Pros:
- New games are $60, renting "as many games as you want" for a flat monthly fee sounds as good as Netflix (theoretically).
- To build on that, its a good way to try out games that you wouldn't necessarily buy under normal circumstances.
- "Buy Now" feature is pretty nifty. If you like a game, buy it. Its kind of like buying a used game from GameStop.
- Only two shipping centers, this leads to rather long turn-around times, which is why I put "as many games as you want" in quotes above - I'm estimating I can rent and play maybe two games per month, given 10-14 day turn-around times. This is not worth it.
- Your games are sent to you at random from your queue. While it may not be their intent to do this, the three games sent to me so far have been from the middle of my queue. Their "High Availability" means nothing to the user, as you never know if they have the game you want in stock to send to you next or if you'll get a game near the middle or bottom of your queue.
- Their web site is slow (yes, I've tried from at least three locations on three different computers at different times of the day).
However, this is the holiday season, so I'll see how it goes the next three weeks, but if the shipping time doesn't improve before my next payment is due, I'll be cancelling.
10-14 day turnaround??? You should contact customer service. That doesn't sound right. I've been using gamefly for a while now and have rode out the ups and downs. I'm on the east coast and I never wait more than 3 days on a game. I'm pretty much sold on them and for all the reasons you point out. Total opposite experience with their website? Weird.
ReplyDeleteThey recently opened up a third distribution center in Florida so that ought to improve game availability as well as turnaround times. All the same, 10-14 days isn't right. I've found customer service to be pretty good about taking care of stuff like this. I'm sure they'll credit you somehow if you've honestly waited that long.
As for game availability and getting what you want... it's really all about a little queue manipulation. Keep you queue relatively small. I usually keep mine at a maximum of 10. Less if there are hot titles I want to get quickly. Game availability can change pretty quick. I've had more than one low availability game ship within 24 hours of putting it on my queue. Just keep what you really want in there and save the lesser stuff for when there's a lull between hot titles.
All in all, like you point out, the service will essentially pay for itself. In three months time you'll spend what it would cost you to buy one new game on your membership if you go for the 2 games at a time plan. In that time you can, at a minimum, play six games provided you get this turnaround issue straightened out which should happen because that amount of time just isn't normal unless you're living on top of a mountain in some remote no mans land. And the deals on pre-played games are the best. Especially as your membership matures and you start getting the discount coupons.
I guess it's probably pretty obvious that I'm a big fan of the service. As such, I say stick with them and contact customer service about your turn around issues. In the beginning my service was on the slower side too (though not 14 days slow). You might be right about the holidays slowing things down. Hard to say, but that's definitely not normal.
Like I mentioned in the post, its possible the holidays have something to do with it. Also, location is a big factor. Apparently I'm getting my games from Pittsburgh, which is the closest distribution center to me, but I live in the upper-Midwest. Pittsburgh is certainly closer than LA or Florida, but not ideal, considering my Netflix discs come in from a town I can practically throw a rock to.
ReplyDeleteA lot of services vary by customer, as well. Seems to me location plays a big part in turn-around time, since they have so few distribution centers.
As of today, it will be 12 days since I mailed my last game back. It took the game six days to arrive, and the game they mailed back to me has already been in transit for six days (according to when I received their shipping e-mail).
So, we'll see how things go since the holidays are now over.
I'd really like to keep them and I have already sent a very politely worded e-mail about this to their customer service.
Thanks for the comment! :)
Well, I hope things work out and they straighten out the shipping delays. I'm sure they'll give you some kind of credit or something. They're good about that sort of thing. I hope it all pans out. They're a great service. It would be a shame to ditch them given all the perks. One thing you may want to look into is whether or not your post office uses the fast return scans. Gamefly is set up to receive info on your mailed games IF - and this is a big IF - your post office scans the envelopes. In a nutshell, what this means is that Gamefly gets notice that your game is in the mail back to them and sends out your next one before they physically receive anything from you. If your local post office doesn't scan, Try mailing your games back from where you work. This often remedies the problem. I guess big business mail is more apt to get scanned or something. Anyway, it's worth investigating. It could be as simple as dropping your games in a different mailbox. This is more a post office thing than a Gamefly thing but it could make a difference. Anyway, best of luck! I hope it all works out for you.
ReplyDelete