The One and Only Gamefly Thread
 

I searched for a general thread but it seems there are a dozen or so random type threads asking specific questions. With 'No Use For A Name' being so generous and handing out invites to about 50 people, thus far, it would be nice to have one thread to discuss/rate the service.

I put about 10 games in my queue yesterday most with a "low" or "very low" availability and surprisingly one of the "very lows" and "lows" shipped before two that were listed as "Now." That's a good sign.

Two were shipped today so hopefully I'll see 'em before the weekend.

Thanks again for the generosity No Use For A Name!

I've been on the service for a few months now.

So far it's been...okay. I've gotten three games from them (Lost Planet, God of War II and Call of Duty 3). The first game came quickly, I was notified that the next game was shipping as soon as the mailman picked up my return and I got it a day or so later.

However, when I returned the second game, I did NOT get that notification and it took literally a week for Gamefly to acknowledge they received it. I had already reported it and then it "suddenly" showed up.

I just put Call of Duty in the mail yesterday and, once again, did not receive the notification they had picked up the game. Plus, nearly everything in my queue is very low to medium availability, and a lot of them just came out (so they should have a ton of copies.) This bothers me.

We'll see how long this next turnaround takes. The whole reason I signed up was to spend less money buying games and to be able to try out games I wouldn't buy. But if it's going to take weeks to ship things back and forth, I might as well go back to bargain hunting for $30-40 games and selling them on eBay when I'm done.

Not to threadcrap, but what about www.gameznflix.com ??? They carry both games and movies. Use the code emmys and get 3 out for $13ish.

I've never used GnF, but I thought GameFly was slow when I did the trial. Although, people on CAG complain of Gameznflix also.

I guess we could have a One and Only Online rental thread.

I've been with Gamefly for about 3 months now and love them. Their prices are a little high (I offset $10/mo of that with Brightspot.tv). Their shipping/receiving is a little inconsistent... I've had them acknowledge receipt of my return from 1-5 days. Usually it's b/t 1-2 days though.

Not a bad idea


I still have to sign up for that free thing, but i blame the new TV for that.

That's my concern. I do the same bargain hunting/selling on ebay. Usually works out to about <$10 a game, so like a rental without a time window. Plus if I really like a game I'm not out anything extra to keep it. So getting one game a month for $22 isn't so hot.

I'll have to check out that GNF site if this doesn't work out or brightspot.tv if it does. :) Thanks for the links.

I hate blockbuster with a passion, so this could definitely be a viable option

Well, I just signed up this morning for the free trial - my first 2 games (one "available now" one "medium") are getting ready to ship.

Personally I like the online rental games better than say Netflix, because a game is something that often takes longer than the typical 3-5 day b&m rental times, and if you can get 3-5 game rentals a month (not necessarily beating each game) then it will be well worth it. However, I don't really have the time to make the proper value out of paying for it, which is why I'm glad this free trial coupon came along.

Having used both, I strongly prefer Gamefly. Gamefly used to have super slow service for us East coast people, but they've remedied that by opening an East coast distribution center. GnF had awful availability when I was using them, which is why I canceled my account there. Gamefly is a lot better in that department, although in the last few weeks, the new releases have been in lower supply than I'm used to.

The nice thing is that it's cheap (or free) to try out each service and decide for yourself.

Just noticed this thread so I'll say what I said in the other. I signed up last night for the free month. And today got an email that God of War II and Destroy All Humans 2 are on their way to me

I wonder how many games I can get through in a month... I already have 20 in that 'Q' I plan on playing non stop. I have games I really want in my top Q that way I can play them now for free and wait to find them cheap further down the line.

I tried Gameznflix a couple months back, and was very disappointed. I put Resistance at the top of my queue, and never got it, even though the games been out for 8 months. They were slow, and the final straw was when they shipped my last game, I never got it, and it was no longer in my queue. I cancelled a week after they received my final game and never got that next one. Plus their cookies suck, and had to keep signing in on their website. Gonna try Gamefly eventually..

I tried reactivating my account but because of their screwed up shipping I supposedly have a couple of lost games "credited" to my account so I guess I've been blacklisted now :( I guess on some level I can't blame them but it's screwed up none-the-less...

Saw this on Joystiq.com, it looks like Gamefly may be looking to add another distribution center in Austin, TX. I hope this turns out to be true, since I am in Florida I currently ship from California.

Gamefly to Texas??

This is from Monster.com

I haven't had a lost game yet, but I've had about 2-3 take 5 days to get processed in their return center. I'm only a few miles from them.

But like I said earlier, most of mine are processed in 1-2 days.

