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[timnich]

Had this same thing happen to me, and yes,it is very confusing. I bought a new Wii U to replace my other one that was dying, thought I was going through the correct process and the next thing I knew all my content was gone from the Wii U AND my 3DS. The way it was worded when I was going through the deletion process made me think that it would only delete the ID from that system. I know it was partially my fault, but it's so stupid of them to have an option like that...why would anyone want to delete their content beyond saving like that?

Anyways, after like an hour on the phone with Nintendo and escalating to higher management I was able to get them to retrieve most of my stuff,including ambassador games. I really had to persuade them to do it, like mention the fact that if they didn't fix it I would never purchase another Nintendo system or game again. They blamed me for not reading the instructions properly but when I asked why they had such a backwards system in place in the first place they couldn't give me a single answer. It takes about a week for your stuff to reappear, and instead of DLC and Virtual Console games they just gave me eShop credit.

 

[Marcel]

It is relevant in that closing either a bank account or a Nintendo Network account, it is never in my interest to lose stuff I own.

Then keep your Nintendo stuff and account I guess? They should offer a better option but they don't. Maybe they will one day. You can only operate on the tools you're given in a specific online marketplace/ecosystem.

 

[flatearthpandas]

Just for information's sake.

Note that I skipped the first warning: "This user will be deleted. The user's save data, Mii, and records such as Wii U software play times will be lost."

There's also an option to remove the account without deleting the ID, looks like I missed it.

Mods should put this picture sequence in the OP of every single one of these threads. Otherwise it's just the usual suspects spreading FUD.

It's like an 8 step process in which you are specifically warned exactly what the consequences are. If you can read, there is literally no way to do this on accident.

Nice idea, but next thread: "Fucking bullshit, Nintendo won't let me delete my Network ID"

GAF: "So when you tried to delete the Nintendo ID, did you speak the words?"
OP: "Yeah, basically"
GAF: "Did you speak the exact words?"
OP: "Look, maybe I didn't say every tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah."

Nice.

 

[mrklaw]

Seeing all those screens again made me realize what I was thinking, I figured this warning applied strictly to the contents of my Wii U and I totally glossed over the fact that Nintendo actually connected this ID to other systems too. You might be able to forgive me that, since that's nothing I've ever expected out of a Nintendo device before, just dealing with the single device and not being linked outside of it.

It does say (once I think) that your purchases won't be playable on any device. But otherwise it is vague. There is a ton of information for you to digest, and it is right in the middle of a procedure to reset your wiiU/3DS. So I think you are reasonable to think it is only referring to that machine.

The context of the situation, plus your experience from every other system (steam, PSN etc) working like that would understandably lead you to hit 'OK'

 

[Lebon14]

Reasons to buy games digitally:

-Games are released 12:00AM EST on their release day.
-Convenience of not having to go to a store or wait for the mail.
-Convenience of not having to change discs or cartridges and always having games available and ready.
-No sales tax.
-Some games are digit-only.
-On Wii U: 10% back in eShop credit on digital purchases.

Bolded is FALSE.
I live in the province of Quebec, Canada. When I purchase stuff online on either 3DS or Wii U, I get to pay BOTH taxes (QST (TVQ) and CST (TPS) - QST is added on top of CST (tax on tax) making it a 15% tax). I purchased my PokéBank licence the other day and it cost me 5.75$ for the year, not a taxless 5$. I purchased Golden Sun too... ~9.20$ instead of 7.99.

I don't know exactly why that is because I remember buy online from shops like Futureshop and Newegg Canada and I was charged only CST (5%) and no tax from outside the country. Probably because Nintendo has something Quebec and has to pay their duties. As far as I know, there's no law here in Quebec to charge sales taxes online. I might be wrong though. Anyway.

Back to the topic at end, I've through that process when I was trying to resolve a warawara issue where it was showing generic system icons and went and had to go through account create/deleting. As far as I remember, it was well mentionned as what was going to happen. So, OP, if calling Nintendo doesn't help the matter, you are only to blame here; for not reading on-screen warning and explanations. Oh and, the problem was the proxy I sent up.

 

[SturokBGD]

Nintendo's support people must really hate their jobs having to deal with calls about stuff like this. I'm furious just thinking about how much easier it is to delete all your account vs restoring it on other devices.

 

[LegendofLex]

Bolded is FALSE.

