Nintendo DS Warranty - Broken Hinge...Help!

[Shiesh]

Hi, Newbie here wanting some advice, I hope you can help me.

 

Bought a new Red DS Lite off Play.com end of June this year !!

 

I noticed after only 6 weeks of use that there was a hairline crack in the right hand hinge!! Within 2 weeks the hinge fully cracked!!

 

In my opinion this could only be due to a console defect as ever since I bought it the hinges seemed over tight (compared to my sons' unit) but I put it down to it being 'brand new'!!

 

I contacted Play.com who advised me to return the console direct to Nintendo who would repair it FREE of charge provided I enclosed my proof of purchase. I duly did.

 

Today a letter arrived from Nintendo requesting payment for the repair cost of £30.50 before my DS can be returned to me!!!

 

I immediately telephoned them and the customer service advisor said broken hinges are not covered under the 12 month manufacturers warranty and if I want my machine back I will have to pay!!!

 

It's just complete tosh!!

 

If I'd bought a microwave and the door hinge broke after 8 weeks I'd get a no quibble replacement/repair!!

 

I cannot see how this is any different!!

 

Nintendo say it is impossible for the hinge to fail unless it's been mishandled so they don't cover this fault under the warranty....so it would appear they are suggesting that I've forked out £100 for a DS console to what drop it, stand on it, bend the lid so far back to see how much stress the hinges can take!!!

 

Interestingly I did some 'googling' and came across this article ...

 

July 24th 2006

Nintendo Crack Under the Pressure

 

Last week Gamersquad touched upon the reported instances of bizarre body cracks appearing in the (left) hinge bracket of the new Nintendo DS Lite; an aesthetic glitch that was amassing negative comments from disgruntled consumers alongside a general lack of concern from Nintendo.

We said this story would gather momentum, and we were right.

Nintendo of Europe has told premier European gaming site Eurogamer that any faulty DS Lites will be repaired completely free of charge--providing that the fault is covered by a valid warranty. "The DS Lite carries a one year warranty for manufacturing defects. If the fault is covered under the warranty it will be repaired free of charge; if not, then customer services will provide a cost for repairing the product."

This news follows a similar offer of free repair and a press release from Nintendo of America acknowledging a small amount of DS Lite units have sustained slight cracks across their left hinge bracket. However, Nintendo also stressed the problem was not common, and that only 0.02% of the units in circulation have been affected.

Considering Nintendo's initial unwillingness to address this aesthetic glitch, which usually wouldn't fall within the context of "manufacturing defects" its sudden u-turn on the problem may be, in part, due to Max's Consoles revealing news snippet and accompanying pictures that show playable DS Lites at Nintendo's New York City flagship store sporting the exact same left-side hinge cracks. "Went to Nintendo World store in NYC with some friends. I took a look at the DS Lite demo models. It wasn't shocking to see that six or seven of the eight DS Lites on the center table had the cracks. Two had a developing or hairline crack while the others had the full-blown crack."

Nintedo can hardly palm off concerned consumers with "It must by your fault" when the demo models in their own store are guilty of suffering from the same fault. Click HERE for Nintendo's customer service repairs page...and, from now on, treat your DS Lite as if it were made of sugar paper.

 

 

 

this suggests Nintendo have been aware of instances like this and had agreed to repair broken hinges under warranty but this article is dated 2006 so they have obviously reversed their decision once the dust settled on this issue.

 

My console is from the first batch of new colours released this year ie., Red, Turquoise and Green I can only guess I am probably not the first and won't be the last to have this problem.

 

What are my rights on this???

 

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

[poppynurse]

Under the Sale of Goods Act you are entitled to free repair within the first six months as the item is inherently faulty, unfortunately your contract is with the retailer not nintendo. I would try writing to them quoting SOGA and see what they say.

[chocolatte]

If you type in 'nintendo ds broken hinge' into youtube, you will find thousands of people with the same problem.

Mine is with Nintendo just now, under warranty, which they say I have to pay £55 to repair it, but I now realise I can repair it myself for £3.99 with an new hinge from ebay!

Nintendo had so better not hold me to ransom like they have done with you Sheish, they can just dam well send my console back to me!

Good luck to all you ds users

[ForestChav]

Under the Sale of Goods Act you are entitled to free repair within the first six months as the item is inherently faulty, unfortunately your contract is with the retailer not nintendo. I would try writing to them quoting SOGA and see what they say.

IF the item is inherently faulty, yes. Though the retailer needs to prove it is not.