Nintendo will fix broken DS lite hinges for free

Posted on July 21st, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: DSL, Gaming.

Some DS Lite owners have complained that their DS Lite hinge was cracked on the left side. Since than every blog on the internet has been posting about this. Saying that all units are doomed. Well Nintendo has reported that only 0.02% of all DS Lite units have this problem and that owners can get their unit fixed for free without having to pay the original 50 dollar price that was charged because the crack was considered out of warranty. So if your DS Lite has the crack then you can get yours fixed for free.

Remember that you can call Nintendo Support at 1-800-225-3700

This is for hinges that broke themselves and were faulty from the start, and not for hinges that broke due to neglect, abuse or any accident that you may have inflicted on your machine.

PLEASE NOTE: This offer is over two years old, it was available back in 2006. Other users in the comments are mentioning that this offer has expired. We have reason to believe that this is the case.


Other Posts

pauline

Comment on August 9th, 2006.

I have DS with a cracked hinge. How can i get it fixed?

MASA

Comment on August 9th, 2006.

Hey, when you bought the DS it should have come with a little booklet on who to call if the system is broken.

I do know that the phone number for nintendo’s customer service is 1-800-225-3700 and I believe that it is also the phone number for repairs as well.

Ethan

Comment on November 6th, 2006.

My ds lite broke were it makes the green lite and red lite will Nintendo fix that.

MASA

Comment on November 7th, 2006.

hm, I don’t know you probably should call nintendo.

GamePlayer

Comment on December 10th, 2006.

I sure hope so…my brother broke my DS Lite that way…

I’m not sure I want to hassle with salesmen and technicians over the phone again (bad experience with Wi-Fi support line)…

MASA

Comment on December 10th, 2006.

Have you tryed calling Nintendo? They are normally really really really nice about almost everything. It seems like there is nothing to make them mad. I have never had problems with their support system (I can’t say the same about microsoft).

Good luck!

GamePlayer

Comment on December 11th, 2006.

I went to the local Nintendo office building, and they told me it was not under my warrenty agreement. Normally, for a walk-in repair, this will cost 85 dollars. For a new, refurbrished DS. The old one was unfixable. The person gave my a deal of 20 dollars off, and I bought a new one.

MASA

Comment on December 12th, 2006.

Yeah, I didn’t know what the restrictions were on that.

I think the crack has to originally be on your ds lite when you got it. However, there was one incident where a dog chewed on a guy’s DS Lite and he got it repaired/replaced for something like $20-$50 bucks. He had just bought the console.

Your warranty must be still valid for this offer.

lol

Comment on February 21st, 2007.

Nintindo is ggggggggreat

Pto (potato tomato orange

Comment on February 21st, 2007.

I broke mine to. So just call nintindo!

carlos

Comment on February 22nd, 2007.

my ds broke when i fell on the floor.how should i fix it?

MASA

Comment on February 22nd, 2007.

Yeah you might wanna call nintendo about that.

nadia

Comment on March 22nd, 2007.

my sons ds lite has broken hinges an will not work the wires are still in tack it was brought for christmas but i cannot find the receipt can this be fixed? and how much will it cost/? pls respond asap as he is really upset. thanks.

nadia

Comment on March 22nd, 2007.

Whats the num?

MASA

Comment on March 22nd, 2007.

Well, the Nintendo DS has a warranty of about a year. Nintendo is very nice when it comes to repairing or replacing a console ( :) Past expirence). If you call Nintendo and explain your problem they will be happy to fix it.

However I would estimate that if there is a problem with your warrenty, it could cost about 40 dollars to get it fixed. Getting it replaced for free would mean that you didn’t damage it in anyway or use unauthorized DS accessories and/or games (as those void it instantly)

The phone number for support is: 1-800-225-3700

Corey

Comment on March 31st, 2007.

My DS Lite hinge (the part where the light shows) just broke off.. i was laughing with some friends… opened it and *CRACK* it just falls off, i knew it was getting really weak i called Nintendo they have a great service! THNX Nintendo!!!!

Jay

Comment on April 1st, 2007.

the samething happen to me as ethan should i call nintendo

MASA

Comment on April 1st, 2007.

Yes you should

ariana

Comment on June 9th, 2007.

My ds lite broke off at the hinges where the lite is at. I called nintendo and there fixing it for free with free shipping both ways. The guy was really nice and understanding, they have awesome customer service.

