California Cremation & Burial Chapel

Review: My mother, [redacted], passed away on June 12,2013. We had contracted California Cremation and Burial for the services. The problems started immediately, they did not confirm with the catholic church for the mass. as. Result of this we ended up going through another church which added an extra expense. On June 15,2013, we had the viewing and we were told they would call us went the remains were ready to pick up since we chose to have the cremation. Two weeks went by and finally by 2 1/2 weeks of waiting my sister went to find out what was going on. She was told that the hadn't done the cremation because paperwork was misplaced and we still owed $45 for the death certificates, because three were needed. Never did they place a call to my brother or sent a letter to contact anyone. Finally when we received the remains they were not in the urn we purchased. Instead her remains were in a brown box, with no name or anything on it. We had a catholic mass on July 10, 2013, and her remains were blessed in the box. We buried her remains with my father on July10,2013. As of today we still have not received the urn we paid for. During difficult times like this you expect professional service and empathy. We had nothing but a terrible, terrible experience. If anything I would like others to know how terrible this place is.Desired Settlement: Give us the urn we paid for. A refund of the mass we paid for the Catholic Church and an apology letter. They provided a simple prayer in their chapel but my mother was a devoted catholic and deserved a mass in a church.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com

The reason it took longer than normal for the cremation to occur was because of an issue with the patient's doctor and the death certificate not being satisfactorily completed, according to the law of the state of California, a cremation or a burial can not occur unless the attending physician has completed an acceptable death certificate and the state issues a permit. This was ALL EXPANDED to the family member(s) on a daily basis, as the situation was occurring.

We, the mortuary do not have control of the catholic church's scheduling. We attempted to schedule a mass at the church of their choice but it was not available on the date the wanted it. We tried other catholic churches as well, but the family elected to hold the ritual at our chapel. They seemed fine with their decision at the time.

When the family members initially came into our office to Pre-Arrange for services, their loved one has not died yet, therefore the urn could not be engraved until the death had occurred and the date of death was known (so that it could be engraved into the urn). When the person eventually passed-away, the urn was ordered from the manufacturer, however, the color of stone they (family) had selected was not available, we offered another, they declined and opted for the simple, standard urn, which was in fact labeled with the deceased person's name (if it was not, the cemetery would not have accepted it). Again, at the time, they seemed fine with their decision.

This family was given a very substantial discount to begin with. And, they never asked about a refund. The Revdex.com letter was the first time we have heard about their complaint.

We will gladly refund them the amount(s) they are requesting, even though they were given a $1,200.00 discount at the beginning of their Pre-Arrangement, before the death had even occurred.

The family may call and ask for [redacted]-manager, anytime during normal business hours for the refund.

Regards,