Bolded depends entirely on sales tax laws where you live.

 

[KungFucius]

Sounds like you deleted the NNID from Nintendo's server and the user account on your Wii U instead of just deleting the user account from your system.





http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1088/p/431

Wait. What? You delete your account and any money is lost forever? This is piss-poor, irresponsible, anti consumer bullshit.

 

[Koren]

No. You can't delete your Steam, PSN, or XBL accounts, even if you want to. Because those services are, unlike this one, not completely fucking nonsensical.

If you can't (or at least remove all your personnal data from the account), that would be illegal in some countries...

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if some of thore services were actually illegal in some (many?) countries.

 

[Robin64]

Wait. What? You delete your account and any money is lost forever? This is piss-poor, irresponsible, anti consumer bullshit.

Then don't delete your account. The same is true if I delete my Xbox Live account. I just don't do it.

Making it easy to do is the mistake here.

 

[Tenki]

I read the title and thought the Nintendo Network was hacked and the games on all consoles were wiped out.

 

[Oni Link 666]

I have 3 3DS systems and I can't download anything off the eShop without a NNID. Do I make a NNID for each 3DS?

 

[Marcel]

Wait. What? You delete your account and any money is lost forever? This is piss-poor, irresponsible, anti consumer bullshit.

That's why you read the fine print on a Nintendo system. Knowledge is power is a cliche but it's true in this case.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

I like how they warn developers not to mention psn or xbl when giving feedback as the team does not know what they are nor how they work.

Don't buy anything on their eshop, and if you do, you better keep that 3DS on a safe deposit box.

 

[Interceptor]

I hope your consoles get stolen or die, so I can see how quickly you change your tune then.
Incoming posts about how you can recover purchases if your console is stolen by getting police documents and sending it to Nintendo, as if that isn't the stupidest and most unintuitive thing in the world when everyone else has a normal account system not tied down to hardware.

lol. So what? If it dies, like my Wii in 08, they replace it within a week with all my purchases already installed, if my anecdotal experience is anything to go by. If it gets stolen, which seems to be a constant problem on gaf, my insurance will replace it. And guess what, I need a police report for that. It's like no one here calls the cops if they break into your home. ^^

The only problem here is the hassle you have to go through if you have sold and bought a new one.

 

[BigDug13]

Deleting an ecosystem-wide Nintendo ID and all relevant game purchase data shouldn't be something you can press a button on your console to accomplish. And I think it's weird that you can do that much damage without having to call customer service.

 

[blu]

It is relevant in that closing either a bank account or a Nintendo Network account, it is never in my interest to lose stuff I own.

Closing a bank account *does not* destroy the content of the account (that would be illegal). You *can* send all your money to somebody via a transfer and never see that money again, though. Closing a NNID account *does* destroy the contents. And your cannot transfer content to another account. Your analogy is fundamentally flawed, as the two systems operate under fundamentally different rules.

 

[PotionBleue]

Deleting an ecosystem-wide Nintendo ID and all relevant game purchase data shouldn't be something you can press a button on your console to accomplish. And I think it's weird that you can do that much damage without having to call customer service.

Then I'm sure you'd see people complain about the fact they cannot delete their account directly from the console, lol.

 

[LoveCake]

The whole NNID set-up is crazy, i have the same thing on my WiiU & 3DS, the people at Nintendo have no idea what they are doing really, the games/content is tied to the actual system (console) but the games/content is also tied to a account that covers both systems, it is just one big mess.

To think that Nintendo said no to EA's origin & EA in turn spurned Nintendo, as bad as Origin is (as i have to use this for the few EA PC games i have) it is a dam sight better than the NNID/eShop that Nintendo have (i hesitate to use the word) designed.

The only thing i can suggest is to phone Nintendo will all your details of your WiiU & 3DS & see what they can do, but (now i don't know) i would think that everything is gone.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

This is why i dont download anything from Nintendo, they dont deserve any revenue from that until they put in a proper unified account system to protect it's users from things like this.

 

[old manatee]

Just look on the bright side OP, you can rebuy Urban Champion for the price of a modern AAA game on other services, and you can relive the memories of the other times you bought Urban Champion and felt ripped off.

