Didn't get what I payed for!!!!!

cathorio

I payed €1,100 to have an inscription put on a Headstone for my late Mother(RIP). I also wanted the sandstone base replaced with a marble base.
When I went to see the finished job, I was shocked to see wrong date of death on the the stone plus he hadn't put back the planter at the base of the Headstone.
I have made several attempts to contact him, email,voice mail and several phone calls, to no avail.
Can anyone advise me what I should do next, please?
I have a feeling I won't hear anything from him.

slimjimmc

Call over to his workshop and talk to him. If you still can't resolve it amicably then you should send him a registered letter detailing the problem and the resolution you want. Tell him you give him 10 working days as a reasonable amount of time to implement an agreed solution or you will see him in the Small Claims Court. The letter will be added proof that you tried to resolve this before going to court.

The SCC will only cost you €25 to process a case.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/justice/courts_system/small_claims_court.html

cathorio

Slimjimmc, my sincere appreciation. You are so kind. I will do as you suggested. Fingers crossed it will work.

Sunhill

He has made a bad error and you'll have to pin him down on it if you can.

Usually a carved error cannot be satisfactorily corrected. He might talk about hacking out a hole where the wrong date is and plugging it with a stone plug on which the new name can be carved but that is always noticeable and ruins the memorial. Why should your headstone not be as flawless as any other since you have paid the same money?

If the memorial is limestone, the entire face can be planed down smooth and the whole inscription done again on the fresh surface. Not a huge job.

If the memorial is black marble, this planing won't work because the new surface would have to be polished to match the high glossy finish of the rest of the stone and this is practically impossible, nobody I know can do it. In cases like this, the whole stone is replaced like for like with a new blank slab and the inscription done from start again.

I'm not a monumental sculptor but I've bought quite a lot of headstones and have seen a good few failures.

cathorio

It is Black Marbel and he has already replaced it. While he was undertaking the work he left the original headstone fall, which resulted in it shattering. This is the second headstone. Agh!!!

Sunhill

I'm glad for you. That was one expensive mistake on his part.

allthedoyles

Did you give him the dates in writing or did you just tell him in person ?

cathorio

I gave him everything in writing.
I followed this with an email containing the same information.

TheDriver

small claims court if he won't respond. Also a nice sign on the headstone stating apologies for the wrong details but XXX did the job.......Nothing better than bad word of mouth!