I have never held more of feelings of ultimate disdain for a company than I do with the Lakeside Collection.
In August, I ordered two cases to house autographed basketballs. I put one together and when I started to put the second one together, I could not complete it because the screws were stripped and there were screw covers missing. I then retrieve the basketballs and attempt to place them in the case, only to find that they do not come anywhere near close to fitting in what was advertised by Lakeside a case that would fit a standard sized basketball.
I sent the basketball cases back to the company as described on their website, at my own expense and after having had to print my own return label as one was not included. I spent $6.95 to ship the cases originally and then an additional $11.33 to send them back to Lakeside.
After one month, I received a credit to my bank account for the cost of the cases only, not any of the shipping. I contacted the Lakeside Collection on October 3rd and waited on hold for over 50 minutes. When the respresentative answered, she said that she could not refund any of the shipping costs associated with the product and did not state any reason why this could not be done.
I then asked to speak to a manager and she (Victoria Mendez) stated that there were no manager's available to take my call. She then stated that she could return $1.00 of my total shipping costs of $18.28. I then asked to speak to a manager again and she said again that there were none available to speak to me. After getting very frustrated, I then asked her if there was ANYONE there that could remedy my issue. She then hung up on me. Mind you, I have now been on the phone for well over 1.25 hours at a cost to myself, as the customer service line is not a 1800 number.
By this point, I was very upset and was determined to speak to someone that could help me. I contacted customer service again and was on hold for 47 minutes; however, the second rep that I talked to was much nicer and apologized for the first representative. He said that he could return the original shipping costs of $6.95. He said that to receive the other shipping fees, I needed to send a written request to Lakeside's correspondence department, to a fax line that was also not free to dial.
I tried (literally) all day to send the fax request to Lakeside (7a-4pm) and it was BUSY ALL DAY. This representative also mentioned that he "thought" that Lakeside only reimburses up to $10.00 for return shipping costs.
I emailed customer service and the return response that I received stated that I would receive a response in 7 days. The first time that I emailed customer service about returning my package, they took 12 days to respond. I tried to fax the request in again on October 4th and I believe that it finally went through.
I think that the worst part about this company right now is that while you wait on hold for customer service, the recorded message that keeps replaying talks about how the Lakeside Collection plans to celebrate National Customer Service Month... Then, they leave people on hold at their own cost for almost an hour's time.
They don't respond to emails in any type of timely manner and then they also charge you to not only fax in your order but also to send anything to their correspondence department to get the refund for the shipping that you personally had to pay for to return faulty/misadvertised items.
I will be sure to tell everyone that I know to not purchase anything from this company. I have probably spent more money on hold trying to resolve my issue than they will refund. Don't waste your time or money.
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