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Gamefly vs. Gameznflix

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Hey everybody. I've decided to finally try out one of those rent a game through the mail services.

I'm curious as to which one is better based on your personal experience. I live in New York City, so I'm on the east coast.

Thanks!

I will not be renting movies.
 
If you're on the East Coast then GnF.

Gamefly is a better service IMO, but they only have 1 distribution center in California.
 
Does GnF have a distribution center on the east coast? I'm reading a lot of reviews for them saying they just don't have enough inventory and that can delay shipping times...
 
I'm on the East Coast and use Gamefly... saved me a TON of money really, especially on the next-gen machines... They have a larger inventory of games, never didn't receive a title because of out of stock yet... My friend tried GnF just so we can see a difference between them, they're quicker, usually receive a game 1-2 days tops sooner, but their inventory is really really low... He's had so many out of stock issues...

I usually receive games in 4 days... Turn around rate is about 8-9 days... Not bad if you take out 2-titles at once so you can juggle it up a lil to cover up the waiting period...

Like I put in another post... If you decide to go with Gamefly, if you feel nice, lemme know via PM... If you get "x-referrals" you get a free DSL... I'm pretty close IIRC... I was gonna give it to my god-daughter if i got it since i have one already... Thanks!
 
J-Rzez said:
I'm on the East Coast and use Gamefly... saved me a TON of money really, especially on the next-gen machines... They have a larger inventory of games, never didn't receive a title because of out of stock yet... My friend tried GnF just so we can see a difference between them, they're quicker, usually receive a game 1-2 days tops sooner, but their inventory is really really low... He's had so many out of stock issues...

I usually receive games in 4 days... Turn around rate is about 8-9 days... Not bad if you take out 2-titles at once so you can juggle it up a lil to cover up the waiting period...

Like I put in another post... If you decide to go with Gamefly, if you feel nice, lemme know via PM... If you get "x-referrals" you get a free DSL... I'm pretty close IIRC... I was gonna give it to my god-daughter if i got it since i have one already... Thanks!

Yeah I'm thinking I might go with them just because of the customer service and inventory reputation. Man, next-gen is just too expensive.
 
Gamefly usually would take about 5 business days to get to me. While Gamesnflix took 2-3. GnF was also the cheaper service although their interface is a bit glitchy and their selection isn't as robust as GF however I prefer the quicker service and cheaper price.
 
from my experience, if GnF has the games that you want in stock, the delivery and turnaround time is much faster than GF's. I live in Michigan, and I would often see 6 to 8 day turn around times between dropping my GF rental in the mail and receiving my next title --- when their "Fast Return" service actually registered my return, times could be as fast as 3 or 4 days, but "Fast Return" only worked maybe 30% of the time for me --- and that was with mailing ot from the same place every time. GnF consistently had games to me with a 3 or 4 day turn around.

That being said, comparing GF's inventory to GnF's inventory is a joke. GnF alsways seems to have their titles listed as "Short Wait" status, and you never really know what that means. Sometimes, you get the next title in your queue sent to you even though it is classified as a "Short Wait" item --- other times, you don't even get any of your top 4 or 5 titles shipped to you because they are all "Short Wait" items. GF simply outclasses GnF when it comes to supply. I'm afraid this is one of those cases where you get what you pay for.

However, if you have a lot of games that you want to catch up on and aren't picky about what order you play them in, GnF is certainly the faster (if you're in the mid-west/east coast) and more economical way to go.
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
Yeah I'm thinking I might go with them just because of the customer service and inventory reputation. Man, next-gen is just too expensive.

Definetly... It's not that I have a problem with buying a good game... but a lot of these titles have a short game life for me... Usually they're a couple hours and they're blah...

Now, the other cool thing about Gamefly is if you like a title, you can keep it for a "less" price than retail... I did this with Dead Rising... I didn't know if it was gonna have lasting appeal because of the demo, but I really love the game, so I kept it... You get rewards too, like percentages off "purchases" the longer you stay, and "coupons" as well for $5 off and such... It's a good deal... Check them out...

