Abbey Memorials Reviews 48

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Jun 4, 2026

Dear Mr Williams,

You posted an identical - and mistaken - review via Google last week and I responded twice to that review as follows:

Dear Mr Williams,

Update: 1st June 2026 - Four days ago I responded to your review on the same day you posted it. The content of my initial response is given below. I asked you to remove the review because you did not speak to anyone here. I note that you have ignored my request so I have reported the post to Google.

Original response 28th May 2026 - I note your comment but I would have been the only male you could have spoken to today as the rest of my office staff are female.

I have not spoken with you today or at any time regarding a vase with an inscription - so I am wondering if you received a call from a different stonemasons with the name Abbey Memorials.

We are Abbey Memorials Limited based in Rayleigh in Essex.

There are at least three other firms in the UK that use Abbey Memorials in their title but none of them are us.

Your comment therefore does not apply to ourselves and I would respectfully ask that you remove it please.

Kind regards
Mark Steen
Managing Director
Abbey Memorials Limited

Latest update 4.6.2026:
In spite of being asked twice now to remove what is a defamatory review on the Google platform you have not done so. I will therefore be reporting your post to Trustpilot as it has been wrongly attributed to ourselves.

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Feb 16, 2026

Many thanks for taking the time to post such a nice review Heidi. It is very much appreciated.

I will ensure that everyone gets a copy of this - especially Toni.

Thank you again

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Drector

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Feb 11, 2026

Many thanks for your kind words Elaine. It is always very much appreciated when clients take the time to say thank you.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Mar 16, 2025

Dear Mr Clifford,
The 1 Star rating that you have given is totally justified – due to our lack of consistent and effective communication with yourself relating to this matter. For that I apologise unreservedly.

We complete approximately 1000 orders per year and, very occasionally, things do not go as I would wish.

Instead of just apologising, I will make a tangible financial gesture which, if accepted, could see the additional inscription provided free of charge.

The order has stalled due to the fact that the cemetery granted the permit for the additional work – and then they denied us carrying out the work.

You will recall that the permit was for an additional inscription to be carried out on site. The permit application clearly stated ON-SITE.
We know the cemetery officer saw that because they wrote:
“I can confirm that the additional inscription works can go ahead.
I have seen from the application that you intend to do the works on site - with this in mind, can you please call me to let me know when you will be looking to come to site, as we have burials and interments in the Cemetery most days.”

However, when my on-site letter cutter attempted to book an appointment he was told that the work could not go ahead and that the kerb set memorial would have to be removed for the new inscription to be added.

We challenged the cemetery office and after a considerable delay they responded saying that their regulations do not allow work to be carried out on-site – in spite of them passing your permit on that basis and acknowledging in writing that we were to be doing the work on-site.

I have read their regulations – as would my colleague Ginny have done when providing our original quotation - and I cannot see where they say that an inscription cannot be added on-site.

Had the cemetery office told us when we first submitted your permit application that no work could be carried out on-site we would have had amended the order to include the cost of travelling to the cemetery to remove the full kerb set and its foundation with a truck equipped with a crane to bring it to our factory – and then the cost of travelling back to the cemetery to re-fix the memorial – again necessitating the use of a truck with a crane.

I am asking the cemetery office where in their regulations it says that work cannot be carried out on-site and to ask them to allow the permit – as granted – to stand.

If they allow us to carry out the work on-site then I will meet the cost of doing that – your only cost would therefore be the memorial permit fee that we have already paid to them (I would then refund the balance of your deposit)
If they choose not to reconsider then there are two choices:

1. For you to meet the costs of removing and re-fixing the memorial (I will still meet the cost of the new inscription itself), or

2. For the additional inscription to be accommodated by adding to the kerb space a polished upright black granite tablet bearing the new inscription. I would meet the cost of supplying that tablet – so your only cost would be the cemetery permit fee which the cemetery has already been paid (and I would refund the balance of your deposit).

I will contact you separately by email on this matter.

In conclusion, I accept that you had every right to criticise us as we have, on a number of occasions, not communicated with you as we should have done.

I also failed to diarise a follow up to ensure the matter was concluded. I apologise for both failings.

