Heritage Funeral Homes

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention and once again you have our deepest sympathies on the loss of your mother I am sorry if there is a misunderstanding but your mother did not have an autopsy performed If one were to be performed it would have to be requested by a family member or the local county medical examiner and be done by a doctor or medical examiner Funeral directors are not trained to nor would perform an autopsy on any individual The reason that the death certificate stated that one was performed was that your mother's doctor must have mistakenly indicated that one was done This part of the death certificate is solely completed by the doctor and cannot be altered by anyone else If you would like, we would be happy to assist you in correcting this by contacting your mother's doctor, on your behalf, to help facilitate this correction If the doctor is willing to make this correction we also would be happy to assist you in obtaining corrected copies of the death certificate.I am also sorry that you are having difficulty selling the unused cemetery plots that you own When [redacted] was made aware that you wished to sell them, she assisted you in calling the cemetery so that you may speak with them about this matter If [redacted] were to have assisted you further with this transaction she would have been in violation of Wisconsin State Statue 445.12, that indicates funeral directors and funeral homes are not allowed to sell or broker a cemetery grave space transaction This is why she was unable to sell them for you I would advise that you speak to the cemetery again about this matter.It is our standard practice to launder clothing and other personnel effects before it is returned to a family so that these items may be cleaned I apologize if you felt this process took to long, we could have tried to expedite this process had we know that you wished to have them returned prior to the day of the funeral.I also apologize if you felt it took to long for the death certificates to be issued by the Milwaukee Health Department Before a certified copy of the death certificate may be issued, it must be completed by a doctor A doctor legally has days to do so after which it goes to the registering authority, in this case the Milwaukee Health Department, in which it may take several days for them to issue the certified copies The same day we received the copies of the death certificate, we contacted you to find out the best way to get them to you, weather it be by mailing them, you picking them up, or even us stopping by your home to deliver them to you which is what we did I am sorry if the process of how the certified copies are issued was not clearly explained to you but, many of the steps that happen before they are issued are out of a funeral director's control.Please feel free to contact us if we could be of any further assistance in correcting any of these matters.Thank You,Heritage Funeral Homes

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response If you wish, you may update it before sending it.] Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me Regards, [redacted]

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention and once again you have our deepest sympathies on the loss of your mother.  I am sorry if there is a misunderstanding but your mother did not have an autopsy performed.  If one were to be performed it would have to be requested by a...

family member or the local county medical examiner and be done by a doctor or medical examiner.  Funeral directors are not trained to nor would perform an autopsy on any individual.  The reason that the death certificate stated that one was performed was that your mother's doctor must have mistakenly indicated that one was done.  This part of the death certificate is solely completed by the doctor and cannot be altered by anyone else.  If you would like, we would be happy to assist you in correcting this by contacting your mother's doctor, on your behalf, to help facilitate this correction.  If the doctor is willing to make this correction we also would be happy to assist you in obtaining corrected copies of the death certificate.I am also sorry that you are having difficulty selling the unused cemetery plots that you own.  When [redacted] was made aware that you wished to sell them, she assisted you in calling the cemetery so that you may speak with them about this matter.  If [redacted] were to have assisted you further with this transaction she would have been in violation of Wisconsin State Statue 445.12, that indicates funeral directors and funeral homes are not allowed to sell or broker a cemetery grave space transaction.  This is why she was unable to sell them for you.  I would advise that you speak to the cemetery again about this matter.It is our standard practice to launder clothing and other personnel effects before it is returned to a family so that these items may be cleaned.  I apologize if you felt this process took to long, we could have tried to expedite this process had we know that you wished to have them returned prior to the day of the funeral.I also apologize if you felt it took to long for the death certificates to be issued by the Milwaukee Health Department.  Before a certified copy of the death certificate may be issued, it must be completed by a doctor.  A doctor legally has 9 days to do so after which it goes to the registering authority, in this case the Milwaukee Health Department, in which it may take several days for them to issue the certified copies.  The same day we received the copies of the death certificate, we contacted you to find out the best way to get them to you, weather it be by mailing them, you picking them up, or even us stopping by your home to deliver them to you which is what we did.  I am sorry if the process of how the certified copies are issued was not clearly explained to you but, many of the steps that happen before they are issued are out of a funeral director's control.Please feel free to contact us if we could be of any further assistance in correcting any of these matters.Thank You,Heritage Funeral Homes

