Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Heer Mortuary's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Heer Mortuary

  222 Cameron St Brush, CO 80723-2015

  
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  Heer Mortuary

  225 E Platte Ave Fort Morgan, CO 80701-3156

  

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/04/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Date: 01/04/2024 Amount paid to business $675 for a trade removal Description:I am a funeral home owner operating my business in the same area as Heer Mortuaries and Crematory. I came to the decision to file this complaint after it was suggested by a representative of the federal trade commission to do so after filing the same complaint with them.The nature of the complaint is regarding business practices as it relates to the disclosure of pricing information to consumers. A family in need of funeral services made the decision to transfer their loved one into the care of our funeral home, ******** Mortuary, from the other funeral home for reasons unknown to me at this time. Upon retrieving this family's loved one from Heer mortuary, I was provided with an invoice for the removal service that I personally would consider excessive relative to my past experience. Their business did not present me with the applicable pricelist in accordance with FTC guidelines at this point, and again refused to do so via. email when I made the request over the phone. This puts me in a difficult position as a business owner as I am now forced to either charge an excessive amount to a grieving family without being able to provide them with the price list from the other funeral establisment as basis or to "eat" the difference in pricing. This is a very frustrating situation to be in, especially considering that the amount that would be charged for the removal service was never to my knowledge given to the client family in question before the removal took place, essentially trapping the family I am assisting into paying an excessive amount without their prior knowledge or informed consent.For more information or if anything needs clarification, I am available to be contacted at **************. Thank you

  Business Response

  Date: 01/13/2024

  This email is in response to the complaint filed with ************************** Complaint # ********.
  
  ************** from ******** Mortuary and Crematory received the Heer Mortuary General Price List (GPL) on September 29, 2023. The Heer Mortuary GPL has not changed since then, so ************** has the latest Heer Mortuary GPL.
  
  ************** was provided a contract from Heer Mortuary covering the required removal fees for the referenced decedent that passed in the Denver ***** area. ************** reviewed, signed, and made payment per the contract that covered the removal fees. At the time ************** didn't complain about or dispute the removal fee.
  
  ****************** comment about having to "charge an excessive amount" or "eat the difference" seems to appear that he provided a price to the decedent's family before understanding his total cost to provide such services.
  
  ************** is new to the Funeral Home business (less than 1 year) and he must not realize that it is common practice among funeral homes to provide what is called a "trade service" when working together to deliver funeral services. Moreover, it is common for funeral homes in the same county or neighboring counties to align on "trade service" call costs to ensure things flow more smoothly. Unfortunately, ************** has yet to engage in this type of productive dialogue with Heer Mortuary.
  
  Heer Mortuary is a leader in delivering funeral services to our customers in Morgan County and the broader eastern plains of ********.Our highly qualified professional staff has over 60 years of combined experience, with 35+ of those combined years serving the families in Morgan County. We have certified funeral directors, certified embalmers, certified cremationists, and licensed insurance agents along with an ordained minister. Our staff are members of the ******** Funeral ********************* and maintain yearly training to ensure we are providing the best service.
  
  We pride ourselves that every family is unique, and every service should reflect the life and personality of the deceased. That is why we offer a variety of service packages tailored to each family's needs and preferences. We do not have any hidden fees or unexpected charges, and we will work with our customers to create a service that fits their budget and wishes. This includes providing our customers with the Heer Mortuary GPL in accordance with the FTC's Funeral Rule.
  
  Thank you in advance for helping address his situation.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/23/2024

  Complaint: 21098457
  To Whom it May ***************** am to some extent surprised that there is engagement from the other party on this matter, but I am equally grateful that given recent events I now have the opportunity to provide further context to the situation since the complaint was first filed and to provide a response.I have determined that the best way to address the response provided by Heer Mortuary and Crematory is one piece at a time, after which I will summarize why the claim has not yet come to resolution.
  
  Claim:
  ************** from ******** Mortuary and Crematory received the Heer Mortuary General Price List (***) on September 29,2023. The Heer Mortuary *** has not changed since then, so ************** has the latest Heer Mortuary ***.
  

  Rebuttal:
  The pricelist that I received on September 29th, 2023 was a general price list dated effective November 7, 2022. At the time that it was presented, employees of the establishment confirmed that the pricelist was up to date and accurate. This said, it can be easily determined that the pricelist provided on September 29, 2023 was either out of date or factually inaccurate. This shows dishonesty in the statements made by employees of Heer Mortuaries, both on the date the pricelist was received and in the statement made in reply to my initial complaint.
  Contracts (provided in leu of a business-to-business invoice) received from Heer Mortuaries and Crematory contain conflicting charges for the same line items, and both contracts in some way conflict with the pricelist that was provided on September 29, 2023. Specifically, the following items delineate:
  Contract dated 09/16/2023, Professional Trade Removal: $350
  Contract dated 01/04/****, Professional Trade Removal: $425
  Contract dated 01/04/****, Utility Vehicle-Additional Mileage to Lakewood: $250