It happened the last time I'm tried them about a year ago. They sent 4 games total (well one was a reship) and of those I received only 1 so I canceled the account again. Since then I've used the store a couple of times w/o any problems, but now my account is locked out entirely so I can't do anything. I've submitted an appeal so we'll see if that gets anywhere but I haven't heard anything back so far :( Damn shame too since I just picked up a PS3 and the local video stores don't have much in the way of games yet :|

Actually - you're thinking of the PS3 here. It's not the store's fault.

I know, but GF still has a larger selection than any of the stores local to me.

just sent out the Darkness and Big Brain Academy : Wii Degree

The whole "Fast Return" thing seemed like a great idea - as soon as the post office acknowledged they received the game, your next one would ship. As I said, the first return I made did this.

The two returns since then have not and I'm going on 3 days since I sent back my latest game and GF still doesn't acknowledge it at all. In fact, today I got the email asking me if I wanted to keep it.

Lamers.

Signed up in the evening last night and got shipped notification this afternoon (one was high availability, one was low)

Is there any sort of guideline as to when on a given day the shipping notices go out? Some in my queue have been bumped up to "Now" but I don't think that means all 3 are shipping since I can only have 2 at a time. So is there a status on the GameQ page that'll be obvious that it has shipped?

i got an email confirmation about 8-10 hours later

Yes, first my status changed to "shipping" and now both discs have been moved to a new header that reads "Games I Have Out" while the rest of my queue stayed under the "Games on My List" header below. Similar to Netflix, I believe.

BTW in case anyone needs them the phone #s for GF are 888-986-6400 or 310-664-6400. It took a little bit of digging on the web to find so I thought I'd post them here and save other people the trouble.

Uh oh, I hope we dont need the number!

I didnt get my games in yet, I thought it would be 1 day but I guess it takes 2.

Question. When mailing back the game, do I need to notify them, or will it be scanned by the PO and that will electonically notify them? Is that what the "Fast Return" is?

I might consider reopening my account once the Austin distro center opens up. I closed my account over a year ago because of the delay.

they just sent me an email about the 360 scratching discs...


sure, NOW they tell me :lol:

You don't need to notify them. You just send it.

Fast return is something, that when it works (or is used by Gamefly), is when USPS notifies Gamefly that your envelope has been scanned by them -- So Gamefly in turn, processes your next shipment, so you don't have to wait for Gamefly to actually physically receive your return. However, I've only had a Fast Return on about 1/5th of my returns.

Wow. That is an understatement. I was going to look into the site after your post but hit up CAG for some user feedback. Just browsing a dozen random pages out of the 1,200 replies revealed that this site is a nightmare. I think I only saw one post by a user that had a good experience.

gameznflix used to be a good option, but as of late it sounds like the service has gone downhill.

Already got my two games. The return addy is PA. :up:

wow, PA?


maybe mine will be here tomorrow (im in PA)

Had one ship yesterday and one today. I'm in the L.A. domain. I just hope I can get the first tomorrow :fc:

I have been debating trying Gamefly. I really want to try it out because I would get to play games much sooner after they are released, right now I wait til games come down in price before I play them, which means nobody is talking about them anymore. The Darkness comes to mind as a game I really want to play, but I will wait to play it until it drops in price. But I have so many unplayed games already, and keep buying more, so I'm not sure it would be money well spent. Playing Zelda TP, MGS3, and Lunar Knights right now, with Dead Rising on deck, it's not like I'm hurting for games.

Uhh how long is it suppose to take the games to get here? I signed up Tuesday, Stuff sent out on Wednesday (according the email) today is friday and I havent gotten shit... what the hell?

Also, does the regular mailman deliver this stuff or will a UPS guy swing by? Im asking cause the UPS doesnt deliver till after 5pm around here.

Usps

My first shipment was fast - everything else has been dog slow. I returned a game on Monday and noticed that the latest game shipped today, so I'll probably get it next week.

I am not terribly impressed, especially since I can get a Blockbuster DVD online with a two day turnaround.

Well I returned my first game last Thursday they received it Monday. They sent my next game Tuesday and I received it Today. That is roughly the same shipping time it took to get a game from GameznFlix. GNF was suppose to ship to me from their Florida center, but I rarely got anything from there and right before I cancelled it was taking 10 days for them to register my returns which started going to Kentucky.

I think the main problem that gameznflix encountered was they over expanded and they did not stock enough to keep up with demand. Also half the time the new games and movies were usually on order for weeks after their release sometimes longer.

Games shipped on Thurs, got them on Sat in Texas. Dropping them off at a box tonight. We'll see how long the turnaround is.

Anybody else using the free trial to boost their Live scores with easy achievements? :P

I go through GF and if my local store actually carried good xbox games I wouldn't even go through them. It takes me a 2 weeks from sending in a game to get another one.

Living in the middle of the country sucks.