Bad experience with GameFly

[Drico]

So here it is.. After seeing a $12 shipped copy of Manhunt on GameFly (preplayed of course), I buy it without hesitation as I was a big fan of the PS2 version, only I got rid of my PS2. Basically everything went downhill from there.

1. It was a bitch just to get a buyers account, and not a rental one.

2. Shipping said it should 2 days, but no more than 4. It took almost 2 weeks to receive the game. That's unacceptable.

3. When I finally received it (I didn't think I was going to at all), I'm surprised at the seemingly perfect condition of everything.. I throw it in my Xbox.

4. Okay. It doesn't work. I look at the back and upon close inspection I can see very faint scratch marks, completely covering the whole CD. I whipe it off, clean it, etc and try it again. No dice.

5. I call up GameFly and tell them about the problem. The guy claims its my Xbox or either I ruined it and the CD had no history of being scratched at all. Yeah right, this CD was scratched to hell until they resurfaced it so much that it didn't even work at all. I hold it up to the light and I see billions of faint scratch marks that they tryed to cover up with the resurfacing.

6. I tell him several times that I am sure it's not my Xbox, It's fairly new, not a Thompson, and everything else works perfect on it.. Finally, he makes all these groaning noises and says "OK.. Send it back to us, then call us about a week later and you can use the credit from that to repurchase something from us"

7. In the end, I have to pay for shipping to get the useless game back to them, and even if I do that, this asshole is telling me I have to use my "credit" to purchase something from them. Why would I want to purchase from them again? So I can get another headache, broken down game, and ignorant customer service?


GameFly sucks.

[Scorch]

2. Shipping said it should take 2 days, but no more than 4. It took almost 2 weeks to receive the game. That's unacceptable.

You know, I've heard this rumor that every December, thousands of people exchange gifts, causing postal service to be backed up and sell-outs to be quite common. Unconfirmed, just a rumor at this point.

You're the first person I've ever heard have a problem with Gamefly.

[Murcielago77]

Its not their fault that someone didnt properly took care of game. Gamefly is great, and shipping probably took a while because of either the holiday season, or you are far away from their wherehouse

[Drico]

Of course it's not their fault someone fucked up their game, but why are they resurfacing it to the point that it's just a coaster? It doesn't work whatsoever. I can't even boot the shit up on my Xbox. It's their fault they resurfaced it to the point of nothing, and put guarantees on everything promising that it'll work.

I understand it's Christmas time so shipping is bound to be a little slow, but I received many other things in that time within just a few days of ordering it. The shipping didn't upset me that much, because I had plenty of other games to play. My main problem is with the disc itself. I probably won't even send it back. In the garbage it goes.

[Scorch]

Of course it's not their fault someone shaq-fued up their game, but why are they resurfacing it to the point that it's just a coaster? It doesn't work whatsoever. I can't even boot the shit up on my Xbox. It's their fault they resurfaced it to the point of nothing, and put guarantees on everything promising that it'll work.

How do you know it was them that resurfaced it? You have no proof of that.

I understand it's Christmas time so shipping is bound to be a little slow, but I received many other things in that time within just a few days of ordering it. The shipping didn't upset me that much, because I had plenty of other games to play. My main problem is with the disc itself. I probably won't even send it back. In the garbage it goes.

Wow, what a waste of money. You could've at least gotten credit on the site.

[Drico]

The guy told me it had been resurfaced before shipping.

[Scorch]

*sticks foot in mouth*

[jimbodan]

That's really lame that they gave you so much crap to take back a defective game. There really should be no argument, if it doesn't work they should courteously offer to refund you. F whoever you dealt with in their customer service department.

I really have no idea why you guys are giving the OP shit, just because some of you guys love gamefly it doesn't make what they did to the OP ok. He has every right to be pissed. You guys can't tell me that if you called up asking to exchange a defective game and they give you shit and made it as difficult as possible for you to do that you wouldn't be pissed. I promise you your opinion of whatever company did this to you would change for the worse.

[WhipSmartBanky]

Before you toss the game, try boiling it.

And no, I'm not kidding either. Works for fucked up OXM discs, why not try it for this?

[dafoomie]

I've never had a single problem with Gamefly.

