Should I sign up for Gamefly?

[sirhansirhan]

I'm a big fan of Netflix, but I'm not really all that into renting games, for various reasons. However, in the coming weeks a lot of games are coming out that I will probably want, but can't really justify buying all of, so it seems a good idea to weed out the best by renting some.

My question is this: I'm sure a number of the people here are members on Gamefly--what do you think of their service? The options for signing up are a 10 day trial for free, or the first month of one game at a time unlimited rentals is $9, or $13 for two games at a time unlimited rentals. It seems likely that if I do it, I'll sign up for two games at a time, but then cancel the membership after the month of cheap subscription runs out. The thing is, I'll have a lot of games to plow through in that one month, and they don't have a shipping facility near me (they have two on the East Coast and one on the West; I live in St. Louis). So, anything anyone has to say about shipping time, quality of games (are disc-based games scratched really bad?), stock of games (i.e. do you usually get the game that is at the top of your queue, or do you get stuck with lesser-wanted backups?), frustration in losing saves on cart-based games when returning them (which didn't used to be an issue in the SNES days, of course, but now I think we're all spoiled on memory cards and hard drives... ), or really anything else at all would be appreciated.

And for good measure, even though it isn't entirely relevant, here's a list off the top of my head of games that I would like to rent from them in this month:

Out now:
Bully (Wii or 360, but preferably Wii)
Opoona
Patapon

Coming soon:
Arcana Hearts (PS2)
Persona 3: Fes (PS2)
Rondo of Swords (DS)
The World Ends With You (DS)

You know, I'm pretty sure there's more, but at this late hour, I can't remember them. I'm pretty sure that they all come out in the next week or two, though.

[Daria]

No.

That said, I love Netflix. You get your movies quickly, their customer service rocks, and... well that's all I need.

Gamefly doesn't have as many distribution centers so depending on your location you can be waiting a long time for a game to arrive in the mail. That's time you're still paying for, not playing any games. I also had issues with them sending me the wrong games, which resulted in more time wasting that again, I was paying for. Finally when I tried to cancel my service they continued to bill me. Customer service was non-existent as they handle all "issues" via email.

There are other mail order game rental services out there, I would look into them instead. Game&flix maybe?

[Sudo]

The service seemed better during the first month or two that I was a member. Newer games are relatively scratch-free, but I received Gears of War in the mail the other day and it literally looks like someone took sandpaper to it. I hope it actually works. It's possible to pretty much guarantee that they send you a new release game the day it comes out by having an open rental slot (ie: you have the two game plan and only one game rented out at the moment) and only having that new game you want in your GameQ at least a day or so before it comes out. Try it out and see if you like it. It saves me a lot of money, since I don't have the spare cash to actually buy all the games I want at the moment.

[Oobgarm]

Avoid doing this. Personally, I never had a problem with them during the 6+ month span I used them, but I am never going to resubscribe to the service or recommend them to anyone else.

Money-wise, it seems like a great deal. But the reality of the service is that you spend a lot of time without a game-especially if you're after new releases of popular titles or go through games quickly. Sure, they've opened a couple shipping centers on the eastern half of the US rather than have everything come out of California, but there's still going to be close to a 5+ day wait for stuff once you ship a game off. Even if you played and returned quickly, you'll likely get the first batch, return them, and perhaps get one more before the month is up. If you're lucky and get a third batch before the month is out, you'll be cancelling the membership and have to have the games back to them within 7 days or face charges to your card.

On the positive side, though, I never had a problem with condition of titles shipped to me. Yeah, they're going to have some scratches every now and then, and I'd figure truly damaged games are rarely shipped out. Selection isn't bad, either. There were a few times I ended up not getting what I expected and had to settle for the 'backup' game. Best bet is to not fill your queue up with stuff as filler, and only select stuff you absolutely want to play and wouldn't be disappointed in receiving. Happens with Netflix a lot, too.

