Nintendo charging for repair inside warranty period

[lexis200]

Hi

 

I've just sent back my son's 11 month old DS Lite to Nintendo, as for the past couple of months it has been crashing on startup, or just refusing to start at all.

 

I had a mail today saying the fault is due to 'liquid contamination', and that they will charge £55 to fix it.

 

The thing is, I know damn well it's not been anywhere near liquid, but when I said this, the reply was

 

There is a little indicator inside the DSL that changes colour when it has detected the presence of a liquid. It will not tell us what the liquid is or when it happened but just that there was some there. As it has been activated in this case it will invalidate the Warranty straight away.

 

 

Having read round a little, I've found forums where people complain of exactly the same problems, plus they know there's not been any 'liquid' damage, but this indicator has gone off, so game over.

There seems to be a general consensus that there is a fault with some machines causing this. In addition, apparently the battery can leak, which could cause this indicator to go off and these faults to occur.

Is there anything anyone can suggest for me to do?

I can't afford the £55 - and quite frankly as I know this wasn't user error I wouldn't feel remotely inclined to pay it even if I could. The trouble is this is my 6 year old's machine, and I can't tell him 'sorry, that's it'. If it was his fault I might be able to, but he has not done anything to it.

Is there anyone I can complain to, or any suggestions for what I can say to Nintendo? I'm absolutely livid with them, as it seems to me they're just using this as an excuse to get out of the warranty.

 

 

Thanks for any help.

 

 

Lexis

[Bookworm]

You could threaten them with small claims... there is a good chance that they will pay up as a GOGW rather than going to court for £55, especially if they know that there really is an issue with the liquid display thingy.... If you were to go to court, you would have to gather as much evidence to convince the judge that on the balance of probabilities it is the liquid testing thingy which is the issue, and not your child and that Nintendo are therefore responsible for fixing the item FOC.

 

Incidentally, why did you go to Nintendo instead of the retailer, who are the ones you have the contract with?

[lexis200]

Thanks Bookworm

 

I went to Nintendo instead of Woolies because that's what the warranty said to do.

 

I would guess taking it to Woolies would have ended up with the same result though as they just send it back to the manufacturer.

 

Unfortunately I don't really see that I can get proof that their test thing is faulty as this is only stuff I've found on forums from other people with the same complaint (albeit people who seem to know what they're on about!)

 

Do you think there'd be any point in trying TS or something like Consumer Direct? The only thing being it's my word that it's not been spilled on/dunked etc against their equipment - even though I am absolutely positive it's not got wet (I don't let my son have it unless I'm around).

 

Lexis:)

[Bookworm]

Well, yes and no... If you had taken it back to Woolies arguing SOGA, they might have sent it back to Nintendo for testing... or they might have replaced it outright, we'll never know... Either way, you have rights with the retailer you simply don't have if you go to the manufacturer.

 

Be that as it may, if you want to take it further, you would have to take it to s/one to get an independent report and this report would have to show that the fault could be due to something other than water ingress. Once you have that, then you would have to go to Woolies, not Nintendo for recourse. Normally, going to manufacturers direct can jeopardise your statutory rights, but in this case, as Woolies would have to send it to Nintendo themselves to test if they chose to do so, you should be ok.

 

What *I* would do is get my Nintendo back asap, go to Woolies with receipt and explain it is not working any more, say that I know my contract is with them and what do they intend to do about this? not saying anything about going to Nintendo first... and see what they say... If they say they will have to send it to Nintendo, then you;ll know what Nintendo will say, so say thank you and walk away and go and get your independent report...

[lexis200]

Well I wish I'd known that before. Shows what happens when you follow instructions on the leaflets rather than finding out what your rights are first:(

 

Where do I find out about the contract being with Woolies - do I just look through the SOGA? I only ask because when I was buying something in there a while ago, I remember seeing a staff notice on the counter that if a customer bought an item back faulty within 30 days, they'd sort it out. If it came in after that though 'point them to the manufacturer', followed by something like 'call bigcheeseXX if they don't agree to this'!

 

If this is wrong, I'd like to be able to say why:)

 

It sounds like good advice though, and I'll give it a try when I've read up on what I need to know!