  *The *** provided 09/29/2023 does not reference professional trade services. Instead, the following prices are listed.
  *** Provided 09/29/2023,Transportation of decedent to mortuary within 35 mile service area: $425
  *** Provided 09/29/2023,Additional miles outside of local service area (per mile): $3.00
  *** Provided 09/29/2023, Utility Vehicle: $210
  *** Provided 09/29/2023, Additional charge per hour for staff services and/or use of facilities for partial ceremonies, body donations or other items not included in the above charges (1 hour minimum): $425

  Of the prices listed, I found three concerning facts regarding charges directed to my funeral establishment in the past year by Heer Mortuaries and Crematory.
  The line item Professional Trade Removal does not exist on the *** provided 09/29/2023.
  Of the charges most likely to represent Professional Trade Removal as a line item, either Transportation of Decedent, Utility Vehicle, or Additional Charge per hour would at a minimum have needed to change between the date of the first invoice (09/16/2023), and the date the pricelist was presented (09/29/2023) in order for it to be considered accurate and applicable to the invoice dated (01/04/****).
  The mileage charge does not align with the removal performed and charged to the invoice dated 01/04/****. The furthest distance from Heer Mortuaries and Crematory to ********************* in ********, ** is 198 miles. ** mileage is charged after 35 miles, the mileage charge would be $489. ** it is charged outside of an operational range of 35 miles (70 miles round trip maximum), the mileage for this case would have been 384. ** the charge is one-way only, the mileage charge would have been for 99 miles less the included 35 for a total of $192. Of all the possible ways that the additional mileage could be charged, none of them align with the charges set forth in the invoice dated 01/04/****, nor are they by any tangible metric some multiple or dividend of the $250 on the provided contract. Ultimately, every funeral provider has the right to charge whatever they wish for any service on their ***, but they must accurately represent those charges to the consumer in their ***.
  
  Claim:
  ************** was provided a contract from Heer Mortuary covering the required removal fees for the referenced decedent that passed in the Denver ***** area. ************** reviewed, signed, and made payment per the contract that covered the removal fees. At the time ************** didn't complain about or dispute the removal fee.

  Rebuttal:
  The contract provided (in addition to both being signed by an employee other than indicated and left undated by the same)does not accurately reflect mileage charges as set forth in the previous section. Further, no *** was given at the time the contract was signed, leading me to rely on the information contained within the contract/invoice as being factual. Further inspection of the November 7, 2022 pricelist is what led to the request for an up-to-date *** and upon denial, the eventual filing of this complaint with the BBB.
  
  Claim:
  ****************** comment about having to "charge an excessive amount" or "eat the difference" seems to appear that he provided a price to the decedent's family before understanding his total cost to provide such services.
  
  Rebuttal:
  Payment had been rendered to Heer Mortuaries and Crematory prior to any discussion of funeral arrangements or cost of services with the decedents family as the respondent alleges above. As it appears my comments proved to be unclear, so I will reiterate:
  The amount charged by Heer Mortuaries and Crematory is excessive in my professional opinion, but my professional opinion holds no bearing over what another business is allowed to charge, nor would the opinion of any other industry practitioner. As an industry professional, however, I have insight that the common consumer does not and am more likely to notice when something is not quite right within said industry. I chose to accept and cover the most recent charges upfront on behalf of the family to relieve them of undue burden while the complaint I have filed works towards a potential resolution. I find myself fortunate to be in a financial state where this is something that I can comfortably afford to do.Regardless of the outcome, I will never see this or decisions like this one as a mistake; operating with integrity on behalf of my client families while they are at their most vulnerable is my foremost moral responsibility as a funeral director and as a human being. The insinuation that my actions thus far have been motivated by buyers remorse does not hold water. It fails to acknowledge the fact that any client family in similar circumstances would potentially be met with the same issues I have noted in my complaint, whether being assisted by my business or a business outside of Morgan County. I refuse to enable or endorse this outcome through my own inaction.
  
  Claim:
  ************** is new to the Funeral Home business (less than 1 year) and he must not realize that it is common practice among funeral homes to provide what is called a "trade service" when working together to deliver funeral services. Moreover, it is common for funeral homes in the same county or neighboring counties to align on "trade service" call costs to ensure things flow more smoothly.Unfortunately, ************** has yet to engage in this type of productive dialogue with Heer Mortuary.
  
