Bad dog!

I wrote this post in 2006, more than 18 years ago. It may be very out of date, partially or totally incorrect. I may even no longer agree with this, or might approach things differently if I wrote this post today. I rarely edit posts after writing them, but if I have there'll be a note at the bottom about what I changed and why. If something in this post is actively harmful or dangerous please get in touch and I'll fix it.

So I came home to find this:

bad dog

[A moment of silence for my so-recently-new toy…]

He mangled the thing pretty good, but amazingly it still turns on, albeit with a busted touch-screen.

However, Nintendo’s customer service provides a happy(ish) ending to this story. Here’s a rough version of my call to Nintendo:

Nintendo: Nintendo of America! This is —-, how may I help you?
Me: Yeah… um, my puppy ate my DSlite.
Nintendo: [Smothered laughter] oh no!
Me: Yeah, it got pretty mangled. I’m wondering if there’s any way I can get it fixed for less than buying a new one.
Nintendo: Well, that depends – how mangled is it?
Me: Well, it still turns on but the bottom screen is busted, there are teeth marks all over the plastic, and…
Nintendo: Yeah, that doesn’t sound like it’s fixable.
Me: No, I didn’t think so.
Nintendo: You said it’s a DSlite? You mean you just got it, huh?
Me: Yeah, just about a month ago.
Nintendo: Wow, that’s terrible!.
Usually we charge full price for a replacement, but since you just got it let me see if there’s anything I can do…
Me: Thanks so much!
Nintendo: [Sounds of typing…]
So it looks like the best I can do is to charge you $50 to repair it, how does that sound?
Me: !

Major props to Nintendo’s customer service. I don’t know many companies that would replace a unit that’s been eaten by a dog for around 1/3 of the sticker price. That rocks.

Update:

Switched to a better photo taken by my co-worker, Phil.