Gamefly - Get your act together

I too had similar problems with Gamefly; I was spending 2/3 - 3/4 of the time waiting on games. Additionally, for whatever reason, games just wouldn’t show up sometimes. I cancelled rather than take the risk of GF taking out their inefficient distribution on my credit rating.

I’ll look into Gamerang; keep us updated on how it works out for you.

I just noticed this… tax deduction? I’m assuming you claim it as a business related expense as “research” or something similar to that? I so need to remember that.

Totally agree. I just finished a 40 day trial of Gamefly (my only console currently is the DS Lite, and I wanted a way to try the games before buying them, and nobody local rents DS carts), and in those 40 days I think I probably only tried 6 or 7 games, and that was with the 2-out-at-a-time plan!

I would request a game (well, 2 games to start), and 4 to 5 days later, it would arrive… if I then hated it and shipped it back THE SAME DAY, it still took them 1 to 2 more days to realize I had done so and ship my next game, which would then itself take 4 or 5 days to arrive. In one case, a game got lost in the mail, so it was 7 days waiting for it, then 4 more for them to send a replacement copy, totalling 11 days for that one.

I did use their “Keep it!” option on Phoenix Wright (I was amazed the option was available, since Phoenix Wright is such a rare game… they must have just gotten a new shipment for the August reprint), but the “Keep it!” option was NOT available on almost any of their other DS games, even though they tout it as a big part of their service. I would have purchased Tony Hawk and Mario64 that way, if only they had let me.

So yeah, bottom line, I cancelled at the end of the preview, and won’t be signing up again unless I hear about drastic improvements. Shame, but I’ll just have to preview DS games by letting a friend buy them first.

$50 for a game sounds like heaven. A brand new console game costs about AU$99.
I just signed up for Quickflix here, and it takes about a week to get the DVDs here and then get them back to Sydney. Though I expect that will improve since I’m on the free trial at the moment, and with a pay account, it allows you to tell them you’ve sent it back.
Wonder if there are any Aussie game rental services out there. I’ll have to look.

Matt - Have you checked out GameTap? I know it isn’t the way to get the latest console games, but they seem to be building up an impressive library of older computer games - and seem to be getting some intriguing new stuff.

I guess I gotta play devil’s advocate here and say that I’ve tried both gamesnflix and gamefly and the verdict is gamefly is much, much better. Gametap might have better shipping, but looking at their site you can tell the selection is no good compared to the gamefly. The thing that works for me with gamefly is the “fast return” option which tells them when the postal service has scanned a return into their system and so they can send out the next game in the Q right away. This probably cuts a couple days at least off the process, and when you time it right you can always have one game in your console and another in transit. People do tend to complain because Netflix has set the gold standard, but if any gaming rental company has come close to that, it’s Gamefly, in my opinion.

I’ll also play devil’s advocate. I’m in Seattle and find that my games from Gamefly always arrive in 3-4 days at the most which is pretty standard delivery times for USPS. I get my Netflix in 1-2 days, but to me it’s more important that the movies come quickly. The average movie only lasts 2-3 hours, games can last far longer and usually require a few days, if not weeks to beat. Sure some games aren’t what I hoped they’d be and get sent back a day or 2 after I receive them, but that’s why I try to rent one I’m sure I’ll like and one that I’m just interested in checking out. For the most part i always have at least one game at home and one that’s in transit. With my Netflix, I will sometimes blow through 2 of my 3 movies in the same night, so I’m ready for new ones quicker. It’s very rare that I blow through both games that quickly. Also Gamefly has far more games in stock than the other companies out there.

I have to admit, that Gamefly currently is the best way to rent games online/through the mail. Sometimes, it does take me over a week to receive a game (including return time), but I don’t really care about that, because I have the 2 game plan. The 2 game plan is a much better value, anyway. 6 dollars, or so, a month more, and you almost always have a game at your house. I don’t know if I could deal with the one game plan. You guys also have to understand, that most of the long shipping times, is the USPS, not Gamefly. Gamefly ships a game to you, before they even receive the game you’re sending back, due to “Fast Return”. They can’t do much else, in terms of shipping times. On a final note, they definitely have a far better selection of games, for any console, than any other rental place.

you had me suicidal, suicida. Ulf Raharjo.

they’ll have you suicidal suicida. Mica Kingsley.

well it seems my issue is alot different than most,out of the last four games ive ordered from gamefly,3 of them have been unplayable,seriously scratched,,dont they check this stuff out?,,,,,,,

they take soooo long just to get the game their that it isnt even freakin funny!
i might get the games faster looking up their location and getting the game!
(btw i live in freakin texas!!!!)

jugdcuyi

This is so weird. I love gamefly. I’ve had nothing but a positive experience. I’m in New York and the longest I wait between games is 3 days. I’ve been with them for over a year and have only had one game show up that was scratched. Everything else has been in mint condition which stands to reason if they’re selling them. Who’s going to want to buy a crappy old beat up game? I recently upgraded to the 3 at a time plan and have a steady rotation of good games to play on my two formats (Wii and PSP). They’re the only ones renting games (and movies if you have a PSP) for handhelds. The guy who mentions the “fast return” shipping is right. Sometimes it’s more about whether your post office is on top of their game and scanning the mail in than it is gamefly being slow. I know people who merely changed up where they mailed their games back from and corrected any shipping delays they might have had previously. You ought to look into your local post offices capabilities. That might be more than half the problem. Anyway, regardless, they just opened a third distribution center in Tampa, FL so game availability and shipping speeds are only going to get better. They’re the only rental service worth using. I can speak from experience. The competition doesn’t hold a candle. Oh, and as far as the “keep it” feature goes, you can score some killer deals. Yeah, not everything is available right off the bat but if you show a little patience you can almost always end up buying what you want. Some games are high demand and you’re going to have to wait. Still beats shelling out tons of cash on them.

Im wondering about gamefly and it looks great and to everyone that says that it takes a long time to get the game just think about this do you guys have lives, come on what do you do just wait at your mail box or house for a game go and do something with your friends and by the time you get from hanging out with them your game should be there, like dam go to a movie with a girl or something. Are your lives really centered around video games.

No, but, the service is, so shouldn’t it reflect that in the best way possible?