Author Topic: Memorial website? Donations??  (Read 1922 times)

lizzzi

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Memorial website? Donations??
« on: September 04, 2014, 07:54:26 PM »
I was horrified to go on a funeral homes's website to read the online obituary for a very elderly, dignified family member and find that the funeral home has "upgraded" the obituary to a "memorial website" for 13 days, and , complete with a diagram of a heart for charting the donations, is asking for donations to make the "memorial website" permanent.  Up until now, the funeral home's services seemed dignified and conventional, with nothing to find fault with. The family immediately posted a comment that we ask only for thoughts and prayers, and that it is the funeral home that is soliciting donations for this "memorial website", which seems to be set up like a Facebook page, with links to all the social media, and places for comments, photos, anecdotes, whatever. It is excruciatingly embarrassing, as friends and relatives across the country, as well as Canada and England, will be seeing this--if they have not seen it already. Is this something new? It is  tasteless beyond belief. And how could the funeral home put this up without checking with the family?

There are no condolence messages or virtual candles lit--probably because people are offended. I know I am. Or is there something I'm not getting?

gimp

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Re: Memorial website? Donations??
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2014, 10:13:26 PM »
At 4% withdrawal, one could fund such a website in perpetuity for $200. (Hosting is essentially free because they already pay for that and another website doesn't cost any more to host.)

So the funeral home, unsatisfied to charge ten thousand (or fifteen, or twenty thousand) dollars, is trying to wrinkle some more pennies to pad their oh-so-low margins. Nice.

swick

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Re: Memorial website? Donations??
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2014, 05:46:02 PM »
Yuck, this made me nauseous to read.

I'm sorry for your loss, lizzzi. I do hope you will make a formal complaint with the funeral home.

lizzzi

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Re: Memorial website? Donations??
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2014, 05:43:37 AM »
They said these things are kind of generic--that there are programs out there that funeral homes can purchase and use. They said they did not really like this one either, and will take another look at it--that they may take it down and purchase something else. I would certainly hope so.

sheepstache

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Re: Memorial website? Donations??
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2014, 08:45:05 AM »
I had a college friend who died last year and I appreciated the "virtual memorial" type website they had.  We were from different parts of the country and while we'd stayed in touch I'd only visited him once since school.  So it was nice to see all the pictures of him when he was younger and see recent pictures of his family and see all the nice things that people had written because his family is well-liked in the town.  I haven't checked to see whether it's permanent but it would be nice.  I guess I could have downloaded the content but I didn't think about that at the time. 

But, I mean, I think you're asking whether it's appropriate for the funeral home to solicit donations on the deceased's behalf without asking or even informing the family.  No, that's crazy pants.  It also sounds like they should have a print out of what the website looks like so the family can see the "public face" proposed and consent to it.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!