A+ For Customer Service

I’ve only owned my Wii since March of this year and I’ve already had a problem with it. I run the system constantly, and have always had WiiConnect24 set to “standby” for no reason in particular. In August, I went away for two weeks and when I got back I found that every disc game, menu, and Virtual Console game had these weird blocks of dead pixels that got worse the longer I played. Most recently, it was especially bad on Mega Man 9, but GameCube games were untouched. It just made everything look dirty.

I looked it up and saw it called “digital artifacts,” but with no solution other than shipping it off to be fixed. From what I read, it’s caused by overheating the GPU, which I suppose was caused by the standby setting (though my Wii is in an open area that gets air). I did notice it ran warm while off.

In mid-September, I filled out a repair form with Nintendo. The system was still under warranty, so there was no charge, not even for shipping. They said they’d send a prepaid UPS label with shipping instructions within the next 10 days.

Thirteen days later, I got pissed off, and sent an email to Nintendo’s Customer Service Center. I was responded to the same day. They apologized and asked to verify my address so they can send a new label. Two or three days later, I received the label. The day after, I received another one, heh.

Packing it up was easy enough: Backup your saves to an SD card, unplug anything that doesn’t need fixing (peripherals, cables, the stand, games, etc.), rubber band your repair slip to the console, put the console in a plastic bag and place the system shipping box with lots of padding. The problem with copying the saves, however, is that the Wii wouldn’t let me copy online-enabled games to the SD card (Guitar Hero III, Smash Bros., Mario Kart). I couldn’t backup the actual Mega Man 9 game, either, but save file copied okay.

I hesitated, seeing it put in a box to be shipped out. =/

I ended up using the tracking number every half hour to track the package. It arrived about a day and a half after shipping. Then I tracked the repair number to see if they’d fixed it yet. Obsessively. A few days later, it said it was shipped out and they gave me a new tracking number. I proceeded to track THAT number obsessively.

It only took 5 days from sending it out to get it back. I received the returned console in an anti-static wrap with packing peanuts all over the box and instructions on post-repair operations (how to get things back to how you had them before you sent it). I noticed the serial number was different than the one I shipped out, and that worried me.

The repair receipt said they had replaced the “main circuit board,” which I’m assuming is the motherboard. I was worried I’d have to pay for my VC and WiiWare games all over and have lost the save files I couldn’t copy – which would mean my Guitar Hero, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. scores and progress would be gone.

I received the package during my lunch break, so I had to worry while I went back to work. When I got home, I tried out everything. I had to re-update the system first, and noticed my internet settings were still configured, even though the console was a new serial number. I checked the save files and found all of them were still on the console! All my channels were gone, but I was easily able to re-download everything from the Wii Shop Channel.

Nintendo must have a way to copy info from console to console, but for whatever reason, not channels. Maybe channels are tied to the main circuit board.

Either way, Nintendo’s Customer Service and repair service get an A+ from me. I’m thoroughly satisfied. Everything’s perfect again.

Now I can go back to getting my ass kicked in Mega Man 9!

I spent an hour and a half last night trying to beat the Wiley levels, only to give up when I didn’t have enough E-Containers to beat the final bosses. The worst part is you have to play the last 4 levels consecutively. If you go back to the stage select or title screen or turn off the game, you have to start over from the first Wiley level no matter how far past it you were. I now have a total of 3 and a half hours on that game =/ I know, I’m super rusty. Or just not that good. I haven’t decided which, yet. But I’ve become very good at fighting the bosses and dodging spikes on my R. Jet. I really, really, really hate spikes.

I can’t comprehend how anyone’s beaten that game in 30 minutes or less. I can see 60, but 30? Impossible on my end. I should watch a speed run.

But at least everything’s working fine again.

Thank you, Nintendo!

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