Customers of pet cremation company turn to 7 On Your Side after waiting months for ashes

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Several customers of a Los Angeles pet cremation company say they've been waiting months for their beloved pets' ashes.

The bond a person can have with their pet can be so strong. Some choose to cremate their four-legged friends once they pass.

But instead of feeling that their pets are now at peace, customers of one cremation company, Rainbow to Heaven, have been reaching out to 7 On Your Side Investigates.

"I don't have babies of my own, so she was my baby," said Alixandrea Lara who lost her little yorkie Coco back in December.

Makalah Joaquin also lost her pit-lab mix Marley in December, and in that month Robert and Christina McGee also lost Bengels, their beloved cat.

They all paid hundreds of dollars to Rainbow to Heaven to cremate them, but when talking to these pet owners last week, none of them had received the remains.

"The money is the least of my worries," said Lara. "It's Coco) my baby and she was everything to me. So I almost feel like it's like kidnapping when you don't get her back."

To try and get these pet lovers answers, 7 On Your Side Investigates headed to an industrial park in Agoura Hills where we were told Rainbow to Heaven is operating out of an office.

Inside one of the suites we met Glen Uslan.

Uslan says he is a friend of the man who owns Rainbow to Heaven, and is now volunteering his time to get roughly 450 bags of pet remains to their rightful owners.

"Everything went great, until December. The owner lost three family members in a two-week period, then was diagnosed with cancer," said Uslan. "It can be a bit overwhelming. And they had somebody running the company. Just too many things fell through the cracks, and it wasn't taken care of."

But customers are showing no sympathy.

"It has been an excuse after excuse," Joaquin said.

The pet owners told 7 On Your Side Investigates that they have been told various stories, including that the L.A. fires slowed down the company.

Some got an email saying "...we have experienced the passing of one of our owners."

But Uslan told us there is only one owner he knows of, and that he is still alive.

This goes beyond angry customers.

The California Franchise Tax Board of California tells Eyewitness News that Rainbow to Heaven was suspended October 1st 2024 for failure to file and pay for tax year 2021 and that the company's outstanding balance is $89,064.91.

Even the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories is upset - because their logo is on Rainbow to Heaven's website.

"They are not a member of our association, and they have never been a member of our association," said Donna Shugart-Bethune who is the association's Executive Director.

7 On Your Side asked Uslan what he wanted to say to customers who are outraged.

"My message is that we are doing everything that we can to make sure that they get their pet and all of the elements that they requested back to them," Uslan responded.

After we met Lara, she went to the Agoura Hills office park and picked up Coco's ashes.

But Joaquin still doesn't have "Marely's" ashes and the McGee's still don't have Bengels either.

Eyewitness News repeatedly tried to speak to the owner of Rainbow to Heaven, but none of our messages to him have been returned.

Friday afternoon, Uslan sent 7 On Your Side Investigates a text saying he has now delivered the remains of about 100 pets and he says he is still on track to have the remaining ashes delivered by the end of the month.