Is Gamefly not the best rental place out there?

So I started Gamefly almost a month ago. I thought that maybe since I'm home all the time that I should just rent games and try them out to see if I like them. Well, it's been a few weeks now and I only managed to check out 2 games. Only Rock Band 3 and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. So far, I played these games for a day and ship them out the next day. 
 
Well, the reason why I'm asking what the title says is because I feel like it takes forever for them to receive the game and to ship out the game. For example, I mailed back Rock Band 3 on Monday morning. They emailed me this afternoon and said they'll mail out the next game right away. Well, I'm looking on my "GameQ" and I'm not seeing anything being shipped out. Now I could be thinking too much into this, but I just want to see if anyone else have ever had any problems with them in the past?

As a Gamefly subscriber and from talking to other subscribers, experience seems dependent on how close you are to one of their shipping centers.  Living in SoCal where Gamefly has a shipping center in Los Angeles, I get games pretty quickly (1-3 days after it ships). 
 
There are also "tricks" you can do to ensure that you get new games as fast as possible: 

1. Only have one game that is currently out at a time.  If you have two games on your GameQ that is out, Gamefly might send you the game that is lower on your list if the higher priority game is in more demand.
2. When a game is about to come out, make sure you return the game that you are currently renting a week before (if you are on a 1-game plan).  This bumps you as a priority customer when they send their initial shipment of that game.

Gamefly kinda sucks, but it's still the best option, which really sucks more.

Gamefly sucks so much. I live 3 hours from one of their shipping centers and they sent me two random games on my list that weren't even close to the top of my priorities ALONG with late shipping. Thank god I used my free week for that--cancelled that shit before they charged me a dime.

Seeing as how it's only available in one country, no. It's far from the best.

I don't know about any other services, but I do know I was unhappy with Gamefly's speed and game availability. Maybe I've just been spoiled by Netflix, but I've gone weeks without any game being sent to me, either due to availability or just shipping speed. Its been about a year since I last held a subscription though.

" @ch13696: So what's the ETA between Gamefly sending you an email saying that they shipped your next game and you getting it in the mail?  2-3 days is pretty average for me, with 5 business days being the worst.  If you are waiting more than a week, then something is wrong. "

I live pretty close to a shipping center (about 100 miles in south Florida) but it still takes about 4 days from the time I stick it in the mailbox until I get a replacement.  I've been a member for more that 2 years now, but I think the service could still use a lot of improvement.  It's no where near as good as Netflix, which I also have, when it comes to expediency and getting what you want.  Of course, I understand that Netflix is allowed to create or  purchase from the studios en mass "for rental only" copies when a movie is new and hot and then return them when the buzz is over.  Gamefly is stuck with whatever they buy to put into their system, so they can't buy up a jillion copies of the hottest title then return them to the publisher. 

I should make my own game rental service... 
 
Gamefly is alright. Honestly, if you're waiting a long time, consider a Blockbuster pass. Roughly the same price, plus you can just drive to the store.

In my opinion, GameFly is only worth it if you live relatively close to a shipping center.  I had it for 3 months once, then a year later 2 months.  Both times it took me at 5 days to get a new game after I put the return in the mailbox.  With shipping that slow, it wasn't worth it to me.  They could also work on their library.
 
If they really upped their game, I would happily pay 23 bucks a month for them.  I would have to get a game within 3 days of putting mine in the mail, and newer games would have to be in stock a LOT more often than what they were when I last used their service.

From what I've heard, Gamefly is pretty terrible. But then again, its kinda the only way to rent games now what with Blockbuster and other brick and mortar video stores going out of business.

The reason why Gamefly's shipping is so slow lies entirely with the USPS. You see Netflix has a deal with the post office that grants their envelopes A-class delivery, meaning that they take precedence over other mail. Basically they get the express aisle at the post office. Now GF has applied for such preferential treatment many, many times but they have always been turned down. Furthermore Netflix has barcode scanning at the post office which means that they don't have to receive the disk themselves before they send you the next one. They just need to know it's on it's way. Gamefly has a similar pilot program but the number of post offices with the proper equipment is so small that in my 2 years as a GF customer, I can fit all the times it has happened to me on one hand. 
 
So don't place the blame entirely on GF here. The dudes have been working really hard to expedite their shipping times, and they just announced a new distribution center in Seattle today. 
 
Now game availability is a whole nother topic and I got nothing on that...

I understand that there are issues facing GameFly that Netflix doesn't necessarily deal with, but it's tough not to compare the two services when they offer such a similar model. For one thing, GameFly is twice as expensive, and as others have metioned, it takes twice as long for every part of the process to happen.
 
Of course, if there ain't a store in your town that rents games, it's hard not to recommend them if you actually want to rent games.

Like others have said, the delivery time depends on how close you are to one of their 4 warehouses. I live in Maryland, and the closest center is in Pittsburg, so it takes anywhere between 2-4 days to receive a game (depending on availability).  
 
I have the 2-game plan and I've set up my Queue so I get at least 1 newer game. I fill my Queue with new and unreleased games and I only add one game that has been out for a while. 

I used to use gamefly. The shipping center was near to me and I had a system and timing in place to make sure I got the games I wanted the week of its release. Well mostly, I had about 75% success with my system. WHen I sent a game back within that week I would get a new one, (like send game in monday, get a new one by friday). Too bad I went through almost all the games I wanted to play after a full year so I stopped the service. Also when I had gamefly, I felt compelled to game more and play shitty games I never would have otherwise. Sometimes in worked in my favor since I found hidden gems, but more then not, I played a lot of crappy games so eventually I said fuck it and stopped. 

I'm actually really happy with my Blockbuster online setup. My dad gets up to 3 movies rentals at once through the mail, and I get 2 free in-store game rentals per month. However, this particular deal is no longer available, so I'm lucky my dad got it when he did. Plus, now their website allows you to get game rentals through the mail too, so it's the best of both worlds. There's a Blockbuster right near my house, so it all works out very nicely for me. I haven't paid to rent a game in years. It was really cool when they had their no late fee deal, then I'd just keep each game for 2 weeks. Now they've gone back on that and you have about 5 days.

i just utilize my local rental store. I typically want my games immediately. 

i cancelled my year long subscription a little while ago. i was hardly ever playing the games i rented cuz i was always buying the games i really wanted. this is the kind of thing where an onlive-type service would be great if they had a good library of games. problem is they don't.

Its great, I had it for about 4-5 years. Saved me a ton of money since I stopped buying so many games.

@enigma777: As a GF member for 7 years, this pretty much summed up my thoughts exactly.

I guess it technically is. I used it for several years and I was close enough to one of the shipping centers that it came in a timely fashion. I eventually cancelled my account because I found my self buying more games and the backlog of older games I didn't really want to buy but still play was nonexistent. I did like the service overall.