Widow demands refund after ’being taken for a fool over tombstone’
|Published
EMOTIONAL IMPACT: Cleo Snyders from Hanover Park
Cape Town – A Hanover Park widow wanted to honour her late husband with a beautiful tombstone on the one-year anniversary of his death.
Cleo Snyders went to Gloria Memorial Park cemetery in Ottery, where she ordered the gravestone for R7 610 on 1 August.
It was to be made and installed on 18 November before the unveiling, which was meant to be held on 21 November.
“They said in November that there is a backlog and asked for an extension. I agreed,” she says.
The mother-of-three took a day off from work to pay caterers, and hire chairs and tents for guests.
“I decided that I will be present to see how everything goes. I went to the graveyard, but they were not there. I called and they said they are coming,” says Cleo.
She waited in vain with her three children for the tombstone to be delivered.
“We stood in the sun waiting for them. I went to their office and they told me a bakkie was at the graveyard putting in the tombstone.”
She went back, but found no bakkie.
“They took me for a fool and I had to cancel everything. I lost money and I couldn’t give my husband the honour he deserves. His grave breaks my heart when I see it,” she says.
Cleo is now struggling to get a refund. She says they first offered her a different tombstone, but she declined as it was not what she had paid for.
The Daily Voice visited the offices of Gloria Memorial Park and was met by two women who declined to provide their names.
One of them said they knew about Cleo, but had not dealt with her.
“She signed a document that states that her money will be refunded in 30 days.
“We were not the ones who sold her the tombstone and the person who did will be available next week,” the one woman said.
Daily Voice