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Howdy, I was looking at the Gamefly service and was thinking about trying it out. Does anyone have an opinion/review about the service?

Thanks.

I have it and like it. Turnaround time is decent (usually four days or so), they give you some decent discounts on purchasing games once you've been a member awhile, and they were very flexible when the post office lost a game I had sent back--they just sent the next one in my queue, no questions asked.

Mik... Thanks for the reply. If I could ask you a few more things.. what systems do you use gamfly to rent? (more than one?) how long do you usually keep a game? What is the condition of the games? (do you have to send back because it won't play?)

Thanks..

Well, the two week free trial is there for a reason. Why not just go ahead and give it a try. If you don't like it, cancel.


I never had a problem when I used them for about a year.

I never had a problem when I used them for about a year.[/quote]

I discount the free trial periods of the likes of this one as they can manipulate results pretty easily.

Yeah, and the trial is only 10 days, hardly two weeks. Here was my experience:

Games shipped the night my trial started (Tuesday). They arrived Friday and Saturday, respectively. I played them over the weekend - discs were in great condition. I put them back in the mail on Monday. Taking into account that Tuesday was a holiday: One of the games was fast-returned (new game sent out when notification is received that the game is in the mail). That game shipped out yesterday. I cancelled this morning (10th day). No sign of the second game being fast-returned, but the first game was received today.

So... two rentals in 10 days? Hell no I'm not paying $20 a month for that. Unfortunately now I have to hope that I will receive, be able to play for a couple hours, and send King Kong back to them within 7 days or I'll be charged for it.

Location is key: They ship only from LA, so if you're on that side of the country, it's probably not bad. Ohio is far enough away that the shipping makes it worthless.

The fact that you get no discount on used games (other than free shipping, which is moot since they have free shipping sales rather frequently) is a bummer too. If I rent a game from Blockbuster, I get it for their used cost minus the $5 rental fee (I used free rental coupons, so I essentially get it $5 off). I get no bonus for being a rental subscriber, so I have no incentive to buy the games from them.

Originally Posted by sethrhf But i was lucky if I could get four games in a month.

A game a week seems kind of unreasonable to me. When I send a game back, it usually takes a day--sometimes two--to show up in their "Fast Return" system, then 2-3 more days to get the new game. I've enver tried to burn through as many as four in a month.

They still do give you discounts on pre-played games--the discount varies depending on the length of time you've been a member. I recently decided to keep Battlefield 2 for the 360. The price was $47.99 with free shipping. I got a $7.40 discount and paid $3.17 in tax. That made the total, shipped, $43.76. I got the case and manual in about two days and they were both immaculate. That's ten bucks or so cheaper than GameStop sells it used.

I've only rented 360 games thus far, but I have some DS titles in my queue. So far, I've had no problem with dirty or damaged media.

Originally Posted by botticus So... two rentals in 10 days? Hell no I'm not paying $20 a month for that.

Wouldn't two rentals at Blockbuster pretty much obliterate a $20 bill?

Originally Posted by mik Wouldn't two rentals at Blockbuster pretty much obliterate a $20 bill?

Again, I only rent when I have free rental coupons. Otherwise I wouldn't rent at all. But yes, that is a true statement.

Fact is, my Blockbuster Online shipping is about twice as fast as that, so I have high expectations. If my fourth game had shown any signs of shipping, I probably would have kept on for another month at the discounted $15 rate. But who knows when that one was going to ship.

Had Gamefly for a month and it was nothing short of shit, and that's being kind. They sent me the wrong game first, one got lost, one took 13 days to make it back, and two I really wanted never came into stock.

Intothegame.com is far better and cheaper. I've been with them for a year and have had only minor issues (two lost games, cleared up without a problem). Best personal service I've ever had too.

I've had it for over 4 months and the service has been great. The games come pretty quick. Usually around 3 days after they send me the sent email the games arrive. I was very skeptical at first but its worked out well so far.

It's a pretty solid service at Gamefly. Living in TX, I usually receive the games in about 3-4 days. They really could use another warehouse in the Midwest, though. I've been with them for about 6 months now & use it for PSP & GBA games mostly.

Originally Posted by sethrhf I had it and it sucked. I live in Ohio and it took forever to get my games. I guess it depends on where you live. But i was lucky if I could get four games in a month.

Same Here, I live in Dayton as well, and the games would come all the way from California. So I the game would ship monday I would get it saturday or the next monday. Then play it for a week or so and send it back then two weeks later get another game.

I hate it but it beats any other game renting service. The good is cheap Keep it prices games, most new games are in stock (but most 360 games are on short wait for the last 2 months) and DS games, bad long shipping and no older games.

It beats paying $40 - $60 for games I will only play a few hours. It is the best service for all of us non-collector gamers.

Also the service has been getting better the last few months and now that I get a discount on games and $5 off coupons every few months makes it a much better deal. I had a bad experince when I was with GF the first time 2 years ago (games getting lost in the mail 10-14 day turnaround) but now the turnaround is 3-5 days and I never had to send back a game because it was unplayable or have had a lost game.

Anybody ever try Gamerang or GameLender?
and
How believable are these reviews:
http://video-game-rental-review.toptenreviews.com/

I've been with them for over a year and it works out for me. I've had a game lost in the mail and had to return one scratched disc so far. Turnaround time is bad for me too; like 4 days. I figure if I rent 2-3 games a month, that's cheaper than paying $50 for it and selling it on ebay for $35 2 weeks later. New games you get right away; older titles usually have a long wait. And they are the only game rental service I've seen that rents PSP UMDs, PSP games, GBA games and DS games. Give them a try.

Originally Posted by 2DMention older titles usually have a long wait. And they are the only game rental service I've seen that rents PSP UMDs, PSP games, GBA games and DS games. Give them a try.

Not true. Intothegame does that too, along with some retro titles.

Resurrecting a buried thread just to state that I thought I'd finally give GameFly a whirl. I read reviews and it came down to Gamefly vs. Gamerang. It sounded like Gamefly was the more established of the two, so I went ahead with the one month of 2-games-out at the one-time $12.95 price.

I'm in the middle of that first month and I've only received one game (which took 5 business days to get here). Still waiting on the other of the two games shipped to me, and the one I returned has yet to get there (I guess--it's still in the "Games at home" section of my queue even though I haven't seen the er in nearly a week). "Report Shipping Problem" e-mails are delightfully useless and automated. This is a magnificent cluster.

Just wanted to reinforce the "Gamefly blows" stereotype I had heard of in spite of the good reviews I saw on the internet. Once again proves that the opinion of a trusted few is often more valuable than that of a faceless multitude.

I might switch over to Gamerang, but I'm hesitant. I went at Gamefly thinking that, at worst, it'd be like a slower Netflix. It's not lively enough to be a slower Netflix. It's more like hiring the Pony Express to fetch games for me from a rental place in Alaska. Does anyone have any experience with Gamerang? Please share if so.

don't they ship from two locations now?I may try out gamefly since LA is like 4 hours from where I live.

I have used for gamefly for 5 months now without issue. I think they have really gotten better since I tried them two years ago. I have yet to have a single issue also I got a wii from them :-)