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[Spukc]

Well my left joycon was shit.
And by shit i mean SHIT
3 foot away it lost connection when i put my leg in front of it.

My neon bundle worked perfect 20 feet even behind my back.
None of this well this is not nintendo's fault.
That is how the tech works.
My dualshock 4 still works in another room concrete wall and all while using party chat.

So i send my grey left joy back to nintendo.
Got a new one WITHIN 2 DAYS.



Perfect service!

But on the added papers nintendo said they replaced my joycon instead of what cnet said

 

[shiv_]

For those who have the left JoyCon issue and have called and scheduled a repair, did they require that you send in the entire unit, or just the left JoyCon?

I don't want to not be able to use this thing for weeks on end, I hope I can just call and send in the one JoyCon, and then rely on a pro controller or something (assuming I can find a pro controller to buy somewhere).

EDIT:

Wow, weird timing. The post above me answers my question

 

[Chum]

Please. If the actual issue was important this thread wouldn't be filled with people still complaining despite being offered a free repair.

Consumers expect to get a working product and are going to be disappointed when a company fails to meet that need; especially in the consumerist hobby space such as video gaming. While they're not charging for the replacement, it will still cost me time (and by extension money) to ship it. Additionally, I will be without a console until they ship me a replacement. I hear a lot of talk concerning "acceptable failure rates" but as far as I'm concerned, if mine is not working then it's a 100% failure rate.

Good on Nintendo for addressing the issue but I don't think consumers should be vilified for expressing disappointment over a broken product.

 

[kitchenmotors]

That is some fine legalese for we fucked up. Their simple fix is you waiting a week for a hopefully fixed product. Good on them I guess for kind of admitting they goofed and fixing it

And many of us mentioned this is exactly what Nintendo would do. They have top notch customer service.

But some people were trying to paint this as another RROD. I have a feeling those people are going to be silent.

 

[xxracerxx]

Please. If the actual issue was important this thread wouldn't be filled with people still complaining despite being offered a free repair.

This is people nitpicking about a console most of them probably don't own, about issues most of them probably don't have even if they own it, and even if both of those were true, would have only affected them for at most less than 3 weeks since the vast majority aren't in the press and weren't given early review units

So people shouldn't complain because they get a free replacement that will cause them to not be able to play their games? Come the fuck on.

Also, love the "most people complaining don't own the system" argument. Classy.

 

[SRTtoZ]

Wow it looks like I have the issue, I just never noticed it because I sit so close to my dock (2-3 feet, using a monitor). So just for funsies I stood back 5-10 feet, put my joy-cons behind my back and used the calibration tool, of course the left was losing connection over and over again. So I start up Zelda and sure enough I can't run in circle with Link, he will just run one way while I'm trying to move the analog in a circular motion. Good thing I have an extra set of red Joy-cons, I once again try both the calibration tool and Zelda with my red left joy-con and sure enough it works like a charm no matter how far away I stand or if its behind my back. Nintendo customer service was great though! Called and didn't want in line or anything, got a nice girl who helped me quickly, I pointed her over to the Kotaku article and she said everything will be expedited and free. Boxed it up and now I gotta run to UPS to ship it out. Glad I tested this instead of assuming it was okay because I sat so close to the dock. Yea I might have never had an issue but if I ever move my dock or go to the living room I'd have the issue so it's good to take care of it now.

 

[Samus4145]

Has anyone set up a replacement online? It keeps telling me to click through the Switch troubleshooting process, which says to try moving the controller closer and that's it. No next steps to set anything up. What am I missing?

 

[Trojita]

Foam block solution works I believe.

Foam.

Seriously.

https://www.cnet.com/news/nintendo-switch-joycon-desync-connectivity-issue-fix/

I was actually about to ask if the production defect was going to be similar to why the iPhone 4 (which all were designed with the defect) had an issue with signal strength because of the way it was designed. I could see a production variation with how tiny these things are.

This is exactly why I didn't post the number, because I knew you were completely uninterested in discussion and instead wanted a ninja attack on what I said because it was an anecdote.

It affecting a minority of people is a fact backed up by Nintendo itself, and no amount of internet outrage with change that.

I haven't job classed to Ninja, though I did just unlock it in Bravely Default.

Most companies have a history with under representing numbers when it comes to design or customer issues.

 

[shiyrley]

I am going to assume this will be a limited time offer to replace the defective units. Probably the next 6 months.

