Refurbished Wii U Deluxe Systems Now $200 on Nintendo of America Site

Doesn't refurbished mean they are used Wii Us?
Which also means, no Club Nintendo points.

When the Manufacturer refurbishes them, it is like getting a new console, they repackage them with new paper work including new registration codes for Club Nintendo. It means that they had some type of issue and that Nintendo fixed them and is now selling them at a deep discount.

No thanks. I'd rather buy a new one for the $100 more. Besides, I'm expecting another price cut around a year from now.

@LordJumpMad @Unit_DTH Actually, Lord JumpMad is correct. These units are not eligible for Club Nintendo coins, according to the store page.

Refurbished does not mean used. Refurbished means that the product goes through an extensive cleaning process and is inspected over and over again to make sure everything is fully functional. It comes with the same one year warranty that new Wii U's carry.

It's not eligible for Club Nintendo coins, but considering that you're saving $100, you can buy three games if you shop smart. So you're still getting coins through games!

I took advantage of the refurbished Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuck at $20. I was blown away at the quality! I couldn't even tell they were used before! If it's the same for the Wii U, which I'm pretty sure it is, then this could be considered a serious offer.

That's a steal.

"For the same price as an incredibly enormous cup of coffee..."

Best thing I've read all day.

So, this is the same bundle that was $349 just last summer, minus 160 Club Nintendo coins? I'm not a big fan of refurbished, or of the Wii U upcoming games schedule, but for $200 w/ a 1 yr. warranty from Nintendo you cant go wrong.

And it comes w/ an HDMI cable, I think Monster charges $100 for those

Guess I can finally stop counting 3DS articles now.

Wow, $200 for the Deluxe Set? I would definitely upgrade but there is no system/account transfer to another Wii U.

@rjejr

I thought that this would not count for you as a Wii U news article, glad that it did

@sinalefa - I almost didn't count it b/c it wasn't Wii U "game" news, but then decided it could be spun as
"Buy a refurb Wii U for $200 - get Nintendo Land for FREE!"
since the Wii U isn't sold w/ that game anymore in the US and it cost $20.

If you don't mind my asking - how do you always seem to post so soon after an article posts? Do you work for NL?

@brewsky Depends on what the fault was. It is a small risk. (I don't know what they do if there is a fault with part of the mainboard but anything other than completely replacing that is not something I would want). When stuff is assembled and reassembled by hand it never ends up as tightly connected. When the situation is all the content dies with the machine I would like to take as little risk as possible. (With a proper account system I would probably get the refurb).

@rjejr

I wish I could work for NL!

At work I have NL open all day long, so I periodically refresh the page out of boredom (there are lots of downtime) and happen to get fresh articles as soon as they come out of the oven.

@unrandomsam Usually these don't have any faults! Most of the time, these are just store models or returned stock with absolutely nothing wrong with them. But you're right. There could be some that might have a fault. But considering that Nintendo is confident in these models that it comes with the same warranty as it is brand new, I don't think anyone needs to worry.

I'm seriously thinking of buying one and sending it to my brother if for nothing else so I can talk to him on the big screen TV instead of the small screen of the phone.

Still too much

@MAN1AC Ok, you penny-pincher

I don't see how they can't just dropped the $250 price point further so we can just buy it new whenever. Paying $200 for a used system seems kinda wrong to me.

1 week and 1 day ago I bought the NSMBU+NSLU Bundle for $300. I almost wish I'd waited.

@PKpunky If storage is the only reason why you're looking towards upgrading (because surely colour would be the only other reason), then why not just buy a much cheaper, much larger USB hard drive?

@Nik-Davies
It would be a good idea to get a new hard drive, but I don't do digital downloads for games, unless they're e-shop only. Not to mention game saves and demos take space too. It's just that I won't use all the space in a 500gb hard drive.

And this should be the price for a 32gb Wii U, with no game. This price point would turn the Wii U around, I guarantee it.

@sinalefa So that's why I always see you in like the top 20 comments. I leave NL up all day at work too . It's my homepage.

If you live in Canada you can get a better deal on a brand new deluxe system. You just have to check weekly when it goes back on sale at Chapters.
I got the "The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker Deluxe Console Set Wii U" for $201 CDN plus tax.

Step 1: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/ <--- it went on sale multiple times priced at $210
Step 2: Call your local Chapters make sure it's in-stock.
Step 3. Go to your local Best Buy or FutureShop and price match plus 10% of the difference. Give them the Chapters phone number to verify price and availability and ka-ching for $201!

@XFsWorld

Yeah, I usually don't post a comment if the thread is already too long, as I tend to read them all to avoid repeating someone else.

