Wednesday's Wisdom....

Make It Right

Despite having lived many decades on this earth, I am still surprised at the way people behave. Case in point:

Back in June, I received a text photo from my sister of my parents' cemetery headstone, which was now "completed."  Upon looking closely at the photo, it was immediately apparent that the new information added, my mother's, was not spaced properly and was crooked.  I asked my sister if it could be fixed, but she said she didn't know.

I gathered the information about the work - name of the monument company, order information, etc.  I then sent the photo of the stone to the owner and followed up with a phone call.  He agreed, based on the photo, it didn't look quite right.  He said he would speak with the man who did the work and call me back.

During our next conversation, he admitted (much to my surprise) that the man who did the work told him, "When he discovered that he didn't have the right font tool to do the work, he couldn't be bothered to go all the way back to the shop to get the correct one.  So he just did it free-hand."

COULDN'T BE BOTHERED?

The conversation continued.  He admitted it looked awful and promised they would "fix it." He assured me that the worker in question was "the best in the business" - to which I replied, "If that were true, we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

There were several attempts on my part over the next few days of confirming our discussions by email, but over the phone the owner kept claiming he wasn't receiving my emails.  And I was not getting any from him.

At the suggestion of the Englishman, I then wrote him a letter, outlining what I believed to be the gist of our phone conversations and what the owner claimed he would do to rectify the situation.  There was no anger in the letter, no threats.  I just stated the facts as I saw them. Thankfully, the Englishman further suggested I send it certified, return receipt. 

That got his attention.

I immediately received both an email and phone call from him.  He said that based on further discussion with the man who had done the shoddy work, they probably couldn't fix the stone and would instead replace it with a new one.

Four months later.......after numerous phone calls, emails, approval of a new template and a trip to view the new stone before inscription, it is done and installed.

Besides the Englishman, I did have another gentleman in my corner.  Again, at the Englishman's suggestion, I stopped in the office of the cemetery when I went in person to see the ruined stone.  The man in charge, Mr. R, could not have been nicer!  He agreed with my assessment of the awful work, sympathized with my situation and gave me information about alternative companies should I need to go down that route.  He and I have kept in touch by email, which enabled me to have reliable information about what was actually happening at the cemetery. I am very grateful to him for all his efforts on my behalf. Mr. R gave me a "faith in humanity restored" moment, as my daughters would say.

Sadly, I have learned that many people have had similar difficulties with monument companies. However, like me, they have found that all their hard work to "make it right" is well worth it. Ensuring that my parents had a fitting monument felt like the last loving act I could do for both of them.