You can't go wrong either way with Gamefly and GnF in the end really... Especially multi-console owners... They'll both save you grief and money...
 
I'm primarily thinking of using it to try out all the single player next gen games coming out in the next few months...things like Lair, Bioshock, Darkness (I don't think I will be playing that multi even if it has multi). So two games at a time should be okay for me.

I'm really more concerned about getting the games shipped to me when they are released. I don't mind waiting on shipping, but I do mind waiting in a queue since that is always so uncertain.
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
Does GnF have a distribution center on the east coast? I'm reading a lot of reviews for them saying they just don't have enough inventory and that can delay shipping times...

Synbios459 said:

Wrong.

http://gameznflix.com/default.aspx?content=about/about

GameZnFlix endeavors to become the largest online DVD movie and game rental company in the United States. GameZnFlix continues to grow as subscribers realize the unmatched value offered by GameZnFlix to those who enjoy watching DVD movies and playing games. At present, GameZnFlix ships from nine distribution facilities, located near Boston, Washington D.C., Orlando, Franklin, KY, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Sacremento and Los Angeles. A distribution center in the mid-west is slated to open in the coming months.
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
I'm primarily thinking of using it to try out all the single player next gen games coming out in the next few months...things like Lair, Bioshock, Darkness (I don't think I will be playing that multi even if it has multi). So two games at a time should be okay for me.

I'm really more concerned about getting the games shipped to me when they are released. I don't mind waiting on shipping, but I do mind waiting in a queue since that is always so uncertain.
DEFINITELY go with Gamefly then.
/thread
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
I'm primarily thinking of using it to try out all the single player next gen games coming out in the next few months...things like Lair, Bioshock, Darkness (I don't think I will be playing that multi even if it has multi). So two games at a time should be okay for me.

I'm really more concerned about getting the games shipped to me when they are released. I don't mind waiting on shipping, but I do mind waiting in a queue since that is always so uncertain.

If that's the deal, then Gamefly is your route... There's a significantly less chance to then being out of stock... Especially when you have them in your "Q" before they release and you have a free slot in your rentals... This is from experience between my friend and I... Now, like I said, he would have a quicker turn-around though, there's no denying that, because they have more distribution centers... But Gamefly is supposed to have one set up on the East Coast eventually according to an email my friend got when he questioned them...

They're site is really solid too... I never get any glitches or anything either...

Really though, these are great services though either way... GF and GnF saved both my friend and myself a lot of money and grief... and I could've saved myself a lot of money on some other titles that were "purchases" too, like Gears for example... :(
 
How is Gamefly's inventory these days? I know GnF is iffy (not terrible) about having games in stock, but when I used Gamefly a couple of years ago they weren't much better.

For what Kevbug wants, I'd have to suggest Gamefly, but for most people I'd recommend GnF, especially for those living on the east coast.
 
I switched to gameznflix for the movies and it being cheaper, it isn't worth it, worse selection and it takes them longer to send out stuff often making it long for an order to get to me (I am TN and it ships from KY) than it did for gamefly. I am going to switch back after my month is over

Plus there isn't any protection for the disks that they send
 
I had GnF. I hated it. Sure it's cheap, but their collection is horrible. And I had to wait for more than one week many times even though they have distribution center where I live and games are available. So I closed my account.

Supposedly there is this coupon code that you can use on GnF that gives you discount. See this big thread at: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124534. You can get 3 at a time for $12.75. I had the same deal but I used some other coupon code that was posted on GAF.

When I had it, they didn't have DS games.
 
GameFly has a much smoother interface, and you can actually buy your games with them too cheaper than anywhere else. I get free shipping on the case / manual, 10% off the games, and then a $5 off coupon every 3 months. That's along with the fact that I get to try every game first before I buy ;). I get the games right when they first come out, so I'm not technically buying a used game.
 
I began with Gamefly, switched to Gameznflix, and then switched back to Gamefly.

I switched to Gameznflix since it was cheaper to rent out three games at once. I live in California, maybe 30 minutes away from a distribution center for Gameznflix, so I expected shipping to be relatively quick. I've had games take up to a week in order to arrive at my house. The website completely unorganized and slow, and the more popular games take weeks to months before being available. Also, their packaging is really not smart. They have Gameznflix written in bold letters on it, and the discs are not even protected. I've had maybe two to three games come snapped.

