How To Send Joy Con To Nintendo For Repair

If you owned a Nintendo Switch over the last few years, y'all've probably heard about, or become a victim of, the dreaded "Joy-Con drift" issue that's plagued the console's gamepads since its launch.

At that place's null worse than trying to return to bed on time in Stardew Valley and fighting with the controller to move in the correct direction or failing to dodge an assail in Hades because your dash will but move up. Super Smash Bros. is essentially unplayable with Joy-Con drift, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an (even bigger) lesson in frustration.

The Outcome

Joy-Con drift is the common name for a hardware trouble that causes the control stick on Nintendo's Switch controllers to not respond or annals the wrong input even when the gamepad buttons are not pressed.

Since buying my ain Switch at launch (and my husband getting his a little later), my household has experienced the outcome on three separate sets of Joy-Cons. Each time resulted in the purchase of new controllers or forced me to play the Switch but while docked with a Pro Controller.

"Later on pressure from several course-activeness lawsuits, Nintendo has started to offering gratis Joy-Con repairs through its customer service portal."

Nintendo has repeatedly denied whatever outcome exists with the Switch's Joy-Cons — or at least won't admit that the migrate problem is as bad every bit the internet makes it out to exist. However, the problem is widespread enough that Joy-Con home repair guides have get commonplace and several class-action lawsuits have been filed. Pressurized air, rubbing alcohol, bits of paper, and more take all been cited as potential solutions to the issue.

I've tried every trick I could find that didn't involve opening the hardware up myself. Some of the techniques, such equally rubbing alcohol, seemed to solve the issue at first. However, the problem would e'er return after a few hours to a day, which caused more frustration.

Switch red and blue Joy-Cons

Later pressure from several grade-activeness lawsuits, Nintendo has started to offer free Joy-Con repairs through its customer service portal. The process is straightforward; fill out an online form (or phone call a customer service representative), mail service out the equipment, and and then expect. Nintendo doesn't offer whatever indication of how long the process will take, nonetheless.

With the launch of Monster Hunter Rise and Pokémon Unite, I finally felt motivated plenty to start the repair process so I could finally return to gaming on my couch, upside downwards and under a coating, just similar I used to when I was viii and had to employ a flashlight with a Game Boy.

Repair Procedure

Since I owned more than four Joy-Cons with drift, I was required to telephone call Nintendo's customer service line (the visitor explains that this is due to lithium-ion battery shipping restrictions). If you want to have less than four Joy-Cons repaired, you need to fill out this form.

In order to process the repair, the amanuensis I spoke to asked the same questions I had previously entered into the form to ship less than 5 Joy-Cons. I was asked to provide my address, depict the problem, and respond basic troubleshooting questions. I was then requested to provide the serial number of my Switch arrangement, even though I was not sending the console itself in for repair.

Switch repairs

After finishing my call with the agent, I checked my inbox to see eight separate emails from Nintendo. Four of these were different repair orders (with their own repair order numbers), and the others were four dissever UPS waybills.

Assuming it would exist fine to combine all of them into one box, I packaged up my Joy-Cons as best I could and dropped them off the adjacent 24-hour interval. Afterwards, Nintendo sends your inquiries to its repair tracking website.

Two weeks later on dropping the Joy-Cons at my local UPS Store (this is the curse of mailing anything to/from Newfoundland) I received a fresh set of six new emails. Of these emails, ii of them had new repair numbers from the original set.

"The entire repair process was straightforward (except for the battery of emails) and didn't require much more from me other than dropping off a box of electronics at a UPS co-operative."

Two days after this, I received some other fix of six emails notifying me that each Joy-Con had completed its repair process and was heading dorsum to me from across a continent.

A few weeks afterwards, a unmarried paper-thin box arrived in my kitchen. The Joy-Cons seemed to accept been completely replaced (or at least swapped with refurbished controllers).

Information technology'southward of import to note that Nintendo never confirmed either the issue I was experiencing or that information technology plant a trouble to begin with. The repair summary sent back with the controllers listed every possible issue as blank. I, unfortunately, can't speak to what event was causing the trouble with my Joy-Cons. While there was no charge for the repair procedure, Nintendo alerted me that I would have paid to repair any physical damage.

Migrate-Free?

The entire repair process was straightforward (except for the bombardment of emails) and didn't require much more from me other than dropping off a box of electronics at a UPS branch. Aside from a lengthy shipping time of near six weeks, it was mostly painless. Since getting my new-to-me controllers back, I have been pestering friends and family to start the process themselves so that they can finally enjoy their game library once again.

It'south unclear if Nintendo plans to update the Switch's hardware to avoid drift in the future, and promise that the new OLED model fixes the consequence seems to exist misplaced. It's as well an issue plaguing some owners of Nintendo Switch Lite consoles. Since the switch Calorie-free does non permit users to bandy out its built-in joystick and buttons, this is even more frustrating than the standard Switch.

Joy-Con repair

With this in mind, information technology could be worth picking up an extra fix of Joy-Cons or a Pro controller to have a backup if drift is encountered. This is also something to consider if yous're deciding between buying the Lite and the standard Switch.

If yous're experiencing Joy-Con drift with your controllers, I highly recommend you begin the repair process. It may take several weeks to see your Joy-Cons over again, but I consider it worth it to avoid spending more than coin on new controllers that may end up with the same issue anyway.

I've been playing with my Joy-Cons again for several days, and I'm pleased to say I oasis't seen any signs of the drift issue returning. Nintendo has not mentioned to me any recourse options if the issue returns, so I'm hopeful I won't need to cross that bridge again.