I would like to echo the chorus of Lakeside Collection being an absolutely horrid company to purchase from. I'm amazed they're still in business. I ordered a set of glass coasters for a Christmas gift. It took them six weeks to ship the item. Since I ordered through the catalog, I wasn't too upset about the time frame. However, the packing was non-existent. They stuck these glass coasters in a box twice their size with nothing protecting them. No peanuts. No bubble wrap. No paper! And of course, they were broken. I was livid. I went to the website, looked up their return requirements and returned the item with a refund request. I got nothing. No acknowledgment of receipt. No refund. And forget trying to get in contact with someone to make a complaint. Not going to happen. I cannot stress enough how awful this company is. Do yourself a favor and do not purchase from them. If you really like one of their items so much, look it up online and I guarantee that you will find that item at another, more reputable outlet. It might be slightly more expensive but believe me, it's worth the extra money!

Horrible experience. I ordered on Jan 13 2008 the status has stayed ready to ship with no shipping in sight. They charged me right when I placed the order but no one can tell me if and when my order will ship. Never again will I order from them. I wish I would have checked the reviews here first.

Better Business Bureau Complaint filed:
Failure to provide purchased products in a timely manner. Failure to
communicate the status of the order. Cashed check in November 2008 and
only provided a partial order. Order were partially Christmas products
and never received. Telephoned for status on non-toll-free number and
held on hold. Went on the website and listed questions. Never got a
response. Email on said that they had received the questions. Worst
experience ever received by an online store. Still no response to email inquiry or complaint.

Never again will I purchase anything without researching the company first. For some odd reason, I felt that after years of receiving catalogs from this well known company, I would be fine doing business with them. Boy was I wrong! I do a lot of online shopping, and Lakeside Collections is the absolute worst online shopping experience that I have ever encountered.

Several weeks ago, I ordered almost $400 worth of items. As of last week, I hadn't heard anything from them and was concerned because nothing was listed in my order history. Since I couldn't get through via phone, I wrote multiple emails only to be answered with the same automated generic email each time. I kept trying the phone route but like many, if not all, I couldn't get through.

Their website states: The Lakeside Collection® is making every effort to deliver backordered items as soon as possible. We are receiving new merchandise in our warehouse daily and are working extended hours in order to meet your needs. What a bunch of bull. A retail business that isn't open at night or on the weekends - especially during the holiday season? And they're NOT reachable when they are open. Hmmmm.

Anyway, at the end of last week, one half of my order finally posted with a few backordered items. The other items were listed as 'processing' ... but what happened to the other half of my order? Since they will not release anything until the full order is complete, I canceled the backordered items. Today when I logged into my account, all of my order was there, but the backordered items that I canceled remained as backordered, and the items that were added had all been canceled because they are no longer in stock! Well now, that's really interesting, they were available when I ordered weeks ago AND when I rechecked all of those out of stock items on their website today, they were all available. Isn't that FALSE ADVERTISING? Other than their system letters, no one has ever attempted to contact me even though I wrote quite a few emails to them.

I went back to dialing and kept redialing for almost an hour. When I finally got lucky, my first wait time was 15 minutes and the CS rep. couldn't do a thing so I asked for a supervisor. She transferred my call (another 15 minute wait) and the 2nd rep. was just that – another CS rep. who also couldn't help me. She transferred me to her Supervisor and that took about 10 minutes. I explained my dissatisfaction and since my items would not arrive in time for the Holiday, I'd like to cancel my entire order. The supervisor told me that once the computer system lists an item as being Ready To Ship, the system won't allow a cancellation. THAT'S IT? I am stuck? BS! I asked for the name and address of the president of the company; she said her name was Helen Biar with a PO BOX # - what a surprise!. Upon further investigation, the contact information does not match the Better Business Bureau's info. Every facet of this online business is set up so that the consumer loses - from order processing, to shipping, to customer service ... it's not reputable and they have no business being in business!