(WSVN) - They lost a loved one, but after they paid for a headstone for the grave, they lost all hope of ever getting it or getting their money back. Is there a law to protect grieving family members? It’s tonight’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
COVID killed Bernard’s brother Anthony.
Bernard Manuel: “Anthony. Anyone that knows Anthony. He was a giving guy.”
The well-liked Anthony Manuel, nicknamed Hot Shot by his family, owned a funeral home, and his family turned to his friend, a fellow businessman, to buy a headstone.
Bernard Manuel: “And we want to do something nice, and we want to get him a very nice headstone.”
Regina’s son Gregory was murdered while riding a Broward bus. She wanted a beautiful headstone for his gravesite.
Regina Campbell: “This is my son..my only son.”
When Racquel’s mother passed away, she ordered a bench in 2021 to allow her to sit at the gravesite to talk to her mother, but she can’t.
Racquel Pitt: “I think it’s heartless and inconsiderate.”
What all three grieving families have is a seething fury at the man they paid to create the memorials for their loved ones who promised to deliver them over and over and never did.
Racquel Pitt: “And he keeps making excuses after excuses, and I just get tired.”
Bernard Manuel: “Oh, I was sick. I had COVID, my dogs. This came with all the excuses.”
Regina Campbell: “For my daughter to come here and see a piece of paper with his name on it is so depressing.”
Week after week, month after month, they wait for the headstones and bench.
They lost their loved one….and are losing the battle for a monument to honor them.
Bernard Manuel: “If it’s your loved one, this is the last thing you’re going to be able to do for them in life. In my life, this is the last thing I give my brother.“
Well, Howard does the law offer special protection for a person dealing with burial items?
Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal expert: “No, it doesn’t. It’s just a breach of contract. If the monument company can’t deliver on time they have to return the money. If they won’t, sue the company and the owner, get a judgment and go after their possessions.”
We then went to Alliance Monuments, owned by Sandy Barany, where he told us why he was so far behind.
Sandy Barany: “The quarries and the bronze companies are backed up. We’re backed up. They’re backed up.”
Barany told us Anthony’s headstone would be installed by the first of the year. It was not. Then, when it arrived, it sat there.
Each week Barany would tell me he was going to engrave it and take it to Anthony’s gravesite, and he didn’t.
AJ: “Cause he is a friend of mine, I am embarrassed. I am embarrassed.”
And Barany might want to pay attention to his legal problems as well.
In 2012, the state took away his license and fined him $2500.
He said he was not aware of that.
We also found five customers who sued him to get their money back.
When Barany didn’t respond, the judge ordered him to return the money to them..
Regina is one who sued to get her money back.
Sandy Barany: “If she wants her money back, I have no problem with that.”
Finally, after talking to him for months, we showed up to some progress.
Sandy Barany: “I can show you the monument. It is all ready to go. We just have to get it to the grave.”
Bernard got his brother’s headstone, Barany installed it at Anthony’s gravesite.
And the bench Racquel wanted has arrived.
Sandy Barany: “It’s been ready for quite a while. My follow up skills should have been better.”
Racquel said she doesn’t want the bench now. She ordered another one from another company and wants her money back.
Racquel Pitt: “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.”
But the simple question: why promise families to deliver headstones or a bench, when you know you cannot?
Sandy Barany: “If it’s my fault, I’ll fall on the sword and say my follow up skills are bad.”
Months after he promised to deliver Anthony Manuel’s headstone, Barany finally did, leaving Bernard with mixed emotions.
Bernard Manuel: “I’m very disappointed for Mr. Sandy, Alliance Monument, and I want to say thank you to Patrick Fraser for helping me out with that. I don’t think I would have got it completed and be aware of Alliance Monument.”
Glad we could help, Bernard.
And Barany told me he would return the money to Racquel and Regina. He has not done that yet.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
Email: helpmehoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN
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