Gamefly

[Tank]

I just signed up for a Gamefly account, anybody else have one?

I'm tired of buying games, playing them very little, and trading them in. I feel like this is a better option for me and might give me more motivation to actually play the games more. I have Netflix and love it, so I figured this would be a good idea.

I'm just not sure of game availability, delivery time, and disc quality.

I'll post my thoughts after I use it for a while, but if anyone else has tried it I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[Elbren]

I used Gamefly several years ago and I have to say, I absolutely hated the service. I actually joined for the same reason; I really enjoyed Netflix and I figured it would be the same thing, but for games.

Unfortunately, all I got was trouble.

- They're based out of CA and it took 4 days for my first game to get out to me. Everything else was the same plus the additional time it took for the previous game to get back to them.

- Terrible customer service. Everything is done through their website and they provide no number to contact them. It took 3 or 4 emails back and forth for them to provide an 800 number and it was probably a minimum of 2 days between each email. When I did get the number, I found that apparently "no one was home". Out of 12 - 15 phone calls, I got a live person once; I got an answering machine that told me the hours of service the rest of the time. (mind you, it never actually let me leave a message)

- My last game "disappeared". I got an email about 3 weeks after I canceled the service saying that they had not received the last game I had out. The email arrived almost 2 days after they took $60 off my Visa/bank card. That's $60 ... for a game I could have walked into any store and bought brand new for $20. I called the 800 number ... no one answered. I sent an email ... waited over 3 days without an answer. I finally had to go to my bank to have the issue resolved which they did very quickly. The bank woman tried calling them a couple times, only got the machine and decided to refund my money. She called someone from Visa (apparently, Visa had to refund my money since it was through my Check Card) and the person she had on the phone happened to mention that they've had alot of problems with Gamefly.

- You may have noticed that I said I got a live person on the phone once. The next business day, I got an email from them saying that the $60 charge had been reversed and when they tried charging me again, it said that my card was no longer active (or something like that ... they cancelled my card and reissued me a new one to prevent Gamefly from charging me again. lol) I tried the 800 number once again and someone actually answers this time. (funny how they picked up after 2 rings when they wanted something from me) Long story short, I listened to the CSR's BS story, I told him that I returned the game before I cancelled the service and after almost 2 weeks of trying to contact the company, the bank failed in their attempt to contact them, refunded my money and changed my card so that Gamefly couldn't try charging me for anything else. He then tells me that he's not sure what bank I use (which is crap because he has my info. right in front of him) but they must have not tried very hard to contact Gamefly because blah, blah, blah (this is where he recites the answering machine message verbatim.) I told him that he could contact Visa, hung up and that was the last I heard from them.


Obviously, my opinion would be to dump this service and run for the hills, but to be fair, it has been 2 years since my experience with the company so things may have changed. I've heard from a couple people that they're happy with the service and I believe someone mentioned that they opened up an east coast distribution center, so games get to this side of the country a bit faster. I only pray that you never have to actually speak to a live person. If so, I hope your experience goes a hell of a lot better than mine did.

[Tank]

Thanks for the input.

Sheesh, that sounds like a nightmare. I hope they've improved since then. I did see where they now have 4 distribution centers (Los Angelos, Austin, Tampa, and Pittsburgh) so maybe its better. I sure hope so!

I'll let you know how it works for me.

[rooter]

I've been using it for 6 months. Absolutely love the service. Turnaround time is quick and have never had a problem. Most of the time they get a notification from the USPS when a game is in the mail and they immediately send out the next one. Saving me a TON of money this holiday season.

[allstar1579]

I've had it for 5 years, and there have been a few bumps in the road, but now a days, not much at all. The CA center used to be a nightmare for us on the east coast, sometimes taking 2 weeks to get a new games, but with the new ones esp. in PITT it has fixed things greatly.

I have had 3 games over the years get lost in the mail and they have never charged any money, they plan on those expenses every year, so I'd be amazed unless it becomes a pattern and it happens too much in a period of time that they'd ever make a deal over it.

I dunno, personally, I love it, and often get games no one else has played and buy it for $20-25 less than in store the week it comes out.

[Elbren]

I've had it for 5 years, and there have been a few bumps in the road, but now a days, not much at all. The CA center used to be a nightmare for us on the east coast, sometimes taking 2 weeks to get a new games, but with the new ones esp. in PITT it has fixed things greatly.

I have had 3 games over the years get lost in the mail and they have never charged any money, they plan on those expenses every year, so I'd be amazed unless it becomes a pattern and it happens too much in a period of time that they'd ever make a deal over it.

I dunno, personally, I love it, and often get games no one else has played and buy it for $20-25 less than in store the week it comes out.