Once I receive the cemetery’s final decision you can determine what course of action you wish to take – whether it is either of the two options I have mentioned above or for you to cancel your order, receive a refund of the balance monies held by us plus a monetary sum by way of my apology.

You would then be free to transfer the permit to another stonemason should you wish to appoint another firm in our place.

Kind regards
Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Mar 8, 2025

Dear Ms Sharland,

I had already issued my report to your sister - who is our customer – before you posted your review and I await her response.

We had explained to yourself twice when you called that as you are not our customer we could not discuss the matter with you. This is due to Privacy Laws.

You responded to my colleague on the phone yesterday in an aggressive and abusive manner - which I will not tolerate.

If your sister had previously authorised us to communicate with yourself I could have sent to you the same written explanation that I sent to her. I hope she will share that report with you.

As you have so publicly criticised us I have no choice now but to respond publicly in order to counter your defamatory remarks - because if I do not respond that could be taken by some people as my acceptance of your claims - which I do not.

There was nothing wrong with the installation that took place on 7th April 2022 - it was fixed per regulations and left in a level state. At no point since then was it reported that the base was loose on the foundation - because if it was loose I am sure our customer – your sister - would have informed us of this before now.

Memorials can become unlevel over a period of time for numerous different reasons - mainly due to ground conditions and the elements. I have supplied your sister with a list of events that can cause a previously level memorial to become unlevel – none of which are caused by a stonemason.

If a memorial becomes unlevel I would expect a customer to contact us to arrange for it to be relevelled - which we would either do free of charge as a gesture of goodwill (providing it is a standard memorial and we are notified within two years) or we would levy a small charge for the work involved - which, normally, also involves obtaining a permit from the cemetery office because most cemetery offices require a permit to be obtained before any work is carried in their cemetery.

This is due to health and safety issues as well as public liability issues.

Some cemeteries levy no fee for such work - whilst others do charge a fee.

On this occasion we were not contacted until after the family had attempted to relevel the memorial. Your sister advised one of my colleagues that it took three people to lift the memorial and that the base came away from the foundation.

I have explained to your sister that it does not take three people to relevel a standard lawn memorial like this.

A qualified memorial fixer with the right tools and expertise can carry out the task on his own - without causing any damage to a memorial.

It is possible that the actions of the three people - who may have no knowledge of how to safely relevel a memorial - caused the headstone and base to become separated from the cement fixing to the foundation due to pressure applied to the headstone in trying to raise the foundation from its sunken position in the ground.

We have done nothing wrong. We are not – as you have claimed - rude and we have not lied to anybody.

We were told that you had said that a cemetery official had told you that the memorial had been installed incorrectly. We checked with that cemetery official. He has denied saying this to you.

This matter was only brought to our attention by a call from your sister on Friday 28th February – after the family had attempted to relevel the memorial. I do not know why we were not contacted beforehand regarding the memorial being unlevel.

Had we been contacted before the family decided to relevel the memorial we would have explained how such matters are normally dealt with.

I said in my report to your sister yesterday that we would be happy to rectify the matter for a small charge when we are next in the area. I remain happy to repeat that offer in spite of your review.

We would need to check if the cemetery requires a permit for such work and, if so, if the grave owner is charged a fee.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Oct 3, 2024

Hi Hugh,

Many thanks for taking the time to post such a kind review.

Your order was all the more satisfying as the memorial was not one of our standard memorials and the design that you requested was one that we had to amend to suit the cemetery's regulations.

It is always a nervous moment (for both customer and supplier!) when a customer sees the memorial for the first time on the grave - when previously all they have seen is a drawing.

I am glad that the finished memorial has met the family's expectations. Thank you for trusting us with this .

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Updated Sep 6, 2024

Dear Tami,

My first response was to apologise for you not receiving the call back and the quotation that you required.

I then asked around the office who had been handling your enquiry to determine what had happened to cause such a poor review.

I have now identified the member of staff that you were dealing with and the timeline of events.

You called on last Friday with your quotation request and you were asked to send to us, by email, certain information that would enable us to be able to provide a quotation.

On Monday you emailed to my colleague part of the information that she had asked for - so no quotation was possible then

My colleague then had to ask you for the missing information - which you then emailed to her on Tuesday.

That was a delay of four days from when my colleague had originally asked you for this information - during which time no quotation was possible, a delay that we were not responsible for.

