Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/08/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This is in reference to our local cemetery Evergreen. Not only do they not maintain the cemetery like they say they do but they destroy the graves and leave them. I have personally come out here and put grass on my grandmother’s grave, watered it all during the summer, having to walk all the way to the front to get water because the hose in the back is broken because there is an ongoing leak on a few of the other graves. Only to find that once again they have trampled her grave and drove all over it to accommodate another funeral when there is another access road that could have been used. The ruts are still on her grave. I came yesterday to find they had placed orange cones directly on her grave that I assume was apart of the funeral that prior weekend. The cemetery is run down, there is no perpetual care here yet they can drive down to a funeral to make sure you don’t stay past your allotted time otherwise they want to collect more money. They left a grave open at one time and the family had to come take care of it as you see the vault!!! We pay for perpetual care here and yet there is none! They trample our loved ones and don’t even try to fix it! Her headstone is now lopsided because they drove on it. It needs to be fixed. Something needs to be done here. I pay for perpetual care, yet I have to do it myself only to have them come mess it up again. These people are not just plots, they are people who are loved. It needs to be fixed.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/08/2024

  Evergreen Cemetery is a perpetual care cemetery and we do care for each interment space as often and as thoroughly as possible.  The cones were placed on a grave that had started to sink due to the aftermath of rain we received when Hurricane Helene came through our area.  Since the customer information doesn't reference the specific name of her loved one, I cannot say for sure if it was the grandmother's grave or not that was sinking.  However we had a service the day after the heavy rain and I was out at the site and saw the sinking area of the grave.  The tractor operator used the appropriate access road and was as careful as possible to prepare the gravesite with as little damage as possible to the surrounding areas.  However, it was still raining and after such a downpour of rain the tractor leaves ruts in the ground.  The site was cleaned up after the service and the sunken areas were filled in.  We left the cones in place as a precaution and I regret we hadn't removed them by the time the family member visited her loved one.  I visited the site today and we removed the cones and are cleaning up the area and putting down some grass seed.  We will also place some sod as soon as possible.  After a hurricane comes through our area, we have a massive amount of clean up with two cemeteries in Sumter and we can't always get right back to the interment site as quickly as we would like.  I'm not sure what grave was referred to as being left open so that a vault was seen, but we close the graves as soon as possible after a service and repair any sink holes as quickly as we can.  I have many family members buried here and so do many of the other cemetery employees here and we try to treat every interment space with respect to the loved ones who will be visiting.  I regret that Ms. **** did not contact the office about her concerns and I sincerely apologize that she is unhappy with the care we provide.  I visit every gravesite before and after the service and we are always trying to find better ways to ensure we have grass growing on each interment space.  The spaces around this interment site are also under a huge live oak tree so it can be difficult to get grass to grow in this area.  I can assure Ms. **** that no one drove over her grandmother's memorial.  We placed a large piece of plywood over the memorial and the interment space as a precaution and then cones were added to keep people from walking on the unstable ground.  Evergreen always passes our LLR inspections and we are always working to maintain and beautify the area and will continue to try to improve our maintenance procedures to satisfy all our families.