Drknight

Comment on June 18th, 2007.

I am on phone with Nintendo now. They are charging me $50 to repair the exact same problem(broken hinge/light). That is with me paying for shipping. What did you guys say to get them to pay for the repair???

MASA

Comment on June 18th, 2007.

It depends on if your warranty is still okay, Nintendo products have a 9 month warranty (I think). But if your warranty is up, you might have to pay. We aren’t too sure because this news is pretty old and most DS Lites don’t have this problem anymore.

Drknight

Comment on June 18th, 2007.

It is under warranty. I decided to mention that I had “heard” of this repair being done under warranty. After talking to a manager, she came back and said they wouldn’t charge me if I would ship it to them. Thanks for your help!

MASA

Comment on June 18th, 2007.

Good to know. Glad you got the fee waived.

Slyfox

Comment on June 23rd, 2007.

Is it a good deal to pay $50.50 for them to fix the ds lite, where its has broken on the right side where the light is. The ds still works and the my warranty isn’t over yet.

MASA

Comment on June 25th, 2007.

@slyfox, no it isn’t a very good deal because you can get it for free rather than have to pay

Cherry

Comment on July 10th, 2007.

My so bought his DSL on eBay because he wanted the dark blue. Recently the right hinge broke and he’s afraid to play with it at all in case it breaks further. I called Nintendo and they said that it was not fixable and since it’s apparently from Japan (he got it from a seller in the US) not covered by warranty. We were told that the only option is to pay to send it in and then pay $80 for them to give us a refurbished white one. Which doesn’t work as we’re trying to keep all of the children with different colored DSL’s. Do you know of any other place that will do a repair or instructions on how to do it ourselves?

WillFox

Comment on July 29th, 2007.

In response to Cherry, the Nerf Armor pad really helps. The only problem is it tips the screen with ease. I’d perfer fixing it though!
Anyways, my ds broke EXACTLY like Corey’s (see above). I called nintendo but they said it’ll cost about $55.00. What should I do? (I have no warrenty but a receipt from january 07.)

ryder

Comment on August 7th, 2007.

the right hinge of my ds was not that visibly crack now after 9 month it ccracked out i dont want it to fall off so i tried to glue it with some hot stuff but will nintendo repair it? free?

michelle

Comment on August 9th, 2007.

My son got his DSL wet. There is a bubble of water in the top screen. It seems to work fine. Do you have any suggestions for drying the bubble?

MASA

Comment on August 9th, 2007.

@ryder: Try calling Nintendo, it’s toll free. From what it sounds like, you already ruined the warranty, but I am not a Nintendo rep, so I can’t tell you much about what you can do.

@michelle: is the bubble “inside” (an internal bubble) the screen? Not too sure on what to do about a bubble inside of the DS.

farhana

Comment on August 15th, 2007.

i have a ds lte that doesn’t cahrge and it hinge is broken

Julian

Comment on August 29th, 2007.

i bought a new shell for my ds i screwed my ds back togther hardly , it dont work

ibrahim

Comment on September 7th, 2007.

If you buy a DS lite from ebay, and you are buying it knowing that it has a broken hinge will nintendo offer to fix it?

WillFox

Comment on September 8th, 2007.

I called again and mentioned I saw all over the web it being done for free but they acted as if it has never happend. What did you guys say? Does it depend on who you get on the phone with? They still want $57.50 for their defect.

Bentley

Comment on September 9th, 2007.

k my ds just broke and i wanted to know how long the warranty is cuz i had for about 5 or 6 months

MASA

Comment on September 9th, 2007.

ibrahim: I sent you an email, in my opinion, no they probably won’t, but you need to check with Nintendo first

WillFox: I don’t own a DS Lite (the buttons are too small), and I would suggest you ask a manager or supervisor

Bentley: I believe the warranty is about a year long.

Tricia

Comment on September 9th, 2007.

My daughter left her DS Lite out and it got rained on. Is there anything that can be done?

Gangsta

Comment on September 11th, 2007.

just buy a shell and hinge on ebay for $20 and put it on it is easy.

Calmanpowboy

Comment on September 17th, 2007.

I put my DSL on my table to go get a drink and when i came back my little sisters (there 3) where like playing tug of war with it and broke it in half there’s one wire from the top to the bottom still connected and the corner where the light is is broke off and every time i go to turn it on the green light goes on then the bottom screen flashes with white light for like half a second then shuts off do you think nintendo would fix it for free?

