Like diamonds, granite comes in various grades. Purchasing from a monument company with a physical location ensures you get the best quality granite for the price.
Buying your cemetery monument on-line may seem as easy, as buying something on Amazon.com, but it is not.
The promises of a quality product, ease of delivery and installation seem believable, but are often not as promised.
The on-line pricing seems like a deal, but really is not, when your expectations of customer service, and workmanship fall short.
Add the lack of professional expertise and then your time invested, when the order does not go as planned, and the process of ordering a monument gets so much harder than it should be.
Kim and Reid Mudgett
Why you should NOT buy from an on-line only monument dealer:
Anyone can put pretty photos of quality monuments on a website. Often, though, the product received is poorly crafted. The wording and images aren’t legible from just a few feet away. Local monument professionals will give you advice and suggest drawing layouts that will look nice year after year, not just the day the monument was unboxed. At a physical monument retailer, you can see actual samples of the company’s work.
Often people ordering from online monument sellers get a product that isn’t permitted in the cemetery because it doesn’t meet regulations. Now the buyer has a monument that can’t be used.
Who is going to install the monument once it arrives? If something goes wrong, who is the contact at the online seller? If the monument needs to be returned for a refund, who pays for the return shipping? Who will prepare the very heavy monument for the shipping process?
In addition, many online sellers engrave monuments in such a way that making the future date of death match, will require removing the monument from the cemetery, which is costly.
Families should be aware, that many local monument dealers will not install foundations, help with installation or transport of the online bought monuments, and/or be willing to correct problems on delivered internet monuments, due to not wanting to be associated with poor quality work.
Buyers have limited options, if their online seller will not correct problems with the monument order. Many problems are not fixable, some involve lots of phone calls to get resolved and some result in money spent and no usable monument allowed in the cemetery or a disappointing final look.
Why you should buy from a local storefront monument dealer:
Few People understand the monument creation process. Working with a brick and mortar monument company means you have someone to support you through the process of purchasing and creating a monument from the design to the installation. If there is a problem, you know who to contact.
Local physical monument shops allow you to see the product quality and grade of granite. You can also see the actual color of the granite and not worry that lighting in a picture distorts the granite color.
You can look at samples of engravings and be assured that the engravings are easily seen. Local monument experts know how to engrave your monument for the long term. The local retailers get calls, many times a year, about installed online monuments, asking how to make the engravings more readable. Many times this is due to poor workmanship, not just the weather.
You can be assured that your local monument expert will make you a monument that will meet the cemetery’s rules.
Local monument shops will handle all aspects of the installation for families. You can be assured your monument will be properly installed.
Be assured that a local monument dealer will honor all warranties and not ignore your requests to make your order match your drawing proofs and sales contracts. You will be able to talk directly with your Memorialist Consultant at his/her office, so they can handle all your questions and concerns and honor warranties in a timely fashion.
People you know, giving a reference of the local monument dealer will give you more piece of mind that your design and expectations will be met.
Don’t be lured by the inexpensive monuments available online. You get what you pay for.
At Mudgett’s Monuments, we will walk you through the process and take care of all the details from start to finish.
We will stand behind the quality of the granite, the craftsmanship and use our expertise of sandblasting techniques to make you a long lasting and beautiful tribute to your loved one.
Mudgett’s Monuments- Work In Progress
Mudgett’s Monuments- Completed Monument
Mudgett’s Monuments - Outside Display Area