|
Question: I hired a monument company to install a monument for me and the company placed an unsightly tag on the monument. I didn’t give permission to have an unsightly monument builder’s mark on my monument. The entire look of the monument has been diminished by the appearance of the dealer’s label.
Answer: The Memorial Doctor understands your pain. Most memorialists place their tags on their works as a sense of pride, and marketing too. You cannot blame the monument builders for seeking to identify their work in the cemetery.
On the other hand, I have a few suggestions for both you and my colleagues.
With smaller monuments, it is common to place the dealer’s tag in an inconspicuous place between the tablet, or “die” as we refer to it in the industry, and the base. I prefer that the tag be on the side of the monument where it is even less conspicuous to those who may share their respects at the memorial.
For aesthetics and maximum professionalism, I believe the builder’s tag should be placed on the side of the monument, between the foundation and the base, where it will not detract from the beauty of the memorial.
I know a monument builder who installed his tag 14 inches above ground level on the reverse side of a memorial, between the die and the sub-base, for an expensive and very beautiful memorial.
Why the monument builder would take such an inartistic approach to the work is beyond my understanding. This is the equivalent of a graffiti artist tagging a building. The tag looks awful and diminishes the entire work. If I were the purchaser of the memorial, I would demand removal of the monument dealer’s label.
Tags should be available in case repairs are needed in the future; however, tags should not be placed in highly visible areas where they can diminish the appearance of the memorial. To do so is an affront to good tastes and reflects very, very poorly on both the monument builder and the family who contracted the work.
As the saying goes, “You only have one chance to make a good first impression.”
|