  Rebuttal:
  While I have only owned ******** Mortuary for a short ~11 months, I have been working within every facet of the death care industry since before I graduated high school. Forensic and mortuary, military and civilian, my career has been ever developing and evolving, and the experience that qualifies me to work as a funeral director is the same that enabled me to start an operational and independently owned funeral home confidently and successfully from scratch. It is throughout this career that I have had the express privilege of working with forthright and honest institutions, both providing trade services for others and paying for them.I am more than aware of what constitutes a trade service and find it strange that where most establishments charge less to other funeral homes than they do to client families for these services, Heer Mortuaries appears to charge the same if not more. Additionally, I have no way to accurately determine if funeral establishments other than my own are charged the same fees that have been charged to my business given that the amount for those specific fees are absent on the general pricelist that was provided to me. As a side note, I find it difficult to believe that this statement is made genuinely by the respondent of Heer Mortuaries, as it was not more than a year and a half ago (per my recollection) that I personally facilitated a transfer of remains into the custody of Heer mortuaries staff while working in another funeral home in *******,********. I recall well that in most cases it was common to release a decedent without charge if a family decided to work with another funeral home out of understanding for the client familys situation. I further recall that no complaint or question was raised by the staff of Heer Mortuaries regarding the lack of billing upon the release of the decedent at the time; it appears that they do not care to see such examples of compassionate policy to become more widespread within our industry even when lead by example.
  I believe that the respondent may believe that any transfer of human remains from one funeral home to another is a trade service when that is simply not the case. It is important that I clarify for all parties that a trade service is, as the name would suggest, a business-to-business transaction. Such a transaction is initiated by a request from another funeral establishment, not a client family, and its purpose is to hire another funeral home to perform a task or tasks, such as (but not limited to) removal/transportation assistance, obtaining permits and death certificates, embalming, and cremation. Families do change their mind from time to time and are granted through ******** law the ability to have their loved ones transferred into the care of another funeral home without exception. This means that the original funeral provider is not permitted to refuse such a transfer due to unpaid balances/charges. Because of this, some funeral providers seeking compensation from a family who has not paid outstanding balances will often request that charges be passed through to a family on another funeral establishments contract as a courtesy. That said, I will emphasize that ultimately compliance with such a request is non-compulsory, and that it is the responsibility of the establishment that performed the initial services to contact and secure payment from a family should such a request be denied.
  In reference to productive dialogue, I believe the labor undertaken by myself, past and present, constitutes more than enough productive dialogue. My charges for trade calls are well marked and outlined within my *** and reflect the trade pricing of other establishments in surrounding counties as mentioned by the respondent to this complaint, with basis derived from price lists obtained from funeral homes in those areas including Morgan County. I consider accepting the initial invoice dated 09/16/2023 from Heer Mortuary without complaint to be productive dialogue as well. I believe it would also be fair to say that Heer Mortuaries has, as of the present date, initiated no such dialogue or action with my establishment in regard to our trade pricing or anything else for that matter,and given the proportional amount of interfacing conducted by my establishment I am of the opinion that any such conversation would have been initiated already if they truly had felt it to be as commonplace of a practice as they claim.
  
  Claim:
  We pride ourselves that every family is unique, and every service should reflect the life and personality of the deceased.That is why we offer a variety of service packages tailored to each family's needs and preferences. We do not have any hidden fees or unexpected charges,and we will work with our customers to create a service that fits their budget and wishes. This includes providing our customers with the Heer Mortuary *** in accordance with the ***'s Funeral Rule.
  
  Rebuttal:
  In addition to the initial complaint and all the above issues, Heer Mortuaries and Crematory has demonstrated a blatant disregard for the ***s funeral rule following an in-person visit as well as multiple phone conversations and emails between multiple employees to include the owner of the establishment. Requirements for compliance were stated plainly, factually, and consistently throughout interactions, and no reason for such refusal was given beyond We do not have to and We can't do anything we are not allowed to do.
  The compliance information provided by the *** regarding The Funeral Rule, (publicly available and accessible virtually at: ************************************************************************************* in both html and downloadable PDF), states clearly that the general price list must be provided  to anyone who asks, in person, about funeral goods,funeral services, or the prices of such goods or services and that You must give a *** to all persons who inquire about funeral arrangements. This may include competitors, journalists, and representatives of businesses, religious societies, government agencies, or consumer groups. As a business owner who is expected to be knowledgeable regarding the laws regulating my business practices, after filing a complaint with the BBB, I requested a pricelist in-person at the Brush location of Heer Mortuaries, once again citing the *** regulations as well as the general need for consumer transparency. My in-person request was denied and there is evidence of this denial available upon request. The evidence of this occurrence was obtained by legal means pursuant to all applicable state and federal regulations.
  
  Summary:
  The response given by Heer Mortuaries and Crematory has not resolved the issues the complaint was directed to address nor has any action been taken by their business or staff to remedy the situation outside of their response to this BBB complaint. Further, the response does not indicate any pertinent refutation of the claims made within the complaint and consists primarily of unrelated facts and tangentially related opinions and assumptions.
  
