Madelon of Las Cruces writes:
Approximately ten weeks ago, my sister, Mary, passed away. Because my mother had made pre-arrangements with Baca's Funeral Chapel, I contacted them and made arrangements for my sister's cremation. When they received her body, I went to the Chapel to make final arrangements. At that time, I was asked to dictate her obituary, which I did.

A few days later, I received several calls of condolence for my mother, Madelon. Her name was listed in the death announcements of a local newspaper. I made several calls to Baca's, to Ms. Santa Maria, but was not able to reach her, nor did she return my calls. Then, a paid obituary appeared in another newspaper, as planned, but it had been edited and a good deal of flowery language had been added, describing family relationships inaccurately. Again, I made several phone calls, to no avail.

When it was time to make the final payments, of course, Baca's contacted me, and I went in to the office. I explained that they had erroneously listed my mother as the deceased, and Ms. Santa Maria denied that it was Baca's responsibility, stating that local newspapers came to their office to look at death listings, and that she had not literally released my mother's name. I asked her how my mother's name got on the list in the first place, at which time, she changed the subject. I then pointed out that she had editorialized on the obituary I had dictated, and that it had caused our family a great deal of embarrassment. I further suggested that it was unreasonable of Baca's to expect me to pay for the obituary.

Ms. Santa Maria told me that if I had just called her immediately when I first saw the error, she could have had it changed. I told her that I had called several times, and she said that I had not called, because she had no messages from me, essentially calling me a liar. She did remove the charge, all the while chastising me because I had not called her immediately.

After about 6 weeks, I noticed that we had not received my mother's Social Security check, but my sister's check was still coming, although I sent the first after her death back with a notice that she had died. When we called Social Security, we discovered that Baca's had sent a death certificate, with my mother's information, to them, and they had canceled her benefits due to death.

Medicare has also begun to deny all of my mother's claims for the same reason. I contacted another employee at Baca's (Ms. Delgado), and was told that Ms. Santa Maria has sent a correction to Social Security on 9/5/00. I again checked with Social Security, and they had received no such notification.

I have left several messages that I want a refund on my mother's pre-arrangments, as I cannot bear a replay of the errors I have already suffered. I have not received a call or a check. I have called Baca's repeatedly to speak to the manager, Raul, about these circumstances. I am always told that Raul is not in any of the offices and cannot be reached. I have left my daytime, evening, and cell phone numbers numerous times. Approximately ten days ago, I found that Raul had called my evening number during the day when it should have been obvious I was not available. He did not leave a message on any of my other numbers, all of which have voice mail.

We have been embarrassed by Baca's decision to editorialize my sister's obituary, my mother has been without a major portion of her income for three months, I have had several calls from medical providers expecting payment due to claims refused by Medicare. Close friends of the family were horrified to read of my mother's "death", incorrectly reported in a public newspaper. My mother and I both are still reeling from my sister's untimely death, and the constantly rude and/or avoidant behavior of Baca's Funeral Chapel is emotional hardship we do not have the strength to endure much longer.