Even though Gamefly is more expensive, I've never had a problem with them. Everything is in stock, games arrive in 2 days, they update their inventory quickly. I love it. Never going back to Gameznflix (even though it was nice to have a movie selection, which is why I now have a Netflix account).
 
I guess I lucked out on Gameznflix. Shipping turnover for me in California per game is about 3 days (2 days to receive a game, 1 day to ship it back). I've rented about 12 games since I've registered in Mid January, and I've only paid $10 for the service so far.
 
I've never had a problem with GnF turnaround, I almost always get a new game 3-4 days after sending mine out. Gamefly's turnaround time was twice as long, just unacceptable.

I'd give Gamefly another shot if they set up an eastcoast distribution center, as the GnF website is a disgrace. Inaccurate searches, the queue is time-consuming to organize, and too many games are kept in "short wait" status.
 
I am not pleased with GnF not having SSX or Sonic or Ratchet and Clank PSP or MotorStorm (at least I can't find them)
 
I've used both for significant amounts of time and I agree with most of the posters here.

Gamefly is a more professional service but where I am (in Florida) Gameznflix is *significantly* faster (usually) and is much cheaper.

Gamefly:

For me, it would usually take 9 days for an "available now" game to get to me (them receive my game and then theirs to me). On bad times (which happened about 1/3 times) it could take an entire month just to get me a game. With only 1 game for $17.00 a month, that was really irritating. I could have paid $22.00 a month for 2, but that would just have been to make up for their bad delivery times so I couldn't stomach it. I also had two games lost in the mail (which I never did from GnF), which they don't seem to hold against you but adds 2 weeks to the delivery process. They put that "quick return" in (or whatever they call it), but in a year, I think it only actually worked once. They lost more than they fast returned.

On the other hand, they have the best used game system out there and I really liked the "buy it now" feature. It was easy to use their web site and they usually had most games available pretty quick - if it weren't for the slow delivery times.

Gameznflix:

Very getto, but very cheap AND fast. If they have the game in it could be 2-3 day turnaround. They also are only $13.00 for two games out at a time. It is also very cool to get movies from them as well for the same service. At times when I know I'm going to go for a month or so without much time to play games, I'll often just use the service for movies. If I have a game that I know is going to consume most of my game time, it is also nice to get movies with the other slot.

The web site, on the other hand, definately leaves something to be desired. They also have a strange habit of marking *everything* as "Short Wait." That has meant anywhere from 0 days extra to 3 weeks extra. I typically only leave a couple things in my queue at a time and I spent almost a month with a slot available (this only happened once and was very recent). When I asked them about it, they took a week to respond and said "you should keep 10 games in your queue at all times." If you want an old or obscure game, then be prepared to wait forever. They seem to have one copy of those games and you are just waiting for the one other person in the country that has it to return it (just speculation).

For me, I much prefered Gameznflix. If Gamefly ever improved there distribution to Florida, I'd probably go with them though.
 
Dekelia said:
I've used both for significant amounts of time and I agree with most of the posters here.

Gamefly is a more professional service but where I am (in Florida) Gameznflix is *significantly* faster (usually) and is much cheaper.

Gamefly:

For me, it would usually take 9 days for an "available now" game to get to me (them receive my game and then theirs to me). On bad times (which happened about 1/3 times) it could take an entire month just to get me a game. With only 1 game for $17.00 a month, that was really irritating. I could have paid $22.00 a month for 2, but that would just have been to make up for their bad delivery times so I couldn't stomach it. I also had two games lost in the mail (which I never did from GnF), which they don't seem to hold against you but adds 2 weeks to the delivery process. They put that "quick return" in (or whatever they call it), but in a year, I think it only actually worked once. They lost more than they fast returned.

On the other hand, they have the best used game system out there and I really liked the "buy it now" feature. It was easy to use their web site and they usually had most games available pretty quick - if it weren't for the slow delivery times.

