Try not being so damn naive, are you stupid enough to think that the Gateway team will actually admit to being the cause of the bricks ?
You are dealing with con artists and criminals, they don't give a flying f*ck about you and the bricks they have caused, they will do everything they can to deny causing these bricks, including calling genuine Gateway customers with bricks, liars.
I suggest you burst that bubble you live in.
Value of objects being sent in: Broken 3ds - $30, Gateway Card - $80, Sd Card - $10, microSD card - $10.
Total: $130
Unless the best case scenario occurs, it is better to sell your 3ds and buy a new one.
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Lets assume for the moment that Gateway is completely evil:
Here is what happens:
1) You send 3ds & cart
2) They claim you used a flash cart, and ask for $100
3) You send them $100
4) They disappear with your $100
5) If you used a credit card, tell them what happened and get your money back. (Hopefully)
The above is the worst possible case scenario. You lose your 3ds and cart, and don't lose more than $20 or so in shipping. This actually isn't so bad.
What happened: You lost your broken 3ds and a Flashcart. You also proved Gateway as a company is complete and utter crap. (Useful information for everyone)
Total Value
lost:
$150 + saved games
This is a terrible amount to lose, but it only needs to happen once to anyone.
This is also only the equivalent of ~6 yards mowed, or ~two days of work at minimum wage.
Your lost value has significantly less effect if you plan to go legit. As an $80 gateway card no longer is in the picture.
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Now let's assume that Gateway is unable to tell bricks apart or will not fix your system, but will actually return your bricked 3ds for $100:
1) You send in your 3ds & cart
2) They claim you used a flash cart, and ask for $100
3) You send them $100
4) You get your 3ds & Flash cart back.
This is the second-worst case scenario. You lost $100 + ~$20 in shipping, but have won information that Gateway cannot tell clone cart bricks from gateway bricks. However, much of the community will probably still not believe you, because you cannot prove you only used Gateway 100% without a doubt.
What happened: You paid $20 for a chance to have a 3ds unbrick. You found out that Gateway is scum. $100 is less than the total cost of Your 3ds + Gateway card + micro SD + sd together, so purchasing them back was a good call, unless you plan to go legit.
Total Value
lost:
$120 UNLESS a fix comes out, in which case the lost value drops to
$50 (or less)
This is still a lot to lose. However, if you didn't plan on selling your bricked system anyway, the amount lost is a lot less. If a fix comes for these destroyed systems, you will not lose anything.
Again, if you plan to go legit, your lost value has significantly less physiological effect.
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Now let's assume that Gateway CAN tell your brick apart from a clone and WILL send you back an unbricked 3ds:
1) You send in your 3ds & cart
2) They realize you got a legitimate brick, and fix your 3ds
3) They send you back your 3ds, and possibly email an apology
4) They consider improving their Gateway checks, and also consider removing brick code
This is the best possible case scenario. You lost $20 in shipping, but got an Unbricked 3ds, found that Gateway is good to their customers, increased the odds of the bricking code being removed, and got great info for the community.
Total Value
Gained: $90 + Gateway gets good review + Happy GBAtemp + possible lack of brick code in future + not need to buy new 3ds
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Alternatively, buy a new 3ds and sell your broken one. You lose $130-$170.
Looking at this from Gateway's perspective, they probably would value a really good review of themselves over the $130 of stuff they are stealing from you. If they are smart evil people, they will let first person through, have him spread the word (causing more people to send them stuff), and then run with that. However, if they have their reputation on mind and can do what they claim, they would probably fix it for you.
Now, gateway did this stunt in the first place, clairifying that either:
A) They are really bad at having a good public image
B) They are extremely confident in their control over the 3ds, so much that they thought they wouldn't get caught.
Make what you will of this post, but this is my analysis. If you see any errors in it, please point them out and I will fix them.