This site was created in early 2015 after a protracted battle with a company, named “Lifestone by Stefan”, to have the marker my family purchased for my father installed. It took two months of relentless phone calls and in person visits to have the stone originally purchased by my family in April of 2014 to be installed, 9 months later, in January of 2015.
During my fight it became apparent just how unscrupulous this company was. They operated under multiple names in multiple counties across the state, solicited the bereaved with nebulous claims of being preferred partners of their chosen church or cemetery, and good old fashioned taking the money and running.
Not wanting anyone else to fall victim to this company I began documenting their alternate company names and locations as well as keeping track of their BBB complaints and news stories run about the company. The cumulative result is this page.
This site is provided as-is and is an expression of my own personal opinions and should be taken as that. No facts are claimed beyond what I can personally corroborate and the experiences of those whom I have linked to are their own. I invite everyone to form their own views and opinions based on any information they can gather either from this site or through other means.
If you've browsed here by mistake, the official website for "LifeStone by Stefan" or "CGS Memorials or "Tombstones and Headstones" or "1843 Memorials" can be found here
Collected News Stories
Original Yelp Review from January 2015
My family has been put through an unwarranted amount of stress while dealing with LifeStone by Stefan, and its many apparent subsidiaries. They are also so notorious in the business community that our funeral director warned us of them and their deceptive business practices. Specifically mailing very official looking invoices (they claim quotes) to families once an obituary has been posted. We managed to dodge that mis-leading tactic but fell for the next, namely their over one dozen physical locations that do not bear the name "LifeStone" at all.
Memorial style and shape was selected from a catalog using stock artwork, and it was paid in full on April 12, 2014. The stone itself being 2.0x4.0x0.4 feet in size and of a flush head mount style. At that point, the clock began ticking on its installation. The promised time frame was 24 to 28 weeks weather contingent; the contingency applying only to rain or snow cover obscuring the site.
The stone was installed today (January 13, 2015). To save you the work, that's 39 weeks or more than 11 weeks past the deadline. When my mother or I tried to contact them to ascertain the installation date, starting October 16th, we were fed a steady diet of lies and incorrect information. Since December 15th, we have been promised roughly a half-dozen dates before the actual delivery today. To add insult to injury, they would also no longer answer the phones after learning my and my family's caller ID information. This is evident in the 82 phone calls I've placed to their offices since December 29th -- only about a dozen of which resulted in me speaking with an employee. The more often I checked in the longer it took for them to answer the phone.
When I questioned directly, and in person, Greg Stefan as to the issues with the install. He would only comment that he did not know why it took so long. He further insinuated that "he wasn't sure that the stone wasn't custom", an insinuation which would allow him to wiggle into the 32 to 40 week installation window. [The paper work signed makes no indication of a custom job.]
In my opinion, this company is unscrupulous and people need to be readily aware of what happened so they can make informed decisions about their memorial company.
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