Battle over beloved father's headstone in New Jersey

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- Losing a loved one is hard enough, but for a family in New Jersey, they then faced a battle for a headstone.

When it wasn't installed at the gravesite, long after when promised, they turned to 7 On Your Side.

"He was like a dad to me, I didn't have my dad in my life," said Angela, John's granddaughter.

John Wyckoff doted on his only granddaughter and spoiled his two grandsons rotten, but when his family visits his grave, they feel as if they've let him down.

"It's my father's memorial, he deserves to have a beautiful memorial," said Dana Reinhart, John's daughter.

There's a plastic plaque among granite memorials for the larger-than-life, hunter and motorcycle enthusiast, diagnosed with lymphoma in 2013, their Dad died a young 64 years old last year.

"We didn't think he was as sick as he was," Dana said.

After his funeral, the Wyckoff daughters ordered a headstone from Ruggiero Monuments.

"We paid them in full back in April," Dana said.

"They said now it won't be until June, then it was not until July," said Tara Wyckoff, John's daughter.

"The last time I spoke to him it was done and it would be placed the following week July 7," Dana said.

But when the family organized a visit to the grave that weekend there was nothing there.

When Dana called back she learned the stone was still out-of-state!

"It was in Vermont and it was done but they didn't know when it would be shipped here. So I've basically been lied to that it was done but they and that it would be placed the following week," Dana said.

The wait was even more painful because their mom, fighting brain cancer, lacked the strength to fight for her husband.

"That when I suggested to call 7 On Your Side," their mother said.

So 7 On Your Side paid Ruggerio Monuments a visit, one of the partners told us the company doesn't guarantee delivery date.

But the owner told us later that there were a number of delays out of his control, but the company paid 500 dollars to have the stone shipped special.

The day after our call, they were true to their word.

Ruggiero paid to have the headstone shipped express, and next to the woods where the outdoorsman would've wanted it, there's finally a fitting tribute.

"It gives us some kind of closure having a stone there that he loved," Dana said.