If you're going for the 2-a-month and plan on cancelling at the end of the first month or two, I'd say it's a waste of money. You're better off going to Blockbuster and renting from them and paying the full $7.99 rental cost on each. You've got them for at least 5 days each, plus 5-6 additional days if you take their 'no late fees' return policy into consideration. (As long as you have it back within a week of the original due date, no late fees-but they'll charge you full retail price if you forget to return by then)

Of course, selection at BBV isn't as good, and you're looking for some 'niche' stuff that they likely won't carry.

[FantasiaWHT]

What people seem to be forgetting that is if you do have the two-out plan, you can make sure you always have a game to play. Assuming you can play through what you want to play of one game in the 5-7 days it'll take for turnaround of the second game, you get 4 games a month out of the deal. Beats paying $32 at Blockbuster for it when they probably don't have the games you want.

Always get at least two out at a time from any online rental plan so that you can overlap that way.

As far as negatives go, they cancelled my service when too many games got lost in the mail on the way to me. I think after 4 or so they cancelled me. Probably thought I was stealing them, but nope. And I doubt anybody in the neighborhood was stealing them, because a) I live in a nice neighborhood, and b) more importantly, I never have had problems with people stealing games from intothegame.com (now defunct) or blockbuster online that arrived in my mailbox.

[kaedesdisciple]

As far as negatives go, they cancelled my service when too many games got lost in the mail on the way to me. I think after 4 or so they cancelled me. Probably thought I was stealing them, but nope. And I doubt anybody in the neighborhood was stealing them, because a) I live in a nice neighborhood, and b) more importantly, I never have had problems with people stealing games from intothegame.com (now defunct) or blockbuster online that arrived in my mailbox.

Now, does Gamefly ship the games in a bright, colorful mailer like Netflix does? If so, I would seriously question that business practice, it's like they're asking for the games to be stolen.

[Slate]

I recommend subscribing but if you live far from a shipping center you might not want to do it. I'm lucky enough to live in a state where they have one shipping center. (They only have 3 shipping centers - One in California, one in Florida and one in Pennsylvania)

I also haven't had problems with Gamefly, They have never sent me the wrong game and when I bought games from them they always sent me the case and manual. I did get one game that had a crack in the center but it worked.

Edit: I have been subscribing to Gamefly for one year and two months.

[JustRob]

I tried them for awhile. Service was ok in terms of selection, and the price wasn't too bad. As long as you turn over games quickly, you're definitely getting your money's worth versus buying games you'll likely trade away anyway. The problem I had was that even with the new tampa center opening up, and my living in florida, it still took up to a week to either receive a game or get the acknowledgement from them that they recieved the one I just returned...that's up to two weeks turn around here people. Unacceptable. It takes no more than 2 days for me to mail a letter to tampa. Aside from the ridiculously slow turn arounds, I had no issues. But I refuse to wait that long for a game and sit there empty handed. Even with the 2/month account. I'd hold on to a game way longer than normal, just to justify the wait time for the second game to come around.

[sirhansirhan]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. The posts here have more or less confirmed my suspicions: I'd be better off buying most/all of the games on my list, since practically all of them are either niche or handheld (or both) and run $20-40 new anyway. I might rent Bully and another one or two, but the rest it seems a better idea just to buy them.

[scooterb23]

I've been with Gamefly for 3 months now,and it's pretty much perfect for me. I got the 2 game out plan, so I'm never without a game,since I wait for one to get back before sending out the other one. Turnaround time is a little pokey, but given the fact that I always send games back so that shipping is during my work week, when I can't really play too many games anyway...it's right for me.

I've played so many games in three months that I would never have had a chance to if I bought them.

[Half Japanese]

I registered with them about a year and a half ago to buy a used game from them and decided a few months back that I would actually give them a try as a rental outfit. Long story short, my non-active but still-there account wouldn't let me register for a rental account, so I shot them an email. I never did receive a reply, so I figured they didn't want my money.


Gameznflix was okay for the few months I used them, but there database had all sorts of errors and their customer service seemed bargain-bin the time I had to deal with it: I hadn't received a game I rented well past the time they usually take to show up and after them assuring me to wait a few more days the game showed up with actual stamps - not metered postage- plastered all over the envelope. Kinda weird at the very least. I think Circuit City was throwing some money behind them at one point, but I think that deal fell through.