Victoria: Gamefly.com

October 5, 2007

Gamefly.com - SCAM

Alright, I know I -never- write on my blog, but this is something that definitely needs to be put out there since we are a gaming community.

So lately, I've been noticing a dramatic increase in the number of Gamefly commercials on televisions and in gaming magazines. Prior to this, the only game rental gimmick I've ever bought into is Blockbuster's monthly game rental plan. It was basically the same as these game/video rental sites--you have X number of games or movies that you can have out per week, and when you return them, you can pick up new ones. I can't recall if Blockbuster was more or less expensive than Gamefly, but I never had any problems with it because I could play a game as long as I wanted, go back and pick out new ones, then hand the new ones and old ones back to a cashier for him to scan. I think since then Blockbuster has stopped doing that deal, but it was definitely worth the money.

Now lately, Blockbuster (at least the one in my area) has had a generally mediocre selection of games. They have a huge selection of older games, but their selection of newer games is lacking. So I thought to myself, Gamefly might be a good fit for me. I would probably rent at most 4-6 games a month (with 2 out at a time), and I could try out games I wouldn't necessarily want to buy or keep. Of course, that's the basic role that Gamefly is meant to fulfill.

However, I've found that Gamefly is an absolute nightmare of a company. I think zombie monkeys are actually running this company, that's how bad it is. Here's what happened:

It started out fine, I opted to sign up for the monthly $22.95/2 games out at a time deal. I chose 2 Xbox 360 games, one of which was an older title and one of which was a brand new title. Both titles shipped to me my 2nd day after sign up. So far so good. Played the games, enjoyed them, kept them about 2 weeks. Gamefly provides you with barcoded envelopes to send back the games in, so I placed each game inside its specific envelope and sealed it up. I had to drive by the post office anyways, so I figured I would drop the games off there. I went inside and placed the games in the post office prepaid drop box and double checked that they were in. I figured my end of the bargain was complete. The ball's in your court, Gamefly.

So I waited. I checked my Game queue every day, to see what games they would send me next. Gamefly's distrobution center is also located in Los Angeles, so I didn't think it would take more than a few days to complete its trip. After 4 days, I became mildly concerned. After over a week, I sent them an email that the games had been returned...what's the deal? They replied the games were lost in the mail, and that they would send me the next two games on my queue despite that. Okay....so apparently I lost their games but it's okay, they'll trust me with two more? This all happened 2 weeks after they should have received the game....2 weeks that I've been paying for the whole time.

I decided to look up Gamefly, to see if other users have had this problem before. To my amazement, it seemed as if 90% of Gamefly's users have had games "lost" in the mail. On top of that, if the user then emailed a few weeks after the return date and told Gamefly the games have been sent back, Gamefly would magically "find" the game and send them their next games 2 weeks late. I sent them an angry, threatening letter and they magically found my discs, too.

Definitely something shady is going on here.

I have seen reports from users that about 60% of their rented games get "lost in the mail" on the way back to Gamefly. And yet, somehow Gamefly remains in business despite losing 60% of their inventory monthly. Somehow, that doesn't add up.

If you email them about it, you get an automated response 2-3 days later, not a real customer service representative. If you try and cancel your account because of the poor service, they'll charge you the full price of the brand new games that you supposedly "lost." The other alternative to paying for those games, of course, is to reactivate your account and continue paying your monthly fee. And so, Gamefly catches you between a rock and a hard place, leaving you unable to cancel your account unless you want to pay $50-120 in lost games, or keeping your account and making you keep taking games until they decide to find your old "lost games."

Gamefly is a fraud and a scam, I definitely needed to post so that you all know it's not worth it dealing with them. It's definitely a good idea, but we'll just have to wait until someone does it right, instead of a company just out to scam their members for money to hide their lack of overall inventory.

Posted by victoria at October 5, 2007 3:03 PM

Comments

This is really interesting... I know Netflix has a similar policy, but I've never seen them act on it except when my old roommate legitimately lost something (apparently they expect at least one lost disc a year... they sent him a new copy, no questions asked).

I know at least a few other people in the department have Gamefly subscriptions. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

Posted by: Jamie Antonisse at October 8, 2007 2:58 AM

they tried that with me. i sent Metal Gear in first, then Spider-Man 3. Spider-man 3 was there no problem but now they say Metal Gear isn't? i also cancelled my subscription before i sent the games. what did you write in your letter?

Posted by: andreas at November 3, 2007 10:38 PM

YES GAMEFLY IS A SCAM!!!!!!!! I also tried their 10 day trial. Sent the games back and SURPRISE SURPRISE, THEY CLAIM THEY DID NOT RECEIVE EITHER GAME!!!!!! They are of course trying to charge me for the full amount. I may have believed their B.S. except one thing. I MAILED THE GAMES BACK on TWO DIFFERENT DAYS from two different POST OFFICE LOCATIONS!!!!!!!!!!! I mailed them from the actual POST OFFICE, INSIDE OF THE POST OFFICE !!!!!!! Then they never return my e-mail inquiries and last but not least I find out the Gamefly Corporate Office is 5 miles from my apartment in LOS ANGELES!!!!! WE PROBABLY USE THE SAME POST OFFICE !!!!! ABSOLUTE B.S. SCAM!!!! DON'T EVEN TRY IT... EVER !!!!!!

Posted by: TRUTHSEEKER at May 23, 2008 6:13 PM

I've had some disconcerting experiences with the postal service or GameFly (who can discern whom to blame?) losing a returned game. Because I rarely buy a game until I've tried it (the only exception I've made in a year has been GTA IV which GameFly couldn't meet the demand for), and I rented about 60 console games last year, a service like GameFly is essential.

To make it worth the $25~/mo rate, I have to monitor that they've received what I've sent and diligently post on the obscure link of the accounts page that a shipping problem has occurred. A loss has happened somewhere between 1/10 to 1/20 of shipments. In almost every case, a few business days after the report, another game is sent. Maybe about half of the time, they claim it was a post office mistake after they report receiving the disk. I don't know who's at fault. They are also signicantly slower than Netflix at getting discs to me. Shipping usually takes an extra day compared to Netflix. So altogether, it takes like a 3-game plan to ensure one game is always at home, and usually two are.

Our house has no outgoing mailbox (it's a miracle mail gets to us at all actually...), so I've also found some mailboxes are better than others for losing/speed of return. the boxes on Hoover St near USC are usually slow and as best I recall, were where a few lost returns were dropped. Of course the post office (on Vermont) is quickest. The box inside the University Village has been reliable and quick too.

Most importantly, I haven't tried quitting yet, and perhaps when I do, I should empty the queue and get their receipt of returns first.

Posted by: kennerly at May 25, 2008 7:06 PM

Victoria

October 5, 2007

Gamefly.com - SCAM

Comments

Post a comment