So, this is a customer support story that will actually put a smile on your face. Twitter user and gamer Nathan Tolbert was playing on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System – the one from 1990 when it went “POP and died”.
You’d think this would be the moment to finally accept that it’s all over and time to buy a new console but nope, Nathan flipped the NES on its side and called the service number. He didn’t actually think it’d work but well, it did.
“A nice lady from @NintendoAmerica spent 10 mins with me troubleshooting possible causes. On a nearly 30-year-old system.”
That is ridiculous customer service.
My ancient Super Nintendo went POP and died, so on a whim I called the support number on the back just to see what would happen.
A nice lady from @NintendoAmerica spent 10 minutes with me troubleshooting possible causes. On a nearly 30-year old system. pic.twitter.com/glQCH7cwR1
— nathantolbert (@nathantolbert) March 30, 2018
The NES is so old it’s that weird beige colour that matches everything else from the 90s.
But alas as Nathan updated eager gamers on his twitter, the nice lady at Nintendo America gave him the nudge to buy a new one.
I’ve heard @NintendoAmerica had good customer service, but that’s ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the troubleshooting ended with “sorry, we can no longer offer repair services for it, you’ll probably have to buy a replacement.”(Which means it’s time to open it up and attempt surgery)
— nathantolbert (@nathantolbert) March 30, 2018
“Which means it’s time to open it up and attempt surgery.”
Did he really?
Yes, yes he did.
Good news: didn’t take much surgery to get it going again.
— nathantolbert (@nathantolbert) March 30, 2018
In the end, all Nathan had to do was pull out the cartridge connector, give it an ol’ dust and a half with compressed air probably, and alive it was again.
If you ever wondered how much gaming consoles mean to people, well here you are.
Oh, and what game was Nathan playing when his NES died? Street Fighter II with a couple of mates. Doesn’t ring a bell? Think your vintage arcade games from 1991.
As you can imagine, a lotta people replied to Nathan’s tweet sharing their own stories about Nintendo and they’re all pretty sweet so I’d thought I’d include a bunch of them on this quality Sunday night.
When I was a kid, I wrote them a letter telling them I was stuck in Link’s Awakening, couldnt find Roc’s feather. They replied, sent me a letter back with a map on how to find it. Customer service is no joke and gosh I really miss #NintendoPower magazine
— Nechronus 🇺🇸 (@Nechronus) March 31, 2018
Link’s Awakening is referencing Legend of Zelda. The latest instalment’s trailer, Breath of the Wild made a lot of people cry.
Can confirm, I work with a company that contracts out call centers and nintendo is one of the companies that use it. Most employees are amazing there and the work environment is really good.
— – ̗̀ Ｚ ̖́- (@Zairin__) March 31, 2018
We need them.
https://twitter.com/Mrjoshnichols/status/980095007003725824
Commitment x 10.
They did the same thing for me about 13, 14 years ago when my first NES died. Went through all troubleshooting and even recommended which replacement part would work, but they were honest enough to tell me getting a unit off Ebay would be cheaper. I love their support team.
— Daisy – Done w/ Social Media (@Daisy1355) March 31, 2018
This is awesome. Got a Wii on launch day and 2 years in the video card died. A year out of warranty, they emailed me a prepaid shipping label to send it off to Vancouver for repair. 4 days later it was back in my hands free of charge.
Nintendo takes care of their customers.
— Edward McIntyre 🦝🍻 (@PlanBrewski) March 31, 2018
Nintendo wins.
