Nintendo may repair defunct Joy-Cons for free, and even refund consumers who already had their Joy-Cons repaired.
It appears that Nintendo may offer to fix people’s Joy-Cons free of cost.
The Nintendo Switch uses special kind of controllers called Joy-Cons, which are detachable strips that are a part of the portable Switch screen. Certain Joy-Cons would cause random inputs, even when it isn’t being touched.
This issue would be nickname as the Joy-Con drift, and it received widespread attention after Kotaku published a report on it. The word “drift” comes from how the thumbstick from the controller would recognize movement and start drifting, even though the thumbstick isn’t being touched.
Some players have reported that they have spent 40 dollars to get their Joy-Cons repaired, though occasionally the Joy-Cons will end up breaking again. There’s even a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo, accusing Nintendo of selling a defected product.
Nintendo would release a statement to the Verge:
“At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them. We are aware of recent reports that some Joy-Con controllers are not responding correctly. We want our consumers to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we always encourage them to visit http://support.nintendo.com so we can help.”
Today, Vice released a memo that they received from a source that is “familiar with Nintendo’s updated customer support.” Vice’s memo states that Nintendo will no longer be charging for Joy-Con repairs, and will refund any consumer who already paid for the repairs, provided if they can confirm the prior repair. Players also don’t have to give a proof of purchase or confirm their warranty status.