Getting a buyer's account is not hard. Its really not. Its no more lengthy than any online store.

Shipping is often delayed during the holidays, but they pay for 2 day shipping. They don't control the shipping company.

Every game I've ever bought from Gamefly (quite a few) was in perfect condition, and I'm not kidding. Maybe they didn't resurface yours enough. Resurfacing is standard procedure for Gamefly and most used game retailers. Resurfacing is not destructive to the disc like Disc Doctoring is, a profesionally resurfaced disc on a high end resurfacing machine such as Azuradisc can produce a 100% mint disc.

They refunded your money, you could have exchanged it for another copy of the same game.

One isolated incident is not enough to declare that anything sucks.

I really have no idea why you guys are giving the OP shit, just because some of you guys love gamefly it doesn't make what they did to the OP ok. He has every right to be pissed. You guys can't tell me that if you called up asking to exchange a defective game and they give you shit and made it as difficult as possible for you to do that you wouldn't be pissed. I promise you your opinion of whatever company did this to you would change for the worse.
It sucks, but how many times did it happen? Once. I'll wait for a few more people to report the same thing before they'll have a bad reputation with me.

[jimbodan]

I really have no idea why you guys are giving the OP shit, just because some of you guys love gamefly it doesn't make what they did to the OP ok. He has every right to be pissed. You guys can't tell me that if you called up asking to exchange a defective game and they give you shit and made it as difficult as possible for you to do that you wouldn't be pissed. I promise you your opinion of whatever company did this to you would change for the worse.
It sucks, but how many times did it happen? Once. I'll wait for a few more people to report the same thing before they'll have a bad reputation with me.

Yeah, I'll definately agree with you there, this is the first negative thing I've heard about gamefly. I'm just saying giving the OP shit for being mad really isn't justified.

[Drico]

They refunded your money, you could have exchanged it for another copy of the same game.

Customer service told me they can't do a straight exchange, I have to ship it back (which means paying for shipping), and then they'll give me credit to repurchase whatever I want from them.. not only that, but I have to wait over a week just for that. I'll probably trade it into EB or FYE... unless of course boiling it will actually work!

[CheapyD]

Personally, I always think its wrong to create a topic in this forum saying "__________ sucks".
That is why the OP is receiving some hostility, IMHO.
In this case, you are bascially telling GameFly's satisfied customers that they are somehow wrong.

I think in a situation like this, its better to name your topic something along the lines of "My bad experience with _____".
This way you aren't making sweeping generalizations about a company, you just passing along your experiences.
My $0.02.

[Cracka]

no what you gotta do it give it a good go through with the disc doctor.

[Scorch]

My $0.02.

*takes Cheapy's two cents and runs to make a collect call using 1-800-CALL-ATT*

[dafoomie]

They refunded your money, you could have exchanged it for another copy of the same game.

Customer service told me they can't do a straight exchange, I have to ship it back (which means paying for shipping), and then they'll give me credit to repurchase whatever I want from them.. not only that, but I have to wait over a week just for that. I'll probably trade it into EB or FYE... unless of course boiling it will actually work!
Priority costs $3.85, 1st class costs $2 something. We're not talking a lot of money, but I do think they should pay it.

I would just ship it back and buy it again. It sucks, but it happens, its the negative side of buying from an online retailer, you can't see the product before you buy it.

[Drico]

no what you gotta do it give it a good go through with the disc doctor.

I hope you're joking.

Maybe it's a little one-sided to say everyone else is wrong and GameFly sucks, but in my head right now... they suck...

[eldad9]

So here it is.. After seeing a $12 shipped copy of Manhunt on GameFly (preplayed of course), I buy it without hesitation as I was a big fan of the PS2 version, only I got rid of my PS2. Basically everything went downhill from there.

1. It was a bitch just to get a buyers account, and not a rental one.

2. Shipping said it should 2 days, but no more than 4. It took almost 2 weeks to receive the game. That's unacceptable.

3. When I finally received it (I didn't think I was going to at all), I'm surprised at the seemingly perfect condition of everything.. I throw it in my Xbox.

4. Okay. It doesn't work. I look at the back and upon close inspection I can see very faint scratch marks, completely covering the whole CD. I whipe it off, clean it, etc and try it again. No dice.

