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The city has filed suit against a funeral home operator with multiple Bronx locations, accusing it of exploiting grieving families and targeting Spanish-speaking customers.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has accused R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home of failing to perform services requested and paid for by its clients, according to the complaint filed with the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The funeral home business operates four locations in the Bronx, as well as three in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.
The company is accused of multiple violations. According to the complaint, R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home is accused of misrepresenting the length of time to return cremated remains, failing to provide death certificates, failing to provide specific items like prayer cards for funeral services, failing to provide scheduled transportation of remains, failing to properly prepare and embalm remains, and “broadly failing to treat remains with an acceptable level of care and respect.”
“R.G. Ortiz preys on consumers during the most trying times of their lives, convincing distraught people that they, their loved ones, and their wishes will be taken care of, when, in reality, R.G. Ortiz consistently fails to honor the promises made and services paid for,” the complaint states.
Another damning accusation detailed in the DCWP lawsuit is that R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home intentionally “targets” Spanish-speaking communities throughout New York City, regularly using deceptive and opaque business practices intended to keep pricing information and options obscured, in an effort to charge these consumers seemingly-random amounts for its services, often resulting in price swings of thousands of dollars for the same service.”
The Bronx Times reached an R.G. Ortiz employee by phone to request comment on May 1, but the employee said a higher-up would have to return the request. The…
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