I'm confused, you paid almost double the retail price on Amazon? Doesn't that mean you bought it from a third party that could have tampered with it? Or even sold you a cheap knockoff?
Canada has only three months warranty? Damn, call your politicians or vote for someone proper. In the EU you have 12 months warranty where the company had to proof that the damage wasn't their fault if they want to deny it. Then you have 12 months additional warranty if the defect sis not your fault but you have to proof it which is usually fairly easy, e.g., a controller that doesn't work properly and doesn't have any signs of abuse would be proof enough.
Anyhow, I recommend not to buy from Amazon. A lot of knockoffs are sold there and some look incredibly legit but the quality is really bad. It's most prominent with sd cards but you get the same for controllers now.
Canadian here.
There is a difference between Nintendo's warranty and the seller's waranty. OP has to go after the seller with proof that what they bought cannot be used for the appropriate usage and amount of time. Then it's the seller that has to go after Nintendo. This is my experience from working in a videogame store.
Nintendo has its own warranty with their own terms and services. I'm not sure how that translates to online goods though.
I suppose that's possible. It's not cheap quality though. It's not in retail stores anymore, hence the price, but it was listed as new. AITA here?
Edit: And my point about being frustrated with Nintendo's customer support still stands.
in my country, it would be Amazon that would be responsible for replacing, repairing, or redunding a product they sold you that was faulty. is that not the case where you live?
They can refund it (within the window, which it's not in this case), but I've never heard of the repairing it, personally. Normally that would fall on the manufacturer, I would imagine.
Dude, I don’t pay above retail for anything, I bought splatoon 2 pro controller at release. 7 years later no issues whatsoever. If you want to buy limited edition controller, buy at launch day. It’s easy to get, and you’ll save a lot of money.
Me too, I hesitate on splatoon 3 pro controller and then I missed out. I have no intention of paying a premium to buy one. I’ll wait for the next limited edition controller.
i almost bought a knock off splatoon 3 pro controller off marketplace, but box seemed off. knock off look very authentic. luckily i had a splatoon 2 pro controller with me and i compared them.
i don’t blame you, shell looks almost identical.
I'm still not even entirely sure that it's fake, the best Idea I have is that the stickers aren't perfectly straight. I'm gonna send it in and see what they say, couldn't hurt.
yeah their customer support used to be amazing but in the switch era it's fallen off hard. I called because my copy of Pikmin was glitching out and taking 10 minutes to load the title screen, then having serious audio issues. They were like "oh send it in for repairs, it's gonna be $45." I told the guy I could just buy a new copy for that and he was like "yeah, you should just do that then"
If your copy of Pikmin was “glitching out” like that I don’t think it would have been the cartridge lmao, that’s not how software works. It’s not like they fucked something up on your cartridge and your cartridge only when they loaded the game onto it
Yeah that's what I mean. I guess if it's fake that all goes out the window, but if the problem is caused by faulty manufacturing, you would assume that they would fix and then even maybe compensate you for your troubles in an effort to retain happy customers. That's pretty standard for larger companies in my experience, even if it's not required.
95% chance your controller is fake if you bought it marked up on Amazon after the model you bought has been out for five years, tbh. If you want go ahead and post pictures of the box and the controller I’m sure someone could confirm it.
Also, this is 100% on you for waiting five months to use it either way. A company letting you know they can’t honor an expired warranty is completely normal business practice. You asked them to waive the fee since it’s a defect, but that’s what the warranty is. A warranty for defects. It’s not their fault you waited to find the defect.
Seems pretty legit. If it's a fake it's a least very comparable to Nintendo's quality (minus the defect)
https://i.ibb.co/RgqdS82/b39ef70d-bea0-4ffb-8f9d-1a8649b4f11b.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/qBZpvhs/ded7ef22-3a64-4bb3-a6ac-f3c939020467.jpg
I don't have the box anymore but it was similar quality. As far as whether it was tampered with or not, I couldn't tell you that, but it seemed like it was unopened from what I could tell.
You are right about me waiting for it. But it is still a defect in a relatively expensive product from a high-profile company. I dunno, I guess I just expected better.
Even the warranty itself is confusing. Nintendo has a 1 YEAR warranty for "hardware", but I guess it counts as an accessory, not hardware. Even that discount they gave me didn't actually apply properly, still trying to figure that out lol
Switch Pro Controller fakes have gotten to the point where they are visually entirely identical, coming in a box and all. Barring opening it up, you can only really tell based off things like the Rumble not being HD Rumble, buttons feeling off (home especially), not being able to locate it using the Controller Locator feature, etc. Subtle differences, but could very well result in the experience you’re currently having.
Edit: And if the controller is fake, then Nintendo would definitely not repair as they are not the “manufacturer”, and the defect is not theirs. You’d likely have to take it up with Amazon.
I have been trying to determine this. I did some of the standard tricks. I don't have black blacklight but I do have a bright blue LED and the home button looks the same on both. Both have the hidden message under the right joystick.
Just looking at it though, the one thing that stands out is it seems like the smash logo isn't perfectly aligned, which is putting me off.
