Family Loses Money, After Losing A Loved One
Howard digs up the dirt on a local headstone company
Late last year, December 2008, the mother of both Cherisse and Shirley Johnson passed away after a long illness. She was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetary in Brooklyn. As the family was grieving their loss, a monument company contacted them, saying they had been referred to the family by Cypress Hills Cemetary.
This company was called "Divine Monument" and they offered a deal to engrave their mother's headstone and add a photograph, all for $1,008.00. The Johnson family decided to do this as a gift to their mother and paid the money to Divine Monument in February 2009. Divine Monument agreed the work would be done on or before March 11th, 2009, their mother's birthday. All Divine had to do was get a permit from Cypress Hills Cemetary.
But March 11th 2009 came and went and the job was never done.
When the Johnson family tried contacting Divine Monument, their phone had been disconnected, so the Johnsons contacted Cypress Hills Cemetary to find them. They were shocked to find out that Divine Monument had never applied for a permit from the cemetary to work on the site and they were even more shocked to learn that Cypress Hills had NEVER referred Divine Monument to them, because the cemetary does engraving themselves, for only $700!
Eventually the Johnsons were able to track Divine Monument down in the Bronx. The monument company apologized, saying there had been an oversight and the job would get done. But still weeks went by and nothing happened. So the next time the Johnsons called Divine, they asked for their money back. But now all of a sudden Divine Monument held true to their contract, stating that if the customer cancelled the job, Divine Monument could keep 25% of their money.
At this point the Johnsons called "Help Me Howard" to get their money back. Howard went up to the Bronx and spoke with Divine's wholesaler, who claims he only has a business relationship with Divine Monument.
He said that his company had taken over some orders from Devine and that Devine was having some financial difficulty. But he wanted to settle the matter and said he would refund the money right away.
So Howard gave the guy a ride to the bank and he returned the full $1,008.00 to the Johnson family.
Comments: 6
Divine Monuments is widely known as the most disreputable monument dealer in the NYC metropolitan area. It keeps changing its name, address and telephone number and, in fact, has recently changed its name again and is now doing business as American Monuments Inc. Its website consists of information stolen from the website of an honest monument dealer, Camden Monument Company, which does business in South Arkansas and Louisiana.
Divine Monuments is not allowed in at least five major cemeteries in the New York metropolitan area including St Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx -- one of New York's largest Catholic cemeteries -- Mt. Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson and Evergreen Cemetery in New Jersey. Administrators from the these cemeteries say that he Divine sets stones without permission, delivers cracked and chipped stones and does unauthorized work on stones after they have been set. One administrator at Evergreen said of Divine: "They're liars. It would save so many people so much grief if they were forced out of business."
Divine illegally uses the Rock of Ages logo on its letterhead to fool customers into believing that it is a Rock of Ages dealer. The Rock of Ages company -- a long-established and respected quarry and monument maker in the U.S. and Canada -- is aware of this and is ready to take legal action against Divine unless Divine stops using the Rock of Ages name. Divine, in its American Monument Inc website, also falsely claims that it is a member of the Monument Builders of North America.
Divine's (ne American Monument Inc's) wholesaler happens to be a honest man who runs a 60-year-old respected family monument business which is why Howard was able to get the Johnson family's money back without much ado. The wholesaler is also aware of Divine's terrible reputation and does not want his name dragged through Divine's mud. Frankly, I do not understand why this wholesaler does business with Divine.
For anyone who was conned by Divine, its physical address is 2961 Ely Ave. in the Bronx. It lists its phone number as (800) 560-6523. However, because it's unlikely that anyone will answer the phone, it's probably best to just show up at the office if you want to have any chance of getting your money back.
WE AT DIVINE MONUMENTS HAVE CLOSED OUR DOORS..