What? My 2-year warranty isn't a "limited time offer". It's a 2 year warranty.

 

[Nights Owl]

Well my left joycon was shit.
And by shit i mean SHIT
3 foot away it lost connection when i put my leg in front of it.

My neon bundle worked perfect 20 feet even behind my back.
None of this well this is not nintendo's fault.
That is how the tech works.
My dualshock 4 still works in another room concrete wall and all while using party chat.

So i send my grey left joy back to nintendo.
Got a new one WITHIN 2 DAYS.

Perfect service!

2 days is crazy good. I had my Wii U brick on me about 4 months after use (was just trying to watch some Netflix) and they had me send it in, and we got it back pretty timely, and I asked them if I could have another charger, (Which was honestly pushing my luck) because I accidentally ran mine over with a vacuum cleaner, and they had no problems. They didn't have to do that 2nd little thing for me, but they did. That and the fast shipping and everything was insane to me.

And not once was I talked down to, or annoyed with the rep. They respected me enough to let me speak my piece and everything. I can't praise their CS enough.

Has anyone set up a replacement online? It keeps telling me to click through the Switch troubleshooting process, which says to try moving the controller closer and that's it. No next steps to set anything up. What am I missing?

I could be wrong, but I think you need to call their customer service number.

 

[hemo memo]

I hope my preorder from UK launching in April is not effected

also this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-srOfRqNc

worries me.

 

[ViolentP]

This is people nitpicking about a console most of them probably don't own, about issues most of them probably don't have even if they own it, and even if both of those were true, would have only affected them for at most less than 3 weeks since the vast majority aren't in the press and weren't given early review units

If your statement was a sphere and assumptions were holes, you'd have a bowling ball.

Hows that for a bad analogy!?

 

[Interfectum]

What's interesting about the Switch is, due to the hybrid nature of the system, many portable players might not even know they have a connection issue until they decide to play it docked 6-7 months down the line.

 

[Nights Owl]

I hope my preorder from UK launching in April is not effected

also this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-srOfRqNc

worries me.

Don't let it worry you. He's made videos like that for the PS4, PS4 Pro and Xbox 1 as well. All consoles have defects and the Switch is no different. In a worst case scenario you have to call Nintendo and wait a few more days to use your Switch while they fix your Joycon/System for free.

 

[RichiRamjag]

I prefer the name Detective Dog.



You go out of the way to say you've never met anyone that has had the issue and include that you surely have not had the issue either.

I find it incredulous that you have met enough Switch owners to make a somewhat accurate statement on personally seeing whether the issue exists in substantial or insubstantial number and that your anecdote was irrelevant.

Lol. Just need to add a little police hat on your avatar.

 

[Principate]

Consumers expect to get a working product and are going to be disappointed when a company fails to meet that need; especially in the consumerist hobby space such as video gaming. While they're not charging for the replacement, it will still cost me time (and by extension money) to ship it. Additionally, I will be without a console until they ship me a replacement. I hear a lot of talk concerning "acceptable failure rates" but as far as I'm concerned, if mine is not working then it's a 100% failure rate.

Good on Nintendo for addressing the issue but I don't think consumers should be vilified for expressing disappointment over a broken product.

Nothing wrong with expressing disappointment. I think most consumers aren't aware that that literally every mass produced or reasonably large produced batch has a failure rate. There's tolerances on everything even simple to manufacture items you assumed would have a pretty much 100% success rate. It's why warranties exist and tend to be pretty comprehensive if there's decent regulation and there's so much probability analysis in production. Pretty much every product you can think of has a non insignificant failure rate it's just ideally caught before it reaches you but at such large numbers some do reach consumers.

 

[Alchemist]

So they're safe to buy now or a few more weeks?

 

[Trojita]

So they're safe to buy now or a few more weeks?

Can you even find one in a store?

 

[HeySeuss]

This argument is a bit ridiculous. It's their product, of course they are responsible. It doesn't matter if they're the ones who are physically manufacturing the units or not. It's up to them to exact and oversee the standards involved in every part of the process of manufacturing their product. Nintendo deals with Foxconn, everyone else deals with Nintendo. As far as anyone is concerned, this is 100% on Nintendo.

If common sense is ridiculous to you then sure. Samsung's battery issue of the Note 7 wasn't their fault, it was the fault of the manufacturing process. Sure their brand took a huge hit because it's ultimately their name attached to the product, but Samsung isn't doing the QA on the assembly line, that is on the manufacturing company.

