There’s something so incredibly sacred about when a family member dies and you’re able to put their ashes in an urn and keep them close. A lot of people give them a special place on their fireplace or even create an altar with photos to help them deal with the painful loss and grief that can come with death. But sometimes, things go wrong. A California family ordered a few urns from Amazon to place a loved one’s ashes in, but when they arrived at their home, they discovered one of the urns was already filled with what appeared to be a stranger’s ashes. When the family reached out to the online retailer for some answers, they were left feeling frustrated.
A family purchased a small urn online and discovered what looked like someone’s ashes inside.
A Southern California family found themselves perplexed when they opened their package from Amazon, which contained several small urns, and discovered that one of them had what appeared to be ashes inside, KTLA reported.
Mark Culbertson explained to the outlet that the urn was one of several bought after his grandfather died early last year. After a few months, Culbertson’s grandmother decided she was ready to place her late husband’s ashes within urns for different family members.
Culbertson told KTLA that all of the urns they ordered were empty except for one, which was filled with something you’d typically expect to find in an urn, but they didn’t put it there.
“This one has an ashy substance in it and we did a little more research. They look like ashes,” Culbertson explained to the outlet.
The family contacted Amazon customer service and were frustrated with the response.
Because the family was so shocked at this discovery, they decided to contact Amazon customer service, KABC reported. Culbertson said “Amazon wasn’t working with us at all. They just wanted to give us a refund and stop right there.”
In a few screenshots shared with KABC, the customer service representative can be seen in a chat thread telling the family, “I understand that you have received a used item. Please allow me a moment to check the available option for you.”
When the family tried to iterate that it was not just a used item but “possible human remains,” they were offered a $19.99 credit and told they could keep or discard the item.
They wanted to see if they could possibly return what appeared to be cremation ashes because they “could be part of someone’s loved one that they’re missing,” Culbertson told KABC.
After lots of confusion and failed attempts, there seems to be some kind of resolution.
The family reached out to ABC7 On Your Side, and Amazon sent them this response: “We appreciate ABC7 for bringing this to our attention, and we’ve apologized to the customer. We’re looking into this and will work directly with the customer once we have more information.”
KTLA reported that over the span of about two weeks, a person with Amazon’s executive customer relations team told Culbertson to bring the urn to a local funeral home of his choice and they would reimburse him for any charges with the funeral’s handling or intake fees.
Culbertson explained to KTLA that it still “didn’t sit right with him.” A representative from Amazon told him it is in touch with Truepoint Memorials, the company that sold him the urn through the online retailer.
“I just want them to be back with their loved ones and be taken care of the way they want to be taken care of,” Culbertson explained.
We hope Truepoint Memorials was able to determine where the ashes came from and get them back to the family or individuals involved.
