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[Amory]

Every 2 years or so I find myself giving Gamefly another shot for some reason. I guess it takes a couple years to forget how shitty Gamefly is. You know, they have a ton of issues with their service, but the only one that is truly intolerable is the time it takes for them to get a damn game to your mailbox.

I live in Boston. The closest shipping facility is apparently in Pittsburgh. I thought they used to have one in Philly but whatever, fine. They supposedly sent out "The Crew" (like the 7th or 8th game on my list, and plenty of titles in front of it are listed as "High" availability, but I can live with that) last Wednesday. Just checked the mail today, and it's still not here.

Now, here's the thing. In my experience, the mail just isn't that slow. If I put a put a letter in the mailbox with an ordinary stamp, it'd get to Pittsburgh in probably 3 business days. Four days max.

So what are they doing? They can't be mailing the game out when they say they are, so I'm guessing they tell you they shipped it and then...hold onto it for an extra day or two? In an effort to control the number of games you can possibly rent per month?

And that's just receiving the first game from them. Turnaround times literally take like 2 and a half weeks. A week for them to receive the game, a few days for them to check it back in and send out the next one, and then another week for it to get to you.

 

[VanWinkle]

I know. I've tried subscribing twice and both times I was horribly disappointed in the shipping speed. I had to wait about a week to get a new game from when I shipped the last one out. That's not acceptable.

 

[rjinaz]

Every 2 years or so I find myself giving Gamefly another shot for some reason. I guess it takes a couple years to forget how shitty Gamefly is. You know, they have a ton of issues with their service, but the only one that is truly intolerable is the time it takes for them to get a damn game to your mailbox.

I live in Boston. The closest shipping facility is apparently in Pittsburgh. I thought they used to have one in Philly but whatever, fine. They supposedly sent out "The Crew" (like the 7th or 8th game on my list, and plenty of titles in front of it are listed as "High" availability, but I can live with that) last Wednesday. Just checked the mail today, and it's still not here.

Now, here's the thing. In my experience, the mail just isn't that slow. If I put a put a letter in the mailbox with an ordinary stamp, it'd get to Pittsburgh in probably 3 business days. Four days max.

So what are they doing? They can't be mailing the game out when they say they are, so I'm guessing they tell you they shipped it and then...hold onto it for an extra day or two? In an effort to control the number of games you can possibly rent per month?

And that's just receiving the first game from them. Turnaround times literally take like 2 and a half weeks. A week for them to receive the game, a few days for them to check it back in and send out the next one, and then another week for it to get to you.

Yeah they are not the greatest. I live in Phoenix, they have a shipping center in LA. Should take 2 days, 3 max. It seems to vary but for me it's 4-6 on average. I've had a game arrive in 3 days and I've also had a game arrive in 2 weeks. But mostly 4-6 days. I'm just kind of used to it.

 

[cancerdancer]

I don't know what happened but my Gamefly shipping went from a reliable 2 days from them telling me they shipped to taking a solid week.

 

[ryan299]

They got worse as the company got bigger. I've complained several times bc one of the warehouse is one state over and it still takes like 4 days.

 

[Poodlestrike]

It varies, in my experience. I usually have a turnaround time of anywhere from a week to 3 days, depending on the time of year and what I've got in my queue. It could be better, but eh, that's what backlogs are for.

 

[Einbroch]

If it's recent, it's USPS. They've been absolute garbage with anything but standard sized mail for the past couple weeks. Port strike? Weather? Just overwhelming amount of mail?

Who knows. But I had a package "out for delivery" yesterday and it's not here today.

Gamefly takes usually 3-4 days to get to me. They sent FF Type-0 to me last Monday. It's been 8 days. This is the only the second or third time in four years it's taken more than 6 days.

 

[Warablo]

I don't know what happened but my Gamefly shipping went from a reliable 2 days from them telling me they shipped to taking a solid week.

Same here, it used to take 3 days counting the day it shipped. Gamefly shipping has no consistency anymore.

 

[statham]

They should copy whatever Netflix did back in the day, I could send in a movie on Wed and get my next movie on Friday, Sat at the latest.

 

[dugdug]

Are you sure it was sent from Pittsburgh? The closest one to me is Tampa, but, sometimes, they ship from Pittsburgh or Texas (I'm in SC).

 

[brickarts295]

Really? I've been with then since 2010. And I have played literally almost all new games during the first week of release taking only 2-3 days. The longest I have waited for a game from gamefly is about a week and that's when they send it from Pennsylvania Central (My closest central is the LA).
I guess it may depend on how close you live to their shipping centers because they ain't no Netflix.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

It usually only takes 2 business days for me.

 

[Amory]

I wish they'd just charge more and actually provide the service they say they'll provide. 1 game out at a time costs 15.99 per month. Charge 20, or 21, maybe even 22 a month and I'm still on board if their service was comparable to netflix's DVD service.

 

[Einbroch]

I wish they'd just charge more and actually provide the service they say they'll provide. 1 game out at a time costs 15.99 per month. Charge 20, or 21, maybe even 22 a month and I'm still on board if their service was comparable to netflix's DVD service.

