- Decent range of games rental packages starting at £3.49
- More packages available after a few months of membership
- 3 game free trial
- Good customer service
- Fast title turnaround
- Good availability of top choices
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Review of Boomerang Rentals Game Rental
IF customer service with your online games rental is a priority for you then Boomerang Rentals is definitely worthy of consideration.
A number of years old now and getting better by the day, Boomerang Rentals is punching way above its weight and seems to be winning many fans along the way with its strong attention to customer satisfaction, coupled with a clutch of very competitively priced games rental packages.
Great site design
One of the things we felt always detracted from the rental experience at Boomerang was it's slightly clunky design and a drop-down menu system that was awkward and didn't always work.
We're thrilled to see a new design in place which certainly looks the business, if not solving completely our gripes with the system.
Having said that, the site does look smashing and while the awkward drop down menus remain, they work crisply and consistently making the process of browsing and/or finding a title easy.
All games now include user ratings along with detailed descriptions and some great in-game screen shots which are worth their weight in gold.
And it's not just the design that's got an overhaul: a traffic light system reflecting the demand for each individual title. A green light means your chances of getting the title first go are high, an amber light warns you not to get your hopes up, whilst a red light means you shouldn't send out invitations for a gaming party for that title just yet, as the chances of it turning up through the letterbox tomorrow are narrow.
Pleasingly fast turnaround of titles
Turnaround of Boomerang's games is pleasingly swift, but the availability of in-demand titles could use attention, especially on the popular consoles like X-Box 360.
Having said that, Boomerang Rental's claim that during the first quarter of 2006, 91% of Boomerang Games Rental customers regularly receive games in their top three choices. Two years on, we'd be interested to see whether that figure still holds today.
For occasional gamers, Boomerang Rental's low-end Boomerang Value Package which limits you to two games rentals per month but won't crunch your wallet is a good option, while for those who want their games in a rush, the premium Boomerang Unlimited Priority package ensures that you are always front of the queue for popular titles (users of Boomerang's standard 2-disc package may have to wait).
The ingenuity of this kind of games rental package differentiation should be applauded and our tests of the Boomerang games rental service suggest that title turnaround for less popular games is indeed quite fast.
3 game limit free trial
While the Boomerang games rental free trial at first appears to be generously long, at 21 days, the limit of just 3 games during this time is disappointing, if not slightly disingenuous. Either offer a 21-day trial or a 3-disc trial, but don't disguise the poorer one with the better one.
That said, a cycle of three games through the games rental system should be enough to allow anyone to get a reasonably good taste of what the Boomerang games rental service is like.
More rental packages for long-term members
There are more rental packages available when you've been a member for a few months.
After 3 consecutive months as a full paying customer on an Unlimited Two subscription or higher you can upgrade to an Unlimited 3 disc a month package for £18.99 a month and after 5 consecutive months you can trade up to Unlimited four for £25.99 a month.
We guess the idea is that once you're hooked on game rental you'll trade up but it's a shame that these Boomerang rental deals aren't available from the off.
Boomerang Game Rental gets two-thumbs up for:
Boomerang Rental's extra long trial period which gives a real taster of the kind of service you can expect - a service, we'd like to point out, that is a head and shoulders above some of Boomerang Rental's competitors.
Free trial details
Actual User Ratings
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At a Glance
| Our Rating |
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| No. of Titles |
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2,000 + |
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| Free Trial |
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21 days (3 games) |
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| DVDs at once |
Max / month |
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 |
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£3.49 |
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£7.99 |
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£11.99 |
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Unlimited |
£9.99 |
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Unlimited |
£13.99 |
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Unlimited |
£18.99 |
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Unlimited |
£25.99 |
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Unlimited |
£15.99 |
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Game Types Available: |
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Sony PS3 |
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Sony PS2 |
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Sony Playstation |
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Sony PSP |
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Xbox 360 |
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Xbox |
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Nintendo Wii |
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Nintendo GameCube |
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Nintendo DS |
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Gameboy Advance |
Customer Reviews
Remember, the customer reviews below are subjective (and are not the opinions of ChooseDVDRental.co.uk).
deb from wolverhampton writes... 10/02/2009 "Started my free trial was really pleased so set my account live early, i'm on the 2 unlimited package and the turnaround is excellent i usually get my first choice and another that's about 4th on my list, the service is fast and the games are in excellent condition, highly recommended"
S Andrews from Oxford writes... 04/10/2008 "Signed up to thier free trial and havebeen really pleased with the service to date. All the 3 games I had in the trial were in my top 5 choices and now my account has gone live, Im still getting an excellent service - just recieved BIA Hells Highway!"
Alex from Sheffield writes... 17/09/2008 "I have been with boomerang for 6 months now and so far really good service. They dispatch their games mostly within 1-2 days and get to you next day pretty much.
Only thing is, ive had my 1st choice games dispatched only half the time. The other half is lower down on my list, about 4-5"
j jones from glasgow writes... 25/06/2008 "tried the 3 week trial. got one game in that time due to delayed posting. sent it back and they claimed they never got it,and charged my visa card. avoid the bunch of crooks."
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Boomerang Rentals Game Rental
