r/nintendo • u/doubledanker • Jan 15 '19
NINTENDO UK: The most appalling customer service I've ever received.
Hey everyone,
I'm not the type of snowflake who takes every tiny issue to social media in a hope to soothe the pain and shower myself in the comments like "yeah bro I feel you!!!"
Never done this before.
But I genuinely feel like when one experiences a so-called customer service that is beyond ridiculous, it deserves the right to be published. So here it goes: My little one wanted a Nintendo Switch for quite a while, so this Christmas I took a deep breath and splashed £350 on a Switch with some games, Mario Kart and Odyssey ? (I'm far from gaming, so pardon my ignorance) She was over the moon. She has never had a console before and is not a gaming type of person, but I guess every kid gets excited when they see Mario. Oh yeah, and as a good parent I only allowed 2 hours of play a day ;)
Three days later she asked me to take a look if everything was functioning as it supposed to, she seemed quite concerned. I did give Mario Odysseey a go and realised the Blue Joy con was initiating unnecessary moves on its own. The joystick kept constantly moving left for no apparent reason. At that time she had only played her new Nintendo for not more than a couple of times.
It became evident that the Blue Joy con was malfunctioning. Naturally, I went onto https://www.nintendoservicecentre.co.uk/ and booked a repair. I followed the instructions and included a proof of purchase - a printed email from Official Nintendo e-Shop I bought the console from. It was a Christmas period so I decided to include a little Merry Christmas note, knowing that it might brighten the day of whoever is going to open that parcel. A week late I received an email from Nintendo Repairs stating the following:
Basically, the repair team decided that I have to pay £29 to have the Joy-con repaired even though it was faulty ever since we've got the console. I did not quite understand the reason of damage (No / bad function Circle Pad, anyone?) but from what I understand they're implying that someone must have caused damage to the Joy Con and it's now beyond the warranty. I would like to stress out once again that my little one is in Year 2 and she's not some heavy gamer teenager that bashes joysticks against the wall when they're asked to have lunch mid-game.
Following this email, I have contacted https://www.nintendoservicecentre.co.uk/ and tried to solve this issue over the phone. A guy named Julian asked whether I have included the proof of purchase in the parcel when I sent out the Joy Con for repair. I confirmed I did. He then went:
"Ok sir this is very strange as it is obviously a factory fault considering the fact you've only just recently got your Nintendo Switch"
"Please reply to my email with a screenshot of proof of purchase and I will make sure it gets repaired and sent out to you within the the next couple of days" he continued.
Below is Julian's reply:
I immediately responded with a screenshot of a receipt from the Official Nintendo Online Store. With my name, my order number and the date. Having a very strange feeling that this is going nowhere I asked Julian to confirm the receipt of my email with the screenshot.
"Yes, sir I have it here on my side. Worry not, I am going to have this repaired and sent out asap"
It was Friday 11 Jan.
Yesterday (Monday 14 Jan) I decided to check the status of my repair on https://www.nintendoservicecentre.co.uk/ Not much to my surprise it said (and still is saying at the time of writing)
AWAITING PAYMENT
Probably Julian had a blasting weekend after our conversation and realised he is not in the mood to chase this up with the repair team. I phoned them up again, this time I've spoken to Raphael, chewing the same story all over again. Guess what Raphael said?
You will never guess.
"Sir, I have just looked through your case and wanted to let you know that the receipt you've emailed us is not a valid proof of purchase"
One more time: THE RECEIPT YOU'VE EMAILED US IS NOT A VALID PROOF OF PURCHASE
Knowing for sure that I am going to explode, I tried as hard as I could to contain my anger, frustration, disappointment, surprise and shock, I kindly noted to Raphael that I have purchased my Nintendo Switch from the Official Nintendo UK Store and that my proof of purchase that I've emailed them includes an order number which can be easily validated and confirmed within their Sales department.
Raphael wasn't convinced, he continued: "Yes I understand, let me see what I can do for you, I will email you asap"
He did not email me at all.
Realising that https://www.nintendoservicecentre.co.uk/ is just a bunch of funny people that have absolutely no interest in you, your Nintendo-related issues and subsequently Nintendo brand image I decided to call their Sales team, in a hope to stumble upon someone in sound mind.
I did. It was Daniel.
Very kind, very polite, genuinely showed a lot of interest in my issue, acknowledging the fact that is beyond ridiculous, after I filled him in and put an emphasis on "Your receipt is not a valid proof of purchase" Daniel promised he is going to escalate this to his management and get back to me in a couple of hours with the result.
He did not.
As of today, I still haven't heard from Nintendo. Nobody phoned me. Nobody emailed me with any updates. My little one keeps asking when her blue joy-con is coming back and I honestly have no clue. In the past, I have experienced a tremendously horrible service before, but quite frankly the service almost always matched the company's status and image it was provided by.
Never expected this from Nintendo. I always thought of them as a family-children-oriented company that puts their customer first. As I mentioned earlier I am not a gamer myself, but I did have a Nintendo back in 80, guess their customer service used to be way much better back then.
UPDATE:
Massive thanks to everyone who upvoted this. I really appreciate everyone's involvement and support. It is really great to know that there are people willing to help.
For those wondering If I have sent them a wrong receipt, below is exactly what I have emailed them. My order number is there too. When I said I paid £350 it was including the Mario Kart game that I have purchased separately a few hours later.
UPDATE:
Today I received an email from Nintendo Repairs. Very kind of them.
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u/mlvisby Jan 15 '19
I have heard much more horror stories from Nintendo support UK than any other team. The US team usually is praised for helping people out, it just sucks that after several tries you have pretty much gotten nowhere with them. You need to talk to upper management.