Or you can get two games at a time for ~$13 using the gift card exploit (thread plug).

 

[Hysterical]

Im experiencing the same issues as you are, and i also live in Boston. I used to get games in 2 to 3 days now I'd be lucky to get it in a week. Im not sure what, but they definitely changed their shipping speed

 

[Plankfan]

The Pittsburgh shipping center is literally a five minute walk from my house and there are some instances where it takes two to three days for me to get a game. I'm frequently tempted to just walk down there and see if I can exchange it there lol

 

[RoslindaleOne]

It shouldn't take that long. I live in Boston too and I usually get my games 2-3 days. Sometimes longer depending on holidays and weather.

 

[J3ffro]

I have never had Gamefly so I don't have a dog in the fight - but any chance it is USPS?

I work for a property management company, and we have hundreds of people mailing their rent each month. In the last six months the time it takes to get to our PO box has doubled or tripled. This is in Phoenix, from Phoenix, and has gone from next day, to 3-5 days in almost all cases. That is with a standard first class stamp.

Gamefly may be using the lower tier mail services that add a little more time (Cards Against Humanity did that with their first Christmas 10 day thing and it was all over the place), but USPS reliability has gone rapidly downhill in recent months.

If they don't use USPS, my apologies, like I said I've never had an account.

 

[Amory]

I have never had Gamefly so I don't have a dog in the fight - but any chance it is USPS?

I work for a property management company, and we have hundreds of people mailing their rent each month. In the last six months the time it takes to get to our PO box has doubled or tripled. This is in Phoenix, from Phoenix, and has gone from next day, to 3-5 days in almost all cases. That is with a standard first class stamp.

Gamefly may be using the lower tier mail services that add a little more time (Cards Against Humanity did that with their first Christmas 10 day thing and it was all over the place), but USPS reliability has gone rapidly downhill in recent months.

If they don't use USPS, my apologies, like I said I've never had an account.

I guess it could be USPS, but Netflix uses USPS too and I never had an issue with their DVD by mail service back when I was a subscriber (canceled a few months back)

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

The start of last gen I was getting the vast majority of games delivered on release day. It was so fucking awesome. Now, yeah, it takes for fucking ever to get anything. I don't know why/when they got so shitty. But, man, it was so fucking good at first.

 

[Deft Beck]

I tried Gamefly for a month, but found the unpredictable nature of the queue to be unappealing. Shipping times seemed alright.

 

[Persona7]

I always get two days or less turnaround. They started sending the next game the second you drop off something at the post office and they scan it into the system.

 

[Megatron]

I signed up for them yesterday, they offered to let me come back for $1 for the first month. They emailed and said they shipped blood born and ruse. We will see I guess.

 

[StanleyStutters]

I live in Massachusetts and always get my games by the third day. If it ships on a Monday it is here by Thursday, Friday at the absolute latest. The shipping speed isn't great when compared to Netflix, but Netflix has 100+ shipping centers and GameFly has something like 6.

I've been a member for over 2 years and have had only great experiences. The occasional game will take awhile to get back to them, but I believe that's a Post Office error and with Fast Return I get my next game anyway. I've gotten several new games right when they came out (The Order and Borderlands: Handsome Jack Collection the 2 most recent) and the games always work.

 

[AmuroChan]

Yep, this is why I switched to PS Now. The shipping time for Gamefly has gotten so bad that I was basically paying $18 a month to rent an average of 3 games or so. PS Now is by no means perfect and has a long ways to go in terms of expanding the game library, but at least there's no wait and I can switch between as many games as I want for $15 a month.

 

[MrDaravon]

I'm also in the camp where I have an extremely consistent 2-day turnaround with them, very occasionally 3 days. We've had them for I think 10 or 11 years now, and I've almost never had delays like that.

Every Gamefly thread is always a complete mix of responses regarding the service and their shipping times lol. Seems like it's either fantastic or total shit for most folks.

 

[Nokagi]

Yeah and it seem to be getting worse for me. I use to get games in 3-4 days but the past few months it's been more like 6-8.

 

[jack....]

I cancelled a while ago because I have a huge backlog and not enough time, but it was always next day for me. Long Beach to San Diego.

 

[Samus4145]

The Pitts distribution center is the worst. New games tend to ship on Monday and I usually don't receive them till Friday. No way standard mail should take that long to get to NY.

 

[KingJ2002]

add me to the list... im in LA and very close to their shipping center. Previously games use to get to me in 1-2 days max... now it's a week. This trend started right around summer of last year... Not sure what changed exactly... but they need to improve the turn around. I complained to USPS once and they told me the carrier that usually delivers to my address was on vacation and someone was filling in for him.

glad to see these guys are getting some R&R... but i want my game on time.

...

Random... when i ship games back... i get an e-mail saying they received it the next day everytime :|

 

[MikeE21286]

Sounds like Amazon should just buy Gamefly

 

[StanleyStutters]

Sounds like Amazon should just buy Gamefly

Man, I would love this. Discount for Prime members, maybe?

