Slowly But Surely, Nintendo's North American Repair Centres Are Coming Back To Life

I'm conflicted. I have another set of joycons that just got the dreaded drift. But something tells me I should wait until after the initial wave of busted products get sent in. And something ELSE tells me there's a chance everything might just get shut down again in a month or so. Who knows.

@Desrever May as well send it now rather than wait, unless you can stull kinda use them.

YES FINALLY! My left Joycon shall be healed by the hands of Nintendo themselves.

Welcome back Nintendo repair people. Glad your all safe.

Sent mine to the UK one a week ago, and they emailed saying they have received it but no update as yet

Well if people just took care of their stuff Nintendo wouldn't need to expose their staff to harm. Stop blaming Nintendo for your controller neglect.

I wonder how much backlog repair centers will have.

And, it would be interesting to know how much of Nintendo repairs are for analog stick drift.

@sixrings given all of the known issues with the Switch and its controllers... even acknowledged by Nintendo... this is an extremely ignorant comment.

I really need to send in my joy cons for repairs.
So I now have another left joy con with drift issues, so that makes 6 in total. (Not including the 3 hori d pad joy con controllers but I guess those don't count)
Also I ordered a new Pro controller because one of mine started drifting after 3 years of use. Before anyone says anything, I take care of my things. All of my other older controllers still work to this day with no problem OG Xbox, Gamecube Wave birds, PS2 controllers , ect.
I love the Switch but this problem is a nightmare, it makes me not even want to use any of my other joy con because of the inevitable drift issues that have occurred with every other pair I have used since the system released. I just hope this problem doesn't start happening to my switch lites.

I discovered that my console wasn't charging in mid February and elected not to send it in for repair as I was worried about the centers shutting down. Talk about bad timing!

@RPGamer Yeah, but it's pricy. It's $150 to replace the screen.

I have a left joy con that is drifting so bad it's virtually unusable. The right is just starting to but I have a back up ready. I'll most likely wait it out a little longer before I try to send them in.

@sixrings

Every person I personally know that has a Switch, has had problems with drifting. Every single person. I guess we should all stop our tradition of drop kicking our Switches down the stairs every morning. I’ll talk to them about it and see if we can change our ways, no promises though.

@DTfeartheBEARD

I hear ya. In my house 2 out of the 3 pairs we have are drifting. I try to play on the tv more to prevent the inevitability on the last good set.

My wife is dealing with the problem right now, and since nothing is open, I’m not really sure what to do. I might have to just get a new set for her, cause after having the problem myself, I know how incredibly annoying it is. I’m glad they closed down for safety, but yeah, this problem is indeed a nightmare. I can relate, the Switch has given me the most problems and I’ve owned most of Nintendo’s products.

I get that products are gonna have a certain fail rate, but for a company that has such a commitment to “quality”, the joy con is laughable at best.

I sent my wife’s JoyCon in for repair just a week or two before this thing started. I was glad to get them back in only four days.

I called in a repair job weeks ago and paid $110 because my fan stopped working and joycons stopped charging.
But I couldn't mail it in due to COVID and am still waiting for an email saying they're ready to receive it. Hopefully I hear from them soon!

That is genuinely good news and that means ALL Nintendo staff should be returning shortly. Even the one(s) that may do updates for the games in the Americas 3ds eShop.

@Tyranexx

Haha, Nintendo did say play anytime, anywhere!

About 2 weeks into quarantine my left joycon went to hell.That’s a big problem for me as I usually only play handheld.

Good timing! Mario red left Joy-Con is starting to have drifting issues again...for the third time...

Good because literally all three of my Switch controllers, including my Pro Controller, are drifting. It's ridiculous.

@sixrings If you actually cared about the well being of other people, you'd hold a company accountable for their actions rather than defending them and placing the blame on consumers instead. If Nintendo actually put out a quality product that didn't require repairs every 9 months like they used to, they wouldn't need to place so much of their staff at risk to make a band aid fix. The"Neglect" you speak of is all Nintendo's. People before corporations man.

@sixrings
The Joycons are a bad design. I thought it was how people treated their Switch also but mine started to drift last last year and I baby mine. Nintendo needs to issue a new version like they did on the Wii and just bite the bullet. The majority of people who get them fixed still have the same issue within a few months.

This is the first issue I have ever had with Nintendo products going back to the NES and I have nearly every console.

@Tyranexx
That is the ironic part. The base console is really a tough piece of equipment but the Joycons seem like they compromised because they couldn't get another design worked out on time.

I love Nintendo but refuse to buy a Switch until they sort this, come on USA get them sued!

Any idea what the deal is with UK repair centres? Are they open? How long have people waited for repairs? Got a left joy con waiting to go in, but need to weigh up how long we can go without it.

@Zidentia Unfortunately the drift isn't within Nintendo's control. It's the potentiometer for the stick, and it seems like the manufacturer(s) have stopped making quality parts. Every mfr suffers from this. The joycon suffers more because the nature of the smaller part is going to be more fragile than a larger part in a full size controller, but the real solution is for the part manufacturer to make something better. They've probably dropped the cost to bare minimum at the request of their customers, including Nintendo, though, but they'd need to be pushed hard by their whole customer portfolio to seriously consider improving the product at higher cost again.

I suppose making the pot replacement an easy DIY snap-together part would be the most sensible. That would be a redeisgn that could be spun as an upgrade (Kirby shaped sticks, anyone?)

@NEStalgia
With all due respect you are absolutely wrong. Manufacturers make products to spec. When a product is being sourced for all of the different individual components product managers and engineers send out requests for quotes to companies they have worked with and those that haven't. The sample requests come next after a preliminary quote and contract contingency. These samples are made to the requested specs and once they decide on a supplier that meets CTQ and financial requirements they execute the terms of the agreement.

