Island transfer; looking for reassurance

[Malkur]

Hi, I recently got a new switch with the better battery life and the old one became a gift (I kept it and it was neither faulty or broken/ stolen)

Needless to say I didn't want to lose my island as I've had the game since launch, so I got in touch with Nintendo support, who said that they COULD action a transfer for me. They took some details from me, before saying they were passing it on to the dedicated team, and that I'd receive an update email with more info.

It has been just over half a week now, so my question to anyone who has gone through the transfer experience before is; how long did it take for you? As I am currently unable to play the game and I am yet to receive the promised email; I was wondering if anyone could provide me with their experience so that I might know what kind of wait time I might be looking at (I did ask Nintendo support, but they said as it's a separate department that they don't know, but they can see the case is still awaiting action)

Thanks all, I know this was long winded


UPDATE:

As some of you informed me that your experiences were instant I was a little worried. So I got in touch with customer support for a 3rd time since doing the transfer. This guy FINALLY sent me the email that I was suppose to receive on Monday. I believe I may have just been unlucky with the chat agents I got; the last guy was kinda rude in that he cut me off from chat whilst I was typing my thankyou... HOWEVER! I Finally have my island back! I want to thank everyone who commented as without the info you gave me, I may well have sat tight and waited for another half week! Thanks all!

 

[Bilaz]

In which region are you? I had it done while chatting to the nintendo support chat
If you're in the USA or UK you could do that and they can help you! Otherwise I can help you change your nintendo account region to one of those two (you can do that in your browser, very easily)
don'worry though I'm sure your data is fine

 

[IridianSky]

When I spoke to Nintendo via the online chat, the rep initiated the transfer right away, and I was able to download my save file onto my new switch immediately, and was up and running within minutes of starting the chat session. Maybe it’s just a matter of who you speak to? Or maybe it has to do with what type of new switch you have? My new switch was the animal crossing edition, so maybe they are being more lenient in those cases just because its the special edition switch?

I would probably try contacting them again through the chat function instead of by phone) if you are able.

 

[TheSillyPuppy]

I'll copy-paste my previous response to a similar question.

For context, I recently transferred island save data onto a new Switch console, so the information in the video below is accurate as of Thursday, October 15, 2020.

To supplement the video's instructions, based on my own experience of contacting Nintendo Support (North America) via online chat, here is some other information to have on-hand and ready to provide to Nintendo Support when you contact them to transfer island save data to a new console:

1. The serial numbers of both old and new Switch consoles
2. The Nintendo account nickname of the primary resident representative
3. The name of the island you wish to transfer

In that video, some folks commented that they had to lie and claim that their old Switch console got damaged. However, I was fortunate and was able to straight up tell Nintendo Support that I got a new console and wanted to transfer my island save data to the new one.

 

[Malkur]

When I spoke to Nintendo via the online chat, the rep initiated the transfer right away, and I was able to download my save file onto my new switch immediately, and was up and running within minutes of starting the chat session. Maybe it’s just a matter of who you speak to? Or maybe it has to do with what type of new switch you have? My new switch was the animal crossing edition, so maybe they are being more lenient in those cases just because its the special edition switch?

I would probably try contacting them again through the chat function instead of by phone) if you are able.

Interesting that they are making me wait then, that's a bit disconcerting; it was using the chat feature that I spoke to them, and I was honest in that the old switch was being kept and passed on; as of yesterday I will have contacted them 3 times (once by email before I had the new system and the following 2 times by chat. Could it also depend on where people are based? I am in the UK for information sake

 

[Bilaz]

Maybe the British customer service isn't as friendly as the American one? You can always quickly change your account region to the USA on https://accounts.nintendo.com and then contact the American support https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/contact? My local support also refused to help me lol I only got my island transferred after asking the Americans

 

[IridianSky]

Interesting that they are making me wait then, that's a bit disconcerting; it was using the chat feature that I spoke to them, and I was honest in that the old switch was being kept and passed on; as of yesterday I will have contacted them 3 times (once by email before I had the new system and the following 2 times by chat. Could it also depend on where people are based? I am in the UK for information sake

Maybe it does depend on region which is pretty odd. I too was keeping my old switch, and just told them that I had bought a new animal crossing one. The rep asked me for the serial number of the new switch only, and then immediately allowed me access to my save file. If it is fairly easy/painless to change account regions multiple times, maybe try that and then contact American support and then change your region back to normal afterwards?

 

[Bilaz]

I can confirm that changing your account region doesn't do anything problematic and it's very easy to switch back, I used to change country all the time to visit different country islands on club tortimer, it was the same Nintendo account. When I installed my switch I was surprised to still find my region some random country, so I changed it once again. I don't think it does much lol