My Nintendo DS Experience

We bought our son (he is 10) a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas last year (12/06)
I paid $129 for it at Target right before Christmas.
I've since bought various games and accessories.

It has been a great gift for my son. He also takes really good care of it.
We bought him a backpack carrier and if he's not playing it or charging it the DS is in the backpack.

In July we took a roadtrip and of course the DS came along.
I happened to open the DS for him before handing it back to him and when I did the right hinge (if you're looking at the DS) completely broke, so bad that it exposed the innards of the DS.

I called Nintendo.
They assured me it was something he did to it.
I knew this wasn't true and I had opened it myself.
After much conversation they said that they would send me a label, I could send it back with a check for $40 (they wanted $80 at first) and they would either repair it or replace it.
The whole process took 2-3 weeks.
We got his old one back and all was well. Good as new.
But that didn't last long.

Just this weekend he carries it over to show me some new level of a game he's on and guess what?
The right hinge broke !!
I have had it back in my possession for less than 1 month !
A little frustrating.

I again call Nintendo.
This time they assure me that it is a manufacturers defect and there will be no charge.
I'm not sure why this is different than the fist time but who am I to argue?

I just put it back in the mail to them today, in a couple weeks we should have another.

I know a couple other people who have had theirs break in the same exact spot.
I know this isn't an isolated incident.

Don't get me wrong.
My son LOVES the product and enjoys it immensely.
When I pay that kind of money for something I do expect it to hold up longer than 6 mos. though.

I give their customer service a thumbs up though (mostly)
The first time they were NOT very happy to help, the second time it was a whole different experience.
I'll be curious to see how it holds up this time.