Miis, Virtual Console games transfered to replacement Wii
by Zack Stern 
{ Mar 20th 2007 at 8:04AM }
When we sent a malfunctioning Wii back to Nintendo, the company returned a crisp, new Wii with all of our Mii data copied over. Additionally, Nintendo transfered our Virtual Console points to the new system, and we could re-download previous VC purchases for free. (We also had to re-download the other, always-free channels.)While the VC transfer isn't news -- CVG noted it late last year -- more than a few Joystiq staffers were surprised. Nintendo deserves some credit for the smooth process, but we expected this to happen; we'd be angry if the company ate the Wii Points with the hardware exchange. The Mii transfer was a bigger bonus, preserving our 2040-rated tennis pro and our beloved Big Poppa.
This exchange is just one customer service replacement without incident. (The glitchy Wii was a personal system, so we went though the regular customer support channels instead of calling PR contacts.) What are your stories?
See also:
Ring of Death: An Xbox 360 story -- Part 1
Ring of Death: An Xbox 360 story -- Part 2
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
NoHitHair @ Mar 20th 2007 8:13AM
I really like that the links associated with this Nintendo praise is starkly contrasted by Microsoft horror stories. Watch out - it's possible one or two fanboys may cry "bias."
Although I do believe your situation is fairly indicative of Nintendo's usual practices. I've never experienced better customer service from any company in my entire life. Most of the people that I know that have dealt with Nintendo have described similar interactions. Seems the track record's pretty strong.
http://blog.myspace.com/nohithair
JesterT @ Mar 20th 2007 8:16AM
I love it, when your wee goes bad, you spin it really good, but when someone's 360 in the media (not even yours)goes bad, you do a huge report on it and make it sound like a huge deal, and the 360's arcade game and points also get transferred to the new system but you say nothing about about. Why don't you rename Joystiq: nintendo fanboy.
tickmenanny @ Mar 20th 2007 8:24AM
My Wii had some graphical problems, like tiny gray boxes appearing all over the screen that multiplied the longer the system was on. I contacted Nintendo and received a new system in the mail in a couple of days. I hadn't bought any VC games, so that was okay, and I copied my Miis to my controller, though doing it that way doesn't allow for the Wiisports data to transfer. Still, it was a pretty easy process. I just put the old one in the box ans shipped it out.
Myke @ Mar 20th 2007 8:35AM
Jester - wasn't that story about the guy's 8TH 360 that went bad? I think that's a little more impactful than Nintendo transfering data over.
Grey @ Mar 21st 2007 8:09PM
nintendo are legends.
Nij @ Mar 20th 2007 8:41AM
What I love is how they report the story, then two paragraphs in the writer starts downplaying it. "Hey, guys, great news! ... oh wait, it's not really news. Well, go read up about 360s failing again, then."
Viridium @ Mar 20th 2007 8:46AM
I wish Microsoft would get their ass in gear and allow transfer of Live games to a replaced console! My wife STILL cannot play any of our Live Arcade games under her profile on our returned box. :(
Brad @ Mar 20th 2007 8:54AM
So far, my experience with Nintendo has been horrible! I had to wait for some phantom UPS shipping label to arrive via USPS... after 2 weeks, still no label. I finally shipped my Wii to them, on my dime... Then when I call, to express my concerns with what was happening, they then tell me they could have sent FedEx to pick up the system. Gee, thanks... too late. I've had 4 different RO numbers assigned to me, because they kept messing up information on them. When the UPS label finally did arrive, it was to the wrong address...
They told me they couldn't transfer anything to a new system, and if I got a replacement, instead of a repair, I would lose all my games, Mii's, etc. No credit for VC games, nothing. They offered no apology for this. So, all that money spent on VC games, lost? No thanks...
So, my system is now in NY getting "repaired"... After my complaining enough about it taking so long to get me the shipping label, they agreed to ship my system back to my UPS Blue (2nd day)... If that actually happens, I will be surprised.
So far, everything they have said would happen, hasn't happened, so I'm expecting no miracles... Likely they'll have my system for the max amount of time, then ship it back to me ground.
All total, I will be without this system for a month (give or take)...
