It's never too pleasant having to deal with customer service and sending something in to be repaired, but for one eight-year-old boy in Japan, the loss of his 3DS seems to have stirred up some surprising feelings of guilt instead of the usual impatience and annoyance. Imagine that!
The young boy apparently didn't close the cap on his thermos flask properly, so when he put it in his bag with his precious 3DS it caused an unfortunate spill that soaked the handheld. After calling a customer service center and arranging for a repair, he even went so far as to write a heartfelt letter of apology to Nintendo for his mistake (translation via Kotaku).
I apologize for accidentally getting [my 3DS] wet. I'd like to think I've already resigned myself to not seeing my 3DS, which is always with me. From here on out, I aim to close my thermos' lid correctly. I am truly sorry.
This charming note is definitely a far-cry from some of the ranting, frustrated letters we're sure centers like this are used to receiving, and shows an exemplary case of good manners; we hope it helps reunite the boy with his 3DS soon!
Have you ever fallen victim to a tragic spillage like this, and were you this darn polite when seeking a repair?
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 49
That kid knows the value of Nintendo hardware. It's a precious gift from the gods to be treasure and protected. Good on you, kid, for treating your 3DS with the respect and reverence that it deserves! Even if you accidentally damaged it, you felt true remorse; I'm confident that Iwata-sama smiles on you from Gaming Heaven.
I'm going to go ahead and cheekily ask if it's a slow news day so no one else has to.
I can honestly say that's too cute. It's nice to see a kid take responsibility for his actions especially in this day and age where everyone is so quick to blame everyone and everything else for their actions. If he was older he probably would be trying to sue the thermos company for not having a warning on it to cap it correctly.
That was a nice read, I like stories like this.
Dear Nintendo: Please Understand.
I rate this article 7.8 out of 10: too much water. Assuming that the kid had water in there...
That's so cute
I hope Nintendo give him a New 3DS instead of the old one. You don't see people this polite nowadays
They should give him something extra for being so polite about it.
But they won't.
This kid has earned my respect!
To be honest the first thing I thought is the parents had them write it.
Also don't put an unopened bottle of water in your rucksack and think it'll be fine 😩
Slow day. No games. No fun.
Whelp, as I'm sure everyone has experienced, I dropped my Nintendo DS Lite down the toilet. It's not fun when you're about to beat the Gym Leader for the first time on Pokemon SoulSilver...
@ConorMcMahon64 "and we you this darn polite" should be and 'were' you...
Great read. Heart warming.
I love how he wrote the "S" in "3DS" backwards.
Hm, when I was about his age, my Game Boy Color got liquid in it. It wasn't my fault, though - my father picked it up at night to play this puzzle game we had on it, left it somewhere on the kitchen, and later on my mother left a bag full of seafood nearby without noticing. Some of the liquid spilled over and... yeah.
Thankfully the warranty was still there and we somehow managed to have the store give us a new one. It honestly was one of the crappiest ways to begin my morning.
@SteamedOddish
Even so, it seems that they're doing a fine job raising that child..
They're teaching him to respect and care for his and other people's property , making him more considerate & aware of the consequences,
..I would think
My original Ds survived many spills (choc milk directly onto the buttons), several falls & who knows what other cruel forms of abuse..(by cousin)
Still he carried on like a champ :'3
...Until a certain incident with the power happened.
I left a small note when sending for repairs "Save my baby!"
~ made me smile to see their reply upon his return. ^^
Sadly nowadays the hinges have cracked & the battery only holds for 5mins or so =/
I've had really bad luck with my Nintendo DS's. My original model DS was broken by my little cousins when I was at a family party, my red DS was stolen in a car robbery, and my first 3DS was also stolen in a robbery. I like to consider myself very careful with my handhelds, and my Cobalt Blue 3DS is basically a holy grail to me right now.
@WillTheLion
Fixed it, thanks!
@Serelynn
That's sweet! I actually had the battery completely die on my DS Lite years back, but luckily it was right around the time the 3DS was about to launch so it was a brief mourning period.
@Squidzilla
Ahh, R.I.P Conor's DsL
........'s battery..
I ate through two batts to be exact,
we were very much inseparable ;u;
So which games did you mostly find yourself going back to?
"Translation via Kotaku".... I'll take their word for it with skepticism. LOL.
