Lakeshore Wheel and Tire - YOU GOTTA READ THIS!

I placed an order for a set of M5 replicas from them and I STILL haven't recieved them. I've called their offices numerous times and exchanged a few emails as well. This morning I got an email from the Shipping Manager and here's what he said,

"Hey Burt,
I finally received an answer from my supplier, they never shipped the wheels, they state that they "lost" your order. However I did have another set here for another customer that we shipped to you. Here is your tracking # xxxxxxx sorry for the delay."

Later in the AM, I followed up with the Shipping Manager because my order ONLY showed status on 3 out of 4 packages in my order. WTF??? What happened to the last package? The Shipping Manager reassured me that he was going to follow up with UPS to find out why the last box wasn't scanned. He recommended that I call back tomorrow and he would have an answer waiting. So I ended the call, and all was good.

It wasn't until lunchtime that I decided to recheck the status of the last package in my shipment. It still read "Billing information was recieved". So, I did what any consumer would have and contact the UPS hotline to get answers.

Apparently, once a label is printed, that packages' status gets updated to "Billing information was recieved." Once the package is picked up it should be scanned, which automatically allows me to track the package through all of the check points. Knowing this prompted even more questions about my last package like, how could they miss a package with two wheels in it? Are they smoking mirrors again and don't really have my order? Did the UPS guy miss the package (is that possible)? I was really getting pissed.

So I called Lake Shore again, to try and speak to the Shipping Manager again, who should know whether the status of all of my packages. Before I could get there, I encountered a B*&ch of a receptionist who made it clear that I was interrupting her lunch and quickly put me on hold. Upon her return she even stated that she wasn't going to help me and that I should wait until tomorrow to see if everything made shipment and to call be then. What a B*&ch!

After 3+ weeks waiting for information on my order, $800+, and countless minutes on the phone getting conficting stories on my order...I'm done with them. Hopefully all my packages make it to my place tomorrow. So, if you've considered buying from them read this story and beware!

Stay tuned for part 2...

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I sure hope everything works out for you. This is a real scary story for me to read because I have a set of wheels and tires on order from them right now. Most of what I have read about LST&W has been positive, which is why I decided to order from them. It did take them about a week and a half to ship my order. I am tracking it now and it is moving via UPS and scheduled to arrive this Friday. There are 5 packages so I think everything is there. After placing my order I had called 3 or 4 times to check the status. I talked to a gal each time and she was helpful and answered all my questions. Again, I hope everything comes together for you. Keep us posted.

thats why I went with www.wheelsdirectonline.com I had a great experience with them..plus their tires were competitive with Discount Tire, LAkeshore rapes you on tire price, almost 90% mark up

I went with O E Wheels (Ebay)

Originally Posted by burt540

I placed an order for a set of M5 replicas from them

Bought my 20" X5 wheels from them last month and didn't have a problem. Took about a week or so to get them here, but that's ok. Everything showed and I installed them the same day.

As for tire price, I compared with TireRack the price on Michelins for the 20" wheels. I found that the difference was negligible when you include mounting, so I ordered them ready to go.

Lakeshore was excellent shipping my wheels. I received them 5 days in FL after ordering. I think they are Michigan based.

Sorry to hear about the mix-up. I had a positive experience with Lakeshore as well s few years back. Fast ship, but 3 wheels/tires showed on a Friday and the 4th showed on Monday. Had to wait all weekedn to put them on.

I have a very similar story. I ordered a set of M-PARS and Kumho tires for my e39 on March 30th. I was under the impression that I would receive my order within a week or so. It took over a week to finally get a shipping order number. At least now I could keep track of my order on the UPS website. The estimated time of delivery was 4/16(yesterday). Well, after a long and tiring day at work I was eager to get home and see my new wheels. To my dismay, only the rear wheels and the box with the lug luts showed up. WTF............. I called UPS right away and explained my situation. UPS told me that LWT only shipped half the order. Now I am fuming. I called LWT but it was after hours. I left a voice mail and hoped they would call back the next morning. I ended up calling them again the next day and talked to someone who said......."We are waiting for our supplier to deliver more M-PARS. They should be here within a few days." I explained that it would have been nice for them to communicate this info to me in a timely manner and not wait for me to receive only half of my order! So now I am to wait even more time for the other half of the shipment. Needless to say, I am not a HAPPY customer right now.

easy fix. cancel the order and call your cc company and reverse the charge on their ass.. crappy customer service should be treated in kind..

sorry to here about your problem.. i've bought wheels from them and my wheels came 4 days after i ordered them. i have a friend that just ordered wheels from them last week and the wheels showed up yesterday.

It sounds like they're in the drop shipping business and are completely at the liberty of their suppliers. Either that or they don't know how to order to keep inventory in stock. I'm not ordering from them. Thanks for the heads up on Lakesore.

My experience with LWT has been a mixed bag of sorts. No problems in shipping, but the BMW center caps were missing. I received my order as stated which was 10 days (I'm in Seattle, WA - from Michigan). Also, I phoned my order as most of the reviews when dealing with them was that if you placed an online order, reviewers were unsatisfied with their transactions. The CS rep I spoke to was helpful and provided all the information I needed.

Upon arrival of my rims, one was damaged in shipping. A quick email to them with pictures showing the damage and I quickly got a response with an assessment of having a new wheel being shipped out.

This is where the service has turned. For over 3 weeks and multiple emails (both submitted online via their site and to the rep who answered my inital email), I did finally get a replacement wheel + my center caps. I have sent 2 more emails regarding the next step and have yet to get any response.