So, that said, I'm not thrilled with Nintendo's Customer Service, and this has really made me step back and look at the Wii as a whole. There really aren't any must have games out for this system now, and I don't really see any on the immediate horizon. It's funny how this negative experience with Nintendo CS can change my mind about the product I was once so happy to own and play. I really hope they get my Wii back to me in perfect condition, in a reasonable amount of time... I don't want to hate Nintendo, or this system...
Hopefully it's just my frustrations, and it will pass once I've spent some more time with Zelda...
SuperSneaky @ Mar 20th 2007 8:56AM
Ahh, God Bless you Nintendo.
God Bless you for being better than life itself !
RYAN @ Mar 20th 2007 8:54AM
i don't think this is fanboy talk, I think it's pretty fairly indicative of how these machines are operating and how the companies are responding to problems WITH them.
I don't know anybody in real life who has had a problem with their wii. I have read very few stories online of hardware issues. On the other hand, I know 5 people with 360's, and 3 of them have had to be replaced already. If the damn thing breaks down so much they give a nickname to the error light, what does that tell you? *shrug*
this doesn't stop me from wanting a 360, but don't try to pretend it doesn't have more than a normal share of hardware issues.
dsub @ Mar 20th 2007 8:55AM
viridium-
you are either blowing smoke out your ass or you are a moron.
Of course you can play all your arcade games on your returned 360. If you even own one. I question whether or not you are merely a fanboy spreading negative MS propoganda.
I have a praise story for MS to. When my 360 broke, I received a new fully working unit less than a week later, and guess what! I got to keep my XBOX Live account, my games, my demos, my movies, my gamesaves, and everything else on my damn system...why?
Because they let you keep your HDD. Duh.
Viridium, either you sent in your HDD or Memory Card when you weren't supposed to, or you are lying. I can't fathom someone being that dumb.
Mof @ Mar 20th 2007 9:04AM
I can see how Nintendo are trying to do the right thing, and I don't blame them for what happened to me, but that doesn't change the fact my experience was pretty crap.
My Wii ate my Zelda disc and would not turn on again. It would start up, flash red and switch itself off again. When I took it to the Nintendo repair centre to get it fixed, I was told they could transfer everything over (saves, miis, virtual console games, etc) while I waited playing Metroid Prime Hunters in the reception.
So I waited a little while, until the nice Nintendo repairman came back in and told me there was a problem with my virtual console games. According to their information (based on the credit card I used, etc), the games I bought were downloaded to another Wii. Even though I had them. Which made total sense. Basically, my Wii system code (or friend code or whatever) did not match up with the system code that was used to download those games. Which, I was told, is impossible. Looks like I beat those odds.
So I was told that I couldn't get my Wii fixed, because I'd apparantly done something impossible and probably illegal and some sort of action might be taken against ME. Going back here - I've done nothing wrong. I bought a Wii, I bought Zelda, and I bought Sonic, Zelda and Ecco for the VC. Well, maybe Ecco was a mistake. That game hasn't aged well.
Anyway, after much discussing, the repairman turned out to be pretty reasonable after all, and the whole thing was resolved by matching up the Wii code on my console, with the one my friends had received by adding me or receiving my emails. They surgically removed Zelda, gave me the points to rebuy my VC games and gave me a nice new console which I have had no problems with since. *touch wood*
And what happened to my impossibly busted Wii? According to Ninty, it's the only one in the world to have failed so completely. It was sent back to Japan for further examination. Damn.
JodyAnthony @ Mar 20th 2007 9:08AM
not wii related, but nintendo customer service related. The shoulder button on my old regular DS had stopped working, so I called nintendo up, they did the advance replacement thing (had to give them my credit card info)
Placed my call on a wednesday at 7 pm. Friday afternoon, the replacement DS was at my doorstep (and I'm in Chicago), the new one worked perfectly and I returned the old one, no fuss.
dave @ Mar 20th 2007 9:18AM
I can speak from personal experience when i say that microsoft's transfering of points is HELL. If you have more than one Xbox Live account the non-primary tag holder has to jump through hoops to get their points back. This took me a few weeks. i called and they had to confirm every game i purchased and put in a request for a refund, then they told me to call back in a week to confirm that the refund was awarded (it took about 3 weeks to actually happen), from there they gave me about 15 codes that i had to punch into the system, and then i had to repurchase the games. When all was said and done I was still about 600 points shy of what i actually paid for (i didn't bother getting them back because that would mean another 5 or 6 calls to customer service).