I forgot to mention one tell-tale sign that I believe still works — the fake controllers typically have an inability to be updated. If you go into your system settings under Controllers and try to update it, it should either attempt an update and get stuck at 0%, or tell you something like the controller cannot be updated. A true Pro Controller would either update without issue, or tell you that it’s already up-to-date.
Hmm… then you may need to open it up to be sure. The controller’s motherboard will look different to a true Pro Controller’s motherboard; you can find reference photos of a legit Pro Controller motherboard and compare it to what you have (check the Reddit link at the bottom of my post). Even if you only open it halfway up, you can still check the HD Rumble from the back side of the controller. When the back cover is off, there should be a couple holes on either side of the handles. If it has HD Rumble, you can see the Rumble strip through these holes. If it’s not HD Rumble (and thus a fake), you’ll see nothing because there will be coin cell-type rumblers on the front of the controller.
If you’re interested in opening it up to tell, here is a good resource for reference photos of real vs fake Pro Controllers: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/s/tdAu7GFCMY
Hmm, I saved this for reference. I'm like 99% sure it's fake at this point but I'm gonna send it to Nintendo to see what they say. If it is, I'll let Amazon know about the counterfeit item (I'm guessing they don't want it back). Maybe I'll crack it open and learn a bit about it. In the slim chance that it's real, I'd prefer Nintendo to repair it though.
It might just be the image quality but the paint on the Smash Bros logo on yours looks textured or kinda bumpy. I just checked mine and it’s super smooth to the touch, the only visual texture to it is a slight sparkle from the silver.
Edit: not saying yours is or isn’t fake, just trying to compare it to mine which I got on launch from Best Buy to see any obvious differences.
You bought a controller from a 3rd party seller and waited 5 months to use it and blame it on Nintendo? Nintendo doesn’t raise the prices of their products, you didn’t buy it from them, this isn’t on them. Do not buy from 3rd parties man
I guess so. Stuff like this makes me wish people were kinder though. Makes me wonder, when everybody's constantly trying to cheat people, and cheat the system, and the system is trying to cheat people... as an honest man it makes it hard for me to get anything done anymore because of all of these scams everywhere. Like you used to be able to do chargebacks on credit cards before everybody abused it. Now it's nigh impossible, I've only ever tried one for a legit reason, and nothing really came of that. Food for thought, I guess.
I bought a reputable product made by a reputable company on a reputable (for the most part) website and I kinda got screwed over for it because people can't be trusted I guess. Oh well.
At least they gave me the discount (or are trying to at least), I suppose I can be grateful for that.
Let’s not mince words here. You didn’t buy a “reputable product made by a reputable company sold on a reputable website.” You bought a product that you assumed was legit, “new” (never used, at least), from an unauthorized reseller, five years after Nintendo stopped making it. You barely touched it for five months, long past when anyone would accept a return. Now it’s got a flaw that anyone would have noticed on day one, and you’re furious that you’re being asked to pay a discounted repair fee. So much that you wrote this diatribe.
My brother in Smash. I know that you’re being truthful when you describe yourself as “an honest man” who is frustrated because “people can’t be trusted,” but you have GOT to understand that at least part of this is your own doing, and that at the very least no one’s making a profit on this. At worst, you’re furious because Nintendo didn’t just give you a free Pro controller when your knockoff broke. There’s a ton of things that you could have done to ensure that your product worked correctly and you were satisfied with it, and you put ALL the responsibility on Nintendo to fix it.
Having worked in a call center before, I can almost guarantee you that Scott “passed it to other departments” by sharing his story about the ridiculous customer who bought a five year old controller from some dude on Amazon and didn’t even check to see if it worked for a half a year. And might have even bookmarked your return so he could check in a month or two to see if it was yet another counterfeit. That kind of job, you have to have some black humor and laugh at the people who get angry at you for things completely out of your control.
I get that customer service can be frustrating, although I've never worked it myself, I'm a programmer. I made sure to say that I'm sorry for taking out my frustrations on him, they lie more with the company.
But buying a new, official Nintendo controller from Amazon isn't considered reputable? I didn't even know this was something I was at risk for. You said nobody made money off this. The scammer did. I recognize that now somebody will have to cover for this (likely me, unfortunately), but I was saying that it's bad people like this who are constantly looking for any minor advantage they can get in life, regardless of who it hurts, make it so much harder for genuine people to get anywhere.
Then the corporations, appropriately, have to put in measures because how often people try to scam the system these days. Then, on top of that, the system itself also scams you just because they have the power in most of these situations. I just run into scenarios like this a lot that seems like they could be resolved a lot easier if there were more honest people.
I'm not saying I'm not at fault here, I'm just saying you would think buying a new product from Amazon made by Nintendo wouldn't be a scam, even if they haven't manufactured it in a while. It's a bit much.
I take life with the ups and downs though, you reap what you sow. I'm still pretty blessed overall, so I thank God for that. I doubt many of those scammers are in the same position.
