GameFly is a service which is supposed to be NetFlix for games. I began using GameFly a few years ago, and thought it was pretty cool. Unfortunately, as they grew, they didn’t invest in the games needed to keep up with the demand of their subscribers, and due to the long wait times to receive a game, I cancelled my account.
Recently I decided to start my subscription again because I figured after 2 years they surely would have made improvements. Boy was I wrong.
In the past 2 months, I have only received 2 game titles, and seem to be spending more time waiting for games to ship than I do actually playing them. Every recently released title in the past few months shows low availability, and it takes forever for the game to even ship (on top of the 3 days it takes to arrive after it ships).
The last game I sent back was Splinter Cell: Conviction and that was on April 26th. After a few days they acknowledged receiving it, but they have yet to even send another game in my queue. Granted, I only have 2 games in my queue, but if I wanted to play old games it would be cheaper to buy them. I decided I would have a chat with them (since you can’t actually call the company) to see why there was such a delay (9 days now).
What I found was an exercise in frustration and a support agent relying too heavily on copy/paste.
| Chat Transcript | 05/05/2010 07:23 AM |
| Hi, my name is Carlos C. How may I help you? [07:03:54 AM] Bill: I sent back a game over a week ago, and you still haven’t sent me another game. [07:04:16 AM] Carlos C: One moment please as I review your account. [07:04:45 AM] Carlos C: In reviewing your account I noted that we are unable to ship you another game immediately since you have two released items in your GameQ that are currently high in demand. GameFly strives to send you your highest ranked game, however, if it is not available at the time of shipment, we will ship you the next available game on your GameQ to minimize the time you are without one. Therefore, I recommend you place more released games in your GameQ so you do not miss out on receiving titles. [07:06:19 AM] Bill: I know how it works. Why is a game that was released 2 months ago still low availability? Those are the games I want to play, and what I signed up for. If I wanted to play old releases it would be cheaper just to buy them. [07:07:14 AM] Carlos C: New releases are still very popular after a few months of the released date. [07:08:18 AM] Bill: Why do you not increase your inventory? [07:08:31 AM] Bill: From a customer perspective (this customer) you are doing a poor job of it. This is the reason I cancelled 2 years ago and it’s just as bad now as it was back then. [07:09:54 AM] Carlos C: I do apologize for the inconvenience and do appreciate your feedback. We are currently attempting to locate one of your games. Once we are able to locate an available game we will ship it out to you. [07:11:47 AM] Carlos C: Please note that by placing only your top game choices in your GameQ, you will be guaranteeing a shipment of those games. However, GameFly cannot guarantee a timeframe for those shipments. [07:12:30 AM] Bill: I know this. By waiting at least a week for them to even ship, I’m basically paying for half of month of gamefly for absolutely nothing. Netflix has no issues like this. I used to recommend gamefly to my friends, but now I can’t recommend it to anyone. [07:13:50 AM] Carlos C: We are correctly attempting to ship a game as soon as possible. [07:16:49 AM] Carlos C: Is there anything else I can assist you with today? [07:20:42 AM] Bill: no. I guess I will just cancel again. [07:23:06 AM] Carlos C: I do apologize once more the for the inconvenience and once a game is shipped we will send you an email notification. Thanks for contacting us! Should you have future questions, a great GameFly resource can be found at -http://www.gamefly.com/help [07:23:40 AM] ‘Bill’ disconnected (‘Concluded by Agent’). [07:23:42 AM] |
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Buyer/renter beware.
I agree 100 percent with this blog post. The exact same thing happens to me every time I join. I usually join once a year and hope for improvements. I put the 3-5 games on my Q that I am interested in playing. Usually a game is sent within a few days of signing up. Then I return that game a few days later and wait the 3 days before they acknowledge receiving it. Then the same thing happens every year. The rest of my games, even though some say medium availability, do not ship for a week if ever and I end up cancelling. Like yourself what am I supposed to do, put old games on my Q that I have no interest in playing? This is why more and more I can’t wait for total digital distribution. Soon they will be able to rent the digital games to you just like when you have Gamefly send you a game to rent. The technology is already there and working fine and a few companies will be giving this option in the near future. Thats the day I never ever consider Gamefly again. Gamefly is a waste of money if you want a good title thats been released in the past 2 or 3 months.
I agree as well. I put two worlds 2 on my queue, with low availability (this was days after it came out) and it was sent to me and recieved by me in 4 days. Odd, cause I thought gamefly says they prioritize their shipments by whoever had it on the queue longest. I live in Louisiana, and I sent the game back a 3 weeks ago. They have not changed it’s status. This is my first and will be my last experience with gamefly. I won’t deal with 3 and a half week turn-around time. That’s 1 game a month, and I’m sure I got lucky with getting it that fast, so I can probably expect longer shipping times in the future.
I have had Gamefly for 4 months now. In the beginning it was super fast and I was able to receive several games a month. The last month or so, the service has slowed down considerably. I mailed back Infamous and it took 8 complete days for them to acknowledge receiving it. Then 2 more days before they mailed out another game. It takes 3-4 days for me to receive the game. That’s 2 complete weeks to exchange a game. Not to mention, I have the 2 games out at a time plan and most times, they only send 1 game and I have to call to get the second game shipped. I currently have 38 games in my que. I live in Minneapolis MN, a metro area with 4 million people so I don’t live in a small town. If I didn’t have a 106.00 trade-in credit (can only be used for monthly rental costs) I would cancel and NEVER look back. Maybe Netflix’s fast shipping times have spoiled me, but I don’t care. Gamefly should be upfront that it can take 2 weeks to exchange a game, unlike 4 days with netflix.