Headstone Maker Accused of Shoddy Work

CHICAGO (CN) -Wulkan Monument sold its customers burial headstones that contained misspellings of the deceased person's name or did not deliver the memorials at all, according to a complaint filed by Illinois.

The state says in Cook County Court that Wulkan and its managers Larry Born and Marie Kanger-Born even claimed that a memorial was placed at a descendant's gravesite after accepting payments, even though it was not.

The state also claims that Wulkan required customers to make an initial 50 percent deposit for each memorial, fill out a "proof sheet giving a description of the marker and its inscription," and then make installment payments on the balance with promises to deliver the memorial within 4 to 8 weeks.

In return, Wulkan either delivered the memorials "but made errors in the spelling of the deceased persons' names," and failed to correct the errors, or falsely claimed that the headstone was at the gravesite when it was not, the state says.

"In some cases, defendants provided various excuses such as the engraver was ill, photos had been lost, the base had broken, instead of completing the services they agreed to provide or delivering goods they had promised to deliver," the state's complaint says.

The state says that customers who called to check on their orders were often unable to reach anybody at Wulkan. It claims that Wulkan has also failed to provide refunds to customers for the memorials, or lack thereof.

The "full-service monument" company based in Orland Park, Ill., had been operating since 1997, though it was involuntarily dissolved in April of this year, according to the complaint.The state demands a statutory civil penalty of $50,000 from Wulkan, Larry Born and Marie Kanger-Born, along with an additional $10,000 civil penalty per alleged violation against an elderly person for consumer fraud. It also wants defendants prohibited from doing business in Illinois.

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