Gameznflix:

Very getto, but very cheap AND fast. If they have the game in it could be 2-3 day turnaround. They also are only $13.00 for two games out at a time. It is also very cool to get movies from them as well for the same service. At times when I know I'm going to go for a month or so without much time to play games, I'll often just use the service for movies. If I have a game that I know is going to consume most of my game time, it is also nice to get movies with the other slot.

The web site, on the other hand, definately leaves something to be desired. They also have a strange habit of marking *everything* as "Short Wait." That has meant anywhere from 0 days extra to 3 weeks extra. I typically only leave a couple things in my queue at a time and I spent almost a month with a slot available (this only happened once and was very recent). When I asked them about it, they took a week to respond and said "you should keep 10 games in your queue at all times." If you want an old or obscure game, then be prepared to wait forever. They seem to have one copy of those games and you are just waiting for the one other person in the country that has it to return it (just speculation).

For me, I much prefered Gameznflix. If Gamefly ever improved there distribution to Florida, I'd probably go with them though.

That's pretty much my biggest issue. I need to know they'll have the game in upon its release.
 
Do not and I repeat, DO NOT. Use gameznflix. They suck. I had them and every damn game was always short wait etc....

Gamefly is the best, sure it takes a while on the east coast, but at least they have the latest games and you can buy them at a decent price.
 
I live on the east coast and I'm pretty happy with Gamefly. I don't mind waiting an extra day or two for a game to arrive. Not to mention I like to play DS games.
 
So far i am happy with GameznFlix, its a hell of alot cheaper for one (3 for $12.75 with coupon). Games arrive sooner then gamefly for me but i do have to admit it seems like they keep a low stock of games.
 
I had both in MI and GnF was quicker and more reliable.

HOWEVER. They have not been good about stocking or sending any games for PS3. Hopefully that will change or I'm leaving the service.
 
I started doing Gamefly this year because I thought games were getting too expensive. I live in the midwest (Chicago) and the turn around times can be insane. 8-9 days is a minimum, I've waited 13-15 more than once.

The thing that really screws you over is if they ship you a broken game, you're paying for the service for the entire reshipping time. They've also screwed up and shipped me the wrong game once, which again sucks because any error is just money down the drain for you, and trust me when I say, no matter who's screw-up or fault the error is, you're the one who foots the bill at the end. Gamefly will not compensate you, and if you contact customer service, expect to wait an extra three or four days before you'll even recieve a response (more time wasted...more money wasted). At times, the entire service seems designed to waste away subscription time.

Since mid-January, after all the miscellaneous screw-ups, I've played four games through on a 2-game plan. On the one hand, that's still not a bad deal. At $20 per month for the plan, that's $40 for 4 games (and most of the games were fairly new releases, so you can compare that to full price). On the other hand, it's not really the deal I thought I signed up for, so it feels a bit shaky in value.

Also, while new games will be in good condition, renting anything that's more than a couple months old will find a disk that you're a bit worried to put into your system. I don't know what people do with these things, but it's an embarrassment to the service that they obviously don't even look at them or attempt to evaluate their stock. One of my disks showed up with what looked like dried coffee spilled on it and more scratches than you'd believe. They obviously don't do anything with them besides open the old sleeve and stuff them in the new one which doesn't help your odds of getting something in good condition...loop back to the top of this post to see the biggest problem with that.
 
Wario64 said:
I guess I lucked out on Gameznflix. Shipping turnover for me in California per game is about 3 days (2 days to receive a game, 1 day to ship it back). I've rented about 12 games since I've registered in Mid January, and I've only paid $10 for the service so far.

I have the exact same turn around for Gamefly. But I live in downtown Los Angeles and the games ship to Inglewood which isn't very far away.
 
Big-E said:
Kind of off topic, but does anyone have suggestions for what services are good for people living in Canada?

Game Access is about the only option in Canada, I just signed up with them so can't really comment about their quality but they have games for all the systems including DS.
 
Count me as another Michiganian that uses Gameznflix...

