Game Rental services UK - any favourites?

peanutismint

peanutismint

peanutismint

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I'm thinking about signing up for one of these online dvd rental services, like lovefilm or similar, but what I'd really like is to sign up to a game rental service. A quick search turned up a few (Boomerang, SwapGame, GamesFrenzy etc) and I'm wondering if anyone's had any dealings with any or could suggest one.

I'm probably only looking at one of the small packages, like maybe 1 game out at once and 1-2 games per month (it takes me like a month to finish a game anyways; I just don't seem to have the time these days!), so anything around the £5-10 mark would be good, but if anyone's had any problems with these services, not being able to get the games you want or what have you, I'd love to hear that too....


UPDATE: Been with Boomerang for about a month now, reasonably happy overall. Service has been fast, maybe not the best games but hey, you get what you ask for! They've also just started a cool service where, if you really like the game you've rented, you can buy it at ex-rental price and just keep the disc (they send the box/manual out free of charge) which is a nice touch, I think...
 
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I used boomerang for a bit, they were great, always sent me the game I wanted and very fast turnaround from sending one back to getting the next
 
I've tried a fair few of these services, doing the rounds on introductory offers or free trials.

In my experience, Boomerang has provided the best all around service of the lot in terms of turnaround and sending you games in term of your priorities.

Currently have been with swapgame, and have found I pretty much always get my number one choice, however their turnaround has been pretty dire. I'll get an email saying they'd received a game back, and the next one doesn't get sent for another 2 days which means every month I can get screwed out of several days worth of playing :(

Lovefilm/Tesco were pretty good on turnaround, but I never got anything near the top of my list, as they operate on a high/medium/low system rather than a ranked list. I always just seemed to get something at random from them.

Going to give whybuygames a try next, as they seem to have to best prices I have seen for this kind of service if you are interested in having multiple discs.
 
Hey, don't fully understand how these services work.

Basically you pay a subscription payment a month and in that month they will send you x amount of games?

What if i take like 2 weeks on 1 game and 3 weeks on the next? The subscription starts to look less worth it.

Do they keep on sending you games? Or is there a limit they send you? Thinking in case i want to be an achievement whore and take a long time playing the games, also what if i don't like it and send it back early?

Thanks.
 
Teki187 said:
Hey, don't fully understand how these services work.

Basically you pay a subscription payment a month and in that month they will send you x amount of games?

What if i take like 2 weeks on 1 game and 3 weeks on the next? The subscription starts to look less worth it.

Do they keep on sending you games? Or is there a limit they send you? Thinking in case i want to be an achievement whore and take a long time playing the games, also what if i don't like it and send it back early?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Different places have different terms so some will only support 1 game at a time others 2 or 3 but yeah you pay monthly fee and you get set amount of games but its still worth it when a new game is about £40 each.
 
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I use lovefilm and find them excellent:

To answer the questions above:

You pay a set fee (£14 or so), for two games (you can get packages for three games, and one game also). You create a list and prioritise it and LoveFilm send out the DVD's which they have in stock. You receive them, play them, and can keep them for how long or how short you want. You then send them back (either together or individually) and they will confirm they have received it and send another one or two out to you. That way, you can have a constant stream of games, with free postage and no time the game has to be returned. Yes if you do keep a game for 3 months you would have paid enough to buy it, but who would keep a game that long? If you like the game after playing it, surely you'd buy it?

I tend to keep games for about a week (usually the game is completed by then any ways, games are getting shorter!) and I'm not an achievement whore, :)
 
Great service, i did use boomerang for a while and they were flawless but i found i was just buying the games after i had rented them anyway (i'm one of those stupid people that becomes attached to their plastic disks aka games). Figured i can buy most second hand within 6 months for a tenner so it serves me better :/

But i digress, if you're wanting an online rental service, boomerang are very good.
 
+1 for boomerang. Used them a while back for about 8 months, turnaround was quick, prices were good, and a large selection of games
 
Just registered for the 21 day free trial on Boomerrang, i've put 5 games on the list, what do i do now to get them ordered?
 
Is there a minimum number of games you must have on your list at boomerang? I started with 5 as the trial said it required it to start.

Got one returned it, they got it tuesday and they have sent nothing out.

What a crap service, hardly one that would make a new customer keep using them. All four titles in my waiting list are green availability as well.
 
I'm on the smallest membership deal which means I only get 2 x games per month, and both of mine were delivered within a day or two of me requesting them/returning the other one. If they've yet to send anything, rather than telling us about it, I'd advise letting them know that you're still waiting! :) Apologies if you've already done this......
 
Hi,

Sorry to drag up an old thread but interested in this.

Is Boomerrang still a good choice ? Would prefer if I could get a bluray once a month also, any options there ?
 
I've been pretty satisfied with them for the past few months. They seem to be growing and are constantly trying new things, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do BluRay in the future.

One of the new features which seems to be popular is that if you really like any game you've rented, you can buy it outright, usually at pre-owned prices, and they'll then ship you out the box/manual etc free of charge. This really is true 'try before you buy' gaming, and a genuinely great alternative to all-out piracy for people who don't have thr money to buy 100 games a year only to find there's only 10 you'd actually want to keep in your collection! :-)

Another good feature (I promise I don't work for them...) is that at any time you can pause your subscription by putting it into 'holiday mode'; this is useful for if you're likely to be away from your console for a while so wouldn't be able to make use of your subscription - better than just paying for nothing! This feature is also useful for times when you look at release schedules and realise there isn't actually anything worth renting coming out for the next month or so, which can and does happen. I can't think of any other company who'd allow their users to pause their contract in this way, which just goes on to add more praise on the Boomerang folks.

Again, Im sure they're not without fault but Ive been more than happy with their service so far - at least they're trying new business models etc....
 
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