Info on Game Rental Companies (Online and B&M)

Right on Hwong,

I feel bad hearing how someone else got scammed just like I did with 'deepshark'. I vow for this not to happen again so I came up with a few hints that I've learned over mistakes & research.

Just because they say 'free trial' doesn't mean they won't try to bully there way into your money.

Use Credit card & not Debit Card since theres better protection for unauthorized charges.

Don't order from west coast if you live in east coast expecting to meet the free trial time.

Report fraud companies like deepshark to the BBB in that companys state for example CT and file complaint form online. Theres a online form on the BBB website to file a claim:
This is for Hwong:
e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] or for an online complaint www.connecticut.bbb.org

Last but not least a recommendation for Triggerfingers,
They carry GBA along with the 3 main consoles & 4 games a month is $25 they're a class act company in my experience.

Peace
Gamez2003 8)
 
Thanks for the posts everyone.

Deepshark finally dropped everything and has left me alone. I'll liekly report them anyway just to make the file, thanks for links CTlesq and games2003!

I'll likely give Triggerfingers a try as well. But if there are others that no one has yet to try, let me know. As you know, I have no problems goin out there to try these rental companies first so YOU don't have to! :)
 
So i signed up for like five of these places and even thought the user interface is a little weak, gamesforrent.com has had all the latest games in stock and their shipping to me in Ohio was 3 days
veegees was 4 days and game eagle, turbogamer and triggerfingers were five days, so if you are on the east coast and looking, i'd say gamesforrent is the best so far,
for anyone that has tried veegees, were the games they sent all scratched up? cause the ones they sent me looked like they had been beaten
once i get some turn around times, i will let you all know which one i believe to be the best
rock.
 
Thanks alternakid!

From all the places I rented from (except Deepshark) I've never had any scratched disc problems. Generally, I've at least been lucky with that. But then again, I've never rented from veegees either.
 
One thing that wasn't mentioned is that Gamefly has some pretty good buy prices on used games, particularly if you're a member. You do have to be careful, since they occasionally don't track retail price drops, but usually games are available used within a few weeks for the average eBay used price or less. I'm unsure which other rental services do the same thing.
 
I've always been a little weary about buying used games from rental places. A friend of mine who works at a certain rental location which I will not name once told me that when customers have a problem with one of the games, it's put on the sale rack with the hopes that someone buys it and doesn't have the same problem (to get it out of inventory). If its local, its easy to return, but when its mail order...

On the other hand, you're right geoelectric, there are some terririfc prices for used games on Gamefly.
 
I live in NY and received 2 sets of games so far. Both times they came in 3 days and I can't say I have any complaints about the shipping. Although 1 game was damaged but the customer service is very helpful and shipped the next game in my queue right away (before they even received the damaged one back.) So far so good, a lot of games are saying short wait though and I am wondering when they will be available to ship.
 
yeah i used deepshark also, would never get anything in my top ten, cancelled the account, they said they would have to process it to their ticket department, which took over a week so they charged me another month despite me cancelling it over a week before the new cycle started, they have only responded to me once and ignore any requests for a refund.....so now im stuck waiting for the better business bureau to help me out
 
shaker4187 -

Call your credit card company and have them dispute the charge. Tell them you didn't authroize deepshark to charge you. They should take care of it for you. Best of Luck!

chuck_dee -

Which game service are you referring to, Trigger Fingers? If so, please give me a rating from 1 to 10 and I'll avergae it into the score.

Thanks!
 
Hey everyone, back from the dead!

I have two updates:

Deepshark has partnered with Gotoplay.com. I have no indication that they're any better than Deepshark since as soon as they merged I got an email from Gotoplay that said they would start some legal action against me if I didn't return outstanding games. First of all, I don't have any of their games. Secondly, I haven't used Deepshark in over half a year! At anyrate, they apologized after I wrote a scathing email and offered a one month free trial. I politely declined. Just so everyone knows, you should probably avoid Gotoplay.

On more interesting news, I'm currently trying Gamarang.com which another member posted in a forum a couple weeks ago. I signed up for the 30 day free trial, which apparenltly you can get by using the promo code "games". Anyway, a full review is coming soon after I complete the trial, but so far not bad. The games I wanted were in stock. I set my first order on Monday morning and received it on Wednesday. I sent it back Thursday afternoon and have not yet received a replacement game. They track games, so you'll be notified by email when its shipped and when it's arrived at your door (nifty). They're located in New Jersey.

