AVBOB funeral parlour has responded to the family and friends of the late broadcaster, Eusebius McKaiser.
The funeral parlour maintains that they did not use the late radio presenter to promote and market their company.
This is after Eusebius' family and friends accused the funeral parlour of doing that and many other things, including not taking care of his body and dropping the casket.
On Tuesday, 11 July, the family wrote a public letter addressed to the company filled with complaints about his memorial service and funeral which were held on 6 and 10 June.
“The lining of the casket had been embroidered with a prominent AVBOB logo in full view of the family and all mourners at the public viewing the next day. At the New Cemetery in Makhanda on Saturday 10 June, without permission or discount, AVBOB-branded tents, tissues, water bottles and other paraphernalia,” they said in the letter.
In response, the funeral parlour said they were not marketing their company.
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“For practical reasons, it is commonplace to brand the tents and vehicles used during a funeral. The main purpose of this is to identify the funeral motorcade and the burial site. Multiple funerals are often executed simultaneously in the same area and the same cemetery, and this branding assists mourners to follow the correct motorcade and go to the correct burial site in the cemetery. Banners or flags are also often erected in the cemetery for this purpose.
“AVBOB usually brands the tombstones it supplies, as do most reputable suppliers. The reason is not to attain advertising value. The tombstone is branded in case it becomes damaged in the future,” they said.
They said they will address the dropping of the casket internally.
“We have acknowledged the issue experienced with the lowering device and the required repositioning of the casket during the ceremony. It is certainly not what we would expect from our service and we will address this internally,” the letter continued.
Eusebius’ friend, Scott Burnett who shared the public letter on his Twitter page, said they are not happy with the response.
“Please read this statement and decide for yourselves whether you think this is an adequate response,” he said.
