Mourners Beware!!
December 16th 2007 03:23
Folks, if you ever lose someone, please watch out for crooks.
A few years back I was looking for a headstone for my dad near the cemetery where he was buried. We - my folks and I - went into one of those monument places to get a quote. It wasn’t cheap. Since there were a few shops clustered together around that area, we went to get a few more quotes. The prices were similar.
Then we came to this one place that was closed. We were about to leave when this chummy guy appeared on the street and unlocked the door to let us in. He told us how good he was, how satisfied his customers were, blah blah blah. We asked for a quote, told him we were comparing costs and how we were still deciding who we should go with to make the monument.
I don’t know what he’d been hearing, but he gave us the quote in the form of an invoice and said, and I paraphrase, “I shouldn’t let you walk out of here without leaving a deposit, but I like you people so I’ll let you go.” He also said we should call him once we’d decided so that he could order the block of granite from Finland. Oh – he was asking for around the same price as the other places.
A week or two later, we found another place that was at another cemetery in the yellow pages. We told the guy there what we wanted and we had to get the guy to double check that he hadn’t made a mistake when he gave us the quote. It was quite a bit less than what the other places had been asking. Around 50% less, in fact.
When we told him why we were surprised, his eyes bulged in disbelief. We asked if he got his granite from somewhere else, and he said he got his from Finland too. He said the people at the other places were probably in cahoots (my word, not his) with one another. Needless to say, we gave the guy a deposit then and there.
A few weeks passed and we got an invoice from Chummy Guy in the mail. We called him to ask wtf? nicely and he said he’d already ordered the granite. When we pointed out we’d never asked for it, he said we were going to get him into trouble. (What trouble? He’s the boss!) He then went to make it sound like we’d promised to do business with him and was on the verge of saying something to the effect of how we were breaking a contract when we pointed out that we never signed anything and never agreed to anything and we would be happy to go to court if he felt the need for some sort of compensation.
Suddenly it turned out to be just a misunderstanding.
We had a bit of a friendlier chat after that and also mentioned how we'd found a place that was a lot cheaper than what he was asking for. He went, “I can do it for that price too if you change your requirements – yada yada yada.” Some people just don’t listen.
Anyway, I know dodgy salespeople can be found anywhere, but really… trying to swindle people who are grieving is low. It’s like kicking someone who’d just been hit by a train. So not cool.
A few years back I was looking for a headstone for my dad near the cemetery where he was buried. We - my folks and I - went into one of those monument places to get a quote. It wasn’t cheap. Since there were a few shops clustered together around that area, we went to get a few more quotes. The prices were similar.
Then we came to this one place that was closed. We were about to leave when this chummy guy appeared on the street and unlocked the door to let us in. He told us how good he was, how satisfied his customers were, blah blah blah. We asked for a quote, told him we were comparing costs and how we were still deciding who we should go with to make the monument.
I don’t know what he’d been hearing, but he gave us the quote in the form of an invoice and said, and I paraphrase, “I shouldn’t let you walk out of here without leaving a deposit, but I like you people so I’ll let you go.” He also said we should call him once we’d decided so that he could order the block of granite from Finland. Oh – he was asking for around the same price as the other places.
A week or two later, we found another place that was at another cemetery in the yellow pages. We told the guy there what we wanted and we had to get the guy to double check that he hadn’t made a mistake when he gave us the quote. It was quite a bit less than what the other places had been asking. Around 50% less, in fact.
When we told him why we were surprised, his eyes bulged in disbelief. We asked if he got his granite from somewhere else, and he said he got his from Finland too. He said the people at the other places were probably in cahoots (my word, not his) with one another. Needless to say, we gave the guy a deposit then and there.
A few weeks passed and we got an invoice from Chummy Guy in the mail. We called him to ask wtf? nicely and he said he’d already ordered the granite. When we pointed out we’d never asked for it, he said we were going to get him into trouble. (What trouble? He’s the boss!) He then went to make it sound like we’d promised to do business with him and was on the verge of saying something to the effect of how we were breaking a contract when we pointed out that we never signed anything and never agreed to anything and we would be happy to go to court if he felt the need for some sort of compensation.
Suddenly it turned out to be just a misunderstanding.
We had a bit of a friendlier chat after that and also mentioned how we'd found a place that was a lot cheaper than what he was asking for. He went, “I can do it for that price too if you change your requirements – yada yada yada.” Some people just don’t listen.
Anyway, I know dodgy salespeople can be found anywhere, but really… trying to swindle people who are grieving is low. It’s like kicking someone who’d just been hit by a train. So not cool.
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Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
This is awful, how can people do that?
I'm sorry to hear that your dad passed away,
Tracy
Comment by The Rusty Can
Everything
It's appalling how greedy some people can be... oh well!
~Rusty
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life