@R-L-A-George Is correct like in a 90%. Still,they forgot to translate the last sentence:
Hontou ni mou shi wake arimasen deshita
I'm really sorry about this.
Ive just send my majoras mask 3DS off for repair It has 1 week left on the warranty lol I hope they will repair it :s
I'm always try and be very careful with my 3ds, and all my other handheld systems. I would be very sad if something were to happen to them.
Cute, but it only makes sense if it was a warranty repair. I wouldn't apologize and pay Nintendo's repair fee...
My first system was a GBA sp.and I take care of my stuff
Still an adorable read though.
Poor kid. He has yet to understand that being nice to companies and owning up to your mistakes means they have a free pass to ignore/deny you. :3
He is apologizing to Nintendo as if he wronged them. There are many angles to interpret this, I hope the kid is just apologizing for making someone have to do work to repair it because he doesn't fully understand the concept of money and it being their job. He might be thinking someone had to stop what they are doing because he made a mistake.
If my 3ds were to ever break(knocking on wood considering I haven't had a single handheld broken) I'll be sure to write an apology letter but I'm sure Reggie will just toss it
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww!
We Nintendo gamers prove to be adorable once again.
I have to send my old New 3DS (yes I've upgraded to a New XL) in for repairs AGAIN - the buttons stop working. Same problem I had before.
Hopefully, they send me a nice letter of apology for selling me a dodgy unit. They won't. lol
Nice story though, minus the poor kid losing his threeds. I'd be heart broken if this happened to me...
This is adorable, Nintendo give this kid a New 3ds.
That's touching......I wish I could be that kid!
That 8 year old kid has something that many adults don't have.
Manners for a start.
I once dropped my GameBoy in a puddle at the swimming pool. I was so upset when I turned it on and Ash would only walk left, and then it wouldn't turn on at all. Luckily it just needed to dry out a bit. My friend's brother dropped hers in the toilet when he wouldn't put it down even to pee. That was a bit more disgusting.
Did Nintendo fix it for free? If they did than a please, thank you, and apology are in order and the kid should be applauded. If Nintendo charged the kid for the repair than its business as usual and they don't deserve any apology.
That's nice. That just puts a smile on my face. First of all that's really nice from the kid, to apologise and show remorse. Second, I agree, it's a nice break from all the anger the repair centers have to deal with. People often get unreasonably angry over these things. Heck, when I send my 3DS in to repair the Cirle Pad my dad got really mad about the cost. Of course it costs money, what did you expect? They have to do their jobs too!
But seriously, this is something I really appreciate. A former apology, that's one of those things that seems like something small but can go a long way. Good on you kid! I hope you get your system back soon!
@bro2dragons this is a genuine positive feel Nintendo news item. It helps us westerners to culturally understand the Japanese way of things.
Yay!
@cfgk24 Haha, I don't mind a bit. I was just referencing the fact that seemingly every time an article goes up that isn't an announcement on an upcoming game, 15 people comment about "Must be a slow news day at NintendoLife HQ, huh?" As a former reporter, it gets old. All news is worthwhile, but not all news is groundbreaking. This was odd, but sweet. Nothing wrong here.
As I understand things, Japan is a very deferential society so this is perhaps not as unusual as it first seems. A sad reflection on Western societies though. Western exceptionalism really isn't all that.
@Serelynn
What was there response?
Cute story
while i havent fallen to this, my buddy george has spiled stuff on his 3DS
Free repair or not.. damn good manners. We all should applaud this kid and take a lesson from him. Good manners, politeness and sincerity, even if you have to pay for them to do their "job" goes a long way, even if it never comes back to you. I pity the negative me-me-me people on here that think otherwise.
@bro2dragons Lol
A true American hero. Um, Japanese hero.
@Tempestryke
Oop! Apologies for the late response!
It went something along those lines of;
'Baby is as good as new!'
@plainj
Very true, then to think of all the people we regularly encounter that are often taken granted or downright disrespected..
Mail carriers, drivers, janitors, repair, teachers, (and the list is infinite..)
Simply acknowledging another's hard work can go such a long way, but even that is not enough o..o
Mayhaps it's just me growing old & cranky but... "kids these days" lol
@Serelynn
D'aww! That's really sweet of them. I bet you put a smile on their face too when they wrote that note.
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