A major toy retailer has been ordered to refund a Donegal mother over a faulty games console.
The small claims action was taken against Smyths Toy Superstores. Letterkenny by an east Donegal woman.
At Letterkenny District Court, Judge Emile Daly ordered that the woman be refunded the €509.99 cost of the Nintendo Switch 2 console.
The claimant told the court that she purchased the Nintendo Switch 2 last October as a Christmas present for her young son.
Two weeks after the games console was first used on Christmas morning, she said the Switch began overheating when charging. A third party had looked at the console for the woman and advised that chips on the inside were “frazzled”.
She took the console back to the Smyths store in Letterkenny and when staff could find no sign of water damage it was returned to the manufacturer, Nintendo, who claimed that water damage from an unknown substance was found in a part of the item. Nintendo advised the woman that she would have to purchase another console as the error was at her end.
The woman told Judge Daly that she always monitors her son’s use of electronics and the Nintendo Switch 2 was always used while he was on the sofa in the sitting room.
“The overheating started two weeks after the first use,” she said. The first overheating incident was noticed when she noticed it “very warm” after putting her son to bed one evening.
In Smyths, she said an employee told her that it “looked all good” and would have to be sent back to Nintendo for further investigations. She asked Smyths if the item could be replaced or repaired and was again advised that if she disputed anything she would have to go directly to Nintendo.
Andrew Hanlon, the store manager at Smyths Toy Superstores, Letterkenny, told the court that staff undertake “fairly rudimentary checks” when items like this come back. He said they would first check if an item was charging and would then check the unit for “any obvious deformities or physical damage”.
Mr Hanlon said that staff could not see any evidence of damage, but Judge Daly interjected to tell the witness that he could not give evidence on behalf of a staff member who was not present in court.
Mr Hanlon said that the Nintendo Switch 2 console was sent back to Nintendo. He told the court that Nintendo emailed to say that it would not be covered under warranty due to liquid damage and corrosion.
You may also be interested in
“We rely on Nintendo as manufacturers to do the check,” he said, adding that the console was assessed by an engineer and found liquid and an unrecognised substance. Asked by Judge Daly, Mr Hanlon said Nintendo were unable to give any further details “other than it was liquid ingress damage in the type-c connector.”
He added that sometimes goodwill gestures are offered, but here he said it was Nintendo’s position that the console was damaged out of warranty and, therefore, would not furnish the store with any credit.
Mr Hanlon described this as a “very unusual” case, adding: “We don’t get many of these back.”
He said he could not speak to the item possibly being exposed to liquid before purchase. Pushed further, he said: “Nintendo had nothing to give us other than that some unknown liquid had caused corrosion and damage”.
A repair or replacement option was not triggered due to the opinion of Nintendo.
Judge Daly said it was difficult to rely on the third party, Nintendo, when they were not present in court to be cross-examined on the matter.
Judge Daly said this was essentially a breach of contract type case brought by way of a small claim.;
The judge said that the evidence of the complainant was “very clear”. Judge Daly said that the woman’s evidence was uncontested in that she bought a console, which stopped working two weeks after use and that it was not exposed to any liquid and any defect that would render it incapable of use was not affected by her behaviour or the behaviour of anyone in her house.
Judge Daly said that Smyths attempted to rely on the third party evidence of Nintendo, but as no evidence was presented she added that Smyths were in “a difficult situation in terms of defending”.
The judge added that the console was clearly not fit for purpose and said that she was satisfied that the claim was properly made out.
Judge Daly directed that Smyths repay the cost of the console, €509.99, to the claimant within two weeks.