In the last issue of This Week in Gaming, we talked about the Federal Trade Commission sending out a warning letter to a few select companies, two of which were Nintendo and Sony. These letters were sent because the FTC found both companies' policies were technically illegal, as voiding a warranty due to peeling a sticker off cannot be grounds for denying a full repair.

Nintendo and Sony might find themselves in hot water soon, in regards to a policy they have. The Federal Trade Commission states that both companies current policy is against a law that was enacted in 1975. And that policy entails warranty voiding. Normally, if you open up a Sony or Nintendo console to repair it, or use third party components, then your warranty is voided. However, this is illegal, and the FTC is cracking down on those don't abide by it, which means both gaming companies have been sent "warning letters", which means they have 30 days to remove such statements from their policy.

Now, a few weeks later, there's been a response, with Nintendo and Sony changing their warranty policies to allow for users to open up the console without voiding the warranty. Nintendo's policy has been changed from

This warranty shall not apply if this product: (a) is used with products not sold or licensed by Nintendo (Including but not limited to, non-licensed game enhancement and copier devices, adapters, software, and power supplies.

To...

This warranty shall not apply if this product has been damaged by products not sold or licensed by Nintendo (Including, but not limited to, adapters, software, and power supplies).

So now, if you open up your console, repair it yourself, or use third party hardware on it, you're fine, however, if these items or your actions cause damage to the system, then the warranty is still considered void, which is compliant with US and Canada law.

Source: GBAtemp Press Inbox

 

[zoogie]

Now off to install b9s and a bunch of cias to a 3ds and send it to Nintendo to test them.

 

[Chary]

Now off to install b9s and a bunch of cias to a 3ds and send it to Nintendo to test them.

That'll show them the results of their stability™ patches as well!

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

So now I'm still under warranty if I decide to do hard mods on my systems?

But most stuff people buy don't usually have warranty that last decent time before stuff actually breaks.

 

[Tallion]

This is actually awesome! I always felt that simply opening my system to do small repairs should never void the warranty. Way to go FTC on holding these companies accountable on our behalf!

 

[leerpsp]

Now off to install b9s and a bunch of cias to a 3ds and send it to Nintendo to test them.

I hope you really do this and if it works out for you then pop me a message and let me know lol.

 

[gamesquest1]

I remember pointing this out a good while back that Nintendo can only deny a warranty repair if they can prove that any modification caused the damage or that its likely to have been caused by something done by the user/mod

that said if they can prove you have opened the system and there is any obvious signs of "tampering" they could probably still void your warranty, it all boils down to is the fault potentially caused by the end user or is it a flaw that happened regardless of any action caused by the owner

very often if you just argue with the company about the semantics of it all you will usually get your own way anyway, but nice to see the FTC actively challenging the practice of warranty avoidance, I know most people usually just accept the initial "no" from companies

 

[paulttt]

I personally feel that this is utter bullshit.

Warranty stickers are there to prevent the general public from dismantling their hardware and fucking it up. If your console is within warranty, and it breaks through no fault of your own, then what's the issue with you taking it to either the retailer, or Nintendo?

If you take the conscious decision to open up your console to clean/mod/just wanna look at the workings, and it breaks, that's your own fault

 

[RedoLane]

But doesn't that depends on where you bought their products?
I mean, we don't have in Israel any Sony and Nintendo divisions(well, we do have for sony, but nothing related to their PlayStation business), so whenever I need factory support, it comes from a third party business, which got its own warranty.
So that only matters to those who can get direct support from the companies..

 

[leerpsp]

I personally feel that this is utter bullshit.

Warranty stickers are there to prevent the general public from dismantling their hardware and fucking it up. If your console is within warranty, and it breaks through no fault of your own, then what's the issue with you taking it to either the retailer, or Nintendo?

If you take the conscious decision to open up your console to clean/mod/just wanna look at the workings, and it breaks, that's your own fault

Not anymore from what we all just read if we open the console to repair it, or use third party components or even just snap that one cable with out meaning to looks like they will be fixing it for us.

