Hardware Has anyone attempted to send their joy-con to Nintendo for repair?

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I know that there has been talk about joy-con "drift" and something about an investigation on Nintendo being required to repair any of them that someone has purchased and request fixing even beyond warranty. I was just curious if anyone here has actually done so yet? I had noticed problems pressing the R button on my right joy-con which has been causing frustrations. I never had returned anything I purchased to a repair facility simply cause I just buy a new one. But I don't think paying $70 for a joycon replacement is smart use of my money.

Just tell me if you did and what the results was.

 

[Rahkeesh]

I got my drifting left joy-con replaced for free for my Switch that was still in warranty, several months before the new broader replacement policy in the Americas. I made an account for their support website and used their support faq to drill down through questions about my problem. Note that have something pretty specific to stick drift, which basically boils down to "character moving on their own while the joycon is attatched to the system." It ended with starting a repair order, which required me to input my Switch's serial number to verify warranty (in theory this shouldn't apply anymore.) Once the order was in I was e-mailed a fedex label to print, find my own tiny box+packaging, put the bad joy-con in it and drop it off at a fed-ex store. In about a week I got a replacement joycon back (had matte texture from "fresh" paint so it seemed like a new or refurbished one), fortunately I could use my hori d-pad con and some wireless controllers in the meantime.

I would check the language of the memo about whether the wording was broad enough that it might go beyond drifting to cover any joy-con problems. That might determine whether it was even worth trying.

 

[ecchilada]

I got my completely broken right joy-con replaced for free without a warranty. The joy-con was just beyond saving at this point and it wouldn't turn on at all. I said in the repair ticket that it all started with the joystick drifting (which it technically did lol) and after i said that i told them about all the other problems. At this point i knew that they weren't gonna let me send it in for repairs but eh i just wanted to see what would happen. About 3 days later they sent an email with a UPS label and told me to put the joy-con in a secure package and send it in. I sent it in and about 2 weeks later to my surprise they sent a brand new or a refurbished joy-con for completely free. I've opened up the joy-con before and tried to repair it myself and left some signs of a bad repair. I have no idea how they thought it was okay to send me a brand new joy-con for free.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/ask/ht/293/cp/677/mq/740

So I'm just curious, is this where I go to get my joy-con repaired? And do I need a warranty or not cause I don't have one. My system is a day one purchase so is not even 30-90 days or a year length in warranty.

 

[Rahkeesh]

Yeah looks like they simplified the process for joy-cons. If you're in the Americas you shouldn't need a warranty.

 

[chrisrlink]

i'm just glad they don't require you to turn in your entire switch especially if it's hackd and/or banned because the joycons have nothing to do with you being banned (unless you modded the joycon to access rcm) thoug did you still need to pay S+H? ro did nintendo take care of that too

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I got my completely broken right joy-con replaced for free without a warranty. The joy-con was just beyond saving at this point and it wouldn't turn on at all. I said in the repair ticket that it all started with the joystick drifting (which it technically did lol) and after i said that i told them about all the other problems. At this point i knew that they weren't gonna let me send it in for repairs but eh i just wanted to see what would happen. About 3 days later they sent an email with a UPS label and told me to put the joy-con in a secure package and send it in. I sent it in and about 2 weeks later to my surprise they sent a brand new or a refurbished joy-con for completely free. I've opened up the joy-con before and tried to repair it myself and left some signs of a bad repair. I have no idea how they thought it was okay to send me a brand new joy-con for free.

yeah because nintendo and Sony got a nasty note from the FTC half a year back for voiding/refusing to honor self repairs due to a 1970's federal law if you recheck their newly revised warrenty it basicly states you can repair your consoles now without voiding warrenty (I wonder how apple is still getting away with that shit though)

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

i'm just glad they don't require you to turn in your entire switch especially if it's hackd and/or banned because the joycons have nothing to do with you being banned (unless you modded the joycon to access rcm) thoug did you still need to pay S+H? ro did nintendo take care of that too

Though you say that, but they asking for a system serial number if joy-con came with it. (Which mine did) Not sure why, probably to check warranty?

Not sure if this is the right form to fill out.

 

[chrisrlink]

yeah i see that now doesn't hurt to try though

 

[chrisrlink]

i just lied and didn't put the SN Down just to make sure

 

[raleigh95]

I opened a ticket as soon as I heard about the new policy of free repairs for the drifting even outside of the warranty. My Switch was from about Sept 2017 and I filled in serial number for the console. Here is the timeline of the repair:

- Created ticket on 7/24/2019 07:39 AM
- 7/26/2019 10:49 AM received email "UPS Label Delivery, Nintendo Shipping Label"
- 7/26/2019 10:50 AM received email with "Confirmation of Nintendo Repair Order #725xxxxxx
- 7/26/2019 Printed the label from the email and put it in a UPS drop box
- 7/31/2019 Tracking shows it delivered
- 8/06/2019 12:07PM Received an email "Confirmation of Receipt - Nintendo Repair Order #725xxxxxx"
- 8/08/2019 7:12 PM Received email "Shipping Confirmation for Nintendo Repair Order #725xxxxxx" - Contained UPS 2 Day Tracking Info
- 8/13/2019 3:30 PM Delivered

Here is the summary from "Nintendo Online Repair"
Repair Details
Repair Request: ||Out of Warranty
Repair Details: R or L Stick Is Not Responding or Respond Incorrectly on a Joy-Con While Attached / 45B1
Repair Order Total: $0.00
Inbound Tracking #(s): 1zxxxx
Outbound Tracking #(s): 1zxxxx
Repair Order: 725xxxxxx

They definitely do not care if it is out of warranty if it is the drifting issue. I'm sure it would have been identical if I left off the serial number, so feel free to put it on or not, seems like they are just going to repair them.

As for the repair, I don't think they sent back my joy-con repaired, I think it is a different one. It doesn't drift but the locking mechanism doesn't work so it will not click into the console which is a bit irritating. I think I should be able to fix easily enough but just haven't taken the time to open up and determine why the mechanism isn't moving freely and is stuck.

Since then I've noticed drifting on the other joy-con from that console and both from my other console. Not sure if I am going to send any or all in for repairs or just do myself due to time and quality.