Repair Experiences (DS Lite Abomination)

Marlor

I sent my DS lite in for repair a few weeks ago. It had a hinge crack and a long-standing problem with the bottom touch screen being a few millimetres out of alignment near the top-right of the screen.

The unit I sent in was pristine. The casing was as-new, the bottom screen had always had a Hori screen protector on it, and was unblemished. There was no screen-protector residue on either screen. In short, I could have passed it off as a new unit (apart from the hinge crack). That's the way I keep all my hardware.

The DS Lite just arrived back from Nintendo Australia.

It is an abomination.

The repair sheet states that they replaced the housing and the touch screen.

However:
- The housing around the power connector and card slot is warped and bent.
- The bottom screen is used. It is filthy, with residue from an old screen protector all over it. I'm willing to bet that there are scratches under the grime.
- There is a missing stopper on the top screen
- The housing is grimy, and there is what appears to be an ink-stained fingerprint on it.
- Even the covers on the interior of the top housing aren't sitting flush with the rest of the unit.

I called Nintendo about it, and they said that I can send it back if I'm not happy... but I can't understand how something like this ever left their repair center. It's like they fetched the worst possible parts out of the bin and jammed them together.

I've taken photos for my records. I can upload them if anyone is interested.

Has anyone else had similarly terrible repair experiences?

Eteric

Upload em. I'd like to see.

The_Spaniard

Oh this is going to be good.

Marlor

OK. Here's some photos.

They really hide some of the horror, since the DS is overexposed, and you can't see how grimy it really is.

The rear of the DS:
Notice how it is all warped and bent.


The opened DS:
The bottom screen is horrible. This is a replacement screen.


The top screen:
Notice the missing rubber stopper on the "new" casing.
They didn't even bother cleaning the top screen after they were done "repairing" the DS.


Edit: I've uploaded the full-size pictures to:
http://marlor.dreamhosters.com/dsphotos/

The_Spaniard

Wow that's a load of horse shit!

Glal

Marlor

OK. So I obviously sent my DS Lite back to Nintendo after the shoddy repair job last time.

It just arrived back again, and it's pretty good.

It's not perfect. The replacement bottom screen still isn't 100% clean. It has about a dozen tiny scratches spread across it... but they are so small that you can't see them unless you hold the screen at an angle to the light. Once a screen protector is on there, you can't see them at all.

Applying the screen protector was a little bit difficult too, as some fine thread-like fibres have been caught between the new screen and the casing. There are 5 or 6 of them trapped around the edge of the screen. They are virtually invisible, but they did get caught under the edge of the screen protector when I was applying it, causing a bubbling effect.

All the other issues have been fixed, and I eventually managed to get the screen protector on there cleanly... so I'm happy enough now.

Synthetic Orange

Nintendo Australia is the worst nintendo ever, really.

taliosfalcon

I had a kinda horror experience with my DS lite and nintendo canada, sent in my pristine unit due to a hinge crack, the one i got back has light scratches across the top screen, and a horrible crooked bottom screen, i.e in the top left theres no black border at all,part of the screen is actually obscured and underneath the casing, while the bottom right has a huge black border and some light leakage..but i'm too lazy to send it back and my warranties up in a week anyway so i'm thinking i'll just crack it open and see if i can straighten the bottom screen myself.

Marlor

taliosfalcon wrote: »

I had a kinda horror experience with my DS lite and nintendo canada

If the screen is really crooked, the best thing would be to send it back.

You will only be DS-less for a week (or two at the most), and it's better than totally breaking things by trying to do it yourself. I doubt they would break it more... they are surely told to take extra care with second repairs (Nintendo Australia did a half-decent job with my second repair).

I sent an irate (but diplomatic) letter with mine when I sent it back for re-repair. I doubt it achieved much, but it at least made me feel better.

Nintendo have also promised to send me a postage refund for the cost of sending it back the second time.

Kimihiro

Man, that sucks. I've had good experiences with Nintendo Canada anyway; our warranty on my sister's DS had expired by a week, and the bottom screen stopped working - it wouldn't register any touching. It was originally going to be like $100 for a repair job, but after they noticed that we had registered ye olde Starfox 64 on the MyNintendo site, they gave the repairs to us for free. When we got the thing back, we found out they gave us an entirely new DS.

Dodge Aspen

Nintendo Canada treated me like gold. I sent mine in with the hinge crack, they fixed it, and sent it back in good shape, and a lady even called me to make sure everything was fine with it about a week later. Good stuff.

Shitty thing is, my new unit now has a hinge crack again, about a year later. It really doesn't bother me, though. I can live with it.

Nozz

man im so afraid of my DS getting cancer

hinge craaaack

knock on wood

syndalis

The hinge cracked on my DS lite a couple weeks after i got it.

Since it has had no effect on my game playing, I just live with it.

Does the hinge cracking do something to the system that makes it inconvenient to use? Or is it purely a cosmetic/principal issue that leads you to send it in and not have a DS for a couple weeks?

taliosfalcon

syndalis wrote: »

The hinge cracked on my DS lite a couple weeks after i got it.

Since it has had no effect on my game playing, I just live with it.

Does the hinge cracking do something to the system that makes it inconvenient to use? Or is it purely a cosmetic/principal issue that leads you to send it in and not have a DS for a couple weeks?

I attempted to live with mine, but the crack kept getting wider and I was afraid it would eventually crack completely off, so with my warranty nearing its end i didn't want to risk it

tarnok

I have the hinge crack and never really notice it, but I'm planning to buy one of those replacement cases anyway so I can have a different color ds.

Glal

Not all cracks are made equal. Mine's just cosmetic, but some people have their entire hinge fall off.

Bob The Monkey

I've had nothing quite as bad, but Nintendo Europe have been a little shit with my DS:

I initially bought a DS which, while good, had a large and distracting lump of dust under the top screen.

Return number 1) After my first DS return, I was sent a replacement. Which was fine except for an identical lump of dust under the other side of the screen.

2) I sent this one in, and was sent it back again, saying they couldn't find any problems. After contacting them, this was apparently a mistake: they simply hadn't had the stock to give me a replacement.

3) I sent it in a third time. The DS I receive back is fine, except for a very minor dead pixel on the lower screen and an inch long gash in back.

Seriously, a little irritating.

Stormwatcher

Did anyone with an american Black DSLite get the cracked hinge? Mine is fine, really fine, but I'd feel safer if I know it doesn't happen to the blacks.

scootch

damn, I got to count my self lucky. no hindge crack on mine. and I got mine on release day.

dantree

Wow, mine had a slight hinge crack, I emailed Nintendo about it and the sent me a box, then after sending mine in they sent back a brand new one. As evidenced by the unscratched bottom screen on the replacement DS (I was bad with the previous one)

This would be Nintendo US (obviously)