The 'undertaker' with a difference
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Richard Sage is an undertaker with a difference - he has a past littered with cons and deception. He tried to sell Rolls Royce cars he did not own, tricked the NHS out of hundreds of thousands of pounds with a bogus air ambulance company, and scammed a foreign exchange bureau out of £23,000. Sage even posed as a Scotland Yard police detective, and with false ID told a cashier that there was about to be an armed robbery and sweet-talked them into handing over the money to him instead.
But it was when it came to burying the dead that Sage sank to new depths.
Sage started his first funeral parlour aged just 19. It was the first in a long line of businesses that would leave a trail of debt in their wake. Watchdog caught up with Sage back in April 2006 to challenge him about the way he was running his company, but he is back in business again and this time running a web-based funeral directors called Direct Funeral Services Ltd.
Mike Noakes contacted Direct Funeral Services after the death of his father earlier this year. He was told that Sage would look after everything. Mike paid upfront using his Visa card but he soon ran into difficulties. Two days before the funeral was due to take place Mike was told that another undertaker was going to handle all of the arrangements.
When Mike got to the new company's office it soon became apparent that Sage had not done anything. He had not arranged a crematorium, flowers or even a minister. Fortunately the new undertakers, Samuel James, organised everything.
Struck again
You might think that Sage would thank them for helping him out but instead he decided to not pay them for their hard work. Sage did not stop there, three months after the funeral of Mike's father, Mike noticed that Sage had taken an unauthorised payment from his Visa card of £746 and then four days after that Sage struck again - this time taking £806 of Mike's money.
Elizabeth Carrick also made the mistake of using Direct Funeral Services Ltd following the death of her father. Sage did not arrange her father's funeral either and he even held on to a cheque her father's old regiment had sent to help towards the cost of the funeral.
In hiding
Sage had agreed to meeting Watchdog to answer some of our questions but he never turned up. Instead we had to try and track him down. The first clue to where Sage is operating from came from Mike Noakes' bank statements. When Sage took the money for the funeral it was taken by a company called St Christopher's Funeral Home. This
company is registered to Sage and is found on the Costa del Sol in Spain. It offers traditional funerals to Brits abroad and is run from Sage's rented villa in the Malaga hills. We went to see if he would answer a few of our questions face to face, but it would seem that he's in hiding.
If you come across any company connected to Richard Sage you might want to reconsider asking him to help you in your time of need.
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HI [Personal details removed by Moderator]MY MUM PASSED AWAY IN AUGUEST AND I USED DIRECT FUNERAL SERVICES RICHARD SAGE CAME TO MY HOME TO TALK US THROGH ALL THE ARANGEMENTS EVERYTHINK WENT FINE AND HE ASKED FOR THE MONEY UP FRONT SO HE COULD KEEP THE COST DOWN I PAID HIM THE FULL AMOUNT £1753 ON MY CREDIT CARD IAM ON BENEFITS AND HE TOLD ME THAT I COULD GET HELP PAYING IT AND NOT TO LET THE SOCIAL KNOW THAT I HAD PAID HIM AND THAT THEY WOULD SEND ME A CHECK IN HIS NAME AND WHEN HE RECIVED IT HE WOULD SEND ME A CHECK EVERYTHINK SEEMED OK WHEN MY MUM WAS PLACED AT THE FUNERAL HOME SOME MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY WANTED TO PAY THERE LAST RESPECTS MY COUSON WAS TOLD TO PAY £95 TO VIEW HER AND THAT WE COULD SEE HER AS MUCH AS WE WANTED TO I PHONED RICHARD UP AND ASKED HIM WHY WE HAD TO PAY TO SEE MY MUM AND AGAIN IT WAS TO KEEP THE COSTS DOWN AND JUST TO PHONE THE FUNERAL HOME A FEW HOURS BEFORE WE WANTED TO SEE SO WE DID THIS BUT WERE TOLD THAT WE COULD ONLY SEE HER THE MORNING BEFORE THE FUNERAL AS WE HAD FAMILY TRAVELING DOWN ON THE DAY OF THE FUNERAL THE FUNERAL WENT REALY WELL MAYBE THATS BECAUSE RICHARD WAS NO WERE TO BE SEEN THREE WEEKS LATER I GOT A PHONE CALL FROM THE FATHER WHO DONE THE SERVICE SAYING THE CHECK HAD BOUNCED I ALSO GOT MY CREDIT CARD STATMENT AND HE HAD OVER CHARGED ME BUY £60 I PHONED RICHARD AND AFTER 3 WEEKS OF HIS SECERTART TELLING ME I GOT TO TALK TO HIM HE TOLD ME HE ALLWAYS PAID THE FATHERS CASH AND THAT HE WOULD LOOK IN TO IT AND THAT HE WOULD SEND ME A CHECK IN THE POST STIL WAITING
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My father died in december 2007 and I used Direct Funeral Services. I was told by Richard Sage that I had to pay for the funeral in full,as I was having difficulties with my fathers bank I paid for the funeral out of my own account,hoping that my fathers bank would reinburse it. Richard Sage promised he would take care of all the arrangements,he did not.It was down to me to sort the paper work out and take the permission slip to the hospital. On the day of the funeral the herse was 45 minutes late and the staff who arrived did not have the classical music that Richard Sage had promised to provide. It then took over three weeks of calling to eventually recieve the invoice I required as proof of payment to take to my fathers bank. Unfortunatly the bank decided that they could not issue payment to me, they could only pay the funeral directors, so the bank suggested that I ask the funeral directors to execpt a second payment from them, after which they could reinburse me.Richard Sage aggreed to do this,but 11 months on,after numerous phone calls and letters I have not recieved a refund and this matter is now in the hands of a solicitor.
