Wonderful merchandise at amazing prices. SLLLLOOOOOWWWW service. Do not expect ANY customer service. Emails are generic and I have never gotten anything but a busy signal on the phone. I have just placed my 3rd order, though, and continue to recommend the company. You have to be VERY patient to use this company. Order very early and don't check back for a few weeks. •Allow AT LEAST 6 weeks for your order. (Seriously) •Don't expect it to ship for 2-4 weeks. •Order by early NOV for Christmas to avoid backorder. •Don't freak when it shows up backorder on your screen. I had two of those last week and they are both shipped a few days later. •Orders almost always arrive seperatley. Do all this and you will get a great order and people will always ask you "Where did you get that!?". Good Luck!  
 
**UPDATE - Last night I received 2/3 of my order (in 4 boxes) and the rest shipped yesterday and should be here in about 4 days (in 2 more seperate boxes). This is the fastest I have ever gotten an order from them (8 & 12 days) and am very pleased. BTW - I have never been charged extra shipping.  
 
**UPDATE - I just received the rest of my order. Amazing! 14 items in 10 days is a record with this company. One item is much *cheaper* looking than the catalog but for the price, I expect this from time to time. Another good experience and amazing deals.

This review was modified by its author, dawn1234, on 11/16/07 1:05 PM.

BUYER BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!  
Unfortunately I didn't do my homework before ordering from Lakeside Collection. I placed my order and recieved immediate order confirmation. No where in this confirmation did I find stated that the order wouldn't ship for 7-14 days. After waiting a couple of days to receive shipment confirmation I began looking at the help menu from thier website and found that shipping takes from 7-14 days after order is processed with instock items. I checked the order status today and found that one of the IN STOCK items I ordered has been placed on backorder until 10/30/07 and the second item is now ready to ship after 5 days! Ready to ship, not shipped! 7-14 days is entirely too long to process and ship a 2 item order. I contacted them using the contact us email on their website. I too received a generic automated response that has nothing to do with my email to them. Lakeside didn't contact me to let me know of the backordered items or to ask me what I wanted to do. I would have cancelled the complete order. Thankfully I only purchased two items but the "backordered" item is still listed for sale on thier website. My mother always said "If it looks to good to be true, it probally is." That would apply to this website. Good prices, lousy service. I'll never shop Lakeside Collection again and I couldn't recommend this store to anyone. Waste of time and money.  
 
Order update 10/30/2007: The one instock item has been in "ready to ship" status for 7 days but has not shipped - WHY? The backordered item was supposed to ship 10/30/2007. The backorder has now been extended until 11/23/07 & you guessed it, if you go to the website now you will be allowed to purchase the "Green 5-in-1 Emergeny Crank Radio", my backordered item. It's still listed as in stock. Lakeside has yet to email me with any information related to my order. I'm contacting my credit card company for help as Lakeside will not cancel the order.

This review was modified by its author, Chinadoll237, on 10/30/07 5:21 PM.

I wish I had read the customer reviews on Lakeside Collection prior to ordering. I can't believe the problems I'm having. This company has the worst customer service I've ever encountered.  
 
Nine days after my bank approved the transaction, Lakeside informed me that the bank didn't and that the order had been "generically" cancelled. After a phone conversation with a rude CSR and numerous emails to Customer Service, I demanded an explanation and apology for the situation.  
 
Alas, no explanation, apology or merchandise! Just attitude.  
 
KG in North Carolina

I have ordered from Lakeside Collection several times. I really like everything that I have received from them. I have never had any major problems. Yes, I have had a couple things that I ordered placed on backorder. That is the only drawlback that I have encountered. I wish they would have a better system for items in stock and what is ordered. If something I ordered was going to be placed on backorder, I would know at the time that I placed my order. That way I would have a choice if I wanted to wait or not. They really do offer good products for great,sometimes unbelievable low prices. They have never,ever charged me for anything until the item was shipped out to me. I have never had any problems with Customer Service either. I have called to cancel items that I didn't want to wait for and they have always apologized to me and honored my request. I think people react to how they are spoken to. A nice,friendly voice will usually get the same in return.

I ordered five items on June 8th with all items on the website as being listed "in stock" but when I placed the order, all but two are "ready to ship" and the rest were backordered with astoundingly lengthy backorder dates (7/25??). My card hasn't been charged yet, so today I cancelled my order because this was the first purchase I had made from Lakeside, and became alarmed when it came out like this.  
 
There is no way to cancel the order on the website but when I called, I had no hold time (thankfully) but the woman I spoke with was vague and didn't really seem to know what was going on. She told me that the two "ready to ship" items MIGHT be too late to cancel, and I told her well I haven't received the items, haven't been charged, and they haven't shipped -- it's impossible for it to be too late and cancelled everything.  
 
I will check my account to see if my card gets charged later on. I am glad I cancelled, I should of went here first to see about this company. Such a shame, looked like they had lots of nice things for cheap. I won't be buying from them again.

This review was modified by its author, PoohStuff, on 6/13/07 11:03 AM.