 

[timnich]

I see a lot of people keep blaming the OP when he already admitted his mistake. Yes, it's on him (and me as well in my case) for not reading correctly during the process. My issue is that why is there any reason at all for such a backwards ,anti consumer system to be in place? I haven't heard a single valid reason, not even from Nintendo themselves. They can make the process as idiot proof as humanly possible, I still think there is no reason for it to even exist.

 

[JoeM86]

This is why i dont download anything from Nintendo, they dont deserve any revenue from that until they put in a proper unified account system to protect it's users from things like this.

You do realise that if you delete your PSN account or Xbox Live account, that you lose everything on all devices too, right?

Only difference is that you can do this on the Wii U & 3DS itself following numerous warnings and details informing you that you'll lose everything.

 

[UncleSporky]

I like how they warn developers not to mention psn or xbl when giving feedback as the team does not know what they are nor how they work.

No, that sounds fair. I don't think anyone should automatically assume that everyone on the receiving end of the feedback knows everything about the other systems. The team probably has varying levels of experience with other setups and you don't want to be inconsistent about the way feedback is handled because that particular note got processed by the guy who doesn't have a PSN account.

And it's true that if the Nintendo team do have access to PSN/XBL accounts, they don't have any insider access or anything, it's just surface-level like everyone else. They really don't know how things are managed internally.

Plus above all it leads to better feedback, instead of just saying "make it like PSN" you get specific details of what needs to be changed. That's probably the biggest thing.

Don't buy anything on their eshop, and if you do, you better keep that 3DS on a safe deposit box.

I've bought digital Nintendo stuff for 8 years and never once had trouble with any of it. I bought DSiware on the DSi and have quite a few full games and DLC on my 3DS, I carried both with me everywhere for a long time. People shouldn't let edge cases dominate their lives.

 

[old manatee]

I see a lot of people keep blaming the OP when he already admitted his mistake. Yes, it's on him (and me as well in my case) for not reading correctly during the process. My issue is that why is there any reason at all for such a backwards ,anti consumer system to be in place? I haven't heard a single valid reason, not even from Nintendo themselves. They can make the process as idiot proof as humanly possible, I still think there is no reason for it to even exist.

According to this thread the weird shell game Nintendo plays with your purchases is a feature. "Deleting any record of your purchases is as easy as pressing a button, redownloading is as easy as filing a police report!"

 

[HiredN00bs]

Closing a bank account *does not* destroy the content of the account (that would be illegal). You *can* send all your money to somebody via a transfer and never see that money again, though. Closing a NNID account *does* destroy the contents. And your cannot transfer content to another account. Your analogy is fundamentally flawed, as the two systems operate under fundamentally different rules.

I'm not saying they do. I'm saying they should. Consumer rights are vital in an age of digital media.

 

[7DollarHagane]

Sounds like you deleted the NNID from Nintendo's server and the user account on your Wii U instead of just deleting the user account from your system.





http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1088/p/431

Seems like Nintendo provided some clear directions on how to avoid this that you didn't read.

Of course, why is the option even there to delete your nn id from their servers entirely?? Why would anyone need that option?

 

[Maintenance]

This borked account system is why I chose to get a Vita instead of a Wii U, and why I don't walk around anymore with my 3DS, since I have so many games that if I lost the system I would be doomed. Police report wouldn't work to recover since there is no Nintendo Call Service where I live.

 

[Interceptor]

Nintendo is so backwards, I can even play all my digital purchases of last gen on my current gen console. ^^

 

[BigDug13]

Then I'm sure you'd see people complain about the fact they cannot delete their account directly from the console, lol.

How often do people need to make such a drastic change like deleting their ecosystem-wide online ID and all relevant purchase data? I'm willing to bet currently they get more calls to customer service from people who did what the OP did than they would get if deleting the ID required a phone call.

 

[jimi_dini]

My issue is that why is there any reason at all for such a backwards ,anti consumer system to be in place?

What?

They offer the option to fully delete a Network ID (including Miiverse posts and everything). Why is this a bad thing even a "backwards" thing? It's problematic in case the user is not able to read. But then: why should they instead offer that ability via customer service? Maybe the user isn't able to understand spoken words as well? "Sir, do you really want to delete your Network ID? You will not be able to download any of the games anymore." "Well yes yes yes, just do it". 5 minutes later: "GAF, I called Nintendo and they deleted my account"

If I wanted to delete my PSN ID, would Sony also delete ALL postings that I made using that ID? I don't think so. To me having the option is kinda nice.

