Diane Wiseman
and Gary Meyers
Leavenworth
To the editor:
Our family recently suffered the loss of a beloved family member, who was laid to rest at the cemetery near Leavenworth.
A few weeks later the family returned to the cemetery to purchase a headstone and was met by a nice caring young man who helped find a suitable headstone for us. When the price list was presented, it seems everything was an additional charge, the flower vase – $150, small symbols, i.e. praying hands, Bible etc. were $75 each. Then came the well-used line of all high-pressure sales people, "I need to tell you these prices are going up in the next few days," that is when the red flags started going up.
When the final total was presented, it came to $4475.20. We read and signed the contract and one of the provisions of the contract was a 48-hour cancellation clause. This gave us more time to think the whole thing over.
The experience, with the salesman, just didn't seem right and understanding the 48-hour provision was to protect us from the cemetery, not the cemetery from us, we started our research. On the internet, we were able to buy the same headstone (same catalog number) for $1,750. The base price included flower vase and up to three symbols plus shipping.
The next day, we returned to cancel the contract, the nice young man, who was there the day before, turned into a loud, intimidating bully. He said "if you buy that headstone somewhere other than here, I may or may not allow it to be set in our cemetery and it better meet our specifications. It will also cost you $204 for us to mark the grave and for perpetual care, plus another $407.20 for installation."
TOTAL COST for purchasing from outside vendor:
$1,750 headstone, vase and three symbols, plus shipping;
$204 cemetery fees for marking the grave and perpetual care
$407.20 installation w/foundation
$2,361.20 versus purchasing the headstone from the cemetery for $4,475.20
His parting shot was a real classic "I can't understand why you would spend your money out of town, when you could have spent it here." Does anyone really believe he couldn't understand why?
When the family and the cemetery were notified of the time and date the stone was to be set, we went to the cemetery to ensure everything would be taken care of. We found the grave was incorrectly marked, so we called and ask the cemetery to send someone to check the grave marking, we waited with the people there to set the stone for two hours, for the cemetery rep. to arrive, who confirmed that the grave was indeed, incorrectly marked.
Was the grave being incorrectly marked an honest mistake or just another 'gotcha'? Despite all threats and intimidation, the manager has yet to inspect the headstone and certainly not before it was set.
Unfortunately, at some point, we all have to make these arrangements for the first time; my advice: do your research, take your time and remember that "nice caring young man" at the cemetery might be waiting to rip you off.
