Nintendo Switch Fixes Return As Repair Centers Reopen
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot of things to grinding halt, including Nintendo's repair facilities. That, as you might imagine, was particularly bad news for anyone who had a broken Switch that was either already at one of Nintendo's repair facilities or needed to be shipped to the company. Today, those waiting on repairs got a bit of good news, as Nintendo announced that it's starting to reopen its repair centers in the US after shutting them down nearly two months ago.
That doesn't necessarily mean that your Switch repair is going to happen right away, though. In an update to its support site, Nintendo is clear that only some of its repair centers are able to "gradually restart services," which means that it's probably going to be some time before Nintendo is able to operate its repair centers at full capacity.
Indeed, the company says that it will continue following "the preventive measures put in place related to the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with local guidelines," so until restrictions are lifted entirely – something that may not happen for months yet – repairs will probably be a slow-going process for the foreseeable future.
In an updated FAQ in that same support article, Nintendo says that it will perform repairs in the order they were received. Those who have an existing repair order that they haven't shipped out will be notified by email when they can ship their consoles out. Orders that were opened before the shut down will remain open for 180 days, meaning that shipping labels will remain valid for that time period as well – if you have a repair order that's been open for more than 180 days, you should contact Nintendo to start a new order and get a new label.
Nintendo reiterates that warranties which expired during the time its repair centers were shut down will still be honored, assuming that the repair order was opened while the warranty was still active. We'll let you know if Nintendo makes any more announcements regarding this repair center ramp-up, so stay tuned for more.