I don't know if you trust kotaku, but nevertheless, here's the link to the news:
http://kotaku.com/5967558/nintendo-of-america-says-they-can-i...

Never say never, I guess.

I can attest to this.

I sent in my Wii U Deluxe model to Nintendo to be repaired since it wasn't reading any of my Wii U or Wii discs. Instead of repairing my broken Wii U, Nintendo sent me a new model and I was able to use the Nintendo Network ID I made on the broken unit, no trouble whatsoever.

but also the Wii info (saves, downloads, etc) are tied to the ID?

So far I sent mines in for repair (froze on recent update= brick) and the representative I was talking with said "in the case we can't fix you Wii U, we will transfer your Nintendo Network account and game data to a replacement". We'll see next week when I get it back if I have a different serial number.

On a side note, that anonymous user that chat with the Nintendo staff don't seem to patient (or bright) IMO. He should of called Nintendo first to troubleshoot the problem and set up an repair if needed, in which case he wouldn't have to be in the situation he's in now. Besides don't the customers have to pay for returns back to amazon cause it would of been cheaper with the alternative.

um we knew practicall from day 1 that nintendo can perform a wiiu to wiiu transfer.. what we currently cannot do is do it ourselves...