@2Sang It might as well be new. The only differences here are no Club Nintendo coins and a few minor scratches. Everything else should be good

@sinalefa - Ah, one of those jobs. My last job was like that, I got all my work done working hard all day Monday and then worked about 20 minutes a day the rest of the week

@2Sang Facepalm

ANNNNNND this is what the Wii U should have been sold at when it first came out..

@Chomposaur That's asinine. You do realize that when the Wii U launched at $350 that it was selling at a loss? There's more to the Wii U than meets the eye. The Gamepad is an impressive piece of technology. In other words, it isn't cheap.

I have wanted a Wii U since its release....now I can get one.... but I dont want a refurbished one, I want one a new one. still saving up , but it's good price for those who are tight on money.

I'm thoroughly convinced that if Nintendo started giving these away it still wouldn't bring back 3rd parties to the system! They could have 30 million units out by years end and they still will say let's wait and see what happens.

everytime i get a refurbished item its quality is amazing and i never have problems for it. my longest lasting pc was a refurbished hp.

it's people who haven't bought refurbed before that scoff at it for no special reason like it's a garage sale item. You can't get a better deal on something than refurbed. From bigger companies it's a better guarantee of it's operation than a new one, since it's been heavily cleaned and tested, usually more than a new unit.
A WiiU, though. Well at this point it does look pretty pathetic so it'd still have to be cheaper for me to get one since they really erodded my confidence in them by how badly they bungled the launch and slow sales even now. A cheap dead horse is still basically a dead horse.

@Nik-Davies Aside from the 32 GB internal card...The black model comes with the charging cradle and ...uhm....it looks really cool. Mine looks really sweet next to my black Sony TV and Blu-Ray player

@Ren - Well botched launch or not, there are some really great games for the system now, and more on the way. Sorry to sound like a fanboy, but I use mine almost everyday.

@Spoony_Tech Not to give in to conspiracy theories, but I am lately thinking the few big third party publishers who control 90% of games released simply don't like Nintendo because Nintendo is mucking up their schemes.

• No DRM on Nintendo systems (XB1 and PS4 were both rumored to have wanted to include them)
• Used games and backwards compatibility without a second thought
• Frowning on day 1 DLC, Pay 2 Play/Pay 2 win, and microtransaction hell
• Straying from the short, blockbuster, big opening week model and keeping for the long-term low depreciation model
• Games ship finished, not in late beta without the need for endless patches and updates.

All of these "old fashioned" business models fly in the face of the modern, western gaming business model. It's just a thought, but I can especially see companies like EA and WB looking for any excuse to dump support where they can't nickel and dime players in stark contrast to what Nintendo has always stubbornly done in providing a great, lasting gameplay experience that ships on day one without a bunch of bugs or a need for "season passes" to feel that you are getting the full game.

@Action51 Hmm. That does sound very plausible. All I know for a fact is that Nintendo is very "Stingy" towards 3rd party developers. What you listed there definitely sounds like it

@PKpunky For real? If that is true then we are screwed if ours breaks! What the hell Nintendo! Why would anyone buy digital anything from the eshop then? Glad I bought PS3, I don't have to deal with that crap on a Somy system.

@Chomposaur 200

Exactly, this is the price point where people would be willing to buy the Wii U

@Action51

They don't like Nintendo but those are not the reasons the reasons are:

1. Stood by Power PC when developers wanted all consoles to switch to X86 to make multi-plat development cheaper.

2. Underpowered, not powerful enough to bring PS3/360 games by brute force requiring actual porting work and not powerful enough to port Xbone/ps4 games

3. A user based comprised primarily of Nintendo hardcore fans who don't seem to like buying games not by Nintendo.

I am very tempted by this, but I have an unhealthy attachment to those Club Nintendo points. Plus I am holding out to buy a special edition WiiU (I don't want black or white) whenever one eventually releases. The Zelda WiiU wasn't special enough, IMO. I want metallic blue!

@ferthepoet Simply put, the 3rd party devs are just a bunch of cry babies. Instead of innovating they want cheaper and easier. Pathetic if you ask me.

Not powerful enough to bring Xbox/Ps4 games? Simply not true. The Wii U can run any games on the PS/Xbone while sacrificing a little bit of graphics. All these power nonsense is just untrue. Get PS360 games by brute force? What?

@sketchturner Then you gotta keep waiting buddy......for a long time.

I think I might just end up picking up a refurbished one:-)

I've never bought refurbished before but this is incredibly tempting. I was waiting on a MK8 bundle but decided to stretch my limited funds more wisely so I could buy more games and another controller. So I've been scouring ebay hoping to find a somewhat new Wii U around at least $100 less than retail + tax. Amazingly for a system that's having trouble getting off shelves, it has no trouble being auctioned off for close to full price (or more) as long as there is a game with it. If I can't find something better on auction then I'll definitely be looking into this.

