Nintendo no longer charging for Switch Joy-Con repairs, will issue refunds for prior repairs

VICE Games has managed to get in touch with a source familiar with Nintendo’s updated customer support documentation. In it, the company tells its employees that it will no longer charge customers seeking repairs for their Switch Joy-Con, and to refund those who’ve already paid.

A portion of the internal customer service memo states:

“Customers will no longer be requested to provide proof of purchase for Joy-Con repairs. 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.”

VICE states that customer support representatives have been advised to guide Switch owners complaining about Joy-Con drift through troubleshooting steps. However, if issues persist, customers will have the device repaired “at no-charge.” Nintendo is also no longer seeking proof of purchase for Joy-Con or confirmation of an active warranty.

Source

I can't recall experiencing the drifting issue. Though, it's good to know just in case it does eventually happen.

Looks like I'll be contacting Nintendo.

Finally. Guess its time to send mine in.

Title: Nintendo’s free Switch Joy-Con replacement policy does not seem to apply to all regions

Yesterday, Nintendo would start to offer free repairs for faulty Joy-Con. This all came about after numerous complaints regarding drifting controllers, in which they would sent input to the console on their own. A lawsuit was also filed. Unfortunately, the free Joy-Con replacement policy does not appear to be in effect worldwide – at least not yet.

The first example of this is in France. Numerama (site is in French) attempted to reach out to Nintendo’s customer service, and it denied having adopted a free Joy-Con replacement policy. French support claims it will still cost a customer €45 to replace a controller out of warranty.

Those in the UK also appear to be out of luck for the time being. One customer on Reddit contacted Nintendo customer support, and after asking about the policy, was told that “our Nintendo UK process remains the same.”

A developing story.

Sent my joy cons in for repair a couple of days ago. Nintendo sent a shipping label and will complete the repairs for free. My left joy con drift was so bad playing BotW Link would just start walking without touching the controller. Very happy this repair is free since it is clearly a design flaw Nintendo knows about.

How long did it take Nintendo to reply to your initial request? It's been about five days and I still don't have a reply (other than automated reply) or shipping label from them.

How do you request a refund? I paid $40 a few months ago for a repair.

@Chutebox: It took a little over 24 hours for me. Put the request in at 10PM and got a response with the shipping labell at 11PM the next day. I submitted my ticket under "Repairs - Nintendo Switch - Joy-Con Repair"

Just got the emails from Nintendo last night. Thanks bud.

no issues for me (yet) - hardware's been rock solid. But it's obviously a widespread concern and it's good to know they'll fix it if it pops up

@Chutebox: No problem. If I remember I'll reply with how long it took to receive them back.

@Chutebox: @bgres077: My joy cons will be delivered back repaired tomorrow. Total time from getting the initial e-mail was 11 days. Very quick. Hopefully they are working better when I get them tomorrow.

The joy cons I received back are a brand new pair or a refurbished pair with the internal software reset. I had to complete a software update when attaching them to the base, so they are definitely not the same pair I sent in. They also do not have the scratch marks or wear and tear from the pair I sent in.

apparantly they fixed the connectivity issue where if you held them in a certain way it would like drift for a few sec.

this is the new long battery switch joycons.

however stick drift from wear and tear is not confirmed to be fixed in the new joycons but we will see.

you can see the difference between the old and new joycons on the serial number. old joycons end in
C1 or C2. the new ones are C3.

see video