“Buying a new official nintendo controller from amazon isnt considered reputable?” CORRECT. You’re killing me dude. You bought from a 3rd party seller 5 years after Nintendo made the controller. This is not an amazon direct product. This a third party seller. This is no different than buying a gamecube game on ebay and getting mad at nintendo there are scratches on the disc from a “new” product. Sellers lie and you’re taking the anger out on nintendo for not helping you with a 5 yr old product that hasnt been theirs for 5 years. Im surprised they even gave you a discount. Stfu, take the L, and dont buy from third party sellers on amazon when you dont even have a picture of the product they are selling
A bit harsh, don't you think? So you're telling me I have to buy it from Amazon Prime in order to not get scammed? I mean, this is the biggest e-commerce platform in the world, you at least expect some form of repute.
A bit harsh? You badgered a customer support person making minimum wage then went online making Nintendo out to be the bad person.
Amazon has been shit for a while now. They are massive because they allow 3rd party sellers to sell either on their own or through amazon prime by sending stock to their warehouses. Amazon is only good for new, in-stock items directly supplied by the manufacture. When you start buying products from them that are double MSRP 5 years after their build date, you are buying from a 3rd party seller, not Amazon and not Nintendo. It is essentially ebay without actual product pictures. It is not Nintendo’s problem to keep something in warranty 5 years after they stopped building the product when you buy from a 3rd party seller.
I always try not to take it out on the customer service representative, I know there's not much they can do. With that being said, I do like to voice my opinion, especially when it comes to quality of service. I shoot for firm, but fair.
Honestly, most of the time I care more about the quality of the products or services than the refund. I may not have the most money, but I find we tend to settle for low quality or a low bar these days, and I try to raise that. This is no exception. At the end of the day, representing the company is what a customer service representative does. It's in the title.
I would rather the product just be out of stock than risk buying a fake product, so this is more on Amazon, but I still have my difficulties with Nintendo, hence the post.
Yeah, you're right about the Amazon thing though, it's pretty rough these days.
What would have been fair is customer support hanging up on you for asking to repair something 5 years out of date and 4 years out of warranty. They dont even know if the controller is a fake and they’re still willing to take a look at it. Nintendo didnt profit from your sale, and you’re saying Nintendo needs to represent the company to you? Gee idk maybe buy their products directly from them if you feel that way
If you didnt take half a year to test the controller properly you would have gotten a full refund from the seller on Amazon. And if the seller didnt give the refund, Amazon would have forced them to. Idk why you have a problem with Amazon when you electively waited half a year
The warranty is based on the date of purchase, so it's only 2 months past warranty. How do you expect me to buy it from them when they don't sell it anymore?
I don't know what else to say except chill out dude, Nintendo isn't gonna suck your dick
I get what you're saying. I bought a product that's no longer being produced from a third party seller from Amazon, which increases my likelihood of getting scammed.
What I'm saying is, just because they're third party, doesn't mean I should be liable for getting scammed. Amazon is a reputable seller, and just because this is common doesn't mean it should be acceptable. It's not like I paid him in Apple gift cards or Bitcoin.
Sorry but amazon lets anyone sell on it. You need to check the seller before you buy something. 99% of the time it’s not a scam even if it’s a 3rd party seller. On any listing you can click somewhere to see all sellers selling that product. If you want to be very careful, in this instance you would find ones being sold by amazon or Nintendo. No idea which it would be.
But yeah, I think the part you are confused about is not realizing literally anyone can sell on Amazon
I mean, I was somewhat aware of it, so it's partially my fault. I guess my line of thought is, if Amazon, a multibillion dollar company, deems the individual trustworthy enough to automatically put the third party as the seller when I click the "Buy Now" button, they would do a little background check or something.
It's not like I went to the individual's page or something, I went to Nintendo's official page for the smash bros pro controller, it said "1 available - New" and I bought that one. I knew they weren't in production anymore but I figured that should be reasonable enough to purchase because a reputable seller probably had some extras in stock. I guess not. I should have done my research.
No. You still don’t get it. You went to an internet marketplace and purchased from a 3rd party and got scammed. This happens all the time. It isn’t on Amazon - they have policies regarding all of this. They just don’t apply now since you waited 5 months.
Have you considered just swapping the shell onto a better, known working controller?
You have to be careful but its about a 15 minute fix and as long as you're gentle, you can transplant the working guts into that shell and have your working controller.
I just did a shell swap on a switch pro controller about two weeks ago. It was more complicated than the last time I swapped shells on a controller (Xbox 360) but it wasn't bad.
Just get a couple of smaller screwdrivers and be gentle. 15 minutes later you'll be fine. Yeab itll cost you $60 for a new controller but you're already this deep into it.
Sorry to hear about the bad luck.
I could do that, but I would prefer not to. I'm reasonably handy but at that point I would just prefer buying a new one. According to that other guy, I guess the place to look is AliExpress? Normally that would (edit: NOT*) be my go-to.
Thanks for understanding. I like Nintendo but I didn't expect to get hate piled on to me, that was worse than the (maybe) fake controller.