I like how the refurb Wii Remote Pluses are still 'temporarily' $20. Making me wonder if I should buy another so I can be done with the MotionPlus adapter for good. I couldn't find any defects with my last blue Wii Remote Plus; worked and looked just like new.

DO NOT BUY REFURBISHED UNITS FROM NINTENDO!

I ordered a refurbished unit and it came with a broken disc drive. If it was truly inspected it would not have been broken out of the box. Further more they absolutely do not treat a refurbished unit the same as a new one. If it's new you can return or exchange the unit if you have a problem, with the refurbished unit they will ONLY allow repair service. I was informed that their repair service would be a 21 day turn around time. That is almost a whole month from the time I ordered the Wiiu from when I would have a working one in my home.

Anyone thinking about buying a refurb, DO NOT DO IT! They basically lock you into a contract where they take your money and you can't get it back. Instead you are at the mercy of their substandard quality control with the original unit they send out and their sub standard repair process that will leave you without a working console for 3 weeks. In my case since the unit was Broken right out of the Box it will be a month from the time I ordered it to the time I "theoretically" would have a working console in my home.

@blueman21 I am sorry to hear this.

I was speaking from personal experience on this. I haven't had an issue with refurbed products yet, and in all honesty, I probably will never run into an issue due to the scarcity of the issues you had.

I did say there was a risk involved, but I probably should make amends to the statement I made a few months earlier. I shouldn't have said that there wasn't a need to worry. My apologies.

However, it was clearly stated on Nintendo's website that there are no returns or exchanges on refurbished products. This should've been a point to consider before purchasing into this "contract" as you call it.

By no means is Nintendo's repair service "substandard" just because it takes up to three weeks for a repair. Nintendo doesn't know witchcraft or has a genie in a lamp: these things take time.

I will admit that Nintendo could've been more diligent in inspecting your console, but it is entirely possible that the console was damaged during shipment. A broken disc drive is quite obvious, so, in this case, I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt. It's your choice if you want to or not.

I'm sorry your entry into Wii U came to this, and I'm sorry if it was my comment that convinced you to buy into this. Hopefully, this will be the only issue you run into over the course of your console's lifetime.

I seriously doubt it was broken in shipment. It comes in the standard packing material they send it in and if there was a good chance that this material would allow a disc drive to break while in shipment they would redesign the package. Second point is that while talking to a tech at Nintendo(he was actually really helpful) he said that he's seen cases of people calling in with this problem and the issue being resolved by updating the firmware. If he has seen this issue being fixed by firmware upgrade then it is confirmed that they will ship out units that do not read discs, if a firmware upgrade fixes issues like this then the hardware obviously wasn't damage in shipping and yet the customer gets a device that cannot read discs. Unfortunately for me the firmware update did nothing and I still have a bricked WiiU.

Furthermore while it does say on their website that they will not refund your money for refurbished units but they are deceptive about how they write it. They start out with "Parts and Accessories, purchased directly from Nintendo, may be exchanged or returned within 30 days after a delivery of your order. Item must be in its original condition, undamaged, and with all parts." If they were truly not trying to trick people into thinking buying a refurb that is non refundable they would say "New parts and Accessories, purchased directly from Nintendo, may be exchanged or returned within 30 days after a delivery of your order. Item must be in its original condition, undamaged, and with all parts." Many people after reading what they wrote in the first line would stop reading. Then they give a contradictory sentence about refurbished parts not being refundable. You have to ask yourself why that is. Why would they not exchange or refund your money for a refurbished unit if they expect the refurb to be of the same quality of a brand new unit?

What I said is true, you put quotes around the contract but really that is essentially what it is. You agree to be at the mercy of Nintendo when you buy a refurbished unit, honestly I would have thought that was ok until I got into the situation I'm in now. IMO they absolutely take advantage of that fact by not being thorough enough when "inspecting" the units they send out and then taking forever to fix it if you happen to have a problem. The only proper inspection IMO is that someone actually boot the machine up and make sure that it can read WiiU disks. It seems though that it's not cost efficient when they know that you can't return the product. From my experience and the Techs other calls with this issue it seems clear that this step doesn't exist in the Nintendo QOS process. Instead they probably have a less thorough automated process where they know they are going to be sending out WiiUs that don't work but the number is at a place they find acceptable for the money they save on not having to inspect it properly.

My situation is completely unacceptable and not what I thought Nintendo was about. Its straight bad customer service and unless you feel lucky after having this experience I would NEVER recommend anyone buy a refurb from Nintendo unless you think it's acceptable to be sent a bad unit and being doubly punished by nintendo for it. First it's a really bummer to receive a defective "refurbished" unit after you've been waiting for it and then second to be told you have to wait 3 weeks to get your unit back when you haven't even been able to use it once yet! I'm so mad, the money you save on a refurb from Nintendo is not worth this aggravation!