Ordered a baby/ child accessory that reported as "In Stock" on the website. Order did not process until the following week. Two days later received an email reporting item would be on backorder for several months, until July. Called and asked to cancel the order, and have the full amount refunded to our account, at which time the clerk lied and said that we had not been billed at the current time. I immediately told her that I was at that very moment looking at the charge made by their company on my bank statement. She then became rude and talked down to me as if I were a child, and attempted to explain to me that I had not been charged, and that i must be mistaken. I said NO, I have the statement printout in my hand that says I have been charged, and then she began to backpedal slightly by saying that it's a preauthorization. I again explained to her, that my statement showed a CHARGE for the amount of the item plus shipping. Still on old for "Customer Service" going on 45 minutes

Wish I had seen this website before ordering from this company. I placed order on 11/17, item was in stock. They sent me email on 12/10 showing a shipping label was printed, and charged my credit card. That is where everything stopped. It is now 12/27 and nothing. I decided to cancel my order, because I would rather pay 2 times for the item before I ever give this company my money. They want me to fill out a form and fax back to do this. I tried to fax it back, but no answer on fax machine. Tried to email complaint, but all you get back is a automated response, and it says not to respond to the email. Sure, I read a couple of positive ratings about this company, but look how many bad. If you decide to order from this company anyway, good luck to you!

I ordered 13 items on December 4, all items are in stocks when I placed an order. Several days later, i checked my oder status and only one order that ready to ship. I received 2 items on December 15, and when I checked my order status today i only have 4 items left, they eliminate the rest of my order. Tried to contact customer service by email, no matter what is your question, you'll receive the same answer and it will not answer your question and you cannot reply that email.  
 
Try to call them, after more than 3 dozen times a day finally you can get rid of that busy tone, but the worst part they put me on hold for more than 25 minutes. and when i spoke with their representative, she wasn't a problem solver, she only can give you an answer, that if the item available, they will send it A S A P. I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS STORE.  
 
ADDITIONAL WARNING:  
They charged your credit card for shipping in the first shipment, and when they canceled your items they didn't return your shipping cost.  
 
Just realized today that they sent me a wrong item. the item looks OK like in the catalog, but the writing in the item totally wrong. Cannot use it at all.  
 
Try to called them, as usual they put me on hold, the person who answer my call cannot make any decision, they put me on hold for many times, asking to speak with the supervisor, never happened. Total time for on hold 69 minutes.  
(this is long distance call) BUYER BEWARE!!!!

This review was modified by its author, winetou, on 12/28/06 1:58 PM.

I have never received worse customer service! I made my order on August 31st 2006. It was not shipped until September 14th 2006 and then was shipped to the wrong address. It was returned to the company and my order sat there until I was finally able to get through to customer service which is usually about a 20 minute wait and I was told it would be reshipped. It is now October 16th, 2006, and I still have not received my merchandise. I have sent several e-mails in which I get an automated response, and I have tries to call several times and have been unable to get through. I keep checking the status on their web-site and it just says "ready to ship". The Lakeside collection catalogue does have many nice items at very good prices, but I will NEVER order from them again! I'm sure I can find the items somewhere else with much better service. Even if I have to pay a higher price it will be worth it, especially if my items arrive in less than 2 months!

I have ordered from Lakeside several times and have been very happy with the low prices. There are several things I have seen elsewhere for 3 times the price. 18 months ago I ordered a Christmas "ladder" decoration that looks as good after two seasons on display as they day I bought it. I have had people ask where they could get one. You must be careful to check the sizes and dimensions to be sure you are getting what you want.

I ordered 2 items from this website on 1/16. It is now 2/24 and I haven't received either item. Both were in stock when I placed my order. According to the tracking feature on their website, the "shipper received notification" in January. The status has never been updated since then; package apparently has not been shipped. The second item supposedly was shipped on 2/15 but when I checked the status of my order today, it indicates that the item was "cancelled" but I never cancelled it. When I sent them an email and filled out their online form requesting customer service, they sent me an automated response that doesn't even answer my questions. I am so dissatisfied that I have sent them an email indicating that I now want BOTH items cancelled and purchase price + shipping refunded. I WILL NEVER ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN. THEIR CHEAPER PRICES AREN'T WORTH THEIR CHEAP CUSTOMER SERVICE.

One should not have to wait thirty(30) days for an item to ship when it was noted as in stock when ordered and still be told they are "ready for shipment" when questioned about it

I purchased a big part of my Christmas presents here and did it early so that I'd have plenty of time since they are slow.  
Got an email confirming the order and giving me tracking info. I checked it through the week and it was all in a "ready-to-ship" status.  
I checked it today (Sat.) and saw that the entire order had been cancelled!!!! Without warning!They didn't even send me an email informing me or giving a reason! I checked my credit card and that's not the problem so I'm completely baffled and mad! I tried to call them and guess what? They're only opened Mon-Frid from 7-4... SO what now? Start over with someone else!

Extremely poor cust. svc. Shipping time for an in-stock item was lengthy. Another item has been on back-order for 6 weeks now, and will not ship for at least another month. Yet they still offer this item as being available on their site! Inquiries were answered w/ form-letter automated type responses which did not address my questions at all. They may have good deals, but similar deals can be found elsewhere at places that have some resemblence of customer service & don't make you wait 2-3 months to receive your merchandise. Maybe you'll get lucky with them, but I won't ever shop there again.

Delivery time is extremely long compared with other online companies...customer service is usually automated emails which have no helpful information...helpline is most of the time busy...not very impressive.