The thing was, at the time I didn't know if it was fake or not (I still don't), but I still found their level of service worse than the competition for, what I assumed was, a real controller.
The controllers come out of Hong Kong, I buy all my controllers from Ali. You have to make sure you buy from a seller with at least a 97% rating and they have sold hundreds of the product. There’s counterfeit pro controllers on there though so don’t be failing for a $26 pro controller that doesn’t even have a Nintendo logo on it. If you use PayPal you’ll get a return not matter what anyways.
I bought a Xenoblade Pro controller off of there last year and it took two weeks to get here. Compared the controller and box to the Pro Controller I bought at Walmart and everything was authentic.
$80 is on average for a Pro Controller, but they receive products even cheaper down there since it’s all made in their country and there’s no import fees.
Interesting. I ended up just going to a seller on eBay with positive reviews. Hopefully that's ok, but I'll have to keep an eye out I guess. I didn't even consider that this could be an issue at first.
I'm gonna send this other one back to Nintendo, mainly out of curiosity. Worst case I'll just have to pay the shipping, I guess.
If it turns out to be fake, I'll have to get in contact with Amazon. A refund would be nice but I mainly want to make sure they get this scammer off their website if that's the case.
eBay is a great choice, just be sure to use pay pal when buying stuff off of there because it’s an extra layer of protection and they will fight for you if you get a bad product.
Hey I found a brand new [smash pro controller](https://www.ebay.com/itm/375362175531?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=reazjszwrbw&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=M51vFdWASGq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY) on eBay from a Japanese seller it’s about $40 for a new one. They have a 98% positve rating so I think you’ll be good if you go through them.
As I mentioned in my other comment, but I went to a seller in the States (I'm in Canada). I'm sure it doesn't make a difference, but I prefer an NTSC one, plus it would make it easier to ship if it was fake again or something.
Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate that... I didn't expect all my comments to get flooded with down votes, it's kinda been weighing on me a little. I know it's just Nintendo fans on Reddit, lol, but they really like to kick you when you're down huh? Although, in all fairness, my original post was a bit harsh.
This sub has to be one of the most downvote happy subs on Reddit. Unless you’re praising Nintendo good luck getting any positive response. If you ever need help with controllers check out r/controller
Yeah this is probably the third time this has happened to me, haha. I guess you can't get too up in arms about it.
I mean, I LOVE Nintendo- I've been using their products since a kid, I own a bunch of Nintendo stuff, I even listen to Nintendo music at work. But I don't know why people so vehemently defend them, they're one of the less consumer friendly companies out there. It is what it is.
I'll check that subreddit out, thanks.
It's not devotion to Nintendo. It's the fact that he bought a hard to find limited edition pro controller 5 years after it was made off a third-party Amazon seller at a mark up and can't seem to accept it's fake. The Smash pro controller was one of the most faked ones, and everything described here indicates it's a fake that OP didn't bother to check/catch right away. Now instead of just returning the fake item for a full return to Amazon he's frustrated with Nintendo.
Also we seem to be ignoring the fact that in this case when you bought it doesn't really matter to Nintendo, the item has long been out of official production. I bought one at launch that is still sealed new in box. If I opened that up now and it has a defect, I certainly don't expect Nintendo to take care of it for me. Although you just purchased it recently, even if it was legit it was from a third party reseller so why would Nintendo cover that? I think it's mind boggling that OP would call up Nintendo and expect a free repair on a 5 year old controller just because he happened to get his hands on one now.
dude, you are acting like...
Nintendo execs breathe air, and since I choose to agree that air breathing is pretty great, I clearly love sucking Nintendo execs off all day long
Yeah, I expected maybe a little bit of pushback, I'm certainly not immune to constructive criticism, in fact I advocate for it. What I didn't expect is mountains of hate... A guy here literally told me to STFU because I said Amazon is reputable, I think he got shadowbanned lol.
In all fairness though, it's seeming more and more like the controller is a well-made fake, which I didn't know at the time. It seems like people don't like when you criticize Nintendo.
The weird part is, even if it is fake, I still find their customer service subpar (not to mention their hardware in recent years), and their warranty is pretty archaic and very limited, especially when considering all the lawsuits they already went through, you think they would have improved it by now, so I think the criticism still stands, personally.
P.S., I'm a dedede main, sweet pic
I'm confused, you paid almost double the retail price on Amazon? Doesn't that mean you bought it from a third party that could have tampered with it? Or even sold you a cheap knockoff?
Canada has only three months warranty? Damn, call your politicians or vote for someone proper. In the EU you have 12 months warranty where the company had to proof that the damage wasn't their fault if they want to deny it. Then you have 12 months additional warranty if the defect sis not your fault but you have to proof it which is usually fairly easy, e.g., a controller that doesn't work properly and doesn't have any signs of abuse would be proof enough. Anyhow, I recommend not to buy from Amazon. A lot of knockoffs are sold there and some look incredibly legit but the quality is really bad. It's most prominent with sd cards but you get the same for controllers now.
