ComplaintsforMatthews International Cremation Division

• Initial Complaint

  08/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a crematory unit 11/30/2021. I have a signed contract for this unit. I paid $20,000.00 down and financed the balance with a leasing company they referred me to. Uniivest Capital INC sent Matthews the full balance due on 12/17/2021. Total cost is $92,188.72. I have made all of my lease payments on time. Matthews was paid in full. After several delays Matthews now called and said there are price increases and I will need to pay an additional $15,744.00 to them before they release my machine. Keep in mind I have a signed contract and crematory unit is paid in full. Matthews (Thomas O***) said he will cancel my order which would be breach of contract.

  Business response

  10/07/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2022/09/12) */ Matthews Cremation Division has been proudly serving the funeral industry (Human and Animal) for the past 50+ years. Regrettably, over the past 18-24 months, we have witnessed unprecedented volatility in the market that has disruptive our manufacturing of combustion equipment. This volatility has negatively impacted labor, material, freight, services and overhead. Our cost increases since late 2021 has exceeded 20%+ which has require us to institute a temporary equipment surcharge which is the baseline of this complaint. We state "temporary" surcharge because we remain optimistic that the market will reset and return to normal. While we understand and regret our client's frustration (needing to report us to BBB), we are trying to provide options to help minimize the financial impact. Option 1. Roll their surcharge amount into their final payment schedule - 85% prior to shipment, balance at the time of startup. Option 2. Roll their surcharge amount into a three (3) month, interest free payment upon completion of startup. Option 3. Finance the surcharge amount with one of our bank finance partners. They will offer up to 36mo to pay off the balance. Option 4. Reconsider the Scope of Features (w/equipment) and allow this to become a way to help lower the out of pocket expense. Option 4. Cancel the order and we'll refund the deposit in full. We understand these decisions are never easy and the message should speak volume if we're willing to walk away, refund an equipment deposit in full and place these important strategic relationships at risk. These are difficult times, requiring difficult decisions and I believe we are in this together. Fortunately for Matthews, we have many clients who recognize that this isn't intentional, with malice or disregard. This is simply not our history and we are extremely grateful for those who stand beside us. Consumer Response /* (3000, 12, 2022/09/13) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I paid in full, signed their contract, and followed all their requests until the "Ransom Demand" We all have experienced price increases, supply issues, ect. I demand the unit delivered as promised by October 14, 2022, at the agreed, and fully paid price. Matthews Cremation knows all to well that they may lose a few customers but corporate greed is clearly in place. They fully know that they can sell my machine at an inflated price to the next guy or get the ransom demands. It is also common knowledge that Matthews has teamed up with Gateway in an effort to provide large volume accounts with equipment at the smaller, non corporate business owners expense. Gateway demands two new units every month for their patronage. Now I can not prove a conspiracy but demanding $16,800.00 on a fully paid order and signed contract is clearly bad business. Offering to finance the ransom amount is clear evidence of their ignorance to the main complaint. Matthews set the price, Matthews set the time line, Matthews violated the agreement. Corporate greed clearly. I demand my machine as agreed to by their contract. I was told they would not and would issue a full refund which they have NOT done. They have been sitting on my money in an effort to delay my purchase with another vendor. Most vendors require 25-40% down payment. I can not order another machine until I receive my refund. Matthews is purposely delaying my refund because I filed a complaint with the BBB. I have received only one email response from Veronica which stated "she forwarded my request to corporate" All calls have been ignored and Mr. O*** is always on vacation, most likely spending other peoples ransom money. I demand my machine or a full refund immediately !! Matthews should be paying me interest on my $93,000.00 which it's held since November 2021. If they were sincere they would have refunded my money weeks ago. I will not rest until justice is served. I'm relying on the BBB to follow up on this breach of contract. Everyone has felt the pain of the last two years. Matthews set the price, I paid in full. They reneged. Business Response /* (4000, 16, 2022/09/14) */ At the request of our client, we have cancelled their equipment order and processed their refund. I was advised that a wire transfer will be administered tomorrow, Sept 14 and all funds paid on this order will be returned to the finance company associated with this project. Consumer Response /* (4200, 18, 2022/09/14) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Matthews Cremation demanded $16,800.00 in ransom money OR THEY WOULD CANCEL MY ORDER. My demand was for my purchase to be delivered as per contract and fully paid amount. They refused to produce my order THEREFOR it was canceled by them and a very slow refund process ensued. Now they chose to refund the money to the leasing company when they should have refunded $20,000.00 I provided and then the balance to my financing company. Clearly Matthews is either ignorant or AGAIN just blatantly being difficult because I called them out on their SCAM. Now I will have to wait even longer for the finance company to return my money they should never have received. I want my complaint to stand and be published as a valid complaint filed against Matthews Cremation for deceptive practice and breach of contract. Please do NOT consider this matter resolved. I want my complaint to stand as record against their corporate GREED. Them refunding my money from November 2021 now sets me back at least ten months and thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Not to mention interest cost and aggravation. This matter is far from over. I will be seeking legal action against them for breach of contract. I am also going to start a class action law suit against Matthews Cremation with all the other small businesses they have screwed over and or collected the ransom fees from. Most of the purchasers are paying the ransom fee because they can't afford to fight or delay the equipment any longer. Further legal action will commence after equipment is installed and legal action to recover these ransom fees. Shame on you Matthews Cremation for your corporate GREED and breach of contract. See you in court! Business Response /* (4000, 20, 2022/09/15) */ A wire transfer was sent to the bank finance and a check was mail to the client, both performed today. Consumer Response /* (4200, 22, 2022/09/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Thank you, of course there was no notification from Matthews. I will reply when the funds are received. I still want my complaint registered so that other businesses can see my complaint. As soon as I can secure a Florida attorney I will be suing them for breach of contract and loss of use. I'm also pushing for a class action lawsuit with others who have been affected by their corporate GREED. I have made contact with three so far, they are paying the ransom only because they can't afford to start over. From my calculation more than 30 buyers have been affected. Many more possibly but it will take time to locate them all. I'm semi retired so I have plenty of time to develop a case against them. Thank you BBB for helping mediate this mess. I know Matthews would have dragged out the refund process to delay me from ordering from a more professional company. I will continue my efforts to inform other crematory owners of Matthews poor business practice and failure to honor a contract they made up, executed, and sat on my fully paid order for just shy of a year. I will follow up after funds are recovered and hopefully you will honor my request to post and maintain my complaint. Not even so much as an apology from Matthews, only a sad story on inflation and rising cost of dog food and gasoline. So many other ways this could have been handled. I wish I had a recording of Mr. O*** pathetic zoom meeting to share with you. I sincerely feel bad for my salesman Erny who has lost many sales due to corporate greed. He's a good man stuck in a terrible position.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