It's kinda laughable that people say "Nintendo is backwards because you have to call them to transfer your ID" but then also say "Nintendo is backwards, because you don't have to call them to delete your ID". Yes, Nintendo should offer the ability to disable an account on a Wii U without having to call them on top, but that's it.

 

[HiredN00bs]

I'd rather Nintendo just improve their product rather than boycott and complain. But this is all we have. People piling on the OP are missing the bigger picture.

 

[NarrowPath]

In other threads: "Nintendo treats us like babies!"

In this thread: "Why does Nintendo expect us to read stuff? Why don't they stop us from ignoring their warnings? This is THEIR fault for not babysitting us better!"

 

[HiredN00bs]

How often do people need to make such a drastic change like deleting their ecosystem-wide online ID and all relevant purchase data? I'm willing to bet currently they get more calls to customer service from people who did what the OP did than they would get if deleting the ID required a phone call.

Good fucking point.

 

[Amazeballs]

I'd rather Nintendo just improve their product rather than boycott and complain. But this is all we have. People piling on the OP are missing the bigger picture.

Didn't it take Valve several years to work out the logistics of their DRM? The NNID system isn't even half a year old at this point in time.

 

[old manatee]

It's kinda laughable that people say "Nintendo is backwards because you have to call them to transfer your ID" but then also say "Nintendo is backwards, because you don't have to call them to delete your ID"

When you take into account how often people want to transfer their ID versus delete their entire account and void all purchases it does seem exactly backwards to the way it should work.

 

[timnich]

What?

They offer the option to fully delete a Network ID (including Miiverse posts and everything). Why is this a bad thing even a "backwards" thing? It's problematic in case the user is not able to read. But then: why would it be okay for them to delete the account by calling customer support? Maybe the user isn't able to understand spoken words as well?

If I wanted to delete my PSN ID, would Sony also delete ALL postings that I made using that ID? I don't think so. To me having the option is kinda nice.

It's kinda laughable that people say "Nintendo is backwards because you have to call them to transfer your ID" but then also say "Nintendo is backwards, because you don't have to call them to delete your ID"

I'm asking why anyone would ever delete all their content permanently. Is there a reason for such a feature to exist. You can call me an idiot in as many ways as you want, I already put the blame on myself for my mistake. In my eyes Nintendo is "backwards" because it should be easier to restore content on multiple devices rather than to permanently DELETE all content across all devices. Nintendo has it the other way around.

 

[Marcel]

Didn't it take Valve several years to work out the logistics of their DRM? The NNID system isn't even half a year old at this point in time.

While not exactly relevant to this conversation, people do tend to forget that Steam in its infancy was absolute garbage.

 

[UncleSporky]

According to this thread the weird shell game Nintendo plays with your purchases is a feature. "Deleting any record of your purchases is as easy as pressing a button, redownloading is as easy as filing a police report!"

I feel like people don't really understand this police report thing.

Transfer data from 3DS to 3DS: perform yourself, no content is lost
Transfer data from Wii U to Wii U: contact Nintendo, they do it remotely, no content is lost
Delete content from a device: Redownload it from the shop with no fuss
SD card/hard drive corrupted: Redownload everything from the shop with no fuss
Device broken/bricked etc.: Send to Nintendo for repairs, receive repaired or new device with all content licensed to it, redownload everything from the shop with no fuss

A device being stolen is the only time you ever need a police report, and you should file one for that anyway for insurance purposes. And even then, people have reported being able to get their stuff on a new device without needing the report, just because they bugged Nintendo about it.

 

[7threst]

This borked account system is why I chose to get a Vita instead of a Wii U, and why I don't walk around anymore with my 3DS, since I have so many games that if I lost the system I would be doomed. Police report wouldn't work to recover since there is no Nintendo Call Service where I live.

You choose a Vita over a Wii U because of its account system? That's an interesting way of making purchasing decisions.

 

[Delusibeta]

The fact that it's possible to completely delete your account wholesale without calling Nintendo while it's not possible to recover a lost account without calling Nintendo is completely backwards and absolutely idiotic. The only way to transfer stuff between consoles is by having both consoles physically prescent and connected to the same network is also hilariously backwards and completely impractical in the age of console trade-ins. Nintendo should be ashamed of their abortion of an online account system.

 

[Maintenance]

Didn't it take Valve several years to work out the logistics of their DRM? The NNID system isn't even half a year old at this point in time.

