ComplaintsforSchlientz & Moore Funeral Home

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I paid "****** ******** ********" for my father's burial services. Included in the services were 3 copies of the death certificate, which I need to process our life insurance benefits. My father died in January, 2022. As of May 11, 2022, we have not received the death certificates. ***** ***** has given me several different excuses including delays in Ohio Department of Health processing. I requested my father's death certificate online on May 2nd and received it in 5 days. I requested that ***** ***** refund the $91.35 charge for the death certificates and she told me that she couldn't because the request was still in process. I am requesting the $91.35 be refunded.

  Business response

  05/11/2022

  I’ve repeated myself to no avail to this customer- as well as begged for patience & understanding that this situation is out of our control.
  
  I physically cannot send the Death Certificates she purchased until I have received them from Ohio Department of Health.
  There’s a coding error in the death record system that is preventing her father’s DC’s from printing. The state is aware, they’re working to fix it, I have no control of this issue. I've asked her to please be patient but she just wants to threaten bad reviews & lawsuits. 
  The Death Certificates have been ordered, we just have to wait for them to be delivered. 
  Our hands are completely tied.
  
  When ordering DC's the name & accompanying details MUST identically match the information recorded in the system, to proceed.
  I have attached screenshots of EDRS (Electronic Death Registration System) and a screenshot of the ordering page (taken today -05/11/2022) that demonstrates I am still attempting to provide what she's purchased, but until the Ohio Dept. of Health is able to resolve the coding issue - I'm equally stuck as she.
  

  We would be happy to refund $91.35 if we are able to cancel the order. 

  
  

  Customer response

  05/11/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I paid this business for a service they did not provide. My agreement was with "****** ******** ********" not the Ohio Department of Health, so ***** *****'s claims that the glitch in the system are irrelevant. I was able to order the death certificate easily online through the Ohio Bureau of Vital Statistics with no issues, and I received the death certificate in a short amount of time. I paid $91.35 for death certificates that were never sent. Further, ***** ***** provided no updates proactively, only excuses and promises that she would send the death certificates when I followed up. She also told me yesterday, 5/10/22 that she would refund the $91.35 and that she had processed a refund to my PayPal account. When I checked the account, there was no refund. I do not believe ***** ***** has been truthful about anything in this situation and waiting for her to send death certificates that never came caused a delay to my ability to receive life insurance benefits that I needed to pay for my father's death. This is not a reputable company. It's sad that they would treat the family of a deceased loved one unfairly during a difficult time of loss. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ************

  Business response

  05/11/2022

  We have an extensive chat history dialog with the daughter of the deceased, to which all comments have been responded to. 
  05/10/2022, via text message, I explained I provided the information to our accountant and they declined to issue the refund based on still having an open order that was waiting to be fulfilled.
  In today's complaint to the BBB, we learned the decedent's daughter claims her ability to purchase Death Certificates elsewhere and no longer needed us to complete the open order with us, otherwise the request to cancel the order & subsequent refund would have been issued yesterday. Her own lack of transparency caused her family additional delay. If she was able to create an order 05/02/2022, why wasn't she forthcoming at that time, and request a cancellation/refund THEN?
  She seems intent on trying to entrap our business & to what end? I did ask her how she figured our Funeral Home would benefit in causing her delay and/or not providing the DC's once we receive them?
  -She did not respond.
  

  Per Ohio Department of Health policy, printed Death Certificates are not able to be returned for a refund, however an open order can be cancelled. She NEVER asked us to cancel the order for Death Certificates, as of 05/10/2022, she was only demanding a refund. If she HAD requested the order to be cancelled, we would have acted on that request immediately. Documented several times within our excessive chat history, she was advised we could only wait for them to be delivered to us, so that we may forward them to her. 
  
  Ohio Department of Health has confirmed 05/11/2022, they were able to cancel our order, therefore the refund of $91.35 was processed 05/11/2022 through PayPal, the original payment method.

  The decedent's daughter claims the Death Certificates she was able to order were purchased through the same Ohio Department of Health system that I have been attempting to order from, but that seems highly unlikely as the confirmed coding error is still preventing orders with hyphenated names from processed. 

  We are, and have been apologetic all the while, about the delay with receiving Death Certificates - and as we have explained many times, we know how frustrating it is to not be able to proceed...however the issue was still out of our hands as the coding error lies with the Ohio Department of Health's Death Records system.
  
  Just for the sake of details: ******** ****** Death Certificates are $25 each (3 were requested) and at the time of passing, ******** ****** was not open to in-person orders. All orders had to be processed through *********, which additionally charges $9.95 credit card processing & $6.40 postage.

  Customer response

  05/12/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I paid this company for death certificates I did not receive. I am owed a refund of $91.35.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ************

  Business response

  05/23/2022

  I have attached a screenshot from PayPal showing the refund was processed, as requested. 
  I also attached a screenshot of the text conversation from the complainant stating she rejected the resolution because she failed to see where the refund was processed, but upon looking again, she DID see it processed. 

  Customer response

  05/23/2022

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ************

*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. ↩