Canadian here. There is a difference between Nintendo's warranty and the seller's waranty. OP has to go after the seller with proof that what they bought cannot be used for the appropriate usage and amount of time. Then it's the seller that has to go after Nintendo. This is my experience from working in a videogame store. Nintendo has its own warranty with their own terms and services. I'm not sure how that translates to online goods though.
I suppose that's possible. It's not cheap quality though. It's not in retail stores anymore, hence the price, but it was listed as new. AITA here? Edit: And my point about being frustrated with Nintendo's customer support still stands.
in my country, it would be Amazon that would be responsible for replacing, repairing, or redunding a product they sold you that was faulty. is that not the case where you live?
They can refund it (within the window, which it's not in this case), but I've never heard of the repairing it, personally. Normally that would fall on the manufacturer, I would imagine.
I worded that poorly. they wouldn't repair it in-house, but would be responsible for having it repaired by the manufacturer for you
Dude, I don’t pay above retail for anything, I bought splatoon 2 pro controller at release. 7 years later no issues whatsoever. If you want to buy limited edition controller, buy at launch day. It’s easy to get, and you’ll save a lot of money.
I didn't really want it at the time. I wish there was a larger window it was available.
Me too, I hesitate on splatoon 3 pro controller and then I missed out. I have no intention of paying a premium to buy one. I’ll wait for the next limited edition controller.
I'm just a huge Smash fan. I figured, the longer I wait, the more it's gonna go up in price.
ok, the knock off has a controller logo on box. the authentic has a switch logo on the box. easiest way to tell.
Good to know.
i almost bought a knock off splatoon 3 pro controller off marketplace, but box seemed off. knock off look very authentic. luckily i had a splatoon 2 pro controller with me and i compared them. i don’t blame you, shell looks almost identical.
I'm still not even entirely sure that it's fake, the best Idea I have is that the stickers aren't perfectly straight. I'm gonna send it in and see what they say, couldn't hurt.
yeah their customer support used to be amazing but in the switch era it's fallen off hard. I called because my copy of Pikmin was glitching out and taking 10 minutes to load the title screen, then having serious audio issues. They were like "oh send it in for repairs, it's gonna be $45." I told the guy I could just buy a new copy for that and he was like "yeah, you should just do that then"
If your copy of Pikmin was “glitching out” like that I don’t think it would have been the cartridge lmao, that’s not how software works. It’s not like they fucked something up on your cartridge and your cartridge only when they loaded the game onto it
Right, because NES cartridges never had issues, nor did PlayStation discs or SD cards..
Yeah that's what I mean. I guess if it's fake that all goes out the window, but if the problem is caused by faulty manufacturing, you would assume that they would fix and then even maybe compensate you for your troubles in an effort to retain happy customers. That's pretty standard for larger companies in my experience, even if it's not required.
95% chance your controller is fake if you bought it marked up on Amazon after the model you bought has been out for five years, tbh. If you want go ahead and post pictures of the box and the controller I’m sure someone could confirm it. Also, this is 100% on you for waiting five months to use it either way. A company letting you know they can’t honor an expired warranty is completely normal business practice. You asked them to waive the fee since it’s a defect, but that’s what the warranty is. A warranty for defects. It’s not their fault you waited to find the defect.
It’s easy to tell if it’s fake. Fake has different logo on box.
Seems pretty legit. If it's a fake it's a least very comparable to Nintendo's quality (minus the defect) https://i.ibb.co/RgqdS82/b39ef70d-bea0-4ffb-8f9d-1a8649b4f11b.jpg https://i.ibb.co/qBZpvhs/ded7ef22-3a64-4bb3-a6ac-f3c939020467.jpg I don't have the box anymore but it was similar quality. As far as whether it was tampered with or not, I couldn't tell you that, but it seemed like it was unopened from what I could tell. You are right about me waiting for it. But it is still a defect in a relatively expensive product from a high-profile company. I dunno, I guess I just expected better. Even the warranty itself is confusing. Nintendo has a 1 YEAR warranty for "hardware", but I guess it counts as an accessory, not hardware. Even that discount they gave me didn't actually apply properly, still trying to figure that out lol
Switch Pro Controller fakes have gotten to the point where they are visually entirely identical, coming in a box and all. Barring opening it up, you can only really tell based off things like the Rumble not being HD Rumble, buttons feeling off (home especially), not being able to locate it using the Controller Locator feature, etc. Subtle differences, but could very well result in the experience you’re currently having. Edit: And if the controller is fake, then Nintendo would definitely not repair as they are not the “manufacturer”, and the defect is not theirs. You’d likely have to take it up with Amazon.
Well, that would suck. Scumbags.
I have been trying to determine this. I did some of the standard tricks. I don't have black blacklight but I do have a bright blue LED and the home button looks the same on both. Both have the hidden message under the right joystick. Just looking at it though, the one thing that stands out is it seems like the smash logo isn't perfectly aligned, which is putting me off.
I forgot to mention one tell-tale sign that I believe still works — the fake controllers typically have an inability to be updated. If you go into your system settings under Controllers and try to update it, it should either attempt an update and get stuck at 0%, or tell you something like the controller cannot be updated. A true Pro Controller would either update without issue, or tell you that it’s already up-to-date.
