- A family is disappointed after the funeral of one of their loved ones.
- The family said the option to have the funeral streamed was not appropriate because it was for the general public and not private.
- But funeral home Avbob said it resolved the family's complaints less than a month after the funeral.
A Gauteng family is disappointed with funeral home Avbob, which was mandated to conduct the funeral of one of their loves ones, citing coffin measurement issues, the state of the chapel and problems with the virtual streaming of the proceedings.
After Claire Basley lost her mother in February 2021, a family friend recommended Avbob to conduct the funeral in line with Covid-19 protocols, and said it could help them reach loved ones virtually.
Since they had family and friends across the country and overseas, they wanted to live-stream the proceedings privately.
"They said there was a private link that they would send to my dad and me. We could send that to the people that we wanted to [include] and it sounded safe," she said.
Days passed but the link didn't come.
Later, Basley was referred to a social media page where funerals are broadcast. But it appeared that the page was used to stream funerals to the general public, which was contrary to the family's request.
"They were seemingly unknowingly streaming private funerals on a public page. Our family friend had to ask for them to remove her husband's funeral [from] the page," she added.
If the funeral home's Kempton Park team notified the family of this "bizarre option" during their first meeting, they could have made alternate arrangements, Basley said.
On the day of the funeral, the service was held at a chapel at Avbob's Kempton Park branch, but it was held with no live stream option.
"We ended up not being able to stream it to family. We recorded it on my brother's laptop and sent a video to the family. It was [a] shambles," she added.
But their ordeal didn't end there.
Basley alleged, among other things, that:
- A 1m coffin had been secured for her 1.65m tall mother.
- On the day of the funeral, a closer inspection of the chapel showed that it had not been adequately cleaned, and memorial pages from previous services were strewn around the room.
- The Covid-19 registration did not include screening or temperature checks.
- The front lid of the coffin was chipped and covered with flowers.
Avbob says the family's concerns have been addressed
But Avbob said that it already dealt with the family's complaints.
In response to News24's queries on Tuesday afternoon, the funeral home stated: "As the Avbob Group, we wish to highlight that the outcome of the above complaint was formally addressed in an official and final letter on 15 March 2021 after a thorough investigation by our complaints department."
It added that it had addressed the complainant's concerns with the staff at its Kempton Park branch and other relevant parties to ensure that similar incidents did not occur in the future.
"Our aim is to ensure that we keep our policyholders at the centre of professional service and as such, we will continue to engage, listen and respond to concerns in order to meet and exceed the needs of the bereaved," the funeral home said.
- Avbob does not have one-metre coffins. The coffin requested was a standard A0076 coffin that measures 1.98 metres, and a client cannot request a 1.65-metres coffin as we do not sell them. We thus cannot fit an adult into a one-metre coffin.
- Chapels are cleaned on a regular basis, especially on the mornings of a service. This also applied to the Kempton Park chapel. The group said it has conducted many funerals in the Kempton Park chapel and that there were no complaints regarding cleanliness.
- Avbob does not offer streaming services. Clients who wish to conduct these must do so on their own. Avbob is still in the early stages of investigating the option for some branches.
- All branches and frontline workers abide by the government's Covid-19 protocols and regulations, including sanitising, screening and maintaining social distancing at all times.
The funeral home further highlighted that the complaint was resolved within six weeks as per regulations.
The complaint was formally registered on 23 February 2021, and an outcome letter was sent to the complainant by 16 March 2021.
"As the country's leading and largest funeral service and mutual assurance society, serving more than 2.3 million policyholders and some seven million lives in total, Avbob continues to invest and improve its customer-centric approach to clients," it said.