A New York funeral home chain will have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for allegedly cheating and deceiving customers, according to a settlement with the city.
Bronx-based RG Ortiz Funeral Home will pay $600,000 in compensation to the family and a $100,000 civil penalty for failing to tell the family where the body was located, among other actions, the city's Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection said in a statement. Announced.
“While money can never heal the wounds caused by RG Ortiz's actions, we are proud to have held this company accountable and achieved justice for our neighbors,” department director Vilda Vera Mayuga said in a statement.
The company has eight funeral homes in five boroughs, mainly Spanish Speaking Community.
Since 2018, 74 consumers have filed complaints with authorities detailing RG Ortiz's predatory and deceptive practices, including misrepresenting or concealing the prices of services offered and failing to provide services consumers paid for. Authorities have penalized the chain for over 82 violations.
In one case, RG Ortiz allegedly put a man's body on public display “still in a plastic bag,” according to the city's consumer watchdog.
Another time, a client's loved one was emitting a putrid odor.
As part of the settlement, 28 consumers will receive payments of approximately $104,000, with $500,000 left for other consumers who can file complaints online. In English (In Spanish).
A person who answered the phone at Ortiz's headquarters said no one was immediately available for comment.
