A Fife woman has been locked in a three-month fight to have an upsetting error on her grandad’s headstone corrected.
Mary MacLeod organised her grandad’s funeral through the Co-op Funeralcare’s Rosyth branch after he died suddenly aged 83 in August.
But after the headstone was laid and Mary received an invoice for £248 in late October, she noticed it had been engraved with the wrong date of death.
Rather than the correct date of August 23, it says her grandad, Rosyth man Peter Martin, had died 12 days earlier.
Mary has now been trying to get the upsetting error fixed for over three months, with action only taken to finally resolve her complaint when The Courier contacted the Co-op about the issue this week.
But it could still take weeks to be fixed as it is feared lifting the headstone will damage its foundation.
Mary says she feels like she has been continually “fobbed off” by Co-op Funeralcare, and dealing with the problem has made it harder to process her grief.
She said: “I feel like I’m just being ignored.
“I brought it to their attention on October 31 and they said they would bring it up with the masonry.”
‘It’s disgusting’
Mary has called the company almost weekly since then without success.
She added: “Since then every time I call they apologise and promise to get it sorted, but I’ve had to keep chasing them up.
“I don’t hear from them unless I phone and pester them, and even then they just say they’ll be in touch.
“I feel like they have taken the money, engraved the headstone and mucked it up but are now reluctant to fix it.”
Mary, who also lives in Rosyth, is reminded of the error every time she visits the grave, making it hard to grieve.
She said: “It has been three months now.
“It’s just absolutely disgusting. It has been stressful enough and I don’t need this.
“This should be made a priority – it should be the top of their list to get sorted.
“After the funeral you process what happened, and it should have been straightforward.
“Now I feel like this is more stress and they don’t want to help because they’ve had the money for it.
“It’s like pulling teeth. My impression is they want to drag it out and I’ll just forget it.”
Refund offered
Co-op Funeralcare contacted Mary and offered a refund after they were approached by The Courier.
A spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear about the concerns raised by Mrs MacLeod and for any distress that this has caused to the family.
“Our colleagues are committed to giving the best possible care and service at a time of devastating sadness and loss.
“We have looked into the concerns that have been raised and are very sorry that an error had been made and our communication with Mrs MacLeod has on this occasion failed to meet our usual high standards.
“We remain in contact with Mrs MacLeod and have reassured her that the headstone will be in place shortly.”
Conversation