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Re Mr R Sage
My mother died unexpectedly in June 2008.
she left no will, very little money, and no debt. She was a lovely kind respectable lady, who was in touch with reality. She wanted no money wasted on unnecessary frills at her funeral instead would rather we all had a party to celebrate her life.Direct Funerals Services were the cheapest, I spoke to Richard (this being, I realize much latter, the only name i had. How foolish.)Richard was extremely reassuring and chatty. I explained that we didn't have much money, that mum's death was unexpected and she had only left a small provision.I was very worried about using the credit card for such a large amount via the Internet, he said i could send a check to D F S Funerals Ltd. 23-45 No6 slington House. Rankine Road. Basingstoke. Hants.Total bill £1378. In the end, owing to mum's post mortem there wasn't time as he had to have the money before the ceremony, (I never questioned why)so i paid by credit card over the phone having first contacted my card holders to ensure this would be OK . This all took place over a 10 day period with everything having to be verified and discussed with my siblings one who lives abroad, it was hell. The cremation was fine we viewed the charging, no frills. We had a great celebration party it stopped raining, beautiful.
We payed off the credit card bill. I could sleep well at night again. IN Sept the credit card statement showed that a company called St Christophers Funeral services had charged our card on the 19th of August with £1122.50 .Horror. We phoned the credit card company and found that a second amount of £1443.03 had been charged to us by the same company on the 11th of September.Total owing £2586.00 We demanded to know if the card company thought we may have had an attack of the plague in the family? Why would they allow this to happen? it's not even the same company name that i had originally phoned them about. The card is now in dispute and i don't know what I'm supposed to do about it. Mr Sage was not available. I kept phoning and was eventually put through, he explained that it was a new Spanish bank he was using that I wasn't the only one, that the accounts were on a new computer program and it was now being audited, he was going to a meeting about it that very day and he would phone me back.He didn't. When i phoned again i was told he had been rushed to Manchester hospital for emergency surgery, you can guess what outcome i was hoping for. His receptionists have all gained their black belts in stone walling, unless your a new customer. I gradually pieced together all the true facts about Mr Sage. The problem is if you've never had to organize a funeral or indeed, never encountered a truly evil confidence trickster before you aren't alert to all the warnings that are available ,there is usually only a very short time span to make choices , being wise after the event is very humiliating.
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After my younger brother who worked for Mr Sage in Dunoon, Argyll as one of his funeral drivers. Mr Sage advertised for a further vacancy for a further driver, for which I applied for, but nothing was heard from Mr Sage. However, my brother was never paid for the work, and there were many folk who were being decieved in the Argyll area for his funeral service package. My brother tried to get his wages by getting lawyers involved however, he got nowhere.
It is a sad fact in today's world that there are still conmen, crooks and bullies who still prey on the weak, frail, and those who are dealing with a loss of a loved one. One day, this man and those of his ilk, shall be found and they will be brought before the courts, or by those very people they harm.
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I used the Funeral company, and delat with Richard. He was very nice and professional thorughout the process. As we dont have much money it was the cheapest we could find, we had to do some of the form filling in ourselves, but he explained that was part of this companies procedures and why the price is alot lower than the competition. I think the customer who have been charged extra, this needs sorting out, but I cant take away the matter that he did exactly what he said he would do for the funeral and gave my mother a lovely service. I think he may have changed and hopefully as soon as this problem with the few outstanding payments is due, he can keep giving people like me who cant afford the other prices, good value for money, thankyou for our funeral anyway richard, we will be eternally grateful for the memory of that day.
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My wife died very suddenly and tragically this year. Obvioulsy I was higly taumatised by this and didnt know where to turn. I had never had to plan a funeral before as my parents are still alive, my wife and I had never discussed arrangements. it was all such a such a shock and a very daunting time. I was recommend this company by a friend, and as soon as I made the first call, I felt instantly reassured that everything would be taken care. He helped me through the entire process and I felt that a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could begin to concentrate on my loss. Mr Sage was my funeral director for my wifes funeral and he was a lovely, caring and genuine guy. The information on your show was shocking regarding his past,but who hasnt got one? this cant take away his whole hearted service he gave to me and my family when dealing with the loss of my wife. Perfect service and no problem with the payment at all. I held full confidence in using him and still hold this confidence to use him again if I needed to arrange another service.
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