Back in July, Gamefly reached out to me after hearing of my first (subpar) stint as a customer. They offered me 90 days on the house (2 games out) to test their supposedly improved service. Having received about a dozen Xbox and PSP games the last two months, I can report that delivery times have improved over my first go around. Perhaps it’s the new (closer) distribution center on the east coast (Pittsburgh), perhaps they have a better system for processing games – maybe a bit of both. Regardless, the average turnaround on game rentals has been about 7 days versus the previous 10-14. And last week we had a breakthrough… I returned two games on Monday and received two new games the very same week, on Friday. Surprisingly, they beat out the two Netflix discs I also shipped out that Monday – which still haven’t been received. (Very odd. Makes me wonder if the mail person has an ebay side business.)
So what will I do once my 90 days are up? I’m continuing on at the two game out $22.95/mo plan. The trick to finding satisfaction with Gamefly is managing expectations. I know it’ll take about a week door to door to receive a new game, so I won’t ship both games back at the same time. And while the shipping times are better, they may still be too slow to bother with Gamefly’s one game out plan ($15.95/mo). Though Gamefly tells me a new distribution plant in Tampa will come online later this year, with more in the works.
PS, I’m tired of Gamefly comment spam on ZNF. So if you found your way here via Technorati to post an effusive comment containing a Gamefly affiliate/referral code and email address, it will be deleted and you’ll be added to the Akismet spam black list.
I only tried Netflix once about 6 years ago and was not very impressed with their turnaround times. So I have had little interest in trying Gamyfly. What I could be interested in is a combo service where I paid one fee and could rent DVDs, Games and possibly CDs.
Yah, I too would like a service that offers everything. Based on things I’ve read over at Hacking Netflix, it sounds like Reed Hastings doesn’t see profit in renting and shipping games… and Blockbuster Online dumped games after awhile. What makes renting games via mail order appealing is that I can keep them long enough to enjoy and the avoid obscene new game pricing ($60).
As far as Netflix turnaround times, if I ship something out on Monday more often than not I have a new movie on Wednesday. Though I do live pretty close to a distribution center.
I’ve had a similar history w/Gamefly; had it for a time, dumped it, then got back on board w/the new shipping center. Sadly they didn’t offer me a free 90 days but overall I’m pretty happy w/the service. I’ve found similar ship times as Dave and I’m in Ohio.