It has been a while since we posted anything about the online casket retailers, but this story could not be overlooked. Most of the time in the past when we have posted articles about funeral directors’ experiences with receiving caskets from online retailers the outcome has been overall positive. We even posted a review from a funeral director who received a casket from WalMart and his comments might surprise you.
This is the first case I have heard of that had such a horrible ending and this is the first reaction I have read where the buyer used Casketsite.com. After looking at their site it is surprising to me that more people haven’t come forward with the same horrible experience. The site claims it is selling name brand funeral products at discount prices. Some of the brands represented are Batesville Casket Company, Wilbert Burial Vaults, and Aurora Casket Company. The site is operated by Mountain High Funeral Home and they are an authorized dealer for Aurora, York, and Wilbert but not Batesville.
I am not sure how this works on the casket end, but from the vault side what has to take place is this:
The customer orders the Wilbert vault online. Because the Casketsite.com is really a funeral home, they call a local Wilbert licensee (who has the ability to transfer a Wilbert burial vault anywhere in the US and Canada to another Wilbert licensee in the area where the burial will take place). The local licensee then transfers the order to another Wilbert dealer where the service and burial will be held.
I can only see this working a few times. Soon the local licensee is going to catch wind that the funeral home (Mountain High Funeral Home) is basically reselling the vault which would not fly with the Wilbert licensee network and they will stop accepting transfer orders from the local Wilbert licensee as well as Mountain High.
I am not sure if this is how it works on the casket side or not. Maybe someone could explain. My guess is that Mountain High ordered a Batesville casket and wanted it shipped to somewhere other than their funeral home and Batesville wouldn’t do it (rightfully so).
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What utter bull***t. Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, so perhaps you should keep your so-called horror stories to yourself. I know of a number of these related to ‘official’ caskets & funeral home mis-steps including too short, too narrow, wrong color, wrong interior, etc. ( I sing at funerals so I’m more aware than most of what’s involved.) Truth be told, every year almost a half-million people buy their caskets online with zero difficulty.
I’ve bought several caskets online over then past 10 yrs including my own father’s & couldn’t be happier. I spent just $968.00 online for a beautiful slate-grey casket with ‘chrome’ appointments & a pleated satin interior. The funeral home wanted over $6 grand for the same thing. It arrived on time & there were quite a few compliments along with a number of “Why did you buy such an elaborate casket when it’s just going to be buried?” (Most thought the chrome was real instead of plastic) When these found out we paid less than what most pay for a plain pine box 4 since decided to go online themselves when the time came.
I’ve also bought 3 others including one for a friend’s aunt who wanted the ‘absolute cheapest’. He was quoted over $1800 for a ‘plain pine box’ at the funeral home. Lucky I went with him. Twenty minutes later using my tablet his aunt ended up in a lovely brocade-covered ‘plain pine box’ with a sateen liner for just $780.
So how about some balanced info for those seeking to see if it’s safe to order their family’s casket online?