Myke @ Mar 20th 2007 9:18AM
The morning after I got my Wii after sitting in a line for 13 hours I got home, slammed a couple cups of coffee and prepared for a marathon to really put the Wii on the racks. I unpacked it (which was a f*cking adventure all on it's own) and set it all up in it's cute little stand and whatnot and I turn it on, boots up, get the warning, get the main interface with the channels and I unpack WiiSports and slide it in. Disc Read Error. So I eject it and (without looking at the disk itself) push it back in. Disc Read Error, "Contact Nintendo, blah blah blah" So I'm sitting there completely out of my mind with anger. I turn it off and I think I went and cried a little bit. I came back and ejected the disc because I wanted to throw it out the window and.....yeah.....I put the disc in backwards. I apologized to the Wii and proceeded to play it for about 14 hours straight =)
adam @ Mar 20th 2007 12:22PM
My Wii went defunct the second day I had it. Bad software update as far as they could tell. When I called NOA support, they suggested I take it to their corporate headquarters in Redmond (about 45 minutes away) if I wanted it fixed that day. So I drove down to Redmond on a Saturday afternoon, they verified the problem, transferred my serial number to a new Wii, transferred my Miis and I was at home playing an hour later.
RYAN @ Mar 20th 2007 9:38AM
don't feel bad myke i did the same thing LOL. I just figured it out faster o_0
Gain_Bijou @ Mar 20th 2007 9:46AM
My Wii just started artifacting, so I'm going to have to go through the return process. I called and things seemed to go smoothly. Other than trying to explain to a customer service rep what artifacting was. My return shipping box should be arriving soon, and I'll have to see how the process goes.
robert @ Mar 20th 2007 9:46AM
oh, come on... admit it, this is a fake story.
everybody knows that the Wii is the only console in history to launch with absolutely zero defective units.
it is plastic molded perfection and if for some reason anyone thought it wasn't working it's because they are too stupid to know how to use it.
Joshua @ Mar 20th 2007 9:59AM
Hey JesterT I'm going to have to call you out on your comment.
My friend had to send in his unit for service. He had to enter in a bunch of GamerPoint cards to 'repurchase' his Live Arcade content. Sure, they didn't recharge him, but they didn't make it easy either.
If Nintendo takes the time to do it for you when you have a bad system, that means they are offering BETTER service and it should be noted.
Stop the BS of making it seem like MS is offering the same level of service. I'm a big 360 fan and even I know that's crap.
Nintendo (and the Wii) isn't perfect. Honestly I find the Wii terribly boring and almost regret buying one. But they do some things better than the others and that is the point of this post.
Twinkie @ Mar 20th 2007 7:00PM
nothing special, but my wiimote broke a couple of months ago. apparently, i hit it to hard and the tilt sensors stopped working. called ninty, they said they would give me a new one. all i had to do was ship the broken one to them. OK, thats cool i tel them, then all of a sudden, my call fails because i loose signal. Noooooooooooooo! enraged, i smack my broken wiimote. then it hits me... godsend. my wiimote starts working again! still works!
Ebolaboi @ Mar 20th 2007 10:22AM
"Additionally, Nintendo transfered our Virtual Console points to the new system, and we could re-download previous VC purchases for free."
How is paying for something, and getting it back considered free? Am I missing something? I don't own a Wii, and probably never will. I have other Nintendo consoles, so don't start fanboys and fangirls.
vR @ Mar 20th 2007 11:23AM
"I hadn't bought any VC games, so that was okay, and I copied my Miis to my controller, though doing it that way doesn't allow for the Wiisports data to transfer. Still, it was a pretty easy process. I just put the old one in the box ans shipped it out." - tickmenanny
Those of you thinking this is a Mii solution, just keep in mind that transferring those saved Miis from your controller onto your new Wii is like taking them to a buddy's Wii... you won't be able to alter those Miis in any way after that point. Not a great solution.
IF you plan on sending it back to Nintendo, just insist that they transfer your Miis and points over. Now that we know it's possible, make them do it (it wasn't the case when I had to send mine back a week after I bought it).