5. I call up GameFly and tell them about the problem. The guy claims its my Xbox or either I ruined it and the CD had no history of being scratched at all. Yeah right, this CD was scratched to hell until they resurfaced it so much that it didn't even work at all. I hold it up to the light and I see billions of faint scratch marks that they tryed to cover up with the resurfacing.

6. I tell him several times that I am sure it's not my Xbox, It's fairly new, not a Thompson, and everything else works perfect on it.. Finally, he makes all these groaning noises and says "OK.. Send it back to us, then call us about a week later and you can use the credit from that to repurchase something from us"

7. In the end, I have to pay for shipping to get the useless game back to them, and even if I do that, this asshole is telling me I have to use my "credit" to purchase something from them. Why would I want to purchase from them again? So I can get another headache, broken down game, and ignorant customer service?


GameFly sucks.

First: shipping. it's that time of the year.
Second: Products sometimes don't work, especially if you buy used.
Third: It's clearly unacceptable to try to shift the blame on to you.
Fourth: Call your credit card company, tell them you were shipped a faulty product and that the vendor refuses to replace it at their expense. You will have no problem getting refunded. It's part of the service. That's all. You probably should have mentioned that to gamefly, and they would have refunded your purchase and paid for shipping.

Good luck.

[craven_fiend]

maybe its not gamefly that sucks...........

but anyways, sorry about your situation. i've never had any trouble whatsoever with GameFly. Maybe you should take Cheapy's advice and oh lets say, change the topic or something to that nature? just a thought

[JSweeney]

Personally, I always think its wrong to create a topic in this forum saying "__________ sucks".
That is why the OP is receiving some hostility, IMHO.
In this case, you are bascially telling GameFly's satisfied customers that they are somehow wrong.

I think in a situation like this, its better to name your topic something along the lines of "My bad experience with _____".
This way you aren't making sweeping generalizations about a company, you just passing along your experiences.
My $0.02.

That does seem a much better idea.
Starting out with "sucks" just starts the thread off on a negative tone, and seems to place a more immature slant on the topic matter.

[the_deej]

of course they do

[supermariomelee]

They refunded your money, you could have exchanged it for another copy of the same game.

Customer service told me they can't do a straight exchange, I have to ship it back (which means paying for shipping), and then they'll give me credit to repurchase whatever I want from them.. not only that, but I have to wait over a week just for that. I'll probably trade it into EB or FYE... unless of course boiling it will actually work!

That's one thing I like about EB. If you get a defective game, you can either exchange it at the B&M store or send it to them with a envelope they send you and if they're out of the item, refund the money.

Now if Gamefly doesn't have the item in stock, they should at least give you the option of getting a refund back to your credit card instead of giving you credit. One thing I don't understand is why don't they start putting those d-skins on the discs so the actual disc won't get scratched up in the first place, so when they sell it, the game is in perfect shape. It might put a damper on profit, but it will lower, if not eliminate, the defective copies.

[slidecage]

i got to say that i hate Gamefly ... That is what i would of said when if first started back in early Nov. But i figure they have saved me at least 20 per month in allowing me to rent games first and playing till i got bored with them or hated them... Overall Gamefly is ok but 22 per month is alot with week turnaround

[mmn]

I'm just happy that you posted this here. As everyone knows the CEO of Gamefly frequently visits these forums and he will see this thread and immediately fix your problem.

[Staind204]

Nothing makes me more mad when a company gives you a busted product then expects YOU to cover the shipping to send it back. T-Mobile did this exact thing with my cell phone, sure it's only $3 or so but its the principal of the thing. Why should the consumer (us) have to pay because we got a faulty product. My T-Mobile phone broke within 45 days and they still refused to pay the shipping, really pissed me off.

[CheapyD]

I'm just happy that you posted this here. As everyone knows the CEO of Gamefly frequently visits these forums and he will see this thread and immediately fix your problem.

You would be suprised who reads these forums.
I do speak to representatives of many of the retailers on this board so feedback is not a waste as you imply.
Some of them surf the forums as well, so while the CEO probably does not, I would not be suprised if a rep from GameFly was on CAG.

