Just days after news broke of Nintendo facing a class-action lawsuit over its drifting Joy-Cons, the company has reportedly shifted in the way it deals with the problem.
An internal memo seen by Vice states that Nintendo will not only fix Joy-Con drift free of charge but that, if pressed, the company will offer refunds for past repairs made for the problem.
“Customers will no longer be requested to provide proof of purchase for Joy-Con repairs,” the memo reads. “Additionally it is not necessary to confirm warranty status. If a customer requests a refund for a previously paid Joy-Con repair […] confirm the prior repair and then issue a refund.”
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The memo, which was passed onto Vice by an internal source the site has granted anonymity to, also provides stock answers to questions that customers might have regarding the reliability of the Switch Mini (“we expect our hardware to perform as designed,”) and about the class action lawsuit (“we have nothing to announce on this topic.”)
That’s not the only place the lawsuit is tacitly acknowledged, with the memo stating that it’s aware of “recent reports” and of its desire to “quickly handle these questions to restore consumers smiles.”
Unsurprisingly, no official comment from Nintendo was forthcoming, but Vice was able to see the new guidance in action when one of its employees phoned the support line for their own (genuinely) faulty hardware. As the leaked advice suggested, the customer was first directed to update the controller and go through a calibration process. Upon calling back after this failed, the customer service representative offered a pre-paid shipping label for a quick fix of the unreliable Joy-Con.
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It seems that Nintendo has unofficially noted the problem, and it will be interesting to see how it deals with the class-action lawsuit in the long run. While we have no idea of how widespread the problem is, it’s telling to note that the top videos on YouTube for the search term “Joy-Con drift fix” have been cumulatively watched over a million times.
Have you experienced Joy-Con drift? Let us know if Nintendo helped on Twitter: @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