 

[paulttt]

Not anymore from what we all just read if we open the console to repair it, or use third party components or even just snap that one cable with out meaning to looks like they will be fixing it for us.

I'm all for the little man, but why should they be liable if you accidentally destroy their product.

 

[Tallion]

Not anymore from what we all just read if we open the console to repair it, or use third party components or even just snap that one cable with out meaning to looks like they will be fixing it for us.

They clearly stated that if they deem the damage done to the console to be the fault of the consumer modifying or opening it, they will not be responsible for repairs. This is just to allow competent people to open their consoles without voiding the warranty automatically.

 

[Yepi69]

I'm in an European country, does this apply to me? Because I've been dying to open up my poor PS4 Slim and clean the old bastard inside for dust, I can DO that to my PS3 because I bought it used however my PS4 has a 5 year warranty on it.

 

[gamesquest1]

Not anymore from what we all just read if we open the console to repair it, or use third party components or even just snap that one cable with out meaning to looks like they will be fixing it for us.

nope, I'm sure its just to clarify that a warranty covers any faults that naturally occurred, if they have a reason to believe the damage was caused by anything you did they can still say "no", its just that they cant say "oh no you have a worn warranty sticker so the top LCD failing is not covered any more", the onus was always supposed to be denied if user caused, covered if its a naturally occurring fault, its just that many companies used warrenty stickers as it helped stored avoid people doing switheroos with faulty goods or attempting mods and screwing stuff up and expecting refunds, many then started using these as warranty shields to avoid responsibilities for genuine hardware faults

 

[Deleted User]

Safe hardmods

 

[leerpsp]

They clearly stated that if they deem the damage done to the console to be the fault of the consumer modifying or opening it, they will not be responsible for repairs. This is just to allow competent people to open their consoles without voiding the warranty automatically.

At lest if we brick it they will fix it now.

 

[Tallion]

At lest if we brick it they will fix it now.

They are still not responsible for damage done by consumer modifications.

 

[gamesquest1]

exactly, warranty is only ever going to cover "manufacturing faults" or hardware errors that occur that happen during normal usage, if you want accidental/intentional damage cover you need to buy insurance for that

this is really just forcing manufacturers to abide by that rule and not use excuses to dodge their responsibilities (think, oh well we see you have a Mario sticker on your case, so that's probably what caused your dvd drive to break )

 

[Gamer4647]

The US warranty actually still disallows homebrew. It seems to be just for do it yourself repairs for the most part.

WARRANTY LIMITATIONS

THIS WARRANTY SHALL NOT APPLY IF THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN DAMAGED BY PRODUCTS NOT SOLD OR LICENSED BY NINTENDO (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADAPTERS, SOFTWARE, AND POWER SUPPLIES).

IN ADDITION, THIS WARRANTY SHALL NOT APPLY IF THIS PRODUCT (a) IS USED FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES (INCLUDING RENTAL); (b) IS DAMAGED BY ANY UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATIONS OR TAMPERING; (c) IS DAMAGED BY NEGLIGENCE, ACCIDENT, UNREASONABLE USE, OR BY OTHER CAUSES UNRELATED TO DEFECTIVE MATERIALS OR WORKMANSHIP (INCLUDING USE WITH GAME ENHANCEMENT AND COPIER DEVICES); (d) HAS HAD THE SERIAL NUMBER ALTERED, DEFACED OR REMOVED; OR (e) HAS BEEN INTENTIONALLY MODIFIED USING MALICIOUS CODE, MALWARE, VIRUS, BOTS, WORMS, TROJANS, BACKDOORS, EXPLOITS, CHEATS, HACKS, OR HIDDEN DIAGNOSTICS THAT MAY HARM THE PRODUCT OR OUR SYSTEMS.

 

[leerpsp]

They are still not responsible for damage done by consumer modifications.

did you not read the post? they took non-licensed game enhancement out of there warranty policy and that is what cfw was used for by most game mods game backups and so on and that is a game enhancement so yes they would have to now.