Both of those points are very good to hear, especially the first one since the terribly long turn around-time was my main reason for leaving in the first place. The only real question now would be their customer service but, honestly, I could say that about my cable company (Comcast), my telephone company (also Comcast), my cell phone company (Verizon), etc., etc.

[Tank]

Well they shipped my first game Monday (Fable 2), which was number 1 on my list. It said low availability (it does for most of them), but I'm happy that I'm getting it right away.

I have the 1 game at a time plan for now, I might have to bump it up to 2 after I see how it goes.

And thanks for the responses guys, I'm glad to hear they've improved.

[Tank]

Fable 2 came in the mail today. 2 days after they shipped it, not bad. Now I'm going to experiment with the new dashboard before diving into the game.

[allstar1579]

Fable 2 came in the mail today. 2 days after they shipped it, not bad. Now I'm going to experiment with the new dashboard before diving into the game.

Yeah, depending on the day, it's about 2 days from shipping to my house. Left 4 Dead shipped today, so I SHOULD get it Friday. The only catch to that is sometimes the Saturday thing screws things up and a game that ships Thursday won't get here til Monday.

[Tank]

Well, so far so good. I just switched to the 2 game at a time plan so I can have a game at home at all times.

Sent back Fable 2, next 2 games are Merceneries 2 (I'm not really sure why I put this on my list, any good?) and Chrono Trigger for the DS (which just came out today, so I'm psyched that I got it right away).

[orioles119]

I'm bringing this post back because I'm considering the service myself because I'm strapped for cash at the moment with so many games coming out that I want to play... I just can't afford to buy them as much as I would like in the past.

Anyway... my only concern is the quality of the discs when they get to me. I have 360 and PS2 and therefore would be looking strickly at the quality of the discs.

I'm okay with the cost, since it would basically be $275.40 a year, which is only 4.5 games at 59.99 per game to own.

[allstar1579]

I'm bringing this post back because I'm considering the service myself because I'm strapped for cash at the moment with so many games coming out that I want to play... I just can't afford to buy them as much as I would like in the past.

Anyway... my only concern is the quality of the discs when they get to me. I have 360 and PS2 and therefore would be looking strickly at the quality of the discs.

I'm okay with the cost, since it would basically be $275.40 a year, which is only 4.5 games at 59.99 per game to own.

They have all been pretty good for me, in 5 years I've never had an unplayable disc. A big part of it is catching games as they come out. You can set up your Q to ship the first copy of a game, you just have to time sending back your games and make sure there is nothing that could be in stock in between. Most of the games I buy now I do this, no one has ever had the disc, and I get $20 off out of the gate by waiting 2 days to play it.

The ps2 games might be dicier because they have been out longer and may have been worn a bit, but I think they have a disc buffing machine where they refinish games that start to look a little worn (they have these at GameCrazy too, fills in scratches with a special wax and buffs it out).

[Tank]

I haven't had any problems so far with that Jim. You should be good to go.

[J.D.]

I haven't had any problems so far with that Jim. You should be good to go.

Been using them for a while now. I finally had my first problem with them. I rented Tiger Woods 09. I got a Tiger Woods 09 sleeve with Tiger Woods 08 in it. I don't blame them. I figure someone rented it and slipped 08 in the sleeve so they could get 09 (ingenious, really). Still sucks, though.

I sent them an e-mail. Guess I'll wait and see what they decide to do.

That said, I'm enjoying Tiger Woods 08 right now. ;)

[Tank]

Been using them for a while now. I finally had my first problem with them. I rented Tiger Woods 09. I got a Tiger Woods 09 sleeve with Tiger Woods 08 in it. I don't blame them. I figure someone rented it and slipped 08 in the sleeve so they could get 09 (ingenious, really). Still sucks, though.

I sent them an e-mail. Guess I'll wait and see what they decide to do.

That said, I'm enjoying Tiger Woods 08 right now. ;)

I could see how that could happen. That sucks. Hopefully they resolve it quickly.

[ccbird]

Bump. Thinking about signing up. Any updates good or bad that anyone feels like sharing.

How often do you get games at the top of you're queue, in particular ones that have recently been released??

[allstar1579]

Bump. Thinking about signing up. Any updates good or bad that anyone feels like sharing.

How often do you get games at the top of you're queue, in particular ones that have recently been released??

It's all about timing. With so many people having it now, the trick is to beat the release date. The order that you get a game depends on how long a game has been no. 1 in your Q before the game comes out. I wipe out all of the games that have already come out and leave only upcoming games in there. Put the ones that come out first in order, and if you send a game back about a week early, you should have that new game ship on or before launch day every time. It just takes some getting used to planning out, but it works for me really well. If you miss getting a game at launch it usually takes a couple weeks (2 or so) for them to either buy more copies, or have some cycled in.