Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The lack of professional care of my husband’s remains at time of embalming, He wasn’t. I paid $1075, the only part of my husband that was embalmed was his face, his chest and arms were soft, and his hands slipped apart with his right arm slipping to his side. 2nd complaint; the cemetery plot we were shown April 18 2008, is not the plot where my husband was buried.

  Business response

  08/23/2022

  This letter is in response to the complaint filed by ***** ******* for the funeral service provided by ******* Memorial for her husband ******** *******. ******** passed away on July 30, 2022, at his residence in Lexington, KY. Upon receiving the First Call, we contacted an Embalming and Transport Service located in Lexington, KY to do the initial removal of Mr. ******* from the residence and place him into their care.  We then proceeded enroute to bring Mr. ******* into our care. Arriving back at our facility approximately 12:04AM on 7/31/22. At this time the embalming took place which is outlined in the attached Embalming Case Report.  To directly address Mrs. *******’s first complaint, which she stated that the only part of her husband that was embalmed was his face, is entirely inaccurate. Mr. ******* was embalmed by raising the Right Common Carotid Artery for fluid distribution and his Right Internal Jugular for drainage. By raising this artery and vein it allows for fluid distribution throughout the entire arterial system unless the system is compromised. So therefor using this method of embalming it would be impossible to isolate just Mr. *******’s head or face for embalming. As for the second part of her first complaint, his chest and arms were soft, Mr. ******* had color present in the hands and fingernail beds during the embalming process, which indicates embalming fluid also reached these areas. As for the third component of her first complaint, his hands slipped apart with his right arm slipping to his side, this statement is true, but all the facts were not included with the complaint.  Mr. ******* was what we would consider a tall gentleman, somewhere north of six feet tall, his arms did pose a small challenge during the casketing process. Mr. *******’s hands had to be crossed at a lower position, over his beltline instead of around his naval, because of the length of his upper extremities and the width of the casket that was chosen by Mrs. *******. This is not uncommon among taller individuals while using a non-oversize casket. The hands being crossed was still achieved with Mr. ******* at the time of casketing. When Mrs. ******* viewed for the first time around 3:00PM, Mr. *******’s hand was in the crossed position. It wasn’t until around 5:00PM that Mr. *******’s daughter ******, came into the chapel and preceded with uncrossing the hands to “Fix” the belt, rearranged the interior and wanting foam blocks placed under the pillow for the reason the head be higher in the casket. Which in most cases is not necessarily an uncommon practice, but in this case it shortened the length of the interior slightly so that crossing of the hands became more difficult because of the limited space that was already present. I can assure Mrs. ******* that her husband was cared for with the upmost respect and professionalism, as we do for all our families that we serve.

  As for the second complaint, ******** ******* was buried in the exact same plot that was purchased for him on April 18, 2008, by his wife ***** *******, as shown by the attached purchasing contract of the plots and the Burial Certificates that ******** and ***** ******* received. I can assure you that because of our well-maintained cemetery records that Mr. ******* was buried in his correct plot.

  As we do understand that Mrs. ******* certainly grieves the loss of her husband. We have concluded as a company that all of Mrs. *******’s complaints are not based in fact. We strive to provide our families we serve with compassion and care, which we feel we did for the family of ******** *******. For all these reasons listed above we don’t not feel any kind of billing adjustment is warranted in this case, as we do always stand behind our prices as fair and honest and all our services for Mr. ******* that was performed, was performed with professionalism to our upmost ability. We do hope this letter concludes all questions or concerns by Mr. *******’s family.

*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. ↩