Losing a loved one is one of the most stressful times in anyone’s life. But in those first, anxious weeks of someone’s bereavement, Toronto-area tombstone salesman William Tunstead gets to work.
“He won’t take no for an answer,” said Daryle Hunt, who vividly remembers Tunstead’s persistent phone calls pitching cemetery monuments more than a decade ago.
“The more you turned him down, the more abrupt he became.”
Tunstead digs through publicly available information to find out who has died and then tracks down family members, typically widows or widowers, to sell his services.
“I would be pleased to come to your residence and meet with you … to show you the options that are available to you,” Tunstead writes in a form letter that he sends to homes, in addition to the phone calls.
READ MORE: Death ain’t cheap: a look at funeral costs and alternative options
One of those phone calls to recent widow Joan Felkai is more shocking than others.
“He wouldn’t leave me alone and made me feel very guilty,” said Felkai, whose husband died in July.
She says she started receiving calls from Tunstead about six weeks after the funeral.
In November, Tunstead called Felkai, who told him, “I haven’t made any progress yet,” referring to her thoughts about buying a gravestone. The conversation was recorded on Felkai’s answering machine.
“What do you have to do?” questioned Tunstead.
“I have to think about it,” Felkai replied.
“Have you taken some time to go to a cemetery and look and see what other people have done?” he persisted.
“Not yet,” answered Felkai.
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Tunstead sounds aggravated at that point in the call.
“I thought you were going to do that,” he said, then said he could “barely hear” Felkai on the line, although the voice recording shows a normally audible conversation.
Then, as Felkai hangs up the phone, Tunstead unleashes an explosion of expletives, unaware that the line hasn’t gone dead and that the conversation is still being recorded.
“F— off, you’re an a..hole,” Tunstead exclaims.
“You’re just a retard, a waste of f—ing time. Go f— off. You’re a moron. Ridiculous. You’re a waste of time, lady,” Tunstead concludes before the call ends.
When Felkai played the recording for her friend, Daryle Hunt explained Tunstead was the same man who had persistently tried to sell her a monument stone.
“He was very aggressive, almost rude,” said Hunt, who said she was surprised Tunstead was still in business given his approach.
A Global News crew caught up with Tunstead outside a Toronto restaurant and read a transcript of his remarks to Felkai before asking for comment.
“I don’t appreciate your tactics,” Tunstead said, before walking to his car and driving away. Several calls and emails asking for further comment were not answered.
Felkai said she wanted to alert others to ignore high-pressure tactics after the death of a family member.
“I feel there’s an obligation to expose this so he won’t be dealing with other vulnerable people this way.”