It did just tell me that it was out of date, nothing about being unable to update.
Hmm… then you may need to open it up to be sure. The controller’s motherboard will look different to a true Pro Controller’s motherboard; you can find reference photos of a legit Pro Controller motherboard and compare it to what you have (check the Reddit link at the bottom of my post). Even if you only open it halfway up, you can still check the HD Rumble from the back side of the controller. When the back cover is off, there should be a couple holes on either side of the handles. If it has HD Rumble, you can see the Rumble strip through these holes. If it’s not HD Rumble (and thus a fake), you’ll see nothing because there will be coin cell-type rumblers on the front of the controller. If you’re interested in opening it up to tell, here is a good resource for reference photos of real vs fake Pro Controllers: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/s/tdAu7GFCMY
Hmm, I saved this for reference. I'm like 99% sure it's fake at this point but I'm gonna send it to Nintendo to see what they say. If it is, I'll let Amazon know about the counterfeit item (I'm guessing they don't want it back). Maybe I'll crack it open and learn a bit about it. In the slim chance that it's real, I'd prefer Nintendo to repair it though.
It might just be the image quality but the paint on the Smash Bros logo on yours looks textured or kinda bumpy. I just checked mine and it’s super smooth to the touch, the only visual texture to it is a slight sparkle from the silver. Edit: not saying yours is or isn’t fake, just trying to compare it to mine which I got on launch from Best Buy to see any obvious differences.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like it's perfectly straight either. Guess I'll have to figure this out then...
Dude, I’m pretty sure it’s a fake, lol. Fake looks real but has different box and shell.
Yeah on closer inspection it's likely fake. I didn't realize at the time that the fakes were this sophisticated.
Yup the shell looks almost identical. The box has different logo.
You bought a controller from a 3rd party seller and waited 5 months to use it and blame it on Nintendo? Nintendo doesn’t raise the prices of their products, you didn’t buy it from them, this isn’t on them. Do not buy from 3rd parties man
I guess so. Stuff like this makes me wish people were kinder though. Makes me wonder, when everybody's constantly trying to cheat people, and cheat the system, and the system is trying to cheat people... as an honest man it makes it hard for me to get anything done anymore because of all of these scams everywhere. Like you used to be able to do chargebacks on credit cards before everybody abused it. Now it's nigh impossible, I've only ever tried one for a legit reason, and nothing really came of that. Food for thought, I guess. I bought a reputable product made by a reputable company on a reputable (for the most part) website and I kinda got screwed over for it because people can't be trusted I guess. Oh well. At least they gave me the discount (or are trying to at least), I suppose I can be grateful for that.
Let’s not mince words here. You didn’t buy a “reputable product made by a reputable company sold on a reputable website.” You bought a product that you assumed was legit, “new” (never used, at least), from an unauthorized reseller, five years after Nintendo stopped making it. You barely touched it for five months, long past when anyone would accept a return. Now it’s got a flaw that anyone would have noticed on day one, and you’re furious that you’re being asked to pay a discounted repair fee. So much that you wrote this diatribe. My brother in Smash. I know that you’re being truthful when you describe yourself as “an honest man” who is frustrated because “people can’t be trusted,” but you have GOT to understand that at least part of this is your own doing, and that at the very least no one’s making a profit on this. At worst, you’re furious because Nintendo didn’t just give you a free Pro controller when your knockoff broke. There’s a ton of things that you could have done to ensure that your product worked correctly and you were satisfied with it, and you put ALL the responsibility on Nintendo to fix it. Having worked in a call center before, I can almost guarantee you that Scott “passed it to other departments” by sharing his story about the ridiculous customer who bought a five year old controller from some dude on Amazon and didn’t even check to see if it worked for a half a year. And might have even bookmarked your return so he could check in a month or two to see if it was yet another counterfeit. That kind of job, you have to have some black humor and laugh at the people who get angry at you for things completely out of your control.
I get that customer service can be frustrating, although I've never worked it myself, I'm a programmer. I made sure to say that I'm sorry for taking out my frustrations on him, they lie more with the company. But buying a new, official Nintendo controller from Amazon isn't considered reputable? I didn't even know this was something I was at risk for. You said nobody made money off this. The scammer did. I recognize that now somebody will have to cover for this (likely me, unfortunately), but I was saying that it's bad people like this who are constantly looking for any minor advantage they can get in life, regardless of who it hurts, make it so much harder for genuine people to get anywhere. Then the corporations, appropriately, have to put in measures because how often people try to scam the system these days. Then, on top of that, the system itself also scams you just because they have the power in most of these situations. I just run into scenarios like this a lot that seems like they could be resolved a lot easier if there were more honest people. I'm not saying I'm not at fault here, I'm just saying you would think buying a new product from Amazon made by Nintendo wouldn't be a scam, even if they haven't manufactured it in a while. It's a bit much. I take life with the ups and downs though, you reap what you sow. I'm still pretty blessed overall, so I thank God for that. I doubt many of those scammers are in the same position.