You called on Thursday (yesterday) and you were told by my colleague that she needed to calculate the cost of the proposed work.

Each quotation for an additional inscription has to be done manually and we often quote on two bases - for the work to be done in the cemetery and for the work to be done in our factory. It is not a five minute task.

In any case such quotations get done in the order they are received - so they may not get done immediately if other requests have been made previously.

We are currently very busy so, in order to inform potential customers all of our email footers say this:


Potential New Customers: Due to our competitive prices the demand for brochure packs, quotations and orders means that, on occasions, our office staff are not able to respond as quickly as we would like with issuing these items - for which we apologise. We therefore ask you please to bear with us if there is a delay.


In all likelihood my colleague would have dealt with the quotation today after your phone call yesterday - but it seems that you have chosen to go elsewhere.

Had my colleague received all of the information that she requested last Friday the quotation would have been issued before you posted your 1 star review today.

I am sorry that you have chosen to go elsewhere but had we been given all of the information earlier this would not have been necessary.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

May 12, 2024

Thank you so much for taking the time to give such a nice review Denise. It is very much appreciated.

I am glad that you are happy with the service that you received throughout the process and with the resulting memorial to your son's memory.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Feb 8, 2024

Thank you for your review Lynn.

It is a shame that you felt that you could not call me directly regarding our request that you pay the outstanding invoice rather than going straight to Trust Pilot because I now have no choice but to respond in public to explain the situation in order to balance your public criticism of us.

It is my belief that you have made a genuine error in your claims that we keep chasing you for a payment that you made in October 2023.

The value of the work to be done was agreed at A+B+C (I have used letters to maintain privacy).

A represented the sum we already held on account - based on the over payment from the previous order.

B represented the second deposit that we requested on 2nd October 2023 - which was paid by you in October to us

C represented the final balance to pay - once the work was complete.

A+B+C therefore represented the total value of the order form signed by yourself in July.

We completed the work on 24th November and we then invoiced you by post on 8th December for the final balance C that was due.

Invoices are due to be paid within 30 days of issue.

There was no contact made with us by yourself expressing any concerns at receiving that invoice after 8th December.

We should have reminded you of the outstanding final payment on 8th January 2024 but our first and only follow up was not made until 6th February ie there has only been ONE reminder of the outstanding payment.

I think that you have made a genuine mistake in thinking that the second deposit that you paid in October was the final payment.

However if you refer to your Order Form you will see that adding the sum A (that we previously held) to the sum B that you paid to us in October the resulting total does not reach the total that you had agreed to pay in your order form.

I had previously apologised to you for the delay that occurred -and I will apologise again for that - but we had every right to expect to be paid the agreed amount once we had completed the work you engaged us to undertake.

I note that you have now paid the outstanding amount for which I thank you.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Sep 26, 2023

I am sorry that we failed to provide you with the quotation that you required Ms Swan

Failing to provide a quotation does not mean that we have no empathy, integrity or humanity as you have claimed - or that the service is "disgusting".

I do not accept your somewhat public accusation that Toni was sarcastic in her response to yourself over the issue of whether or not we had received the photo images that you sent. That is simply not in Toni's nature when it comes to dealing with customers.

We are a small family run business that serves the needs of over 1000 customers each year across the UK from our small base in Rayleigh Essex. This is due to our competitive pricing and the quality of the work and memorials that we provide.

The size of our small team helps keep our prices competitive - which our customers appreciate - but, on occasions, the demand for our services exceeds our ability to respond in a timely manner ie during the holiday period or if key members of staff are unexpectedly absent through illness or injury - or simply because more people request our services than we can cope with at a given moment in time.

The specialist nature of our work means that we cannot just get a temp in to cover such an absent colleague - instead the rest of my staff try and cover that person's absence, most times to good effect

On this occasion we were unable to provide you with the quotation that you requested - for which I apologise.

I hope that you have since obtained the service that you were entitled to expect from ourselves.

Yours sincerely

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Sep 26, 2023

Thank you very much for your kind words of thanks Mr Wakefield.

Such reviews are very much appreciated by everyone here who plays a part in the memorial supply process - from quotation through to installation - so it is always nice when people actually take the time to publicly express such thanks.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Aug 7, 2023

Hi Melissa,

Many thanks for taking the time to provide such positive feedback and your kind recommendation. It is very much appreciated.

