CHICAGO (WLS) — Families are grappling with unresolved grief as the graves of their loved ones remain unmarked. They assert that they paid a local company but have not received the tombstones.
The ABC7 I-Team first exposed the problem several weeks ago.
In July, the owner promised the I-Team that he would refund four customers highlighted in the first report. Customers claim this has yet to occur, and one has pursued legal action.
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Four more people are now coming forward to the I-Team with their stories of “Tombstone Turmoil.”
“I’m sorry, it just hurts so bad, that you can take from the deceased,” Lenora Davis said. “I mean, how do you live with yourself?”
The sign at Elmo’s Tombstone Services reads “tombstone made while you wait,” yet the grieving families continue to wait, having trusted a well-known headstone provider to commemorate their cherished ones.
“It hurts so bad because I can’t get closure,” customer Eric Banks said. “I scrape, scrape for the money.”
Instead of that closure, they say they paid for broken promises and more heartache.
“She’s probably turning over in the grave,” customer Myra Morris said.
“I still cry every day, every single day,” Banks said. “My mom has no tombstone. It’s coming up on her anniversary next month.”
“We’ve been waiting a year,” Morris expressed. “There’s no closure for my mother, except knowing her resting place beside her mother and brother; otherwise, I wouldn’t know where she is.”
Four customers contacted the I-Team after our initial probe last month into Elmo’s Tombstone Services, which included four other customers.
They also claim they paid the South Side business at the 6000 block of South State Street but never received headstones. They showed receipts indicating full payment, ranging from approximately $1,500 to $4,200. They have been waiting between one to two years.
“It’s a shame. We all are suffering,” customer Crystal Farrow said. “I think about my husband. It just hurts really bad.”
In the July report, the owner Darius Knox said “The customers will receive a full refund. I apologize for the delay in resolving the issue and appreciate your patience. I will ensure it is rectified as soon as possible.”
But a month later, those four customers say they haven’t seen a dime. The I-Team hasn’t heard back from Knox yet about the new consumers.
The business was again closed and locked up on a weekday afternoon.
“I think this is awful,” customer Debra Foster.
In the meantime, Foster, who was featured in the first report, has filed a small claims lawsuit. She’s asking for a $4,000 refund after waiting about a year and four months for a tombstone for her late niece, who was also her adopted daughter.
And this is why I am bringing it to court, because I believe a year and some months is long enough to even just communicate with me about what’s going on,” Foster said. “Our broken promises, on and on and ongoing, isn’t resolving the problem. I think is time to put this to bed.”
Elmo’s Tombstone Services has not commented on the small claims court lawsuit. The I-Team also found seven complaints filed with the Illinois Attorney General, many of them by people who turned to the I-Team.
“You need to be ashamed of yourself, because you just don’t take someone’s money and don’t do anything,” Morris said.
Customers the I-Team talked to say they trusted Elmo’s Tombstone Services because they’ve had good experiences with the business in the past.
According to the Better Business Bureau, the business has been around 65 years, but now has an “F” rating for failing to respond to two complaints.
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