 

[vg260]

I typically have been getting new releases Thursday or Friday of the game's release week. Not great, but it's mostly for games I wouldn't buy otherwise, so it doesn't bother me too much. Probably gonna drop it one my current sub ends because I'm being more selective recently, and the games I want to play most I own digitally.

 

[GeeDuhb]

The start of last gen I was getting the vast majority of games delivered on release day. It was so fucking awesome. Now, yeah, it takes for fucking ever to get anything. I don't know why/when they got so shitty. But, man, it was so fucking good at first.

This is how it used to be for me, up until about a year ago. Now it takes a minimum of 2 days, if not 3, 4 or even 5.

I cancelled a while ago because I have a huge backlog and not enough time, but it was always next day for me. Long Beach to San Diego.

I live 60 miles away from Long Beach and I used to get them next day. Now they have slipped to 2-3 days. If it ships from any other distribution center it takes a week to 10 days. I have had Gamely for 6+ years and I love the service, but the decrease in shipping speed has definitely been a downer.

 

[Treythalomew]

Always got my games from the Pittsburgh facility and it took forever. When I was on the two game plan it didn't matter as much but I always assumed they'd get a facility closer to Illinois but never did when I subbed.

PS+ and Games with Gold killed the need to have Gamefly for me. Every month I have plenty of options of things to play beside what I'm buying.

 

[bomb]

Shipping facility in Pittsburgh, I live in Pittsburgh. They would get my game on a Monday, Id get my next game on Thursday/Friday. I realized I was paying to have a game two weeks out of the month. what a waste.

 

[Jeremy]

I don't know what happened but my Gamefly shipping went from a reliable 2 days from them telling me they shipped to taking a solid week.

This is my experience. I didn't think it could get any worse and it's so much worse. If it weren't the only place to rent a large collection of games from I wouldn't come back.

 

[shandy706]

Are you sure it was sent from Pittsburgh? The closest one to me is Tampa, but, sometimes, they ship from Pittsburgh or Texas (I'm in SC).

Same here, it's usually pretty quick.

USPS has been struggling a lot lately.

 

[Xevren]

Always get mine in 2 business days.

 

[The Silver]

Only ever takes two days for games to get to me.

Sending in games only takes 1 day because of that fast shipping thing where they scan it at the post office.

Gamefly has always been great for me.

 

[johnvr]

I live in Los Angeles, when I started my subscription a few years ago, I would receive my game less than 2 days after they emailed me saying it shipped.

I ended up cancelling a few weeks ago because it started to take 5-7 days after they shipped for me to get the game. Not only that, 5 out of the last 8 or so games I've rented were scratched beyond the point of playing, and every time I would send in a game in the mail, it would take a week for them to get it.

Wouldn't be surprised if they went under soon. They are slipping hard.

 

[pahamrick]

Didn't they start doing that thing where the USPS would scan the game and then they'd immediately send out the next one before they got the one you sent back?

I tried Netflix last year for a month and that's how it worked for me. Turn around time was around 2 days.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

They sure do. Like you OP, I live in Mass and Pitt is the closest. That distro center is HORRIBLE not only with game selection/updating your que times, but their shipping takes forever.

It's why I cancelled the service after 2 months (and like you joined back again after a couple years to find it was still horrible)...just not worth it. Their customer service I also found to be pretty pathetic with the conversations I had with them.

 

[vg260]

Didn't they start doing that thing where the USPS would scan the game and then they'd immediately send out the next one before they got the one you sent back?

I tried Netflix last year for a month and that's how it worked for me. Turn around time was around 2 days.

They said they did, but it's never happened for me.

Seems the Pittsburgh center is terrible for everyone.

 

[WillyFive]

Of the two times I've subscribed, I have unsubscribed both times due to the very long shipping times.

 

[Poop!]

It wouldn't be a problem if the shipping time don't count towards your rental time. The clock should only count when you have the game.

 

[Dega]

Are you sure it was sent from Pittsburgh? The closest one to me is Tampa, but, sometimes, they ship from Pittsburgh or Texas (I'm in SC).

Texas? We haven't had a shipping center here in awhile. I get mine from Kansas City and I'm near Houston. It has been taking longer though.

 

[pahamrick]

They said they did, but it's never happened for me.

Seems the Pittsburgh center is terrible for everyone.

That's really shitty. I know I'm lucky in that the nearest distribution center is probably only 8 or so hours from me (I live in Grand Bay, Alabama nearest center is in Tampa, Florida.)

I didn't stay past the first month because they sent the lowest game on my queue twice in a row despite games higher having high availability.

 

[Jarrod38]

One of the reasons why I stopped with Gamefly. Anyways what was the other site that was trying to complete with Gamefly around maybe 2008 through 2010?

 

[Dega]

One of the reasons why I stopped with Gamefly. Anyways what was the other site that was trying to complete with Gamefly around maybe 2008 through 2010?

gameznflix

Some have mentioned trying gamerang here too I think.