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Nintendo charging huge extra for repairs if they detect homebrew on your Wii?

Posted Apr 25, 2009 at 11:18AM EST by Karl B.

Listed in: Wii Tags: Bushing, Nintendo

Some recent evidence posted by Wiibrew developer Bushing has revealed that Nintendo may now be charging an extra fee for repairing a homebrew-capable Wii, as seen in the receipt scan to the right.

Bushing explains, "My GermanÂ’s pretty bad, but I see "Â…. Softwarehack Â… EUR 210". That seems awfully excessive, given that the price of a new Wii is EUR 250, no?"

The dev also mentioned an email sent last month informing him that Nintendo is indeed now enforcing the "no homebrew" rule. The email explained that since a homebrew-enabled Wii would be considered out of warranty, repair costs could go up by approximately 180 to 210 Euros.

The issue here seems to be the huge additional repair costs, not the fact that a homebrew-enabled Wii is considered out of warranty. Here's Bushing's take on this:

This is unacceptable. I was under the impression that most out-of-warranty repairs were in the $75 - $100 range Â— and this email came with a note saying that the most expensive (common?) repair is to replace the drive for 90Â€.

Should Nintendo have to pay to repair hacked Wiis under warranty? Maybe not, but they have no (moral) right to gouge customers out of spite for having the HBC installed.

Here's more:

As some has noted, this creates a financial incentive for anyone with a "Softwarehack"ed Wii ($25 for Nintendo to fix, but they'll charge you $200) to find a way to damage it further ($85 for Nintendo to fix, but they will only charge you $75).

Via HackMii

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They do, but they dont =\

the warranty states, like just about every other one, if you hack it in some way *open, edit, etc* you void the warranty thus you should get screwed out of a fix period! since their reinstating a warranty that you have no knowledge of its illegal =\

though the people whom replied here saying you "own a wii" clearly dont know what exactly a wii is, since you dont own that box that plays wii games you call a "wii" *but thats enough of that*

by law, since the warranty is voided they either have to Decline your clame, or do it as terms of the warranty! i never agreed to a term saying if i hack it i will be subject to pay more! thus it can be construed as illegal =P

# New Wii: £170GBP - Homebrew Fixed: £200GBP — JoycieC 2009-04-25 22:31

I was about to send off my Wii for a fix because it stated "Minor fault, £27GBP", however at the end of the form I was filling out, it said "Homebrew/Modded Wii £200GBP", I was furious, a brand new one costs £170.

This was only about a month and a half ago.

# If it were only that simple... — JoycieC 2009-04-25 22:34

If it were possible, I would have done it months ago, unless you know of some way to actually format the Wii without accessing the system menu? I'm open to suggestions, Nintendo is turning into the new Microsoft with their overpriced repairs, it costs £170 for a new Wii yet they insist on charging me £200 for a repair to mine.

# New Wii: £170GBP - Homebrew Fixed: £200GBP — JoycieC 2009-04-25 22:36

# ... — Main Cowz 2009-04-26 04:44

They fixed my Wii for free a while back and it had a lot Homebrew installed, but I guess they didn't know since the problem with my Wii was that it wouldn't turn on.

# .... — Silver-Tiger 2009-04-26 07:05

I'm a native German speaker, I translate it for you:

exclusion of warranty, reason:

modification of internal software was applied,

Softwarehack.

# eh... — omegaridley 2009-04-26 11:28

ill just get a new wii...

# well, — yoshi314 2009-04-26 18:25

"Sorry, but I have every right to do what ever I want with a product that I paid with my money"

did you read the license that came with the device?

http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/wii/en_na/privacyEULA.jsp

"Your Wii Console and the Wii Network Service are not designed for use with unauthorized software, services, or devices or non-licensed accessories, and you may not use any of these with your Wii Console or the Wii Network Service. Such use may be illegal, voids any warranty, and is a breach of this agreement. (...). If we detect unauthorized software, services, or devices, your access to the Wii Network Service may be disabled and/or the Wii Console or games may be unplayable. "

technically - you can. legally - you cannot.

nintendo simply introduced such pricing for repairs to discourage people from modding their wii's. as long as there is no 3rd party repair service (or are there?) they can put up such ridiculous pricing.

# Lol.. — Digitus 2009-04-26 21:32

People are stupid, the problem here is the price of the repairs being the same price as a new Wii console. I've never had them repair anything but if you mail the system to them and then they tell you it costs money and you can't get your Wii back unless you pay some ridiculous price then that just fails. You may dis like modding for whatever ignorant reason you might have but that doesn't justify whats essentially bad practice. But whatever I have two Wii's anyway, one modded for Brawl+ the other just to have if one broke I'd mod or use the other. Also at this point in time there isn't really anything worth having for the Wii so if both mine somehow broke I wouldn't buy another until the next Zelda, (like how I'm not buying another PSP til Kingdom Hearts)

# Lol.. — Digitus 2009-04-26 21:37

# Lol.. — Digitus 2009-04-26 21:38

# .. — DontCryIfYouDie 2009-04-27 06:31

if you dont accept to pay charges they send it back un-repaired

# Oh Whod belive it anyway — Scottytohotty 2011-03-03 22:42

Hey
I just sent my Wii for repair and got a letter from nintendo asking to Pay 200 pound if i wanted it fixed!! the fault says; un-athourised Homebrew Channel!! heres the thing, I bought it with the Homebrew Channel already installed 2nd hand, Cleaned it up (removed Homebrew Channel).....
Theres no Homebrew at all on there! And i need my DVD Drive Fixed SO i cant get mine fixed because Someone else Had allready had homebrew on there???
Very Unfair but whod belive it...
and what are they detecting anyway its all been removed????
oh well

# Repairing your Wii — RRR 2012-01-11 13:45

There are many how to videos and other guides, that can help you to repair your WII console or any other Nintendo video game. This is much cheaper and can actually be faster if you have the right tools.

Nintendo Repair Shop
www.nintendorepairshop.com

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