 

Thanks again Bookworm.

[uneverdid]

Hi i had a problem with my sons ds lite the hinge broke and when i looked online it was a common fault. I went back to argos who said they had to send it off to nintendo. Nintendo wanted to charge me £55 but i rang them and said quite clearly that whilst i would pay something i refused to pay £55 i ended up paying £25 and in the end because argos failed to tell them i had paid argos gave me a brand new ds. I would ring nintendo and negotiate with them at the end of the day although you dont want to pay anything at least your son will get his ds back.

 

After a certain period of not paying nintendo will just return the ds back to you unfixed.

[Bookworm]

Where do I find out about the contract being with Woolies - do I just look through the SOGA? I only ask because when I was buying something in there a while ago, I remember seeing a staff notice on the counter that if a customer bought an item back faulty within 30 days, they'd sort it out. If it came in after that though 'point them to the manufacturer', followed by something like 'call bigcheeseXX if they don't agree to this'!

 

If this is wrong, I'd like to be able to say why:)

 

Well, that notice is just plain wrong and something that should be brought to TS's attention, because it seems to indicate that this branch is purposefully and deliberately trying to circumvent customers' statutory rights!

 

Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended

2. Contract of sale

 

(1) A contract of sale of goods is a contract by which the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a money consideration, called the price.

What that notice said is in addition to your statutory rights, and does not replace them, any shop policy can only be on top of, not instead, like when a shop says 14 days no quibble guarantee, SOGA doesn't allow for changing your mind for a refund, but some shops do.

 

One of the big cons of the retail industry is to try and convince people that unless you buy an additional warranty, then once your item is over 1 year old, you have no recourse, when the reality is that SOGA allows you the hell of a lot more protection than that. The danger is that it gets repeated so often that a lot of people now believe it. (which isn't relevant to your query, but I am a bit passionate about our consumer rights! )

[lexis200]

Thanks for all that Bookworm.

 

I fully intended to do as you suggested, but Nintendo are refusing to send the console back without payment!!!

 

I wrote to them on Saturday telling them there was no way I was paying for something that was not my/my sons fault, and to send it back straight away unrepaired. They've now emailed (after me prompting them for no response) saying " This email is to inform you that your Nintendo items have been inspected and we have identified that there is a payment to be made before they can be despatched to you". No mention of my email or the queries I raised!!!

 

I take it they can't refuse to send it back if I don't want it repaired? I'm tempted to email telling them if it's not in the post today I'll be reporting them to the Police for theft!

 

Please help anyone:(

[BankFodder]

You will have to sue them under the Sales of Goods Act if you are convinced that you can show a judge that this is a common fault with these consoles and was probably not caused by you. You wil also have to show that depite the fact that you did not buy it frm Nintendo directly, they have consented to shoulder WEoolies contractual obligations in this regard.

 

You should also bring an alternative action for conversion - which basically means (in this case) hanging on to your goods.

 

This is assuming that you did not enter into any agreement that you would consent to work being done or that you would pay them for their inspection. This alternative would help to deal withthe problem of getting the console back in the event that you lost on the first issue.

 

It would all be on the Small Claims Track so that there would be no costs penalty if you lost

[jamesbond]

i have had this same response from nintendo this morning for the very same situation..i am positive the ds has not been subjected to wet, and i am convinced having scoured the various ds sites that this is not an uncommon complaint...mine was purchased from blockbuster 11 months ago and i was passed on to nintendo repair centre as they will not accept any responsibility...it appears your option is to have the unit back and have it assessed by an independant and then take whatever course is required via the courts backed up with whatever info you have received from the independant....this similar situation happened to me a couple of years back with a psp from toys r us, but the psp was repaired without cost at that time by psps own repair centre...it appears nintendo are not doing this repair under warranty and are standing their corner, leaving the consumers with a 53 quid plus bill with no evidence the contamination has occurred from our negligence....i have read on other sites that batterry leakage may be something to do with it, but no one seems able to confirm this as they seem to have stumped up the 53 quid demanded by codestorm for the repair???? look forward to hearing how you have gone forwards with this?