Grieving families say they’re tired of waiting for markers to arrive for their loved ones’ graves, while a cemetery company says it is trying to deal with a backlog of up to 100 orders.

Feast of the Lord Pastor Shane Wall says his mother’s grave site at Belleville Memorial Gardens hasn’t yet received its marker despite the fact she was buried almost a year ago.

“I’ve been contacting them to send the marker but they have not,” Wall said. “The markers were paid for up front. I was originally told it had been ordered and that it should be delivered in two months.

“I checked on it again about two weeks ago. I was told it was on its way, coming on a truck from Kentucky, but it’s still not here. Once before, I was told it would be here by the end of July.”



Dr. Orlando White of Denmark says he paid $1,900 in advance for a marker for his godmother, who was buried in Belleville in October 2008.

“They told me they have had problems with their manufacturer,” White said. “I have been checking with them constantly and it’s the same old excuses. I asked them (Thursday) to give me something in writing showing when it will get here. A month ago I asked for the money back and was told they didn’t give refunds.

“This is utterly ridiculous.”

Local funeral homes say it usually takes four to eight weeks to deliver a marker. S.C. Funeral Directors Association Executive Director Mike Squires says a Summerville-based monument company told him that applies to everything from a simple marker to a more elaborate headstone.

“It would be unusual for a private marker to be over a year in delivery.” Squires said.

Jennifer Smith, the office manager for Crestlawn and Belleville Memorial Gardens, says both perpetual care cemeteries are owned by Mike Graham & Associates of Houston. All marker orders are handled through the Texas office.

Smith says the problem stems from a former employee who was not making marker orders.

“She was released at the end of May and I was hired June 8,” Smith said. “I’ve been trying to get the backlog of about 75-100 markers done since. We have also switched marker companies. When we dropped that backlog on our new vendor they estimated they could get all of them to us in six months but there is no guarantee.”

“I had to get a shipping date for Pastor Wall,” she said. “I did ask if that marker could be rushed, although we can’t do a rush on everyone. It cost the company extra money to get that rush for him but we paid for it.”

Smith said people who have not had a marker placed should call her office because it may not have been ordered even though money was accepted.

The consumer record on Crestlawn and Belleville is mixed. The Better Business Bureau’s Web site gave Crestlawn an F rating based on two complaints in the last 36 months.

The report said one was administratively closed because the company made a reasonable offer to resolve the issue that was not accepted by the consumer.

The company failed to respond to a BBB request to address the other complaint, according to the Web site.

S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs spokesman Maria Audas said her agency has no record of complaints against Crestlawn or Belleville. The department investigates complaints involving consumer goods and services.

Graham & Associates made its intention to purchase Crestlawn and Belleville from Service Corporation International known during the Aug. 20, 2003 meeting of the S.C. Perpetual Care Cemetery Board.

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.