Nintendo of Japan has updated its terms and conditions to allow its customer service staff to refuse repair requests if faced with harrassment.
An update to Nintendos Japanese repair and warranty regulations in October warned customers they may no longer be eligible for a product repair or replacement if they are found to have behaved inappropriately to staff.
This includes instances where a staff member has been threatened or verbally abused, or where a customer may have been deliberately wasting their time.
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“We made the decision after concluding our customers would understand because of the reputation we have built of faithfully responding to them,” Nintendo told Kyodo News.
The move has been welcomed by the Japanese governments ministry of health, labour and welfare, which called the stance “effective”.
Nintendo fans in Japan have also praised the idea (per Digital+, via DualShockers), while a social psychology professor from Kansai University has also chimed in.
2022年10月19日に、弊社製品の「修理サービス規程/保証規程」を更新します。更新内容はこちらをご覧ください。 https://t.co/3vwf7gKvWA
— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) October 12, 2022
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“In recent years, posts on social media have made visible the harassment various industries are exposed to, and consumer attitudes are also changing,” professor Hiromni Ikeuchi said. “As a result, Nintendo has successfully kept with the times by making a decision that society was ready to accept.”
Weve contacted Nintendo to see if it might adapt a similar response here in the UK.