Crono @ Mar 20th 2007 10:29AM
I call BS on brad's comment. The only way for things to be that screwed up is if you stupidly gave them incorrect information.
The evidence of your stupidity is backed up by the fact that you just mailed off your wii to them without calling about it first.
I had artifacting on my Wii. Called them, described the problem. They issued me a label and RMA number. Label came in a few days later, Wii was shipped out, they received it and had a new one back to me in a week with all my data and VC purchase info intact. I didn't even have to ask for it.
Cory R, @ Mar 21st 2007 1:08AM
I'll never forget what happened when I got my Wii back. They assured me that when I recieved my Wii, that everything would be transfered over. Oh, I got back my VC points alright, but 52 hours of Zelda:TP gone down the drain. I haven't touched that game since...
Brad @ Mar 20th 2007 10:51AM
Chrono:
I didn't prove my stupidity by just mailing my Wii off to them, I called and got a new RO number and sent it off... I don't recall saying anything about just sending it off without an RO...
Since it had been 2 weeks without the UPS label arriving via USPS, I took the initiative and sent the thing off myself, since it seemed evident the label wasn't going to arrive... And, as stated before, when it did finally arrive, it was sent to the wrong address, and arrived almost 3 weeks after the initial RO was set, so that's not exactly heartening... I understand post office problems happen, so I'm not blaming Nintendo for that... I do think that sending the label via snail mail is a little old fashioned these days, why not send me a link to download a PDF of the label? Other companies offer this, why not Nintendo?
It sounds to me like you had a lot better experience than I've been having, so that's great for you. Not all stories are that endearing though, and mine is a case in point.
As for me giving incorrect information, I did no such thing. I did, however, ask the UPS label and unit be shipped to my work address, as opposed to my home address. It seems as though that was too much for them to handle.
I'm not bagging on Nintendo, persay, but I am a little frustrated that it's taken this long to get the system repaired. Also, and rightfully so, I'm a little annoyed that after waiting weeks for the UPS label to arrive, they then come out of the blue and tell me they can have FedEx pick the Wii up at my location... Why not just offer that to begin with?
Steve @ Mar 20th 2007 11:25AM
I've already had to send back two Wiis due to the random pixel dot problem. I had to do it by the slow repair process because both systems had VC content on them. When the first repair was completed my VC content was unaccessable and it took Nintendo 4 days to fix it.
I dislike how Nintendo punishes customers of its VC service with a lengthy repair cycle while those without VC content are given the advanced replacement option. In my repair situations the defects weren't fatal so an advanced replacement option would have meant no down time at all. Because I am a customer of their VC service I was stuck with a pair of 3 week repair cycles.
Nintendo is capable of remotely transfering accounts from one Wii to another (they had to do this after my first repair), so why do they refuse this service for the people who are buying their highly-profitable VC games? In both cases my Wiis were replaced so it's not like Nintendo's losing out using the Advanced Replacement service.
Nintendo needs to address this, especially since this random pixel problem seems to be as common on the Wii as hardware deaths are on the 360. It's likely I'll have to send this thing back 2 or 3 more times before they finally fix the problem.
Squeek @ Mar 20th 2007 10:55AM
I almost look forward to calling Nintendo after the raving reviews I've read about their customer service.
My Wii refuses to load Elebits anymore. I cannot imagine why. It also takes forever to load WarioWare, but only sometimes. All five of my other games work just fine though.
One of my controllers has a loose button (B) and the other sounds incredibly weird when it rumbles in certain pointing games.
This is why they tell you not to get launch-day consoles. Elebits was my favorite game and I was so close to 100%ing it. Just had to S-rank the last two stages and capture all of the Elebits on the last... 25 >_>
Viridium @ Mar 20th 2007 11:15AM
dsub - Please go back and re-read what I wrote. I'm neither blowing smoke, nor am I a moron (perhaps you were looking in the mirror when you wrote that and had yourself on your mind?).
I never said I was incapable of playing my Arcade games. I can still play them, provided I'm still connected to Live (which itself is a bit of an inconvenience, us having had to relocate the 360 when our daughter was born several months ago).