Once production starts most companies check on site production and they request on going samples to ensure the shipped production material is meeting the requirements. If the part was inferior Nintendo would demand changes and/or switch to their back up supplier that was already established. In all cases the burden falls on Nintendo to ensure the part meets CTQ requirements regardless of the failings of the supplier. All companies switch suppliers or demand adjustments to production. It is a normal part of business. A supplier needs the contract so they will do what it takes to keep the contract. Many Asian manufacturers have been known to change specs after the contract starts to increase their profit but Nintendo needs to monitor this as all companies do.

The fact that Nintendo has not requested a change in supplier or part quality means either they cannot due to the design or they will not due to cost. The Joycon in the later models do have a different part number but tear downs show the same component quality and users are still experiencing drift issues with these and Pro controllers are drifting as well which shouldn't happen since there is more room to make design changes.

So the onus is still on Nintendo to make it right.

@andyg1412

There is a class action suit somewhere about this but I lost track of it.

@Zidentia The 2 axis pots are not custom parts. All 3 console mfrs just buy off-the-shelf pots and microswitches. The pots in the Pro controller, DualShock4, and X1 (and X1 Pro) controllers are not all from the same vendor (nor are they all consistently from one vendor per product model), but they all reflect similar degrading quality. The console manufacturers COULD of course order custom parts, but currently no mfr is doing so. I could not say if the reason is purely cost reduction or if there's a more significant reason.

@NEStalgia
I did not say they were custom parts I said they have specs for parts and if they have existing parts than they quote those but suppliers can upgrade or alter existing parts to meet requests. Again this falls on Nintendo. I am not sure about the Dualshock but I believe the Pro controller part comes from the same vendor. Still if there is an issue why hasn't Nintendo made the change or went elsewhere for the part. There are other suppliers who makes parts. You are assuming no else will make the part. Why is it that third party vendors do not seem to have the same rate of incidence that Nintendo does on this part?

@Zidentia I'm not sure what the rate of incidence is for each vendor, however the problem is widespread with XBox and PS as well. The MS XBox Pro Controller was notorious at $150 no less for the issue, because it used the same pots as the standard plastic controller, but supported much heavier, much longer zinc covers and stems. They have been considered guaranteed to fail, much like the Joycon (along with the rubber grips falling off, guaranteed, and the metal bumpers cracking the plastic bridge (same as used on the plastic controller) being essentially guaranteed.) It's a similar case of severe design issues that went many years without being addressed. Last XO19 they did announce a new Pro 2 that may or may not address those issues, though I don't know if it's released yet or if that's waiting for Series X. (and lose the replaceable battery.)

I've personally never had Sony stick drifts, though the internet is full of people who have....part of that is because Sony sets HUGE deadzones so that if the drift is slight you would never experience it because the system just doesn't read any data at all from the low values, which makes them clunky and unresponsive overall, but does sidestep drift happening even if the same mechanical problems manifest until it gets severe.

But XBox controllers, I've been through half a dozen or more X360 and X1 controllers, and I'm on my 3rd pro.....all due to drift. I'm on my second Switch Pro and my 3rd Joycon pair. I'd say this makes Sony the "winner", but I know that would be false. They do have the problem and hide it by making the controller less responsive out of the box to sidestep the mild drift condition when it manifests. People using DS for PC might be using the full range of the stick, and might be able to comment more on it's failure rate.

@NEStalgia
I will have to take your information about competing companies controller issues as fact as I have not looked into them. To me it seems like you are being an apologist for the manufacturers and how they are at the mercy of the suppliers. If not I apologize but this argument is ludicrous since the manufacturer has the leverage here and can and should find a part with higher quality. I was in IT mfg for years and I am well aware of how parts are sourced and this attitude of throwing ones hands in the air is not how it really works. People need to talk with their purchases and demand a fix.

@Zidentia Oh, I know they can spec whatever parts they want, but for whatever reason, none of the 3 console mfrs seems to be doing that, and all seem to accept the status quo. It might be that they're all cheap and if one doesn't budge, none of them are willing. But I just wonder if there's some particular reason none of them seem too vested in improving the one mechanical flaw that's plagued these controllers for generations (I did actually lose a WiiU GamePad to drift as well.) It sells more controllers, but it also generates negative attention, and stingy as Nintendo can be, I don't think they're doing it to boost accessory sales, even if other companies are. The fact that Sony went so far as to reduce the performance of the device to sidestep the problem still sounds like it's less about saving a few pennies per unit, and more like there's a real hurdle that would have to be managed to do it.

MS is selling the Elite 2 for almost $200, but I'd bet a whole controller it's still using the same bargain basement pots. They could have really nailed a marketing point of reinforced sticks, no drift, etc, etc at that price point and still turned insane profit. Same for Razer, Scuf, and the like with their multi-hundred dollar sky's the limit "competitive gamer" priced components. Same cheap pots that break. Scuf is almost ubiquitous in competition with extreme prices for people willing to pay any amount of money for "the best." They could sell that $15 pot instead of the $.24 pot to those people for an extra $100. But they don't. I can only think the stronger pots perhaps sacrifice precision, tension, or something that makes these MFRs refuse to offer premium parts even at premium prices, far beyond Joycons.

It's all speculation of course. No company has ever commented. It's just that it doesn't make sense to me that nobody's taken the opportunity to milk that for money since demand is there, if it's feasible to do.

@NEStalgia
Its a first for me out of all of the Nintendo hardware I own. I had zero issue with the Wii controllers and console. I still use them today.

At the root of this is still a failure on Nintendo's part. There maybe other controllers by other console manufacturers but I am only speaking to the Joycon.