A heart-warming tale of Customer Service gone right
by David Hinkle 
{ Feb 15th 2007 at 5:55PM }
You know, it's so rare to hear about great customer service. It is, it really is. That's why this story of one individual's problem with the Wii's optical disc drive is such a great story to read, not only for us fanboys, but for anyone who's ever had a horrible time dealing with customer service. So what makes this story so special?Well, upon calling in with the problem, the Nintendo CSR (customer service rep) found out that the individual in question lived in Redmond and provided directions to Nintendo's local repair center to take the console. Upon arriving, it only took a mere 25 minutes for the individual's Miis, Wii Points and save data to be transferred over to a new Wii.
Nice, pleasant customer service. Ain't it grand?
[Thanks Kian!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jenny @ Feb 15th 2007 7:19PM
My husband's DS Lite top screen broke mysteriously, so I called Nintendo. Turned out the nearest center to me was about 30-40 minutes away. They also told me not to bother mailing it, and that it would take about 30 minutes to fix. It took them 5.
They went proactive with the wrist-strap issue, and they fix stuff really fast. I love Nintendo.
ghnvt @ Feb 15th 2007 10:32PM
They do all the little things right and I haven't heard one horror story about their CSR's or customer service overall. Keep it up nintendo.
Dann @ Feb 15th 2007 11:35PM
Well today I phoned customer service about my DS Lite hinge crack. It was..so-so. It was great customer service but not "OMG they're a godsent!!!" I think the guy was new whoever was talking to me. He was sort of having trouble explaining that an online game and a DS act as one unit. The convo went like: "The game like...you know....it acts like...one with like... the DS and like..."
Finally I said "Yeah I know what you mean." And I had the hardest time understanding him over the phone. He was talking waaay too fast. But other than that, I got what I wanted, though he wasn't clear on whether or not I was covered under the warranty..
thebes @ Feb 17th 2007 3:41PM
MS never fixed my 360. im still bitter. eh. i have a Wii now. :)
knot_U @ Feb 16th 2007 11:10AM
When I got my ds lite repaired, they returned it to me with two dead pixels, which I wasn't happy about. so I called customer service and the guy told me that I could get a $20 refund on my repair. then he forwarded me to his boss and she was like, "umm...we don't do that here." then she told me that she would talk to her manager. when she got back on the phone she said that I couldn't get a refund, but I could get any Nintendo product of that value instead. I chose a nun-chuck because I can't find any around where I live. but yeah, they do have the best customer service around.
knot_U
Steve @ Feb 18th 2007 12:31AM
So Nintendo decided to save the cost of shipping the defective unit by UPS by having the customer take the broken Wii to them. What a bunch of saints!
When Nintendo repaired my Wii the first time my Virtual Console information was lost, and I sent it in the slow way specifically because I didn't want to lose my VC information. They returned a new system to me, and even though this problem could have been resolved easily over the phone it took four days and 3 phone calls from me to resolve it. During that time I added VC points to buy new games (since my old VC content was unavailable to me) and in order for Nintendo to fix the problem with my old VC content I had to abandon the new content. Instead of doing the right thing and adding another 2000 points to my old account I was forced to forfit those points and take something worth $20 from their online store. In other words I bought 2000 points but a day later I had to accept $20 in some other product instead.
My Wii broke again with the same issue (the apparently common random dot problem) and I mailed it in again. This time a rep said that I'm not guaranteed to get back my VC content but if I lose it I should be able to work something out with a supervisor! Gee! How nice! They might lose my stuff but they might be generous enough to get it back for me.
So I've mailed my Wii in twice, had big VC problems, and I gave up in Zelda because the sky cannon bug permanenty killed my progress and Nintendo is not working on resolving the issue.
[sarcasm]Yup. I just love Nintendo's customer support anymore.[/sarcasm]
I think Nintendo's going more towards the direction of Sony and Microsoft when it comes to support: stick the user with a poorly constructed buggy product and then make the repair process as painless for Nintendo as possible.
Superbagman @ Jun 11th 2007 11:04PM
My DS Lite microphone stopped registering air being blowed into it (for Mario Kart Balloons and Wario Ware games), the CSR I spoke to was awesome to me and Nintendo got me a new DS in a week.
Two days after the Wii came out I was having problems with the Wi-fi and my Wii Sports disc (it would only play 1/3 of the time, otherwise I got a disc error). The CSR was terribly rude, he told me to take the game back to the store and have them replace it. I told him that I just stood in line for 14 hours to get the system and that they were all sold out, so getting a replacement from Wal-Mart was highly unlikely. He was totally unsympathetic and offered no other help.
Flash forward a month, Nintendo sends me a customer service survey, I detail both the highlights and lowlights of their CSR's.
Then last week Nintendo calls me, apologizes for my treatment and tells me a new Wii Sports disc is on the way, it arrived two days later.
So yeah, I've seen the Big N at it's worst, but I'll be damned if they don't take serious complaints to heart. That is why Nintendo still has, and always will have my support.