What I said was that my wife is incapable of playing Arcade games UNDER HER PROFILE. All games were purchased under my profile. On our old 360, any secondary profiles could also play the games. Now that we have a returned box, all our Arcade games are tied to the old console ID. Thus my profile has to be on Live to play any of them, and all secondary profiles cannot play them AT ALL.
Is that a little clearer now?
SinisterRabbit @ Mar 20th 2007 6:30PM
My Wii recently had to be replaced due to random artifacts appearing all over the screen. Nintendo customer support was very friendly, and the entire process took less than two weeks. My Wii came home yesterday, but it is a changed man. I had problems connecting to the internet, which may or may not be my router. The worse problem is...
My Miis are all locked. I cannot edit any of them, and if I delete what I have and start over I will loose all of my points. I will be contacting Nintendo to see what, if anything, I can do.
Visit my "Wii In Crisis" story for all of the info.
http://sinisterrabbit.com/?page_id=285
billychaos @ Mar 20th 2007 3:19PM
For all those who act like Nintendo is NOT doing you a favor by doing it for free, you must be very naive to the software industry. We'd like to think we deserve this service but the industry tends to disagree. For instance:
If you purchase a copy of Windows (win 95 and beyond), you are NOT allowed to install it on other pcs other than the original one you installed it on. If you replace the hardware....tough! Yes there are ways around this( illegally), but I know with newer operating systems such as vista, xp, you must contact microsoft and request a new serial. Or else you will now have an illegal copy of windows and wont be able to get any windows updates (and hackers love non-updated pcs)..so dont cry and say "but i payed 300 dollars for it, i own it"...wrong.
Plus I purchased $300 music software. I recently upgraded my hardrive and the software serial code would no longer work! I had to contact the company and their agreement is, you can only reinstall the software 3 times!!!! Yes this pisses me off but that's how the industry is. I guess after the 3rd install I'm just screwed!
Same goes for if you buy a game from www.direct2drive.com . you only get like 2 installs. After that they are pretty much like "Thanks for your money....Rebuy it again". This is not select companies, this is all software. You'll be absolutly lucky to find a company that lets you install software without rules.
So Yes, Nintendo is doing us a free service for not making us re-buy the VC titles on a different Wii. FYI, please read your EULA's before you buy computer software. You'll find you can be easilly screwed. The industry sucks because of all this DRM crap going on.
Leshrac @ Mar 20th 2007 12:40PM
Well, I did the same thing, but I don't know why this is something to get all crazy about. I can't possibly see how Nintendo could get away with essentially stealing your time and money when your console breaks. What's just stupid is that Nintendo can't transfer your account over to a new console for cross-shipment so that you spend the minimum amount of time possible without your Wii. What would also be helpful is if you could transfer Miis to a memory card, which somehow, is not possible (you can only transfer Miis to remotes... I think 8 per.)
I'll agree that it was a mostly smooth process, although I had to wait about a week for their UPS mailer to come, and then another 1.5 weeks or so before I received my replacement back. But it's just amazing that you seem incredibly pleased that Nintendo is letting you keep things that you rightfully payed for... Yay.
-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com
Tremada @ Mar 20th 2007 1:07PM
I had static pixelation all over my launch Wii after 3 months. I haven't heard any reports on this problem, but it seems to be a growing problem. I hope Nintendo didn't make a lemon.
bynary @ Mar 20th 2007 6:53PM
Are the Wii points stored on the Wii itself? I thought they were associated with your my.nintendo.com account and stored remotely (which makes more sense). The VC games you have purchased are listed on the My Nintendo page. Can anyone officially confirm or deny this?
J @ Mar 20th 2007 3:23PM
OH NOES!!!!!111!1 JOYSTIQ IS TEH BIASED!!!!!
Nintendo having good customer support. You don't say.......
Glad you got your system back with everything in place. I read the first half of the article thinking "so" in the back of my head until I read the part about not using PR people to do this. This means that each wii owner should get exactly the same treatment. Its a damn shame that if I buy 2 wiis I can't put the VC games on both. That is a serious pain in the ass and really shouldn't be allowed. If the wii links to my nintendo account then I should be able to re-download the games and register more then one console (maybe up to 3 would be fair).
Matters @ Mar 20th 2007 4:08PM
Get real JesterT. I'm a 360 fan. We have 2 of them in our house. One of them has gone bad 4 times and the other one has gone bad 2 times.