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Regards,
 
[redacted]

Review: There was more than just one thing wrong when dealing with Heritage funeral home. Not once did the sales person [redacted] mention that part of the funeral homes services include going behind my back and autopsying my mother without my knowledge, permission, or any real reason except for the fact that someone was nosy or wanted to further their knowledge at my moms expense. [redacted] did absolutely nothing when it came time to find a way to sell the two unused cemetery plots that I have so that I would have help paying for the funeral. She took forever to return my mother's physical belongings. I had to request the return of them many times. The same thing happened with the death certificates and once I finally received them, also after requesting them several times, and I finally had time to read them, that's when I found out about the autopsy. In addition to betraying my mom's and my trust,making a mockery of my mom's life and funeral, being very unhelpful and slow, they weren't very nice and I thought that they were way overpriced for what I paid as opposed to how little I received in return. This is how I will be forced to remember my mom for the rest of my life and thank you, by the way, for forcing me to relive a very traumatic event because your stupid system wouldn't except the first three complaints I sent in about this. I just don't want it to happen to anyone else.Desired Settlement: I want my money back so that I can somehow redo my mother's funeral at a decent funeral home. I also want the typos on my mother's death certificates corrected and the corrected certificates mailed to my house.

Business

Response:

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention and once again you have our deepest sympathies on the loss of your mother. I am sorry if there is a misunderstanding but your mother did not have an autopsy performed. If one were to be performed it would have to be requested by a family member or the local county medical examiner and be done by a doctor or medical examiner. Funeral directors are not trained to nor would perform an autopsy on any individual. The reason that the death certificate stated that one was performed was that your mother's doctor must have mistakenly indicated that one was done. This part of the death certificate is solely completed by the doctor and cannot be altered by anyone else. If you would like, we would be happy to assist you in correcting this by contacting your mother's doctor, on your behalf, to help facilitate this correction. If the doctor is willing to make this correction we also would be happy to assist you in obtaining corrected copies of the death certificate.I am also sorry that you are having difficulty selling the unused cemetery plots that you own. When [redacted] was made aware that you wished to sell them, she assisted you in calling the cemetery so that you may speak with them about this matter. If [redacted] were to have assisted you further with this transaction she would have been in violation of Wisconsin State Statue 445.12, that indicates funeral directors and funeral homes are not allowed to sell or broker a cemetery grave space transaction. This is why she was unable to sell them for you. I would advise that you speak to the cemetery again about this matter.It is our standard practice to launder clothing and other personnel effects before it is returned to a family so that these items may be cleaned. I apologize if you felt this process took to long, we could have tried to expedite this process had we know that you wished to have them returned prior to the day of the funeral.I also apologize if you felt it took to long for the death certificates to be issued by the Milwaukee Health Department. Before a certified copy of the death certificate may be issued, it must be completed by a doctor. A doctor legally has 9 days to do so after which it goes to the registering authority, in this case the Milwaukee Health Department, in which it may take several days for them to issue the certified copies. The same day we received the copies of the death certificate, we contacted you to find out the best way to get them to you, weather it be by mailing them, you picking them up, or even us stopping by your home to deliver them to you which is what we did. I am sorry if the process of how the certified copies are issued was not clearly explained to you but, many of the steps that happen before they are issued are out of a funeral director's control.Please feel free to contact us if we could be of any further assistance in correcting any of these matters.Thank You,Heritage Funeral Homes

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.