I've seen this argument a lot of times on other things like MMOs, when someone tries to justify why a MMO launch is borked and WoW is running smoothly. "But WoW is several years old, XXX is just new, give it time." The times have changed since that. Origin (from EA) is 6 months older than NNID, and look where it is now compared to NNID, and this is from someone who despises Origin but can see that they improved (24h refunds, customer service, etc).

You choose a Vita over a Wii U because of its account system? That's an interesting way of making purchasing decisions.

One of the reasons, yeah. Since I buy everything digital, the account system must be decent.

 

[jimi_dini]

When you take into account how often people want to transfer their ID versus delete their entire account and void all purchases it does seem exactly backwards to the way it should work.

You are assuming that noone ever creates an account by mistake and wants to delete it. And also: not everyone buys stuff with their Nintendo ID.

What would people do on other services? Just abandon it. Steam for example does not offer the ability to delete an account AT ALL.

It's rather backwards to not have the ability to delete online accounts (and I mean everything connected to it), especially ones that let you post messages etc.


I also already said that they should offer the ability to disable a Nintendo ID directly on Wii U and then be able to add it to another without contacting customer support. They could in case they just forced people to be online to do that and if they can't be online, then just keep the current way of disabling it.

I'm asking why anyone would ever delete all their content permanently. Is there a reason for such a feature to exist.

- owner created it by mistake
- owner died and relatives want to delete the history
- owner wants to remove all Miiverse posts because of whatever reason (privacy, did something stupid and it gets blown up on the internet, etc.)
- owner's child created one and owner doesn't approve

I think the option to delete everything especially posts is a great feature and most companies don't offer that at all.

 

[Portugeezer]

Is deleting a whole account a normal thing? Just seems like a pointless option to give to people.

 

[HiredN00bs]

I feel like people don't really understand this police report thing.

Transfer data from 3DS to 3DS: perform yourself, no content is lost
Transfer data from Wii U to Wii U: contact Nintendo, they do it remotely, no content is lost
Delete content from a device: Redownload it from the shop with no fuss
SD card/hard drive corrupted: Redownload everything from the shop with no fuss
Device broken/bricked etc.: Send to Nintendo for repairs, receive repaired or new device with all content licensed to it, redownload everything from the shop with no fuss

A device being stolen is the only time you ever need a police report, and you should file one for that anyway for insurance purposes. And even then, people have reported being able to get their stuff on a new device without needing the report, just because they bugged Nintendo about it.

What if my device is lost? What if it's damaged beyond repair? Thank you Nintendo for letting me get to my content if I waste enough time arguing with phone support and thank you for this PSA.

 

[Ganondolf]

Nintendo should remove the option to delete the account from the system and make it only possible to delete the account from their website or calling customer support.

that way it makes it almost impossible to accidently delete accounts.

 

[HiredN00bs]

What would people do on other services? Just abandon it. Steam for example does not offer the ability to delete an account AT ALL.

And I've never seen anyone complain about it. Nintendo digital content threads on the other hand are plentiful.

 

[Marcel]

You choose a Vita over a Wii U because of its account system? That's an interesting way of making purchasing decisions.

The Vita is probably one of the most digital purchase-friendly systems I've ever owned as well. I can't say the same for my 3DS as much as I like it.

 

[UncleSporky]

What if my device is lost? What if it's damaged beyond repair? Thank you Nintendo for letting me get to my content if I waste enough time arguing with phone support and thank you for this PSA.

What do you mean, if it's damaged beyond repair? You send that to NIntendo like any other broken device. They'll be able to determine if the mangled heap you sent them used to be a 3DS. All your purchases are associated with the NNID so they can restore all of it, should you be willing to pay for a new 3DS.

I'm not sure what you're talking about arguing with phone support. No arguing takes place. You send them the broken device and they fix it for whatever it costs to fix it and you get everything back. In 90% of cases of anything going wrong, you don't even call them, you just redownload your stuff.

 

[Maintenance]

Device broken/bricked etc.: Send to Nintendo for repairs, receive repaired or new device with all content licensed to it, redownload everything from the shop with no fuss

Nice, so I just have to send it overseas, since Nintendo ignores my country. Good to know.

Spoiler

Didn't see this post before doing mine, and I already edited it with another response, so I'll just say it here.