My thoughts on Gamefly

F

f1y

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Messages
8,109
I shipped a game back Tuesday, April 28th. Monday, May 4th (today) I get an email saying my next game has shipped. That's a week. Just for them to recieve my old game, and ship my new one. The new one should get here weds-thurs. So. 10-11 days turn around.

It's constantly like this. About a 10day turn around. Which stepping back and looking at it means I'm only getting half the service I pay for. That's a week to get me a new game, so If I get 2 games a month. thats 2 weeks with a game, and 2 weeks without. But it still cost me the 17 bucks a month.

Game rentals @ the local hastings are 8 bucks a piece. so i'm not really saving any money by using gamefly. I'm thinking of ditching them. Plus locally, if the game sucks I can take it back in the first 24 hours and get $3 credit. Or like most games I can beat it in a 10 hour sitdown and take it back.

I've had them the last 4 months, and have only gotten maybe 6-7 games.

Sure I could get 2 games for 24.99 a month or whatever, and constantly have one. But I don't play that much and don't see a need for that.

I dunno, I'm just not really satistfied with gamefly. I work 12 hour night shifts and I'm off every other weekend. When that weekend comes, I'm usually wide awake 2, 3am all the way up until 10am when i go to bed. I like to have a new game to play through in those hours, because there's not much else to do that early/late.

All in all, i'm not really satisfied with the Gamefly service. I wouldn't really recommend it unless the younger crowd has there parents pay for it, or if you play the hell out of games and would actually use the multiple games at a time.
 
GameFly is my only choice for rentals right now. The two Blockbusters in town closed down three years ago due to piss poor management by the GM and some really poor decisions. There are two other video rental places in town, but one doesn't do games and the other is stocked with 90% sports and random crap licensed games. The other 10% is mostly FPS or stuff I won't play. Not to mention they rarely get new games in. Since I don't buy console games all that often. So its GameFly or my PS3 becomes a $300 movie player. I'm not overly pleased with the turn around time, some days, but that is the way it has to be. I used to have like a week turn around, but it seems most of the games don't get the fast return thing anymore.
 
i was tragically heartbroken when the blockbuster near me closed down.

from what it sounds like, absolutely drop the gamefly. it works for some people, but for you, definately go rent a game when you want to, then don't rent when you don't feel like it. part of the trick is that you pay even if you don't play, so you feel obligated. this way, when there are a bunch of good games, you rent them all, and when there aren't any, you don't.
 
Dome said:
i was tragically heartbroken when the blockbuster near me closed down.

from what it sounds like, absolutely drop the gamefly. it works for some people, but for you, definately go rent a game when you want to, then don't rent when you don't feel like it. part of the trick is that you pay even if you don't play, so you feel obligated. this way, when there are a bunch of good games, you rent them all, and when there aren't any, you don't.
Click to expand...


well said.

I think I'll ride out my last month, and cancel it off.
 
I suggest dropping it, you're probably located real far from their mailing centers. I return on monday and receive a new one by Friday because I'm in NJ, just 1 state away from their Pittsburgh, PA center.

"GameFly currently operates out of four distribution centers (Los Angeles; Tampa; Pittsburgh; and Austin)" - From their wikipedia entry.

If you're not nearby one of these you're probably going to get a crappy transit. And if you want to play new releases, it's not a good option either since you can wait another 4-5 days if all the games in your queue are at low availabilty.
 
Well that's a damn shame. For whatever it's worth, I don't know if you've been following the latest gamefly news or not but here's an article worth checking out.

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/05/05/gamefly-goes-postal-over-poor-postal-service

I've personally never had much luck with the brick and morter options. Selection, quality/condition of games, cost... not one has compared to gamefly for me. And honestly, I really feel like most of them are dying a slow death anyway. Blockbuster is a prime example of a sinking ship. Everything, be it movies or games is moving toward online distribution.

All things considered, I feel like, given what gamefly is going through right now that it's in the best interest of gamers and gamefly alike to show some support. I mean seriously... you gotta figure it's a hell of a business to stay on top in and they've managed to do it and continue to grow. Overhead alone is huge and then you gotta factor in the cretins they cater to who - as anyone who's spent anytime discussing gaming online will know - have absolutely no issues whatsoever stealing games.

Anyway, I don't know... I've used gamefly forever and it's been good to me. Saved me a fortune. I figure I probably cycle through about 40 games in a year and my investment to do that with gamefly is in the low hundreds. Buying that many new or used games would put my investment in the thousands. For me that's enough. Even if I have to wait a few extra days. Bottom line is my wallet isn't empty and I'm playing far more than would otherwise.

I say support them. At the very least, call em up and tell them your gripes with the service. I'm sure they'd be inclined to keep you and try to do something for you.
 
I just signed up with gamefly and I agree the turnaround time is a bit slow. But the blockbusters by me have the worst selection of games I have ever seen. They didnt order Madworld for the Wii but they ordered 5 copies of some fucking Barbie game :confused:
 
I've long argued that Blockbuster does not have serious gamers in mind and I think the Barbie game bullshit would pretty much support that argument. I mean come on... that's ridiculous.

