “Wow, that is a real old gameboy. We’ll fix it for free”
So, well over 15 years ago Nintendo still had top notch service. It’s all paying for itself now. Nintendo has never been more popular. I wish them all the best.
I must say Nintendo has some of the best customer support ever. I called to get my Wii repaired after I noticed graphical artifacts. It was my own damn fault for placing it under a huge LCD, but they replaced it anyways. The whole conversation took 5 to 10 minutes at most. In that little time the service rep was able to ask all the questions needed and set up for a prepaid label to be sent out so I could ship it back to them.
@redkamel:
I love how I am being called a liar; I was never given a chance to mention anything to them about the spill. They just asked for my name and my registration information.
With my 360 I felt like I was in the Spanish inquisition. Were you doing this? Were you doing that? Where was it stored? Was it in a vented area? Did you do the proper 360 power up dance when booting the console during a full moon? I love my 360 but I am on my 7th, and every time they act like I broke it. Nintendo could have given me the ninth degree, but did not. They could have come back and charged my Credit Card (I had to provide them incase I failed to return the broken one) after reviewing the DS, but they didn’t. God it seems like some of you are corporate trolls trying to piss on the consumer of a company with excellent support,
The most important thing to note isn’t that the CSR replaced it without knowing the reason, but that the CSR never ASKED for it. In my experience w/Nintendo, they aren’t concerned so much with how damage occurred, as much as that it did occur such that their product isn’t functional anymore. Sure, the outcome may have been different if the OP stated the reason to being with, but the fact is that the CSR didn’t do what CSR’s at all companies do: Follow up with “Why doesn’t it power on anymore?” or “Have you caused any damage to the unit.” Nintendo builds better customer base with this kind of service, and earns more because of it than it loses due to quick replacements.
We’ve had excellent service from the Nintendo depot in Richmond, BC. My husband dropped his DS in the toilet but was able to dry it out and use it for another two or three months – until one day, it just wouldn’t turn on. We tried a number of DIY fixits, but in the end just went to the Depot to try for a fix. We explained what happened, they said “okay”, then reached into a drawer and handed us a new one. The whole thing took about 5 minutes, and I got to admire the spiffy life-sized Link statue in the lobby. I love Nintendo. Their customer service is awesome, and they keep sending me free gifts because I register my games on their website.
Consumer has an accident.
Calls company ready to pay.
Company replaces for free.
In here Consumer is a lying cheating bastard. Company is completly stupid and somehow I am to blame.
Consumerist are you so jaded you can’t say Wow that is great customer service. Good job.
You have to say, CSR was lazy. CSR wasn’t on his period. CSR just didn’t care about his job and was too busy writing his suicide note to really care why the DS was broken.
Did your daddy hug you enough, or too much? Really what is your problem?
From the consumer end, it’s good customer service.
If I’m a Nintendo stockholder, I’m furious because this is a dangerous precedent that can easily be taken advantage of.
That being said, I’m in the market for a DS Lite so I’m going to dump a can of bud on my regular DS.
@xredgambit:
lol your life is sad
I just checked this thread to see what happened:My apologies to woodenturkey, I was trying to be sarcastic (honestly). Apparently I need to work on my internet sarcasm skills, which will henceforth be marked with a “sarcasm off” until I can acceptable break the limits of the written format.
I had a nintendo, it worked fine and still does. (in fact, most of it does, including my NES until about 6 mos ago). Unfortunately my xbox 360 broke within a month and I returned to Costco and kept all the money since I was bored with the thing.
That’s a good story, but if it works for others… hope yo don’t have a special edition DS. I plan on picking up that DS with the TriForce on it Friday.
How much would you bet if I tried to repeat this story that I would get another TriForce DS in return? :/
BY JAMAR0303 AT 11/19/07 04:26 AM
@rich815: When he didn’t even provide a CC number? How? Do they just pull one out of someone’s rear?
Because that’s how these things work. They take a CC number to ensure you’ll send the old one back. I did it with my son’s DS Lite, and Epson does warranty returns that way too. Maybe I’m wrong in this case as I do not see where the original poster said he did NOT give them a CC number.