Nintendo's recent (literal) anti-consumer move

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Nintendo‘s Japanese arm has implemented a new policy in which its repairs staff can refuse to fix or replace a product if the customer who submitted it behaves in an abusive manner.

As reported by Kyodo News, the company changed its repairs page in October to add new rules for players who submit faulty hardware for repair.

“When making an enquiry about a repaired product, please refrain from using any actions (including but not limited to those listed below) that go beyond what is socially acceptable as a means of fulfilling your request,” the site now reads.

“If we deem that any of these actions have taken place, we may refuse to replace or repair the product. Furthermore, if the Company deems the conduct to be malicious, it will contact the police, a lawyer, etc. and take the appropriate action.”

According to the site, actions that could make Nintendo refuse to repair a product include:

• intimidation or threats
• insulting or denigrating remarks
• invasion of privacy
• excessive demands, such as for a free repair when the warranty has expired
• demanding an apology from Nintendo or its staff without reasonable cause
• excessively repeating the same request or complained
• defamatory comments on social networks or websites

A PR at Nintendo told Kyodo News: “We made the decision after concluding our customers would understand because of the reputation we have built of faithfully responding to them.”

According to Kyodo News’ report, there is no law against customers harassing staff in Japan, but some companies have been incorporating anti-harassment rules into its terms and conditions.

Nintendo’s move was praised by an official at Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, who said: “Some corporations have started taking a resolute stance against the issue, which is effective.”

Kansai University social psychology professor Hiromi Ikeuchi added: “In recent years, posts on social media have made visible the harassment various industries are exposed to, and consumer attitudes are also changing.

“As a result, Nintendo has successfully kept with the times by making a decision that society was ready to accept.”

So, when I say anti-consumer move, I meant it. Because consumers harassing customer service workers, which is especially problematic in the retail part of CS, has sadly been normalized for years, because "customer is always right"... at least until as recent as the COVID pandemic.

Sadly, I can see said customers and consumer rights advocacy groups losing their minds about this.

Still, this matches...

intimidation or threats

insulting or denigrating remarks

invasion of privacy

excessive demands, such as for a free repair when the warranty has expired

demanding an apology from Nintendo or its staff without reasonable cause

excessively repeating the same request or complained

defamatory comments on social networks or websites

Last bullet point might be stretching it, but otherwise completely fair. "Customer is always right" has its limits. That's more like customers excessively being assholes.

Anti-consumer is such a simple concept, don't know why this forum struggles lol

The only opinion that matters is @techhog89 What do you say about what's happening to your beloved Nintendo, bro?

Good move by Nintendo, surprisingly. Worker health, both physical and mental, should be a priority for all employers.

Though honestly the tinfoil hat wearing part of me thinks they're doing this so they can just not do repairs when they deem it necessary...

@ConanTheStoner:

To me it sounds like they don't want people taking to social media to harass their accounts because the people who run those accounts have **** all to do with the repair side. So if you're posting #fuckNintendo and linking to their accounts and such seems reasonable that they deny your request on those grounds.

@kejigoto:

Sure, which would be fair. Trash behavior that gets you nowhere.

I was just looking at how vague it is, like would they extend that to leaving a poor review, or expressing valid grievance?

Don't imagine they'd be so petty, though of the bullet points that have wiggle room for interpretation, that one stood out.

20 million sold this year? Shane on us.

@ConanTheStoner:

I can see how one could read it that way but I took more towards the abusive comments and that sort of stuff since they don't list criticism but instead defamatory remarks and that this all seems to be centered around individual staff members and not the company as a whole. So criticizing the Joycons or whatever doesn't seem like it would fall under this but bitching online about a specific rep or whoever will get you blacklisted quick. I imagine it might not be the hardest thing in the world to track down Nintendo employees in today's day and age with how much people share online.

@hardwenzen said:

The only opinion that matters is @techhog89 What do you say about what's happening to your beloved Nintendo, bro?

Tell me you didn't read the post without telling me you didn't read the post. This is embarrassing LMFAO

@techhog89 said:

@hardwenzen said:

The only opinion that matters is @techhog89 What do you say about what's happening to your beloved Nintendo, bro?