As for gamefly and shipping times, I think they vary based on a number of factors. Sure, once in a while you'll wait a little longer for something but in the end, from a financial perspective you're still coming out ahead. For me I usually see about 3 days for shipping and I think that's completely reasonable. I also use the 2 games at a time plan so I've usually always got something to play.

In the simplest terms you can either shell out $60 for one new game or you can shell out the same amount of money for three months worth of gamefly. Even if you only played 2 games a month that's 6 games played vs. 1.
 
I'm in chicago and my average turnaround time is a matter of a few days. With having 2 games and a PC, I don't have any issues.
 
My gamefly turnaround is sometimes slow,sometimes better,but it beats paying 50 and 60 dollars for a game you beat in two or three days.
 
MR_PERFECT said:
My gamefly turnaround is sometimes slow,sometimes better,but it beats paying 50 and 60 dollars for a game you beat in two or three days.
Click to expand...

Not really.

First off you are dumb buying a game at 60 dollars. But even if you buy a game at 50 or 60 and beat it in a few days you can probably resell that game on ebay after fees for 40 dollars.

So you lose about 20 dollars per game if you sell it right away. It really just depends on how often you buy games. If you are buying a beating games every couple of weeks then year get gamefly.

My problem with it is I maybe buy 4 games a year at 30-40 bucks a pop. So I spend about close to 180 dollars a year on games.

Now with a 12 month subscription to Gamefly I would spend around the same amount, but I would have no resale value going with Gamefly.
 
Well, yes and no. Gamefly does have a trade-in option available. Your credits go toward the cost of your membership vs. game purchases. I got rid of a few games this way with them when they first started it up and ended up getting three months worth of gamefly "free" which isn't a bad deal at all.
 
Finally got it in.. Came pretty beat up too!

Took only 9 days ;)

100_2403.jpg


100_2407.jpg
 
You ought to notify gamefly about it seeing what they're going through with the USPS and all. I'm sure they're keeping record of this sort of thing.
 
Sent them an email.

I dunno I like the games coming to my house and all, but the expirence + what I pay I'm still not sure if I want to keep it or bailout on my plan.
 
Might be worth sticking with and seeing where this whole thing with the USPS goes.
 
jnhsrch said:
Might be worth sticking with and seeing where this whole thing with the USPS goes.
Click to expand...

I remember when netflix had a production impact or something and couldn't ship for a couple days. They gave everyone like 20% off that month or something. Sent out emails to let everyone know, issued a public apology and all sorts of stuff. That was pretty cool.
 
Yeah, I've been using Gamefly for a while now and I've noticed they're getting slower with recieving/sending out games. Sometimes they'll do the "quick ship" (or whatever it's called) but the turnaround doesn't seem much faster than when they don't. I think the problem is that they no longer buy as many copies of new games (to save money..BB/GF is in financial trouble) as they used to which means that you'll have to get lucky getting a new release anywhere close to the release date.
 
online renting all depends on the distribution center. If they have one close to you then you have a good chance of having a good turn around time. Gamefly is not the only choice for online game renting, they just happened to be the most advertised. Here is a link to some other options and reviews of them http://video-game-rental-review.toptenreviews.com/. Again, take the reviews especially about the speed with a grain of salt. If you can, check to see if any of those services lists their distribution center near you.
 
I am waiting for a center close to Colorado. Gamefly is a great idea but it always was a week or more turnaround while netflix is 3 day total.
 
Netflix is second day for me. Drop on Monday, receive now on Wednesday, that is if I make the day's mail- I usually drop at the Post office on my way to work.
 
Well, the Blockbuster near me wants $15 for 2 rentals. I'm fairly close to a distro center, and I figure my turnaround should be around 2 days so I am getting the trial to see how I like it.

I guess my suggestion on Gamefly would be that if the trial sucks for you stick with brick and mortar rentals.
 
joemama said:
Yeah, I've been using Gamefly for a while now and I've noticed they're getting slower with recieving/sending out games. Sometimes they'll do the "quick ship" (or whatever it's called) but the turnaround doesn't seem much faster than when they don't. I think the problem is that they no longer buy as many copies of new games (to save money..BB/GF is in financial trouble) as they used to which means that you'll have to get lucky getting a new release anywhere close to the release date.
Click to expand...

Gamefly isn't in any financial trouble? Blockbuster yes, but not gamefly. If anything gamefly is putting the heat on Blockbuster. The bankruptcy rumors are swirling around them constantly. All the news you read about gamefly is only ever about how they've just acquired this or started that or revamped their site blah blah blah. Doesn't sound like trouble to me. The exact opposite actually.

I don't see how a growing business would be doing itself any favors by skimping on stock and as long as you manage your game queue there's no problem getting new releases. Just get them into your queue prerelease, have them in the #1 position and make sure you've got an open slot for a game to ship on release day. I've never had any problems so long as I follow this course. In fact, many times they've shipped the day before release.

Game availability changes often. I've had low availability games ship the very next day. It really helps if you're proactive about it and log in and tweak your game queue fairly often. I mean, if you just want random games whenever then load up your queue and let it do its thing. If you want specific titles you need to manage it a little.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top