Alabama family ordered urn to honor grandfather's final goodbye — what Amazon sent instead left them shaken
When they talked to Amazon about it, the company offered to provide them a refund instead of delivering the urn to the rightful owner
When dealing with the loss of a loved one, ordering an urn is usually considered a straightforward step toward closure. However, the case of Los Angeles native Mark Culberston and his family turned into a heartbreaking mystery instead, as per ABC 7's report on May 18, 2026. It all started with Culberston's grandfather's demise last year, after which he decided to order a few urns for his family to bid farewell to their loved one. However, upon opening the urns, Culberston was left stunned to find one of them already full. ABC 7's Instagram clip (@abc7la) detailed the entire incident on May 19, 2026.
A frightening discovery
The family found one of the urns filled with what seemed like someone else's ashes. "I've never seen human remains myself like that. And I looked at him, and I don't know what else they could be," said Debbie Richard. After this, Culberston immediately tried to contact Amazon, hoping they'd help him reunite these remains with the rightful owner.
They offered a refund
However, instead of providing a solution, the company tried to refund Culberston the money. In fact, they even stated that they were aware that he received a "used" item, taking the matter quite casually. "It’s like I’m talking to them, like, ‘Hey, I got shoes. They looked like they were scuffed. I need to return these,’” Culberston told KTLA 5. Nonetheless, after the man pushed them a little more, the representative gave him a $19.99 gift card and said he couldn't do anything more, given that the order was placed over a year ago.
Amazon’s response
Although this did give Culberston some financial relief, that was perhaps the last thing on his mind, as he wanted to return these ashes to the right person. So, he decided to contact the press to further escalate the issue. Sure enough, this proved to be the right step, as upon hearing this incident on the news, Amazon decided to contact Culberston and asked him to bring the urn to a local funeral home of his choice. But that didn't sit right with him, as he believed that this could be someone's loved one and deserved to be treated with respect. So, the hunt for the urn's rightful owner is still open, with Amazon contacting Truepoint Memorials, the seller, to see if they can find its owner.
The downside of online shopping
While not everyone gets stuck in such a slump like Culberston, receiving damaged, used, or wrong goods isn't uncommon. According to a poll conducted by The Harris Poll, nearly 60% of Americans confirmed that they've received damaged goods at least once while shopping online. Out of these, nearly 34% revealed that their pack was crushed, 34% stated that it was torn, and 32% stated their product was broken. This is taking a toll on the economy, with the country dealing with damaged goods worth approximately $48.5 billion each year.
Readers heavily advise against returning it to Amazon
Viewers were left equally stunned after witnessing the unexpected discovery. @kathy_gonazales suggested, "If they don't find the people, don't return to Amazon, they'll probably just get rid of it. Take it to the mountains and release the ashes or into the ocean." Meanwhile, @arikoko1 commented, "So if ABC didn’t contact or bring up the situation, Amazon wouldn’t listen to the complaints of the customer… that says a lot about their customer service. Looks like eye service."
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