Nintendo gave them designs and specifications to follow, and a bad batch was made. And Nintendo being a reputable company, took ownership of the issue and offered their customers a timely, no-cost solution to their customers that were effected. You can't expect anything more than what they've done.

If you want to be unrealistic about how long it took them to respond, then I don't know what to tell you. A month to find the exact cause of the problem, how many were defective, the serial numbers that were likely effected, the day(s) they were made, to trace back to the line operator and why they were defective to begin with and make sure it was an isolated issue or something that needed fixed, and don't forget put together a firmware update that solved the majority of the issues isn't unreasonable at all.

A month is actually pretty quick for a turnaround. Unless you think they should have scrapped the launch and checked all 1.5 million units to see if they might be defective when they first heard of the possibility of the problem before they could research the cause. In that case there's nothing that anyone can say to change your mind and Nintendo truly is the devil.

 

[Principate]

So they're safe to buy now or a few more weeks?

Production isn't that quick I'd expect a few weeks/month for all the faulty Joycon's to be off the shelves depending on how widespread it was and how fast their production and shipping is.

 

[koss424]

"Small number" my ass. This is way too common among people on this forum, people I know in real life, etc. It's a big issue that they're trying to downplay for obvious reasons.

on the dock scratching thread we have half the posters having issues yet only 4 pictures of scratched docks, two of which seem like it's not a normally occurring situation that led to the scratches.

 

[Chum]

Nothing wrong with expressing disappointment. I think most consumers aren't aware that that literally every mass produced or reasonably large produced batch has a rate. There's tolerances on everything even simple to manufacture items you assumed would have a pretty much 1005 success rate. It's why warranties exist and tend to be pretty comprehensive if there's decent regulation and there's so much probability analysis in production. Pretty much every product you can think of has a non insignificant failure it's just ideal caught before it reaches you but at such large numbers so do reach consumers.

Again - I completely get this from a manufacturing level. But I can't play BOTW on a warranty.

 

[Dot-N-Run]

My left joycon has the disconnect issues, so I want to send it in. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to actually begin the repair process on their website. Most pages eventually lead to a link where you can submit a repair request, but the joycon wireless connection issues page is just a dead end. Do I just have to call the 1-800 number?

 

[baxter2231]

They addressed this but did they address the dock issue or have i missed that thread?

 

[big_erk]

Yet the community knew about this issue a month ago.

...and you think Nintendo didn't? They just now figured out there was an issue and came up with a fix and a program to apply those fixes free of charge overnight?

 

[-shadow-]

Well my left joycon was shit.
And by shit i mean SHIT
3 foot away it lost connection when i put my leg in front of it.

My neon bundle worked perfect 20 feet even behind my back.
None of this well this is not nintendo's fault.
That is how the tech works.
My dualshock 4 still works in another room concrete wall and all while using party chat.

So i send my grey left joy back to nintendo.
Got a new one WITHIN 2 DAYS.



Perfect service!

But on the added papers nintendo said they replaced my joycon instead of what cnet said

Only two days for the Netherlands department? That's really good, I've noticed in the past they sometimes take ages. Did you call first or do it through the website? I want to send in my neon one.

 

[xxracerxx]

on the dock scratching thread we have half the posters having issues yet only 4 pictures of scratched docks, two of which seem like it's not a normally occurring situation that led to the scratches.

My dock is starting to cause smudges on my Switch where the bumpers are. Am I making it up because I don't post pictures?

 

[SmokedMeat]

I have to give mine a test. I never bother removing my joycons from the unit.

 

[Samus4145]

My left joycon has the disconnect issues, so I want to send it in. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to actually begin the repair process on their website. Most pages eventually lead to a link where you can submit a repair request, but the joycon wireless connection issues page is just a dead end. Do I just have to call the 1-800 number?

I just posted the same thing. I believe we need to call.

 

[mrk8885]

I'm torn on whether or not to pursue a replacement. I almost never actually use the joycons this way. If I'm docked I'm using pro controllers. So I'm worried I don't use them enough to even detect if there's an issue. But I'd hate to find out later I've missed out on a warranty replacement.

Just not sure how long how should try using them before I feel comfortable declaring I do or don't have an issue.

 

[Alchemist]

Can you even find one in a store?

Not in the UK, but online stores are getting stock at the end of the month,

 

[benjammin]

Please. If the actual issue was important this thread wouldn't be filled with people still complaining despite being offered a free repair.