I feel as though when I placed my order, the service/response was great, but once the transaction had completed (ie they got my $$) they were hands off.

BTW- the package I ordered was 19" M-pars w/ the General Exclaim tires.

Now, I'm worried. Hopefully my wheels aren't damaged! Should get them later today (yikes). Stay tuned...

Here is an update to my situation. I just read my email and wouldn't you know it, the remaining 2 wheels(front rims and tires) are in transit. I am guessing that my shipment should be here(SOCAL)early next week. I will you guys posted.

while on the subject

I just want to give a thumbs up to the guys at Discount Tire Direct. I am very impressed with their service.

Not only did they match the competitors price but they beat it and on top of that with free shipping. And they got here way faster then i expected.

I posted my experiences with lakeshore on this site 2 or 3 times... do a search with my name.... I am too sour to go over it again... I still am not done with them (a month after the fact)

Point401,
I think it's safe to say that their operation blows! Consider them blacklisted in my book. Their prices may be cheaper, but not worth the headaches! Like yourself, I too was reviewing the return policy and noticed the 20% restocking fee (which is complete BS). What about customer satisfaction? Non-existent and Lakeshore that's for sure!

Well, I got all 5 of my wheels yesterday and they all looked good. I opted to stay conservative this time around and retain 17" all the way around (plus I could recycle my Pirelli's too). So I brought my car to the local Merchants Tire to have them mounted and balanced and that went well.

Lastnight, when I took the car for a spin on the highway I noticed that there was a little shake in the steering wheel. WTF??? As I see it, there is only two things that could be wrong. Either the wheels were misbalanced or Lakeshore shipped me crappy wheels!

I was extremely pissed about the noticeable shake in the wheel at speeds ranging from 50-70 mph. From previous experience, I would say that the wheels weren't balanced correctly. Lastnight, I took a flashlight to the wheels and noticed that both drivers side wheels didn't have any masses on the inner rim? Could it be that they came off? I really hope that was it, and not that I got a bunch of defective wheels.

At any rate, I'm gonna bring the car back to the shop and have them recheck their work. Hopefully, it was the masses and not the wheels.

Worse comes to worse, I still have the stock wheels that I can have remounted. Problem is that they're all bent and need a little TLC to cure the curbrash and bends.

Stay tuned for Part III......

Ok guys, here's the final update for me. I brought my car back to the local shop that mounted and balanced my wheels and turns out there were two things causing the shake in the steering wheel.

First, they didn't properly balance all of the tires. Turns out that one of the techs didn't use the balancer right. That was a relief to hear, but while he was doing that he confessed that the other day when he was mounting and balancing the wheels (the first time), he noticed that the tires that I recycled wore unevenly. He said that since all of the wheels that they were previously mounted on were bent, they resulted in the uneven wear. He even showed me the problem while the wheels were on the balancer.

Second, is that all of my tires unevenly wore. Which means that I will not get rid of the wiggle wiggle, shake it shake it completely, until I get a new set of tires!!!

So the good news is that Lakeshore got my order right, (granted they came really late and despite their crappy customer service) and the wheels were not damaged in shipment.
The bad news is that now I am supposed to shell out more dough for the new rubber. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I'm just ready to enjoy the weekend. I'll take a few pics and post them this weekend.

Originally Posted by e39 dave

I have a very similar story. I ordered a set of M-PARS and Kumho tires for my e39 on March 30th. I was under the impression that I would receive my order within a week or so. It took over a week to finally get a shipping order number. At least now I could keep track of my order on the UPS website. The estimated time of delivery was 4/16(yesterday). Well, after a long and tiring day at work I was eager to get home and see my new wheels. To my dismay, only the rear wheels and the box with the lug luts showed up. WTF............. I called UPS right away and explained my situation. UPS told me that LWT only shipped half the order. Now I am fuming. I called LWT but it was after hours. I left a voice mail and hoped they would call back the next morning. I ended up calling them again the next day and talked to someone who said......."We are waiting for our supplier to deliver more M-PARS. They should be here within a few days." I explained that it would have been nice for them to communicate this info to me in a timely manner and not wait for me to receive only half of my order! So now I am to wait even more time for the other half of the shipment. Needless to say, I am not a HAPPY customer right now.

I'm having the same experience. I was told instock and it would ship in two days. Four days go by and I get the rears. Still waiting on fronts. Been waiting since June 24th.

Lastcall,
Sorry to hear your story. I really hope that you get your wheels soon, because I know where you're coming from. I actually called them day-after-day, to the point where they got sick of me. Now I'm not recommending that you do the same, but it sure it helped me spread the pain. Good luck!

Originally Posted by burt540

Lastcall,
Sorry to hear your story. I really hope that you get your wheels soon, because I know where you're coming from. I actually called them day-after-day, to the point where they got sick of me. Now I'm not recommending that you do the same, but it sure it helped me spread the pain. Good luck!

I've call every other day.

I bought a tire and wheel package from Lakeshore and everything went fine. In the end my impression is that most people are satisfied with the product, it just takes longer for delivery than most anticipate. On mine, it took 1-1/2 weeks before they shipped, then another week for delivery, plus they arrived in two shipments on different days. At the time I was frustrated too, because I was excited to get my new wheels. Have patience and they should arrive.

This is the reason that I buy all my rims and tires from local companies....there is not enough savings in the purchase to justify the headache and hassles that I have read on this thread

plus mine are balanced and rotated for the life of the tire

glad to hear everything turned out fine, but i wouldn't ordered from Lakeshore, to me costumer service goes a long way. i rather pay a little more and get treated great then save couple bucks to get some crazy run around.
Thanks for the post.