JumpyMcgee

Comment on November 4th, 2007.

Nintendo wasn’t willing to fix my DS Lite with the crack for free either, so I just grabbed a replacement shell from TMove.net Costs me less than what Nintendo was wanting to fix it.

Locki

Comment on November 28th, 2007.

Hey, im having the same problem as most of you my friend was over and he wanted to play my ds and he opened it and it just fell off and i just got of the phone with nintendo and they sed i had to pay. They dident even ask me about warrentry so im just going to ask my dad if i could get a new one beucase before mine broke i noticed that the screen was floppy and then yeah i dident think much of it until now. And also i got my ds with a bump in the right hand side corner down the bottom and i cant recall tropping it. And also i dont think nintenwill would fix it anyway because it has 2 stickers on it (Guitar hero ones) And at the moment its held together by stickytape. I can still play it and all but every hour and then it flopps backwards and the sound is faiding as well. But the colour and picture quality is still mint its fine.

Zach

Comment on December 1st, 2007.

They didn’t fix mine for free either. I think I am just going to buy a new one.

Viv

Comment on February 19th, 2008.

T___T my ds just broke yesterday~ where the green light is, it started to crack, so i thought okey nothing will happen. Until it broke off and i was like *ahhhh~*
My DS still works though, so i dont know..
I live in the UK, and i bought mine from Japan.
So what should i do?

Viv

Comment on February 19th, 2008.

I still really like my Ds Lite, dont want to get a new one yet as its 3 years old now~ :D ; Because its been 3 years i dont think they will fix it for free D; The manual script is in japanese aswell so i dont know..
hmm

MASA

Comment on February 19th, 2008.

Sorry, I’m not a nintendo rep, so I can’t help you. I doubt they will fix it for you because of where you bought it. You might need to just buy a new one.

Viv

Comment on February 19th, 2008.

Umm~ i found a topic with the same issue. The crack was exactly the same.

http://jonchoo.blogspot.com/2007/03/my-ds-lite-super-hinge-crack.html

Im going to see what i can do, i will probably take it to a DS specialist shop or something.

But thank you

MASA

Comment on February 20th, 2008.

That’s a good suggestion if you are really technical. One thing though, it will void your warranty, but it’s probably already expired by now.

Michael

Comment on June 3rd, 2008.

was told today 6/3/08 that there is no way that they would do it for free and the 50 dollar charge would have to be paid to get it fixed (was told thsi by an employee named Phillip)

gamegrl

Comment on July 9th, 2008.

check out fixmygadget.com for DSL repairs… they fixed my hinge with a new outer shell for $65… i think they do other repairs, too.

skygraze

Comment on July 23rd, 2008.

Well I got the rumored “Left side crack” on the right hand side and i also got a crack on the right hand side on the inside. I seems like I am having both of the crack problems on the right side and frankly im afraid to open my ds. I voided the warrenty the moment i got the thing, so calling nintendo would be useless. Its making the top screen very loose and it no longer locks. I dont have enough money to repair it either. Any suggestions? A picture of both cracks:

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i30/skyler5379/?action=view&current=cracks.jpg

skygraze

Comment on July 23rd, 2008.

OHMYGOD. I called and after fussing over a 75$ fee, they finally told me that my warranty was still valid and they’re gonna repair it for free. No fees or shipping cost!

Victoria

Comment on November 1st, 2008.

I was wondering if you need the original receipt to prove the validity of the warranty or if they can see when my ds is produced from some kind of a serial..somewhere on the ds.

I have had the broken left hinge problem for a few months now and I’ve finally gotten around to dealing with it, but realize that I don’t have the receipt anymore.

Thanks.

Dr.D

Comment on November 29th, 2008.

We had two break within the same month, both purchased on Jan 3, 2007. Today we were told that they will not cover the broken hinges. We could get new DS systems for $90 each, $85 plus $5 shipping. We were also given the option of a repair for $75, $70 repair plus $5 shipping. Both systems broke in almost the exact same way and place. We were told that if it was under a year from purchase, then it would be a “defect”, but since it is past a year, it is not a defect. Something is very wrong about that.

Lisa

Comment on December 3rd, 2008.

Does anyone know how long the warranty lasts. I have had my hinges broken since late 2007. I didn’t know I could fix it until now. Also, does Nintendo also replace touch screens?(at a price)