More to come...
 
Thanks for the updates man. Good stuff. Very good stuff. If you think of it. PM me with your thoughts on Gamerang. I want to try them (Im on the east coast too) but Ive hesitated.

For all the west coasters out there, I highly suggest gamefly. They were the best of the bunch IMO but since Im on the East Coast turn around times killed me.
 
Thanks supadupacheap!!!

Just a little Gamarang update and one errata...

First the errata, the company that is associated with Deepshark now is GotAplay, not GotOplay. My bad, a little typo. So stay away from Gotaplay.com.

Second, the Gamarang update. I sent back my first rental last Thursday afternoon and they received it back today. Not sure why it took so long, but their website lists an expected receive date (for me) of this Friday. Ick, that's terrible. That means I will have been without a game for over a week. In essense, if you can finish the game in a day, you're limited to about 4 games a month with only 4 days of gameplay! Maybe the $19.95 two and a time is better, but right now I'd give a pass on the $14.95 one out at a time plan. But try it for free, it can't hurt. ;)

More to come...

BTW, any other services anyone want me to try? I'm willing to try them so YOU don't have to!
 
One question when I was looking at the first page, does Blockbuster even do the Guaranteed in Stock thing anymore where if all copies are gone, you get it free when it comes in? I don't think I've seen that for awhile.
 
They still do at my Blockbuster in NYC. You get avoucher good for one month if they don't have it in stock, but beware, they often have about five or six copies behind the desk, so don't bring it up to ask for it if you don't really want to rent it. The cool thing is,m with a pass, you can go up and ask, if they have it, rent it, if not, get a voucher and rent it later after your pass expires! Do it every week and you'll stock up two or three passes for after your pass expires. Keeps the fun coming...cheapass style!
 
I live in Michigan and I subscribed to Turbogamer for three months. I was charged for the two game out plan, but they only sent me one game at a time. I sent several emails to their customer service, each time I was told the problem would be corrected immediately and they would either send out another game or credit the difference to my account. My account was neither credited nor did they ever send the extra game out. I told them I would like to continue using their service but they needed to credit my account for the time I was overcharged for, but while they did admit to an "error" on their part, they refused to cooperate. I eventually contacted the better business bureau and six weeks later was issued a refund to my credit card. Not only that, but it took them an average of two days to send a game to me, but it took between five and seven days for them to receive a game I returned to them. At the time, I was subscribed to Gamefly (and still am), and I could send a game to GF and get my next one quicker than it took for me to do the same with Turbogamer. Like I said, I live in Michigan, so it shouldn't take less time to send a game to California and get one back than it does to send one forty miles away. To sum up, I disagree with the OP opinion of Turbogamer's custormer service 100%. Customer service was awful, 0 out of 10.
 
I was thinking about joining RedOctane.com, because they have PS1 & Dreamcast games (both domestic & import titles). It is $18.95 per month for 2 titles at a time. The only thing I don't like is their policies on damaged or lost games, they charge $60 ($80 is import)!!! It's the reason I didn't try them 4 years ago.

Anyone have experience with Red Octane?
 
As a quick update, I got terrible turn around time with Gamarang. They were so slow that over the course of a month, I was only able to rent fouor games, four less than 24 hours each. Four days worth of rentals in a month? I think you can give this one a pass...
 
Thanks for the comments watsedyears. That's why this column is useful, because we have mulltiple opinions. I'll definitely work on integrating your statements so other know as well.
 
[quote name='hwong3']Does Redoctane have a free trial?[/quote]

No, Red Octane has no free trial. Another reason I never signed up & why I was asking if anyone had any experience with them. Their pricing seems reasonable, but I am wondering what the turn around times are like on shipping titles to the East Coast.
 
Funny enough, most of the time, I only only sign up for the free trial if its at least a month, or the free trial with one month of service, just so I can evaluate them. So I really don't spend much money. ;) However, I do run the risk of crooked companies like Deepshark getting my credit card number and charging it up for services that I don't want. Let's just say I've had to cancel my credit card and dispute charges more than once. :) And all for the good of the gaming community....
 
Thanks, EnderBui, I appreciate it!

Any suggestion of what I should try next? I'm considering Red Octane, but without the free trial, it makes it harder (and more expensive) to evaluate.

