The Lakeside Collection Doesn't Let You Collect Merchandise
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Aug 01 '02)
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I’m sure that you’ve all heard the expression, “Too good to be true.” Well, that certainly applies to The Lakeside Gifts Collection both online and by catalog. Their prices are wonderful on all that they offer. I’ve found out the hard way that the reason they can offer such good prices is that they have no intention of ever selling you the items to begin with. It doesn’t matter what you order, when you order or how much you order; they don’t deliver but one of ten items ordered. And it’s usually the one out of the ten that you tacked on but didn’t much need or want anyway. Why this company offers things that you can’t buy and how they stay in business doing so is anybody’s guess. I sure don’t know.
Last October, I received one of their catalogs in the mail. I hadn’t received one for a couple of years and was looking through it marveling at the offerings of unique items and the inexpensive prices that was listed. I saw that they also had an online address and decided that this would be one of the places I’d do my Christmas shopping for those “fill-in” type gifts. My daughter and sister also looked at the catalog and mentioned a few things that they liked and I hoped by ordering here my Christmas would be easier. Whenever I order online for Christmas, I make sure that I always order before November 15th. The order for Lakeside was beating my record, I ordered the last week of October. In fact I was pretty proud to have accomplished so much of my shopping so early.
But, first let me describe the website itself.
The Online Store
Shopping online at www.lakeside.com is fast and easy. They display really great pictures of the items they offer for sale. They don’t have the capability of letting you get close-ups of each item, but they are large enough that they are easily seen. They also depend on the fact that you probably have a catalog to look at and catalogs are offered for you to click on to receive.
There is a box that allows you to click on a catalog number if you want to order something you’ve seen there. There is also a drop-down box with headings such as: Garden, Jewelry, Personal Care, Giftware, Clothes, Books, and Home Furnishings, to name a few. During the winter season’s catalog they also add Christmas Items for the home and outside. Right now on the site their heading is “Summer 2002.”
Their shipping is somewhat standard pricing. It’s based on the cost of the items ordered. Up to $25 is $5.95, Up to $35 is $6.95, Up to $50 is $7.95 etc. They promise to ship in 10-14 days. Mine took a couple of emails and a couple of weeks longer than that because they shipped the two things I got separately.
Here is my original order (which they confirmed with an email and which I kept and got this information from):
1 50”x60” Chenille Throw $14.95
2 Sets of 3 Christmas CDs 39.90
1 Lipton the Magic Flavor Cookbook 4.95
2 Sets of gold/cream coordinating Gift Wraps 5.80
2 Pop-Up Hamper Storage Units 11.80
1 Set of Lighted Porcelain Angles 9.95
2 100% Cotton Holiday Rugs 13.90
1 Artificial Tree Storage Bag 4.95
1 32 Slot Wood Mail Organizer 9.95
1 Set of 8 magnetic Acrylic Frames 4.95
1 Winter Wonderland Framed Print Scene 6.95
1 Winter Wonderland Framed Print Scene 6.95
1 Wooden Wagon Planter 16.95
Total $151.95 Shipping $15.95 Tax 00 Grand Total $167.90
Certainly not a small order or a small total sale. The pop-up hampers were for my son and I’d seen them other places selling for $9.95 each and here I got two for $9.95. The Winter prints were charming and had a wooden frame and $6.95 each was an amazing price. Even the CD’s were special because of the celebrities that performed the music. Anyhow, THEY SOLD ME $167.90 worth of merchandise and only collected $27.70 plus $5.95 shipping. WHY? The reason is that according to them they were out of stock on all of the other items I had ordered. They DIDN’T tell me that when they sent the confirmation; they DIDN’T tell me that when I ordered; they DIDN’T even tell me that when I visited their tracking site. They didn’t tell me that until they slowly began shipping the items one by one (when I emailed them they used the excuse, “Maybe in the next shipment” and I hung on and then had to Christmas shop like usual, “In a Hurry.” The only items that I received were the Wooden Wagon Planter (ordered for one of my sisters and it did not say assembly required online or in the catalog and it came in about 40 parts), the 2 sets of wrapping paper (like I couldn’t have gotten that anywhere) and the Lipton cookbook (for my other sister and this at least was a good gift and helped at Christmas).
Was this an “isolated” experience and was it just bad luck? No, because once this happened I remembered that I had ordered a bunch of stuff from them one other time from their catalog (long before they were online) and didn’t get much of that order either. My son says he remembers because he ordered some stuff from them too, at that time, and he only got one of about six things he ordered. The really down side to not receiving merchandise, whether it be intensified by Christmas or just any order any time, is you’re disappointed! You’ve spent time looking for the items, deciding who they’re for, time ordering them, time waiting for them, and then you receive 20% of the order. Not worth it is my feeling and I will not order from them again. I just recently got a catalog and threw it away so I wouldn’t be tempted by the great things they offer or their great prices. Because it doesn’t matter if you order the minute you receive the catalog or not, they will be out of stock and you will not get the items you wanted most. I don’t understand how this company has been in business as long as they have. I don’t understand how they make money when they can only deliver 20% of the orders they receive. But, I do understand that I will not order from them again.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Michigan
Reviews written: 309
Trusted by: 320 members
About Me: I Love My Family, Teaching, Reading, the Internet, and Travel (and Epinions of Course)!
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