I guess I lucked out!
Written: Dec 29 '03
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It wasn't until after I had ordered from The Lakeside Collection that I started reading their reviews here, and I must say, I was worried. It seems like no one has gotten good service from this company. So I crossed my fingers and waited!
I had placed my order well in advance of Christmas, in early November, so I wasn't too worried that I wouldn't receive my order in time. I was ordering a 75-piece wood train set for my son and a Coleman converter that plugs into the cigarette lighter of the car and allows you to use standard appliances (in our case, the laptop computer and cell phone chargers).
Like many of the other individuals who reviewed Lakeside, it seemed like it took an awful long time for items to arrive. After a week and a half I checked their website and it said "in stock, ready to ship." I wondered why, if it was in stock, had they not already shipped it? I read the FAQ and it stated pretty clearly that shipments usually went out about two weeks after the order was placed. In my opinion that information should have been made more clear during the order process; however, it was posted on the site and wasn't too hard to find.
My shipment arrived just before Thanksgiving. I didn't have to email or telephone customer service, so I can't tell you whether or not that experience would have been productive.
I have some qualms about the merchandise. The Coleman converter is great. We have a similar apparatus that cost three times as much, and the Coleman works just as well and has a couple extra features. The train set, however, was pretty disappointing. For $19.95 I wasn't expecting a hand-carved work of art, but the toy isn't very well made at all. First, several of the "75" pieces aren't even train tracks or train cars, but rather flat wood people and trees that aren't to scale with the trains and tracks and are pretty boring to play with. The magnets that hold the train cars together are too strong, causing the train to derail when it corners. And the pieces don't fit well, some too tight to go together and others too lose to stay together. Two pieces broke in the first five minutes of playing.
My son likes playing with the train set, but even at three years old is frustrated when the pieces don't work together right or when the train won't go around the corners without falling apart. I can't tell you if the rest of the Lakeside products are just as shabby, but there were a few other wood toy sets that probably come out of the same workshop. Caveat emptor!
To sum up, if you order well in advance, can forget about the quality of service we've gotten used to with Amazon, and order an item from this catalog with a brand name that you know and trust (like the Coleman), you might luck out just like I did. Otherwise, steer clear!
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Michigan
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me: Michigan mama into reading, writing, and racing.
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