A few weeks ago I noticed that the right speaker in my 3DS wasn't working properly. Basically, it wasn't loud enough and sounded muffled. I didn't notice it until I played RE: Revelations. I could hear NPC's speak when they were on my left, but not on my right. For all I know, it could have been broken since day 1 and I never noticed it until then.
At any rate, being a launch day 3DS owner, I knew I had to act fast and get it repaired before the 12-month warranty expired. Well, not too fast. First I had to beat RE:R. The very next day after beating it, though, I went to Nintendo.com and filed for a repair. I shipped the 3DS and, 10 business days later, received it today. Thankfully, they were able to fix it and it sounds great, all costs covered by Nintendo.
Although I missed my 3DS while it was gone, I never had a worry. This wasn't my first rodeo with Nintendo's repair service. A couple years ago I needed my Wii serviced as the laser could no longer read dual-density discs (i.e. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl"). In that case, I thought for sure my warranty had expired and was extremely grateful to learn that it had not. Sure enough, I sent my Wii, received it, popped in SSBB, and played through story mode coop style, very thankful to Nintendo for giving the game new life.
Warranties are nothing new, and I am merely flexing my law-provided privilege as the registered purchaser of said products, but it's nice to know that a company will take care of you in your time of need. The same can't be said for the experience I had with my first Xbox 360. Seemingly like clockwork, the 360's disc drive began to fail just after the warranty had expired. Sure enough, if I ever wanted to put another disc in the system, I had to pay $100. Yet, had my dilemma been something worse, like the RROD which was running rampant at the time, it would have been covered due to Microsoft's extended warranty PR move to try and cover their ass for rushing a shoddy product to market. IMO, if some malfunctions are covered in a warranty extension, then everything should be covered. The damage was not a result of my actions. I didn't drop the 360, bang it, pee on it, or try and shove a sandwich in it. The disc drive just stopped opening.
I eventually sold the 360 toward the purchase of a PS3. It had nothing to do with my experience with their warranty, I just wanted a controller with a decent D-pad for playing Mortal Kombat. But after thinking about the experiences I had with warranties and comparing them, I'm doubtful that I'll ever buy another Microsoft-made console. Even after all these years I still feel slighted by Microsoft, and I'm hesitant to give them any more of my money.
- 9
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