Gamefly is tops for selection, but their turnaround time to me was unacceptable. I'd get a notice saying a game shipped on a Monday and I MIGHT receive it Friday. Usually it didn't come until the following Monday though :( Fast Return never seemed to apply. For about $30 to use their 3-out plan, I expect speedier turnarounds.

Gameznflix is half the price and the games get to me in 2 days, 3 at worst. I usually queue up new releases before they come out, so my experiences getting stuck behind the "short wait" have been limited. They ship most of their stuff from Kentucky, which isn't too far from Michigan when it comes to the US Mail. The exception, I've noticed, seems to be PSP games, which ship from Colorado half the time (and take an extra day or two). At $16.99 for 3-out, I can tolerate their shortcomings.
 
mosaic said:
Count me as another Michiganian that uses Gameznflix...

Gamefly is tops for selection, but their turnaround time to me was unacceptable. I'd get a notice saying a game shipped on a Monday and I MIGHT receive it Friday. Usually it didn't come until the following Monday though :( Fast Return never seemed to apply. For about $30 to use their 3-out plan, I expect speedier turnarounds.

Gameznflix is half the price and the games get to me in 2 days, 3 at worst. I usually queue up new releases before they come out, so my experiences getting stuck behind the "short wait" have been limited. They ship most of their stuff from Kentucky, which isn't too far from Michigan when it comes to the US Mail. The exception, I've noticed, seems to be PSP games, which ship from Colorado half the time (and take an extra day or two). At $16.99 for 3-out, I can tolerate their shortcomings.
I also live in Michigan (goto MSU) and I usually get my games in 3-4 days. So far, the service has been great (been using it for over a month). On ebay, they have 2-month trials for new members for only $5, which is a steal.
 
I started gameznflix about a week ago and I'm very impressed. I picked it for the following reasons: it's WAY cheaper (13 dollars for 3 at a time!!), it has multiple East coast distribution centers, and I also wanted movies. The turn around is incredible. They shipped me stuff Monday and i got it on Wendesday, I dropped one movie back in the mail on thursday and Friday morning they had already shipped me another game. Gamefly will charge me almost twice as much for only two at a time, so I'm already getting a lower value, but they also have a one week turnaround since they refuse to open East Coast facilities, so that means longer times nursing one game...

It upsets me, however, that GnF doesn't have DS games, and they are missing key titles like Sonic and SSX for Wii. Fortunately, I missed so many last gen games that I have a huge cue so I don't care much about the lack of and long wait for particular next gen titles at the moment. They're supposedly ramping up stock so we'll see how that goes. For now, if you can build yourself a fat cue with games from a number of consoles + movies, you're bound to always have something you wanted. Also, I've read that their service gets bad after a few months, since they favor new users to keep them on board, but this doesn't bug me, since if it happens i can just quit online any month. At the price, i figured it was worth a shot, and it seems to have been a good choice

Another thing about these services is that you are bound to get wrong discs, broken discs, lost shipments, etc... with either of them, and you are still paying them the whole time you wait for these issues to be resolved. Since GnF is half the price, an extra game, and much quicker turnarounds (for east coast) I'd imagine these issues are easier to stomach. i.e., GnF now says they have shiupped me Mario Party 8, which shouldn't be available until June. Unless they've manipulated time some how, I gather they're sending me an older mario party, so when I get it I'll just ship it right back. It stings a bit, but I have 2 other games right now and wouldn't have had the time to play the third much anyway. I imagine they'll have sent me something good by the time I'm done with Okami.
 
Emenis said:
So far i am happy with GameznFlix, its a hell of alot cheaper for one (3 for $12.75 with coupon). Games arrive sooner then gamefly for me but i do have to admit it seems like they keep a low stock of games.


great topic, just this morning i was eyeballing both of these sites.

i think it's like 12 bones for 2 at one and 22 at the other?

what coupon got you 3 for 12 ?


i like the fact you can rent movies on the same account and not need netflix.

i could not find a buy it button though? do they sell them similar to gamefly does?
 
It's true that GnF is much cheaper, but I'm more concerned about getting newer titles. I guess I will have to put up with the turnaround time. I'm gonna think on it some more, but Gamefly's higher price doesn't really bother me if it can assure me I'm going to be getting things as they come out, when they come out.
 