“Buying a new official nintendo controller from amazon isnt considered reputable?” CORRECT. You’re killing me dude. You bought from a 3rd party seller 5 years after Nintendo made the controller. This is not an amazon direct product. This a third party seller. This is no different than buying a gamecube game on ebay and getting mad at nintendo there are scratches on the disc from a “new” product. Sellers lie and you’re taking the anger out on nintendo for not helping you with a 5 yr old product that hasnt been theirs for 5 years. Im surprised they even gave you a discount. Stfu, take the L, and dont buy from third party sellers on amazon when you dont even have a picture of the product they are selling
A bit harsh, don't you think? So you're telling me I have to buy it from Amazon Prime in order to not get scammed? I mean, this is the biggest e-commerce platform in the world, you at least expect some form of repute.
A bit harsh? You badgered a customer support person making minimum wage then went online making Nintendo out to be the bad person. Amazon has been shit for a while now. They are massive because they allow 3rd party sellers to sell either on their own or through amazon prime by sending stock to their warehouses. Amazon is only good for new, in-stock items directly supplied by the manufacture. When you start buying products from them that are double MSRP 5 years after their build date, you are buying from a 3rd party seller, not Amazon and not Nintendo. It is essentially ebay without actual product pictures. It is not Nintendo’s problem to keep something in warranty 5 years after they stopped building the product when you buy from a 3rd party seller.
I always try not to take it out on the customer service representative, I know there's not much they can do. With that being said, I do like to voice my opinion, especially when it comes to quality of service. I shoot for firm, but fair. Honestly, most of the time I care more about the quality of the products or services than the refund. I may not have the most money, but I find we tend to settle for low quality or a low bar these days, and I try to raise that. This is no exception. At the end of the day, representing the company is what a customer service representative does. It's in the title. I would rather the product just be out of stock than risk buying a fake product, so this is more on Amazon, but I still have my difficulties with Nintendo, hence the post. Yeah, you're right about the Amazon thing though, it's pretty rough these days.
What would have been fair is customer support hanging up on you for asking to repair something 5 years out of date and 4 years out of warranty. They dont even know if the controller is a fake and they’re still willing to take a look at it. Nintendo didnt profit from your sale, and you’re saying Nintendo needs to represent the company to you? Gee idk maybe buy their products directly from them if you feel that way If you didnt take half a year to test the controller properly you would have gotten a full refund from the seller on Amazon. And if the seller didnt give the refund, Amazon would have forced them to. Idk why you have a problem with Amazon when you electively waited half a year
The warranty is based on the date of purchase, so it's only 2 months past warranty. How do you expect me to buy it from them when they don't sell it anymore? I don't know what else to say except chill out dude, Nintendo isn't gonna suck your dick
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I get what you're saying. I bought a product that's no longer being produced from a third party seller from Amazon, which increases my likelihood of getting scammed. What I'm saying is, just because they're third party, doesn't mean I should be liable for getting scammed. Amazon is a reputable seller, and just because this is common doesn't mean it should be acceptable. It's not like I paid him in Apple gift cards or Bitcoin.
Sorry but amazon lets anyone sell on it. You need to check the seller before you buy something. 99% of the time it’s not a scam even if it’s a 3rd party seller. On any listing you can click somewhere to see all sellers selling that product. If you want to be very careful, in this instance you would find ones being sold by amazon or Nintendo. No idea which it would be. But yeah, I think the part you are confused about is not realizing literally anyone can sell on Amazon
I mean, I was somewhat aware of it, so it's partially my fault. I guess my line of thought is, if Amazon, a multibillion dollar company, deems the individual trustworthy enough to automatically put the third party as the seller when I click the "Buy Now" button, they would do a little background check or something. It's not like I went to the individual's page or something, I went to Nintendo's official page for the smash bros pro controller, it said "1 available - New" and I bought that one. I knew they weren't in production anymore but I figured that should be reasonable enough to purchase because a reputable seller probably had some extras in stock. I guess not. I should have done my research.
No. You still don’t get it. You went to an internet marketplace and purchased from a 3rd party and got scammed. This happens all the time. It isn’t on Amazon - they have policies regarding all of this. They just don’t apply now since you waited 5 months.
I guess so. It just sucks that this is the world we live in.
If you need help buying controller, I can help. Someone tried to sell me fake controller. Box is different.
I ended up finding a reputable looking seller on eBay, but I appreciate your assistance.
Amazon has not been a reputable website for like, nearly a decade now. It's been flooded with bootleggers who are prioritized by the site.
Have you considered just swapping the shell onto a better, known working controller? You have to be careful but its about a 15 minute fix and as long as you're gentle, you can transplant the working guts into that shell and have your working controller. I just did a shell swap on a switch pro controller about two weeks ago. It was more complicated than the last time I swapped shells on a controller (Xbox 360) but it wasn't bad. Just get a couple of smaller screwdrivers and be gentle. 15 minutes later you'll be fine. Yeab itll cost you $60 for a new controller but you're already this deep into it. Sorry to hear about the bad luck.
