Just rejoined Gamefly-Any tips?

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Jasonofindy

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#1  Edited By Jasonofindy

 I had the Gamefly service for most of 2007 and just rejoined last week.  I was getting great service in 2007 and only left because my son was born and my time to game shrunk greatly. 
 
Since rejoining, the service seems weaker than before.  Have they made a "behind the scenes" change to the way the queue works?  I rejoined on Tuesday the 12th with 7 current titles and 29 unreleased titles in my queue. Of the seven current titles: 3 had Medium availability, 3 had Low availability, and one was "Available Now." Based on my previous experience, I assumed that the "Available" title would ship out Wednesday and that one of the "Medium" titles would ship by Friday or Saturday.  

Instead the "Available" title switched to "High" and as of the end of Saturday the 16th, NOTHING had shipped yet, so I moved the unreleased "Dark Void" to number 1 in hopes that I could snag a copy of it.

On Monday, I received a "shipped" notice for Dark Void (which was odd since it was a postal holiday). It is now Wednesday the 20th and I still have an unshipped slot with the same 7 current games in my queue (3 M's, 3 L's, and an H status). Is this now normal for Gamefly? I don't expect to get my #1 game on the first day, but I would think that at least one of the Medium or High availability games would have been shipped in the past week if their %50-%75 chance of shipping descriptors were accurate.
 
Any tips out there for queue management?  In 2007, it was best to just have a small queue of the 3-5 released titles you REALLY wanted to play and EVERY unreleased upcoming title you had an interest in.  I know in the past, it worked best to remove all other released games from your queue to get a new game at release.  However, for those of you with both platforms do you find that it currently works better with the current algorithm to leave BOTH the 360 and PS3 versions in your queue on release day or just one or the other?

One more stupid question- When looking at your Gamefly queue on the two game plan, should there be some sort of visual indicator for my unshipped slot in the "Games I Have Out" section or am I just misremembering? (i.e. Something like on Netflix that simply says "Waiting to ship your next available game" to indicate you have an open slot)

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Andorski

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#2  Edited By Andorski

I always make sure that I only have one released game on my list and the rest be unreleased.  It guarantees that you get the game you want, and from my experience, you get it in a quick and timely fashion.

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Jasonofindy

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#3  Edited By Jasonofindy

I figured I would update and share my experience one month in by including my wait times and other info since my above post.  I am on the two out at a time plan, live in Indiana, and each of my games have shipped from the Pittsburgh mailing center.   So far I have received the following games with the following wait times with open spots in my queue:
 
Dark void- shipped on the Monday before release day  (5 days with 2 open slots) 
Ghostbusters- shipped on the day I posted my original post (5 days with 2 open slots, 2 more days with 1 open slot) 
 
I then started managing my queue one game at a time as Andorski recommended: 

Heavenly Sword- shipped on the day I mailed ghostbusters which checked in via Fastreturn - (0 days with open slot)
Darksiders- shipped 3 days after they received Dark Void (3 days with one open slot)
Bioshock 2 - shipped on release day after Heavenly sword checked in via Fastreturm (0 days with open slot)  
Saboteur- shipped the day they received Darksiders.  (0 days with open slot)
  
As you can see, since switching to placing one game in my queue at a time I've had much better luck with getting them to ship me items. As far as mailing times- 4 of 5 games have arrived from them in 3 mailing days and one took only 2 days.  The sixth was just mailed to me today. 
 
Of the four that I mailed back already: 
Dark Void took 6 days for them to receive and check in. 
Ghostbusters "Fastreturned" in the same day and took 3 days to physically return and be removed from my account.
Heavenly Sword "Fastreturned" the next day but took 8 days to physically return and be removed from my account. 
Darksiders took 3 days for them to receive and check in.
  
Hopefully, Fastreturn continues to work at least 50% of  the time.  So far I am satisfied with the service.  However, I dodged a bullet since Heavenly Sword "Fastreturned."

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Barrock

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#4  Edited By Barrock

I joined Gamefly on February 1st. I've received one game, which I kept for two days and sent back. They said yesterday they are finally shipping me MAG.
 
If it seems slow, know you aren't alone.
 
Hmm... what is Fastreturn?

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the8bitNacho

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#5  Edited By the8bitNacho
@Barrock: Some post office locations automatically send out a notification to Gamefly when they scan in a game that's being returned.  This allows Gamefly to go ahead and send out the next game in your queue with near certain knowledge that the one you have previously is on its way back.
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wefwefasdf

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#6  Edited By wefwefasdf

I finally quit using Gamefly once I realized their shipping speed wasn't going to improve anytime soon. If they ever get up to Netflix type quality then I might consider becoming a member again. Until then... I'll enjoy owning my games.

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Vinchenzo

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#7  Edited By Vinchenzo

Quit again. Best advice I can give.