Y2Kevbug11 said:
It's true that GnF is much cheaper, but I'm more concerned about getting newer titles. I guess I will have to put up with the turnaround time. I'm gonna think on it some more, but Gamefly's higher price doesn't really bother me if it can assure me I'm going to be getting things as they come out, when they come out.

then it seems your best choice is indeed Gamefly. GnF does get some stuff around launch, but it seems very random which ones they get... I got Borat the day it came out though :D

great topic, just this morning i was eyeballing both of these sites.

i think it's like 12 bones for 2 at one and 22 at the other?

what coupon got you 3 for 12 ?


i like the fact you can rent movies on the same account and not need netflix.

i could not find a buy it button though? do they sell them similar to gamefly does?

I think the code was "Emmy" or something. i found it in another GAF thread on the subject so the search will pull it out. And yeah, the option to get movies was what sealed the GnF deal for me. I can't beleive no one else is mixing games and movies, particularly Blockbuster.

And there is a Buy option for GnF, but i haven't used it, seems a bit expensive for most stuff, considering you're getting what amounts to an nth hand copy of the game
 
I'm in Central Virginia and I never experience any wait times that people complain about on the east coast. My total turnaround time on a game from the day I receive it until the day I get my new rental ranges from 4-7 days. It's 4 every single time my post office uses fast return (this is entirely dependent on your post office, not Gamefly) which is about half the time, when they don't it's usually 6-7 days. In 3 1/2 years they've only lost one game on the way to me and one on the way back. I've NEVER waited more than 7 days for a rental. I also very rarely have problems with waiting for a game to become available, 9 times out of 10 I get what's #1 on my list. I've heard that they have problems with 360 game availability, but I just got my 360 a couple weeks ago and they've shipped both of my 360 games (RS: V and 99 Nights) right away, but too early to say.

They do realllly need to open up an east coast center, they get tons of bad rep for not having one, and they'd probably gain a ton of customers who use GnF only because of that.
 
Depends on where you live, what your doing, and what your getting.

Gameznflix has more centers. FACT.

Gameznflix is cheaper. FACT.

Gamez n FLIX. FACT.


Gamefly has better deals for purchasing. FACT.

Gamefly has a better organized site. FACT.

Gamefly has DS games. FACT
 
Here's a question...

GameFly apparently has a "FastReturn" available some places that speeds up return time, has anyone used this? how is it?
 
Fast Return is used by your post office, so you dont really have control over it. It's nice if its used since you wont have to wait a couple extra days for them to ship something out to you.
 
KrispeKreme said:
Game Access is about the only option in Canada, I just signed up with them so can't really comment about their quality but they have games for all the systems including DS.

I use getgames.ca and they have a great inventory and I was surprised when I first signed up and they shipped Final Fantasy 12 the first game on my queue. Shipping takes a little while to Alberta from Montreal but it beats buying games as I have no rental options within a 100 kms.
 
YEEEEEEEEES! Awesome. Can't Wait. Still need to send back SC:DA. Hopefully I'm one of the lucky members who get to try this new center.
 
So, I thought I was impressed with GameznFlix, but it's so freakin SLOW!

I live in Seattle, and apparently there's a distribution center in KENT which is just minutes away. From the day they send out a game, it takes 5 DAYS to get to me, which tells me they are not actually sending out the game from Kent, but from somewhere else. My game might get returned to Kent, but the new games don't get sent from there.

And what the heck is up with the "availability" status? I've had games sitting in my queue for a week now, that appear to be almost 100% availability, and they haven't sent me any of them. I only have one game out right now... (actually it was sent on the 24th, so I'm still waiting).

AND they don't even get some games. TMNT on Xbox 360? Nope. Tetris Evolution on Xbox 360? Nope.

It's almost like it is just some dudes who decide to send out games when they have some free time. And the website really really sucks.

It really makes me want to try GameFly.
 
Yeah apparently they are opening a center in Philly and stress testing it now. Should be available to all subscribers in the very near future.
 
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