This is people nitpicking about a console most of them probably don't own, about issues most of them probably don't have even if they own it, and even if both of those were true, would have only affected them for at most less than 3 weeks since the vast majority aren't in the press and weren't given early review units

Yea, definitely not nitpicking. I'm glad you haven't had any issues, but my switch was unplayable on my projector as there was drywall in between the console and the joycon. The physical distance was only about ten feet, but not having direct line of sight made a connection impossible. And Snipperclips has been a mess to play on my living room TV because there's a pane of glass in front of my switch in my TV stand, and somehow that's enough to cause a sync issue. Really happy that Nintendo is finally addressing this, but to say that it's nitpicking is just ridiculous.

 

[DeanBDean]

"Manufacturing Variation" is an incredible way to word "we fucked up while QA".

I think a lot of people in this thread have never worked in manufacturing. A "manufacturing variation" has nothing to do with R&D's QA process. R&D likely gives FoxConn or whoever has been contracted to build the JoyCon's a spec they are supposed to adhere to. The manufacturer then would develop a work flow and it's own quality inspection process to insure that the standards set up have been followed. All it takes is one person not following the procedure for a shift, or for several shifts, and thousands of units are produced that don't meet spec.

 

[Spukc]

Only two days for the Netherlands department? That's really good, I've noticed in the past they sometimes take ages. Did you call first or do it through the website? I want to send in my neon one.

I just send it to their return adress with an included note of my error. And my home adress.
If you call them they will give you this return adress.

 

[samn]

Glad to see them correcting this issue with quick turn around time and no cost to the consumer.

By the way, Nintendo may be technically correct by saying it's not a design flaw.

A design flaw would mean that there's an issue even if the manufacturing process goes as designed. A manufacturing flaw is when the manufacturing process doesn't produce an item per the design's specifications with enough consistency.

"Manufacturing variation" is just marketing gobbly-gook.

In the age of Amazon Prime, and retailers and manufacturers routinely sending customers a replacement before they send back the faulty item, a week is not a quick turnaround time.

 

[ViolentP]

...and you think Nintendo didn't? They just now figured out there was an issue and came up with a fix and a program to apply those fixes free of charge overnight?

I'm certain they knew. Not sure what you're arguing.

 

[mobilesworking]

I mean, a lot of gaffers aren't having the issue. Nintendo knows how many they sold and how many reported issues. If its less than half then "small" is accurate. If it's more than half then they're being intentionally misleading.

Yeah, I don't see the need for snark. I assume Nintendo has multiple suppliers and one of them introduced a, yes, manufacturing variation that resulted in the issue. My left JC is unaffected and the same is true for others. I'm not sure this rises to the level of fuck-up.

 

[SRTtoZ]

My left joycon has the disconnect issues, so I want to send it in. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to actually begin the repair process on their website. Most pages eventually lead to a link where you can submit a repair request, but the joycon wireless connection issues page is just a dead end. Do I just have to call the 1-800 number?

Google customer service phone number and call. You press 1 for Switch and then you're talking to someone. It was quick easy and painless.

 

[Coketruck]

I just posted the same thing. I believe we need to call.

Yes, just call the customer support number for your region. I called about my controller that was having this issue. Upon hearing my explanation, the customer support rep told me that it was a known issue and immediately emailed me a packing slip for me to use to send the defective controller back to them. Should have the replacement controller back shortly. Quick and easy process.

 

[RichiRamjag]

Yea, definitely not nitpicking. I'm glad you haven't had any issues, but my switch was unplayable on my projector as there was drywall in between the console and the joycon. The physical distance was only about ten feet, but not having direct line of sight made a connection impossible. And Snipperclips has been a mess to play on my living room TV because there's a pane of glass in front of my switch in my TV stand, and somehow that's enough to cause a sync issue. Really happy that Nintendo is finally addressing this, but to say that it's nitpicking is just ridiculous.

The guy saying he doesn't believe Nintendo because of their policy on dead pixels may have been nitpicking lol. The majority of the posts aren't though.

 

[Jonneh3003]

I've tried my best to get my joycons to de-sync, I've walked meters from my sofa, held them behind my back but they always seem responsive. Good to know they're getting on top of the issue for all batches, it would suck if you got one of the faulty ones.

