The growing scare caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) has pushed people to practice social distancing, but it does not end there. Many companies have been forced to close down their factories, stores, and even service centers, and Nintendo is now one of them by having to close their repair centers!
Despite having to close down their service centers, Nintendo still donates 9500 masks to the Eastside Fire and Rescue Department located in Northwest Issaquah, Washington. A portion of the masks was then distributed to other groups as well.
Why do these masks make a difference?
Instead of the normal masks, we see every now and then, Nintendo was able to obtain N95 Particulate Respirator masks that are really hard to obtain! Most of these masks come from personal supply due to the growing shortage of protective materials. The masks are not just extremely rare--there are so effective.
Washington was hit particularly hard by the deadly coronavirus pandemic and according to Nintendo, those masks were purchased for their very own "emergency preparedness planning" which most likely is a reference to the fires that have caused quite an amount of damage in the west coast states.
Nintendo's store shutdown
Nintendo opted to close down their repair centers in hopes of preventing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and this was effective immediately without giving players enough time to prepare. This means that players will not be able to have their Nintendo Switch consoles repaired along with their controllers or any other hardware.
The announcement was released on the official customer support page for the Nintendo of America wherein it cites the "federal and local guidelines" regarding the situation which has driven them to take these preventative measures of closing their repair centers
Most states have even enacted a shelter-in-place order, which means that every single non-essential business is to close down during this period of social distancing. Only the essential businesses, which include the basics like grocery stores and other service providers, were allowed to continue operations in these states.
How will Nintendo tend to their customers?
There has been no official statement as to when Nintendo plans to resume its repair services, but players should not send any hardware during this time for repairs as they may be "sent back as undeliverable."
Although Nintendo of America has promised to honor their warranties despite expiring during the repair service closure, orders that have been opened will then remain so for the next 180 days or roughly six months.
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The best bet of Nintendo Switch users now is that they should wait for this whole period to be over, especially if they are experiencing problems with their hardware or the most common annoying Joy-Con drift issue.
Although the repair service closures are currently exclusive to North America, Nintendo still warns the public that because of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, their services and shipments may be delayed indefinitely.
