Premier Casket Outlet
Oakland, CA

Barbara of Oakland writes:
Made agreement with Premier on 11/22/99 to handle funeral services of Willard E. James assured me that they could handle everything including programs and memorial marker. I paid $4,495 ($1,025 was for programs and $795 was for marker). I was later charged an additional $1,800 as an overtime charge to get the programs printed during the holiday week.

Due to poor quality of the programs, Premier's owners (James and Keith) later agreed to refund the $1,800. Keith (due to James' illness) refunded $500 with a letter agreement stating he would pay remainder as follows: $500 on 2/11/00; $500 on 2/25/00 and $300 on 3/10/00. The $1,300 has not been refunded.

Letter also stated that marker should be delivered by first of March. Subsequent calls by my assistant, Barbara, (who has been involved in this from the beginning and has met with James and Keith) requesting status of marker and repayment of money are to no avail. Keith has also provided us with two copies of the marker order indicating conflicting order dates.

Barbara had misplaced first copy and requested another fax copy. First copy shows order date of 12/1/99 and second shows 12/12/99. When she mentioned this to Keith, he had no explanation for this. At this point, she has asked Keith who is the manufacturer of the marker and he will not return any phone calls providing this information. She last spoke with Keith on 3/21/00 when he said he would call back---still no reply. I am ready for closure to this matter and Premier is not responding.

As a Christian lady, I have been more than patient with Premier but they have only added pain to my devastation and frustration. It is bad enough trying to cope with the death of my best friend and husband; but the loss is magnified by the fact that I still that I have not put him away properly because the business is still unfinished. I am truly embarassed to return to the burial site knowing that I cannot stand to look at the undone condition of his grave. The trauma, the sleeplessness and the anxiety that I am experiencing is largely due to the fact that I cannot bring closure to my responsibilities and I feel hopeless against Premier even though I paid them for these services in good faith.

Back to the top  |Funerals, Cemeteries