 

[koss424]

My dock is starting to cause smudges on my Switch where the bumpers are. Am I making it up because I don't post pictures?

a smudge is not a scratch. I get that you may be concerned that it will scratch. Or I've misunderstood and you meant to say you swtich is causing scratches

 

[eyeball_kid]

"Manufacturing variation" is the new "wardrobe malfunction".

I'm curious what the "variation" could be where the solution is inserting conductive foam into the JoyCon. That sounds like a pretty big variation.

 

[Zarth]

Glad they're being good about this.

The manufacturing variation sounds like a lot of BS. The way I understand it is a QA department should be testing the preproduction line units from each factory before production goes into effect. If there was a bad manufacturer it should have been caught here before mass production started.

I assume "small" is just legalese for "Not enough to warrant a recall"

My Joycons have worked fine since launch fortunately, though I do have a dead pixel which has now formed after a couple of weeks that doesn't bother me enough to fix.

 

[Dot-N-Run]

I just posted the same thing. I believe we need to call.

Google customer service phone number and call. You press 1 for Switch and then you're talking to someone. It was quick easy and painless.

Thanks, I will try that.

 

[xxracerxx]

a smudge is not a scratch. I get that you may be concerned that it will scratch. Or I've misunderstood and you meant to say you swtich is causing scratches

A smudge can be a precursor to a scratch, seeing how it is putting pressure on that spot.

 

[Principate]

"Manufacturing variation" is the new "wardrobe malfunction".

I'm curious what the "variation" could be where the solution is inserting conductive foam into the JoyCon. That sounds like a pretty big variation.

Well yeah all sorts of electronics have pretty big variations. It's the nature of large scale manufacturing.

 

[Silvard]

If common sense is ridiculous to you then sure. Samsung's battery issue of the Note 7 wasn't their fault, it was the fault of the manufacturing process. Sure their brand took a huge hit because it's ultimately their name attached to the product, but Samsung isn't doing the QA on the assembly line, that is on the manufacturing company.

Nintendo gave them designs and specifications to follow, and a bad batch was made. And Nintendo being a reputable company, took ownership of the issue and offered their customers a timely, no-cost solution to their customers that were effected. You can't expect anything more than what they've done.

If you want to be unrealistic about how long it took them to respond, then I don't know what to tell you. A month to find the exact cause of the problem, how many were defective, the serial numbers that were likely effected, the day(s) they were made, to trace back to the line operator and why they were defective to begin with and make sure it was an isolated issue or something that needed fixed, and don't forget put together a firmware update that solved the majority of the issues isn't unreasonable at all.

A month is actually pretty quick for a turnaround. Unless you think they should have scrapped the launch and checked all 1.5 million units to see if they might be defective when they first heard of the possibility of the problem before they could research the cause. In that case there's nothing that anyone can say to change your mind and Nintendo truly is the devil.

...what? Have I ever said Nintendo is the devil?

Samsung was responsible for the Note 7 debacle. It was manufactured by another company, but it's their product. So is Nintendo responsible for the manufacturing quality of their product. This isn't hard to understand. Arguing that it's not them doing the actual manufacturing (including QC) is not only meaningless semantics, it also doesn't absolve them from even one iota of responsibility.

Them taking ownership isn't a laudable thing and doing free repairs isn't a laudable action, it's the least they can do for something they're responsible for. As you said yourself, anything less than that would make them disreputable. By the time the issue surfaced the die was cast and it was something they were going to have to handle, and they evidently considered it not major enough to delay the launch, but it doesn't excuse them from the issue happening at all.

The things I'm saying are not exclusive to Nintendo by the way, but apply to any company that has a manufactured product, so please don't make this into a pro/anti-Nintendo discussion. My issue is not with Nintendo, it's with people dismissing complaints or criticism by pretending they're unreasonable, or wanting to shift responsibility away from Nintendo.

 

[Buggy Loop]

"Manufacturing variation" is the new "wardrobe malfunction".

I'm curious what the "variation" could be where the solution is inserting conductive foam into the JoyCon. That sounds like a pretty big variation.

Foam is for easy repair of malfunctioning units.

The solution at manufacturing level is not the foam..

 

[DeuceGamer]

Production isn't that quick I'd expect a few weeks/month for all the faulty Joycon's to be off the shelves depending on how widespread it was and how fast their production and shipping is.

It may only have affected a short production run, but to be completely safe I would definitely wait if you can. If you can't wait, I guess you can always return it and/or send it off to be repaired.