WE HAVE A COMPANY NICE ENOUGH TO CLOSE OUT ALL ORDERS THAT ARE PENDING , NO ONE IS BEING CHEATED OR DOING THESE LOUSY ACCUSATIONS. ALL JOBS ARE STILL BEING DONE. THIS GUY WHO KEEPS POSTING BAD REVIEWS WITH DIFFERENT NAME IS ONE OF DIVINE PAST COMPETITOR WHO DID GO OUT OF BUSINESS BEFORE BECAUSE OF DIVINE.WE POSTED A SIGN OUTISDE OUR DOOR AT 1584 WITH A CONTACT NUMBER , YOU CAN ALSO GET A RESPONSE AT 1866 932 2731 OR EMAIL AT SALES@DIVINEMONUMENTS.COM WE DID OVER WHELMED THE NEW COMPANY WITH OUR WORK ..THIS COMAPNIES SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF DIVINES PROBLEMS.THEY SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS HELPFULL.DIVINE COULD OF EASILY CLOSED DOORS CLAIM BANKRUPTCY AND ALL CUSTOMERS LOSE , BUT THEY DID NOT. WE IN THE OTHER HAND ARE HAVING OTHER MONUMENT DEALERS. FINISH THE WORK.. IF THERES A BIT OF CONSIDERATION YOU CAN SEE THAT NO ONE HAS BEEN CHEATED , ALL CUSTOMER HAVE BEEN CONTACTED , NO CRIMINAL CHARGES ARE PLACED OR EVEN BEING PLACED.. AGAIN IF YOU NEED TO CONTACT THEM YOU CAN BY 1866 932 2731 -- THAT NUMBER HAS NOT EVER BEEN DISCONNECTED NOR IT WILL . - YOU SHOULD STOP GETTING PEOPLE ALL WORKED UP BECAUSE YOUR LOUSY BUSINESS WENT OUT..
MANY OTHER MONUMENT DEALERS WENT OUT OF BUSINES AND THEIR MONEY WERE LOST .. NOT EVEN ONE CUSTOMER HAS LOST THEIR MONEY .. NOT EVEN 1- OTHER THAN WORK BEING DELAYED , WELL I MUST ADMIT WHEN YOU TRANSFER ORDERS TO A NEW COMPANY THEY TRY TO HELP.. THEIR PRIORITY IS NOT THE NEW ORDER FROM ANOTHER DEALER ,, ALL ORDERS ARE BEING WORKED ON .. PLEASE BE PATIENCE..STONES ARE BEING SET EVERY WEEK, .
Don't believe that Divine has closed its doors. It is now doing business as American Monuments Inc. You can verify this by calling both the telephone number on the American Monuments Inc. website (www.monuments.cc): 1-800-560-6523 and the telephone number given by Divine in its comments on this site: 1-866-932-2731. They both go to the same answering service.
Divine wants you to think that it is giving its orders to another dealer. It's actually just transferring its orders to its new name, American Monuments, Inc and telling you that it is another dealer who is "not responsible for Divine's problems." "Divine Monuments" is just one in a series of names that this company has had. Don't "be patient" in waiting for your orders because the so-called new company will not give it priority. Get your money back from Divine. If Divine won't refund it, I'm sure that Help Me Howard, which helped the Johnson family, will be happy to help you as well.
Don't believe that Divine has closed its doors. It is now doing business as American Monuments Inc. You can verify this by calling both the telephone number on the American Monuments Inc. website (www.monuments.cc): 1-800-560-6523 and the telephone number given by Divine in its comments on this site: 1-866-932-2731. They both go to the same answering service.
Divine wants you to think that it is giving its orders to another dealer. It's actually just transferring its orders to its new name, American Monuments, Inc and telling you that it is another dealer who is "not responsible for Divine's problems." "Divine Monuments" is just one in a series of names that this company has had. Don't "be patient" in waiting for your orders because the so-called new company will not give it priority. Get your money back from Divine. If Divine won't refund it, I'm sure that Help Me Howard, which helped the Johnson family, will be happy to help you as well.
Don't believe that Divine has closed its doors. It is now doing business as American Monuments Inc. You can verify this by calling both the telephone number on the American Monuments Inc. website (www.monuments.cc): 1-800-560-6523 and the telephone number given by Divine in its comments on this site: 1-866-932-2731. They both go to the same answering service.
Divine wants you to think that it is giving its orders to another dealer. It's actually just transferring its orders to its new name, American Monuments, Inc and telling you that it is another dealer who is "not responsible for Divine's problems." "Divine Monuments" is just one in a series of names that this company has had. Don't "be patient" in waiting for your orders because the so-called new company will not give it priority. Get your money back from Divine. If Divine won't refund it, I'm sure that Help Me Howard, which helped the Johnson family, will be happy to help you as well.
I have a contract with Divine Monuments/American Monnument. They are still in business up in the bronx. I visited the latest location it look legit but my gut tell me different. I just want my money back where do i go!!!! Help me!!!