Manufacturing and installing a highly personalised memorial is not a quick process - I wish it was! - as there is much work and many processes and skilled artisans involved.

I am pleased that you are happy with the memorial that you have arranged in your Mother's memory and I wish to thank you for trusting us to deliver such a fitting memorial.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director
Abbey Memorials Limited

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Aug 7, 2023

Hi Hugh,

Your positive review is much appreciated and I am pleased that you are happy with the outcome.

Buying a memorial is not as straight forward as buying an item from Amazon that is already sitting on a warehouse shelf waiting to be posted out. There are many stages, processes and personnel involved that starts with the stone being quarried in another country and ends with the stone being finished and installed in whichever UK cemetery or churchyard is involved - with eight separate stages in between.

We try and prepare potential customers in advance for the timescale involved with our pre-sale guidance and, sometimes, due to events beyond our control even the usual timescale can be extended.

It is always appreciated when people take the time to say thank you - especially publically.

kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director
Abbey Memorials Limited

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Jul 11, 2023

Many thanks for your review and kind words Ramil - they are very much appreciated.

I am pleased that you are happy with the memorial.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Jul 11, 2023

Hi Jo,

Many thanks for taking the time to post such a nice review.

It would be nice if we could speed up the process but that is the problem with sourcing the stone direct from the suppliers in Italy, China and India to get the best prices - it takes longer.

I am very happy that you are pleased with the memorial.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Jul 11, 2023

Hi Linda

Many thanks for your kind review.

We try and guide people through each of the various stages so that they know what they can expect to happen but it is always nice when a customer then shows their appreciation of the final product by making such a public declaration.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Apr 3, 2023

Thank you for your feedback.

Unfortunately I am not in a position to comment any further regarding the nature of your 1 star rating as it is not possible to identify who you are from your post.

I would be interested in learning more regarding your experience - especially in view of the four specific complaints that you have made in your post - so that I may be able to act further.

Please feel free to respond by email to info@abbeymemorialsltd.co.uk when I will then be able to fully investigate your complaint.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Mar 23, 2023

Many thanks for your feedback and kind words. It is always nice when people take the time to give positive feedback.

Thank you
Kind regards
Mark Steen
Managing Director

Reply from Abbey Memorials

Mar 23, 2023

Dear Miss James,

Thank you for your comments.

You will be aware - as I have corresponded with yourself on a number of occasions since November - that we informed you (before your order was placed) that delays can occur that are beyond our control - whether it is how long a customer takes to respond to a request or how long it takes for a cemetery office to issue a permit or how long it takes for our suppliers in the Far East to produce the stone that we order in bulk from them.

We issue written updates at each Key Stage in the process - each one reminding customers of the next stage in the process and that delays can occur. Every email issued has a footnote that repeats this guidance.

I issued periodic written updates to all customers linked with this particular bulk order of stone. These were issued as and when my supplier provided me with new information after I chased them.

Such information as I received was then given to all customers in good faith.

My supplier had experienced serious problems caused by extremely poor weather in that region of India over a number of weeks together with manufacturing issues - I was getting extremely frustrated with being given estimated "goods readiness" dates by my supplier only to find out later that they had experienced yet another problem - so I can truly appreciate the frustration that our customers feel when we ourselves are prevented from providing them more quickly with what they want .

Unfortunately we do not have the resources to continually issue "no new progress" updates in between the issue of the main updates. I accept that this can lead to a small number of customers then calling us on a regular basis to ask for a further update when there has been no new developments since the last update.

We were as frustrated as every customer linked with this particular bulk order as the longer the shipment was delayed, the more complaints (understandably) were being made to myself and the more pressure it would then put on my factory and fixing staff when it did eventually arrive if the factory workload was already busy.

A provisional installation date has been set for the installation of your memorial. This will be confirmed to you by email nearer the time once that day's installation programme has been agreed with the cemeteries involved (ie if one says that we cannot fix on that day due to funerals taking place then we will have to select another day for those installations).

I hope that when the memorial has been installed that you might provide a review rating based on the quality of the memorial itself.

Kind regards

Mark Steen
Managing Director