You sarcasm is really not appreciated. Do like this guy-> :ziplip:

[craven_fiend]

I'm just happy that you posted this here. As everyone knows the CEO of Gamefly frequently visits these forums and he will see this thread and immediately fix your problem.

You would be suprised who reads these forums.
I do speak to representatives of many of the retailers on this board so feedback is not a waste as you imply.
Some of them surf the forums as well, so while the CEO probably does not, I would not be suprised if a rep from GameFly was on CAG.

You sarcasm is really not appreciated. Do like this guy-> :ziplip:


Cheapy laying the smackdown on a troll

[TheRaven]

Sorry to hear of your experience OP. That is totally wrong that they gave you attitude about it. I cannot stand that crap.

[Xtreme331]

For some reason, i feel the need to add my $0.02 to this:

Ok, it is NEVER - i repeat NEVER - acceptable for a paying customer to be blamed by a service representative for a faulty product. Even in the event that the company tests the product before they ship it, it could still become damaged in the delivery process. Ok sure, there could have been a problem with Drico's Xbox and not the disc itself, and it would have been fine for the rep to ask about this, but it is definitely not acceptable for the rep to insist that the customer is at fault and be unwilling to help him out (he only agreed to a return after a lot of hassle, and that at the customer's expense).

Now i've never used Gamefly but many people have had little to no problems with them. My guess is that this particular customer service representative was either poorly trained and does not represent the whole of the company (at least let's hope) or he simply didn't care what happened.

In my experience the best way to get good customer service in a situation like this is simple: Hang Up. Ditch the rep who's acting like a little bi.tch and dial the help number again. You'll most likely wind up with a different customer service rep. Be polite, explain that you've already talked to one rep and didn't receive any satisfaction (hell tell 'em that you were offended, treated poorly, etc.) and ask them to help you out. Most reps will respond positively if you're polite and treat them like human beings.

Ok so now this is getting a lot longer than i had anticipated... so just this: Drico, try calling them again and asking them to cover shipping for you. Be firm, but polite. If you don't get any satisfaction, talk to a supervisor. If you still don't get any satisfaction, keep going up the line until you do. If you absolutely cannot reach an agreement, tell them you won't do business with them again, and follow through on it. Good luck!

[dracula]

hmm methinks i will just get gba games and ds games from gamefly. They resurface ALL of their discs?

[wubb]

Hmm, yeah their buy-it policy is a bit worrying. Noticed it when I ordered but figured I'd hope for the best.

All our Pre-Played games are thoroughly inspected and certified to be playable. Pre-Played game purchases are final.


I guess they try to stick to their guns saying they test everything as playable so any problem must be with the end user. Definitely crappy customer service.

People posting that it's not gamefly's fault that their customers didn't take care of their discs are full of it. Gamefly has a responsibility to actually test the discs before they send them out and not be sending out junk that won't load.

[MaxBiaggi3]

Overall Gamefly is ok but 22 per month is alot with week turnaround

I've considered trying Blockbuster's B&M monthly game pass for $20 or so, but all of my local stores stock just one or two copies of the new release games that most people want. Most of these are checked out whenever I visit the stores, leaving me to wonder what would be left for me to rent (mostly older games I could buy for $5 or less). I've also considered trying Gamefly, but the fact that they're strictly West Coast-based (giving anyone in the East a 1-2 week turn-around time) makes their service much less attractive. As a result, I rarely rent anything from anyone because either the selection or service does not work for me.

[EnderBui]

The shipping is not something to cheer for by gamefly. My 2 Game Q's were shipped on 1/4. I recieved one of the games today.

The weird thing is all the glitches the websites have. I had Madden 05 once and then it disappeared and was replaced by the next one in line. Though my first choice said it was shipped already. After e-mailing them, they said that it was fine and that it must have been a glitch. Low and behold, it became back to normal after I got the e-mail. I have yet to recieve the first game I chose, I thought they shipped them together...

Edit:: Still have yet to recieve it.

I forgot to mention how on the site it said games will arrive in 2-4 days, then I recieved an e-mail saying it'll come in 3-5 days.

Also, it's been over 5 days since shipment and I can't report a lost game. They won't let me until it's been 7 days since it.