  Based on the fortunately well documented series of invoices charged by Heer Mortuaries and Crematory,and taking into consideration the claim of the respondent that the pricelist has remained unchanged as of November 7, 2022, there are a multitude of facts and statements that do not align with each other. The paradoxical nature of these facts and statements is what led to my inquiry and subsequent complaint,and the resulting information gained from these interactions have led me to the following conclusions:
  ** the *** that was provided to me on 09/29/2023 was up-to-date and accurate, Heer Mortuaries and Crematory, at a minimum either:
  provided false information regarding their prices to consumers by issuing factually insubstantial and inaccurate ***s.
  elected to charge another funeral provider (and by extension a client family) for services not outlined on their ***.
  incorrectly charged for items listed on their *** on multiple occasions.
  through deliberate action or negligence violated the Funeral Rule, a federally imposed consumer protection law, in failing to provide a *** upon in-person request.
  Or
  ** the *** that was provided to me on 09/29/2023 was not up-to-date and accurate, Heer Mortuaries and Crematory:
  Provided an inaccurate *** as outlined by the *** through either negligence or deliberate action for reasons unknown.
  Insisted falsely that the *** had remained unchanged since the first request for a pricelist was made in December of 2022.
  Violated the funeral rule by both providing an inaccurate pricelist in 2023 and further in **** by not providing an applicable pricelist upon in-person request.
  
  The principles of consumer protection are essential to fair market competition, consumer trust,and professional business dealings, and I was of the belief that such principles were common sense as much as they were enshrined in both state and federal law. I have been taught throughout my career that honesty, integrity,and transparency are the ********************* of both success in business and in life, and while I am not so naive as to believe that all businesses operate on these principals, it is disheartening to see that such business exist in such a small town as this.
  
  To restate the desired resolution of this complaint with more detail: I request one up-to-date pricelist from Heer Mortuaries and Crematory which will be copied and provided to the family that they served prior to my business taking custody of the decedent. I find their reasoning for the denial of this request to be completely insubstantial and plainly illegal based on *** regulations. In addition, I request an explanation for the difference in cost between line items presented on the invoices referenced and, if necessary, amended invoices accurately representing the contents of the provided General Price List. These resolutions will provide my business with the tools necessary to explain the charges from Heer Mortuaries correctly and accurately to the family that I am assisting with services. This is necessary to maintain my business (and by extension my own)reputation of honesty and integrity within my community, giving my client family reassurance that the charges are of an honest nature. I have no ill will towards Heer Mortuaries and Crematory for acting in what they believe to be the best interest of their business, and my refusal to tolerate the shortcomings addressed in this complaint extends to every funeral practitioner and funeral business I interact with, so to say that I am indifferent to their presence as local market competition.
  

  Your continued assistance and mediation of this request for resolution is appreciated.

  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 02/01/2024

  I believe it would be best to talk about the two issues ************** has raised in reverse order to help understand and resolve the confusion related to the Heer Mortuary General Price List (***).
  
  First, the Heer Mortuary contract provided and signed by ************** on January 4, **** that totaled $675.00 needs clarification. There are two line items on the contract.
  
  The contracts first line item totaling $425.00 was correct but the description should have been "Transportation of decedent to mortuary within 35 mile service area" as per page 3 of the Heer Mortuary ***, under the Automotive Equipment section, bullet point A.

  
  AUTOMOTIVE EQUIPMENT
  A. Transportation of decedent to mortuary within 35 mile service area..................................................$425.00
  Additional miles outside of local service area (per mile)........................................................................... $3.00
  B. Use of funeral coach at mortuary or at other location.....................................................................$425.00

  
  For the second contract line item, the $250.00 was incorrectly calculated for the additional mileage outside the local service area. The correct amount should have been $384.00 versus $250.00. The additional mileage to ********, ** outside of the service area was 128 miles at $3.00 per mile per the Heer Mortuary *** as part of the Automotive Equipment section, bullet point A on page 3. Therefore, the $134.00 undercharge will be forgone by Heer Mortuary.
  
  Heer Mortuary has made changes to its contract management system to help eliminate this possible contract confusion in the future. We appreciate ****************** feedback in this matter.
  
  Based on the above clarification, the pricing on the Heer Mortuary *** is accurate and the *** that ************** received is in fact current and correct. The confusion was introduced by the contract management system which has been corrected. Having said that, the current or effective Heer Mortuary *** dated November 7, 2022 has been attached for reference.
  
  Hopefully this addresses the concerns outlined in this complaint.  Please feel free to contact Javan Jones, President ************ with any further questions.

  
  Thank you.

  ***********************

  ************
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/12/2024

  I apologize, as I attempted to submit a quick response but it must not have gone through. We note that, response aside, the company has complied with our requests, and thusly we consider this issue resolved. Thank you for your mediation on this issue and for helping us to keep the consumer first.

  -******** Mortuary & Crematory