The first few times we sent a box in we were told to send everything and they ended up destroying everything on the hard drive. Saved games and all.
After that they told us to go buy a $40 save cart to backup our saves on. Pffft screw that. It wasn't gonna happen. We just quit sending the HD in with the system (big duh on our part but hell we didn't know they were going to kill the drive).
I wouldn't say it was all bad though. That was the worst of it. That and the systems dying in the first place. Everything else was mostly smooth going.. They were fast, it was completely paid for.. I have no real complaints about all that.
Although they did force my other roommate to purchase an extended warranty before they would fix his machine and then a few weeks later they extended them all for free. THAT was pure crap and no.. he didn't get any kind of refund.
How many Wii's have died in comparison to 360's? I only have one and it's fairly new so I have no experience with it yet. I haven't read too many reports of it happening online (not that I'm saying that means much).
All I know is the 360's die... A LOT.
Leshrac @ Mar 20th 2007 4:11PM
billychaos-
I'm sorry, your analogy doesn't hold up. This isn't about just buying a new Wii and having the stuff transferred over, this is about your Wii breaking and Nintendo then saying "Ok, we'll transfer over your stuff that you bought from us so you don't have to re-buy it". If they didn't do that and we wanted to use your analogy, it'd be more like Dell shipping you a defective computer, then asking them to replace it for you, but then they said "well, you'll have to buy Windows and any other pre-installed software that you paid for already again... since it's another machine." It's completely different.
I should also mention that even in your example, you're wrong. Windows gives you a license for one machine, but which machine it is doesn't matter. If I install it on one machine now, as long as I uninstall it, I can install it on another machine 5 years from now. The most you might be required to do is call Microsoft to tell them that you're transferring the license to another computer (and i believe you get 2-3 hassle-free transfers anyway). Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn't actually allow even this... you have to send your system back to Nintendo to switch anything, which in 5 years will not be under warranty (and thus, any time you need to move your stuff over if your hardware breaks, etc, Nintendo will charge you money). The 360 doesn't even require this... if it breaks, you simply tie the new console to your account and you'll have access to all of your content that you previously bought. Nintendo is definitely on the crappier end of the scale in regards to this.
-Leshrac
http://alinktothefuture.com
Matters @ Mar 20th 2007 4:14PM
Tremada: When you're making millions of products you're bound to get a few lemons. Even simple things that have been perfected. I've found cans of soda that were perfectly sealed but had nothing inside of them. If it was a diet soda I would have gotten a kick out of it.
Luigi @ Mar 20th 2007 4:51PM
I had mine replaced in January for some artafacting issues. I revieved a brand new Wii, with all my Miis, and credits to re-download my VC games. Very good service.
Robert Feng @ Mar 20th 2007 6:48PM
only problem with the transfer is that transferred mii's can no longer be edited. that was the only set back for me when i had to switch out my wii
maxx @ Mar 20th 2007 6:17PM
I have the screwy "random pixel problem" or whatever you want to call it thing going on too. It cropped up about 2 or 3 months after I bought the Wii. Nintendo offered to RMA it for me, but I haven't done so yet. I can't bring myself to give up my Wii. I waited in line for 4 hours in the cold for it, back when people said "that'll never sell out!" If they repair it I want the same one back, not a replacement. :\ But I'm weird like that. I'll send it away some day.
pascaloux @ Mar 20th 2007 7:02PM
I just sent mine today. I hope it will be the only time. And I'm still amazed by the quality of the customer service. Many companies should look at how Nintendo does it.
Brandon @ Mar 21st 2007 11:25AM
I've had great support from them too. My DSlite's L button stopped working about a month after I got it and I sent it in to them and got it back in about two weeks. But it was a brand new DSlite so I was happy too.
chaos @ Mar 25th 2007 4:52AM
does anybody know a site where you can download vc games for free??
Xquester @ Mar 25th 2007 5:55PM
I had to send my Wii for repairs this week because it gets locked up in the standby mode.
The person I spoke with at Nintendo insisted that if my Wii is replaced, I will lose all VC content, Wii points, Mii data, etc. There was just no arguing with him.
But I attached a copy of this article to my Wii with a letter requesting that they do for me what they did for the writer of this article.