Disappointed with the service provided by T Cribb & Sons
I am writing to express our deep disappointment and dissatisfaction with the services provided by T Cribb & Sons following the death of our mother.
When we engaged your company, we were assured that all necessary documentation and arrangements would be handled professionally and that we would be supported throughout this difficult time. Unfortunately, our experience was the exact opposite.
One of the first issues concerned the documentation required for the repatriation process. We were initially informed that a Green Form was required, only to be told later that it was not. This caused significant confusion and unnecessary delays. Furthermore, much of the communication with the register’s office was left to my sister, who had to spend countless hours making phone calls and exchanging emails in order to obtain the necessary permissions. This was a responsibility that we understood your company would manage on our behalf.
What shocked us even more was the condition in which our mother arrived in Bulgaria. She was transported in a van with Romanian registration plates, without proper refrigeration or climate control, by a driver who did not speak English. As a result, our mother’s body had visibly deteriorated during transport. She had become discoloured and there were signs of bleeding associated with decomposition. This was deeply distressing for our family and ultimately meant that we had no choice but to hold the funeral with a closed coffin.
To make matters worse, the documentation provided was incomplete and not properly certified. One of the essential documents was missing a signature and official stamp. At the last moment, we were forced to find a sworn translator and a notary public to certify and stamp the document ourselves. This resulted in additional expenses and caused enormous stress, as we feared the funeral would have to be postponed.
We paid a substantial amount for what we believed would be a professional and compassionate service during one of the most painful periods of our lives. Instead, we were left dealing with administrative problems, poor communication, additional costs, and emotional distress.
Rather than being able to focus on grieving and saying goodbye to our mother, we spent our time resolving issues that should never have arisen in the first place.
For these reasons, we cannot recommend T Cribb & Sons to other families. Our experience was extremely disappointing and added unnecessary suffering to an already heartbreaking situation.
The transport- I said we want mum to be transported by air, only if there is no time, or flight available we would consider by road. I found out that she was on the list to be transported by road, without any consideration of checking flights etc.
We were led to believe that transportation via road was better and in essence lied to.
The legislation of the death certificate did not have the necessary stamp and signature so it was not useful to us. We needed to find locally a translator with a solicitor one hour before the funeral to do this properly so we cen be allowed to have the funeral on that day.
We paid £4000 for the cheapest on the catalog coffin (£1000), the embalming (done badly) and a dodgy road transport. We waited two weeks, we would have waited another if we didn’t take any action towards sorting out
the correct yellow card from the coroner.
We cannot recommend T. Cribb& Son to anyone. STAY AWAY FROM THEM.