;-)
 
Here is one more site for all of you to try Intothegame.com, I have had a great experince so far and they are cheaper than most. I think that they are new so there are fewer customers to fight over the stock, but so far I have gotten all my #1 games no problem.

www.intothegame.com
 
Hello!

I'm still searching for a good game rental company for East coast residents and wanted to share my experience with Gamefly and Gamerang. I am currently subscribed to Gamerang, but will cancel my membership.


*Gamefly*

I tried Gamefly for 14 days. I managed to rent 3 games within 14 days due to 1 being shipped out via FastReturn (once Gamefly gets notification from USPS that the game is on its way back, they'll ship the next game in line).

- The website is nice. Screenshots, and lots of game info with each listing. There were a few games on my "want list" that Gamefly did not have.

- The first batch took 6 days to get to me on the East coast (Atlanta). FastReturn is a great idea and does help IF the USPS actually scans the game, which is evidently not necessarily the case.

- 2 out of 3 games sent back during my trial got "lost". One finally arrived two weeks after I had sent it back, the other one never got back to Gamefly (or wasn't scanned as being received anyway - I don't really believe in lost mail).

- The night before my trial was to end, I wanted to cancel online, but to my surprise the Cancel button on their website was gone, and it asked me to call during business hours instead. This caused my credit card to be charged the next morning. I spoke to a customer service rep on the phone the next day, who was extremely nice, promised that they would refund the membership charge (which they did a few days later), and did not ask any questions about the lost game.

Gamefly would be great if the turnaround times wouldn't suck so bad, for people on the East coast especially. 6 days is just not acceptable, especially with a weekend in between. Like I mentioned before, FastReturn only works if the USPS really does scan the game on it's way back.



*Gamerang*

I tried Gamerang for 10 days, and subscribed afterwards.

- The website is only ok, most games neither have screenshots nor extensive game info. There were a few games on my "want list" that Gamerang did not have, however I did find their selection better than Gamefly's.

- I was very excited to learn that they had several distribution centers across the country. I figured the games would get to me in 3 days max... afterall there are only 3 states between Georgia and Oklahoma. Unfortunately, it does not work out that way. Even though their estimated shipping time is 3 days, a game shipped out on Tuesday arrived at my house the next Monday, and a game sent back on Tuesday doesn't arrive until Monday of the next week.

- No lost game problem so far.

I'll be canceling my subscription after only one month. I just can't tolerate 6 days shipping time, especially not across three states.



I'm not sure who I'll try next... possibly IntoTheGame.com.

A lot of the rental companies mentioned at the beginning of this thread don't seem to exist anymore. If anyone else has any recent experiences with any rental service, I'd love to hear them.

Jael :)
 
IMO, DeepShark was pretty good when I was with them.

But only because they fucked up or something.

I had about four accounts (which should charge about $65 a month) but they were only charging me for two accounts. So I had 8 games out at a time. But then I decided, fuck it. And cancelled my account. Thing is, they stopped charging my credit card even though I never returned the games.
 
[quote name='rvdrock']Holy old thread resurrection...was it neccessary, I'll let the others judge...[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your valuable input, rvdrock.

As for old thread resurrection, it is the only thread of it's kind on this message board and newbies posting new threads about online rental companies have been pointed to this thread. Just because a review was posted months ago does not mean it's not valid anymore.

Jael
 
What is the best online game (maybe pr0n :drool: ) rental service now? Is Gamefly actually going to build a distro center on the east coast? ( I live in michigan)
 
[quote name='The Dord']What is the best online game (maybe pr0n :drool: ) rental service now? Is Gamefly actually going to build a distro center on the east coast? ( I live in michigan)[/QUOTE]
I would say give gamefly another try if you tried them before. They are doing "fast return" now, meaning when you drop the games at the post office, USPS scans it telling gamefly to send the next games in your quene. That was my major problem in the past and they fixed it.
 
[quote name='Jarrett']I would say give gamefly another try if you tried them before. They are doing "fast return" now, meaning when you drop the games at the post office, USPS scans it telling gamefly to send the next games in your quene. That was my major problem in the past and they fixed it.[/QUOTE]

Not bad, do they have plenty of xbox 360 games available?
 
[quote name='Scorch']talk about lazy.. :p

www.gamefly.com

And in case you don't see it, click the "360" tab.[/QUOTE]

Meant that do they have plenty of copies of said games in stock? :p


Would really consider it once they have a Distro on the east coast. Waiting for more than 4 days doesn't sound like my cup o' tea :)
 
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