I think the Nintendo Wii is fantastic. I’ve had it for 4 months now and I still think its a great machine. The unique control system is still fun to use and has certainly proved to be more than just a gimmick. However, there is one major problem with its design.
I have a two year-old son. As wonderful as he is, he naturally has the in-built curiosity of a toddler and this can sometimes lead to mischief. Which is how two plastic coins became stuck in the Wii disk slot, preventing the console from accepting either Wii or Gamecube disks. The Wii still functioned perfectly in every other way - I could browse the web, look at photos, change my Mii, etc. but I just could not play games. This could have been easily prevented if there was some way of locking the disk slot, either internally or externally.
Some people might argue that I brought it upon myself by having it at his level, next to the television, where he can reach it. In my defence, he has never done anything like this before, and there are other appliances within his grasp and they are all working fine (well ok, one DVD player has seen better days, but I’m putting it down to wear and tear and overuse). Plus the Wii looks its best stood up, and looks even funkier when the base I have is turned on and it shines with all of its blue-LED goodness!
Anyhow, I Googled “broken Wii” and I soon found the Nintendo UK Service Center website. It was simple enough - enter all of your details, including the Wii’s serial number, a brief description of the fault and your date of purchase. By providing your receipt Nintendo will handily repair your Wii for free within a year of purchase. Good job I kept my receipt in this cu… ah, where’s it gone. That’s right - it appears that in a rare moment of frenzied tidying, I threw the small rectangle of paper away, declaring that the Wii works fine and we won’t need it. Keep your receipts!
After finally accepting that I’d have to stump up around £70 to get the shiny white box fixed, I submitted my repair request without warranty details. A few days later a letter arrived from Nintendo with a mailing label so I could send them my Wii free of charge. I packaged it up and trundled down the post office. The I waited…
Yesterday our friendly postman (well, I presume he’s friendly - I’ve never met him and for all I know he might open birthday cards to see if there’s any money inside) delivered a parcel - one repaired Wii!!! I was very surprised. Exactly one week after I’d sent it, but in the meantime I hadn’t received one phone call or one email. I was expecting a conversation with a bored support analyst trying to justify why it costs £70 to take off the Wii’s cover and remove two plastic coins. Inside the box, apart from the console, were the offending discs and a single sheet of A4. It was some sort of job summary from Nintendo’s Service Center system, listing my details and those of the machine. At the bottom of the paper was a section detailing billing. And this section contained three wonderful words - “No payment required”.
What? Eh? What happened there? I know my console is still in warranty, but I didn’t tell them that. Did they know from the serial number? Its certainly possible - they must know when the machine is first activated and used online, plus its very likely to be less than a year since its been manufactured. Nintendo could have charged the £70 and got away with it - I hadn’t provided my receipt. I had also read reports on the web of people still being charged to remove foreign object, even when the Wii is within the warranty and proof of purchase is given. So 5 stars go to Nintendo’s Service Centre for a great, speedy service.
I now have some serious catching up to do. On the topic of catching up, its worth mentioning that defaced.co.uk have created a version of the BBC iPlayer interface that has been optimised to work with the Wii. I don’t know if this works with the updated iPlayer that the BBC released recently, but it certainly makes it easier to browse using the Wiimote.
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