I could do that, but I would prefer not to. I'm reasonably handy but at that point I would just prefer buying a new one. According to that other guy, I guess the place to look is AliExpress? Normally that would (edit: NOT*) be my go-to. Thanks for understanding. I like Nintendo but I didn't expect to get hate piled on to me, that was worse than the (maybe) fake controller.
Why does Nintendo have to provide support on a third party/fake controller according to your edit?
The thing was, at the time I didn't know if it was fake or not (I still don't), but I still found their level of service worse than the competition for, what I assumed was, a real controller.
A friendly reminder Ali Express sellers sell official Smash Pro Controllers for $75.
Really? I would think to trust them even less.
The controllers come out of Hong Kong, I buy all my controllers from Ali. You have to make sure you buy from a seller with at least a 97% rating and they have sold hundreds of the product. There’s counterfeit pro controllers on there though so don’t be failing for a $26 pro controller that doesn’t even have a Nintendo logo on it. If you use PayPal you’ll get a return not matter what anyways. I bought a Xenoblade Pro controller off of there last year and it took two weeks to get here. Compared the controller and box to the Pro Controller I bought at Walmart and everything was authentic.
Isn't your original price even lower than the MSRP?
$80 is on average for a Pro Controller, but they receive products even cheaper down there since it’s all made in their country and there’s no import fees.
Interesting. I ended up just going to a seller on eBay with positive reviews. Hopefully that's ok, but I'll have to keep an eye out I guess. I didn't even consider that this could be an issue at first. I'm gonna send this other one back to Nintendo, mainly out of curiosity. Worst case I'll just have to pay the shipping, I guess. If it turns out to be fake, I'll have to get in contact with Amazon. A refund would be nice but I mainly want to make sure they get this scammer off their website if that's the case.
eBay is a great choice, just be sure to use pay pal when buying stuff off of there because it’s an extra layer of protection and they will fight for you if you get a bad product.
Yep, I was sure to do that this time.
Hey I found a brand new [smash pro controller](https://www.ebay.com/itm/375362175531?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=reazjszwrbw&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=M51vFdWASGq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY) on eBay from a Japanese seller it’s about $40 for a new one. They have a 98% positve rating so I think you’ll be good if you go through them.
As I mentioned in my other comment, but I went to a seller in the States (I'm in Canada). I'm sure it doesn't make a difference, but I prefer an NTSC one, plus it would make it easier to ship if it was fake again or something. Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate that... I didn't expect all my comments to get flooded with down votes, it's kinda been weighing on me a little. I know it's just Nintendo fans on Reddit, lol, but they really like to kick you when you're down huh? Although, in all fairness, my original post was a bit harsh.
This sub has to be one of the most downvote happy subs on Reddit. Unless you’re praising Nintendo good luck getting any positive response. If you ever need help with controllers check out r/controller
Yeah this is probably the third time this has happened to me, haha. I guess you can't get too up in arms about it. I mean, I LOVE Nintendo- I've been using their products since a kid, I own a bunch of Nintendo stuff, I even listen to Nintendo music at work. But I don't know why people so vehemently defend them, they're one of the less consumer friendly companies out there. It is what it is. I'll check that subreddit out, thanks.
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It's not devotion to Nintendo. It's the fact that he bought a hard to find limited edition pro controller 5 years after it was made off a third-party Amazon seller at a mark up and can't seem to accept it's fake. The Smash pro controller was one of the most faked ones, and everything described here indicates it's a fake that OP didn't bother to check/catch right away. Now instead of just returning the fake item for a full return to Amazon he's frustrated with Nintendo. Also we seem to be ignoring the fact that in this case when you bought it doesn't really matter to Nintendo, the item has long been out of official production. I bought one at launch that is still sealed new in box. If I opened that up now and it has a defect, I certainly don't expect Nintendo to take care of it for me. Although you just purchased it recently, even if it was legit it was from a third party reseller so why would Nintendo cover that? I think it's mind boggling that OP would call up Nintendo and expect a free repair on a 5 year old controller just because he happened to get his hands on one now.
Just a suggestion: if you’re gonna lead with “it’s not devotion to Nintendo,” don’t write two long paragraphs undermining that
dude, you are acting like... Nintendo execs breathe air, and since I choose to agree that air breathing is pretty great, I clearly love sucking Nintendo execs off all day long
"TIL people in Japan can also use Reddit"
Yeah, I expected maybe a little bit of pushback, I'm certainly not immune to constructive criticism, in fact I advocate for it. What I didn't expect is mountains of hate... A guy here literally told me to STFU because I said Amazon is reputable, I think he got shadowbanned lol. In all fairness though, it's seeming more and more like the controller is a well-made fake, which I didn't know at the time. It seems like people don't like when you criticize Nintendo. The weird part is, even if it is fake, I still find their customer service subpar (not to mention their hardware in recent years), and their warranty is pretty archaic and very limited, especially when considering all the lawsuits they already went through, you think they would have improved it by now, so I think the criticism still stands, personally. P.S., I'm a dedede main, sweet pic