LUTZ FUNERAL HOME, INC.

Review: I signed a contract with the Lutz Funeral Home along with by brother, [redacted] in the office of [redacted], Funeral Director. They never gave me a copy of the bill, but they did however give one to [redacted]. They made a mistake in the pricing of the cost and charged us to much money. They never informed me of a new contract to be signed. They sent a bill and I paid my half. [redacted] refused to pay his half and they started to send me letter s to pay the rest of the bill. I told them that [redacted] was responsable for his half, send him the bills. They later informed me that he, [redacted] refused to answer any of their letters or calls. Now I started to get letters from their attorney [redacted]. If I don't pay the bill they will start a civil action against me. I responded that I wanted a copy of the original contract. As of this date neither **. [redacted] nor Lutz Funeral Home has responded to this request. I also offered to start to pay the bill on the 29th of this month and the following in the amount of $50.00 dollars a month, but they want $100.00 a month I just can't afford that much. I only have ten days to respond to their latest request. The day of the funeral a gentleman stopped me as I entered the building and told me that there were some extra papers to be signed. I signed them thinking they were to close the account and to receive the death notices. never was I told that there was a new contract to pay the bill.

'Desired Settlement: I just want them to send me a copy of the orginal contract, accept my offer and not too keep harassing me about the remainder of the monies owed.

Business

Response:

November 18, 2013

Dear **. [redacted],

My name is [redacted], licensed funeral director for the Lutz Funeral Home, Inc. I am replying to the letter of complaint that was received by our office on the above stated date that was submitted to your office by [redacted]. [redacted], in reference to the Customers Statement of the Problem l will notate the recollection I have of the meeting with them and what has transpired in the last year.

We indeed have a contract here at the funeral home that was signed by [redacted]. [redacted]. These are our formal contracts that are signed by families that we must keep on record for the State of Pennsylvania. I do not have anything that is signed by her brother [redacted]. [redacted]. If indeed the family has a copy of something that was signed by him, they may kindly submit to us and we will handle accordingly. In regards to having no copy of the bill, a funeral bill is sent out to the families one week following the service date. There would have been the initial bill sent out as well as a payment summary sent out to [redacted]. [redacted] on December 10, 2012 when the payments were received from the [redacted] County Veteran's Affairs as well as the payment we received from [redacted]. [redacted]. There was a discrepancy in the cost that I discovered on their bill. They were charged a fee of $250.00 for dressing and casketing. This is a fee that comes up on the computer for services. I had neglected to go over this amount with them in our initial meeting and I deducted it from their funeral bill as I felt that it was my error in not mentioning that and did not feel justified in going to back to them for extra money. This amount was on the contract however on the bill and payment summaries this amount was indeed not on. I had spoken with [redacted]. [redacted] directly about this in a phone conversation. After receiving these payments we indeed continued to send multiple statements as follows: 02/08/2013-04/11/2013-05/08/2013 a statement was sent to [redacted]. [redacted] after we had received a letter from [redacted]. [redacted] stating her brother was responsible for the balance and repeated statements were sent to [redacted] on 06/03/2013-08/15/2013 and 09/03/2013. The last two statements were also sent to [redacted]. [redacted] at that time. I had also tried to contact [redacted]. [redacted] by telephone, only to learn that the number was no longer in service. We have also not received any type of correspondence in regards to a funeral contract being requested. If that would have been the case we would have gladly sent one to her. Atty. [redacted] also has a copy of the contract and why he would not send a copy to her or have had one in amongst his paperwork that was sent to [redacted]. [redacted] I find hard to imagine. There would have been no "extra" papers that would have been signed. The only paper that would have been signed that morning indeed would have been the funeral contract. In this instance there was no need of either of the other forms to be signed that we normally do as there was no identification needed as the body was present as well as the embalming authorization was not signed as she was not embalmed. We do not have any type of paperwork to close an account as there is no account here to close and we do not have families sign for death notices these appear in the newspaper and we do give them laminated copies, but they do not sign.

I find these allegations to be unfounded. If there was an agreement between [redacted]. [redacted] and her brother **. [redacted] to each pay half that is up to them to resolve. There is still an outstanding bifl here at our facility. We will gladly send [redacted]. [redacted] a copy of the contract that was signed at our facility. Mr. Lutz also is o.k. with accepting payments at an agreeable amount. She would indeed still get sent a monthly statement at the beginning of each month until the balance due would be satisfied. The Lutz Funeral Home has been in business for 130 years and certainly has not sustained that time frame by being an unscrupulous firm. I certainly did not commit any ill will with this family and do not plan on accepting the blame which occurs to me to be an issue amongst themselves of an agreement that was not followed through on.

This letter should provide you with the answers you were looking for as well as documentation (contract, funeral bill, and payment summary) to support our side of this complaint. Should you have any further questions, you may contact us at our office number located at the bottom of this letter.

Sincerely,