Tell me you didn't read the post without telling me you didn't read the post. This is embarrassing LMFAO

Bro, they're becoming more and more anti consumer by the day. By the time the Switch 2 comes out, you might be paying $80 per game. Do you know whom the current Nintendo reminds me off of? 2013 Microsoft. This is not good.

Gamers are dickheads so fine with this.

Gamers? Make that "customers".

They prob work there and have to put up with douchebags talking to them like they are trash round the clock. Requiring the patience of a saint.

Learn respect bozos. And context not their fucking fault and they aren't your Piñata project your feelys on.

Gamers are so disgusting. Hate them.

Nintendo fans are a cult though so they won't get angry, probably won't even complain.

Yeah it's a good sentiment. Good to see some pushback from the customer service side and hopefully we see more of it.

The whole "customer is always right" saying is cut short and taken in the wrong way. The full saying is "The customer is always right in matters of taste.". Basically if the customers wants a chair in orange and pink and they want it smelling like a barn then that's absolutely fine. Smile, sell them what they ask for and thank them for their business.

It doesn't give the customer license to be an asshole.

At first, I was about to criticize Nintendo, then I saw what was actually in the policy, then I saw the last point and I will criticize Nintendo again for this.

Still, I have to agree that customer support workers need to be treated better. And for some of the bullet points above (namely the threats), they dont need a repaired switch. They deserve time in prison.

Threatening customer support workers, seriously?

That's great. About time companies stop enabling morons.

Don’t have a problem with this myself. There’s no reason for these people to have to put up with abusive and threatening behaviour from some asshole consumers.

Sounds good. At my work I can refuse to help assholes too. All companies should do that.

First three points are not anti-consumer, but just anti-dickhead. The last four points are definitely anti-consumer though.

I returned a Joy-con with stick drift and they returned back to me a Joy-con with a crack right through the middle of it. True story.

And, no I did not call or email them with abusive language or anything - but really?

@techhog89 said:

@hardwenzen said:

@techhog89 said:

@hardwenzen said:

The only opinion that matters is @techhog89 What do you say about what's happening to your beloved Nintendo, bro?

Tell me you didn't read the post without telling me you didn't read the post. This is embarrassing LMFAO

Bro, they're becoming more and more anti consumer by the day. By the time the Switch 2 comes out, you might be paying $80 per game. Do you know whom the current Nintendo reminds me off of? 2013 Microsoft. This is not good.

😅😅😅Your pills are not working. What the hell did you send me?

Nothing about this seems wrong to me... yet, unless some gaming YouTube channel says they couldn't get their Switch repair done because they rated whatever game a 4/10 then people can start complaining but doubt that's going to happen.

I'm fine with that, apart from the defamatory comments point. I've had to interject in multiple customer/service interactions because people were bell-ends. I once asked a customer if a transaction was for business (as you need full business info/board names/ownership/transaction reason) and he went on a tirade.

Weird comment. The thread doesn't imply that it's relevant to other countries.

I've worked in complaints before. It's good practice to have a policy where you can refuse service to abusive customers.

You have to protect your staff, and you have to have firm policies to stop people from taking advantage of the system.

The first 3 points make sense and I can't blame them for those points. The last 4 are not consumer friendly. Nintendo should work on being more consumer friendly. All 3 console makers should work on being more consumer friendly.

Did Nintendo solve that joy-con drift problem?

Maybe if they actually fixed the damn joycons they wouldn’t have had to make this in the first place 😂.

I’m on my fourth pair and never bothered with customer service because it’s useless but I can see why people might be a little angry.

I finally “upgraded” my iPhone 6s to a 13 and got my first pair of expensive AirPods. No one can hear me when I call but customer service keeps me going in circles for months instead of just letting me send it in. After six months, and my year warranty was halfway up, I just gave up. Next time I upgrade in five years, I will pay anything for a phone with a headphone jack.

Funny how point 3 contradicts point 7. Point 3 says no invasion of privacy... yet point 7 is an invasion of privacy. Make that make sense.

Good guy Nintendo, I applaud them for this.

Way too much harrasment happening online and over the phone in our modern society.